Given just how long anime has been in existence, it shouldn't be surprising that anime as a medium has touched nearly every kind of story. Nearly everything has found a purpose either as a genre or as a sub-genre, even including something like racing. Racing anime have made up some of anime's best series, which isn't a shock considering how so many racing series have been made by some of the most influential anime studios of all time.

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Like every other genre, racing anime doesn't find itself limited by what can be done with actual racing. While there are some realistic racing anime like Initial D, there are also plenty set in futuristic settings like IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix or something like RideBack. Like every other genre, racing series offers a variety of anime for fans.

Updated by Sage Ashford on February 28, 2023: Some of the best and most iconic anime in history have been racing anime. We've added information on several of the best series and offered a place for fans to stream them if they're looking.

This article contains mentions of suicide.

15 F-Zero: GP Legend

The Mario Kart series is likely Nintendo's only racing franchise for the near future, but there's still a large audience that's hungry for more F-Zero titles. Thankfully, there's at least an anime adaptation that's able to satisfy audiences.

F-Zero: GP Legend stands out from other racing anime because it combines fast races with aspects of a police procedural as Captain Falcon attempts to maintain justice. Fans of the video games will be pleased with the anime and how it carefully juggles the franchise's dozens of eclectic racers, and those with zero F-Zero knowledge will still appreciate its strong storytelling.

14 Oban Star-Racers

Available on Amazon Prime

One thing that separates most racing series is if the characters are driven by their desire to race or the prize that awaits them at the finish line. Oban Star-Racers takes place in 2082, when a prestigious intergalactic race is one of the primary forms of entertainment.

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Oban Star-Racers centers around a young teenager, Eva, who secretly enrolls in the race in order to reunite with her estranged father, who's actually the manager of the Great Race. This solid premise combines Eva's emotional journey with thrilling action that beautifully ties together.

13 Appare-Ranman

Available on Crunchyroll

Appare-Ranman is proof that a long runtime isn't necessary to tell a good story, as this series only ran for a single season of 13 episodes and was still addicting. The show itself feels like a combination of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run with Hanna-Barbera's Wacky Races.

In Appare-Ranman, near the beginning of the Meiji Era, there's a Trans-America race that pits determined racers from all across the globe against each other for an epic prize. The protagonist is Appare Sorano, the son of a family of merchants and an eccentric inventor who works with samurai Kosame Isshiki and wants Appare to respect his family's authority for once. Appare-Ranman's animation is absolutely gorgeous, but it's the characters that truly make the anime stand out among its peers.

12 Capeta

There's nothing quite like a good underdog story, and Capeta effectively taps into that energy with an inspirational story of perseverance. Many racing series can focus on the very best of the industry, but Capeta looks at a lonely and insecure fourth grader who renovates a junked racing kart.

Capeta's passion and intelligence allow him to transform this piece of junk into a vehicle that's able to contend with the very best. It's hard not to cheer for Capeta as he slowly achieves the impossible. While it hits a lot of the same beats as something like a Hajime no Ippo, it's just awesome seeing a kid from a working-class environment put his all into something and see it slowly pay off.

11 Blassreiter

Available on Crunchyroll

Blassreiter is an ambitious change of pace for a racing series that mixes the fast-paced competitive action that usually defines the genre with a disturbing sci-fi dystopia. Blassreiter is set in an alternative version of Germany, where biomechanical monsters come from corpses and victimize the country.

These monstrous hybrids are known as Demoniacs, and it's fascinating how Blassreiter slowly explains their history and applications. Blassreiter is considerably darker than other racing anime, as the series seems just as interested in twisted psychology and tense ultimatums as it is in fast vehicles.

10 Rideback

Available on Funimation

In Rideback, a dictatorial organization called the GGP controls the world in which Rin, a bright ballet dancer, lives. In the wake of an injury, she quits her career as a ballerina. Though she gives up on the idea of being a ballerina, Rin's story is far from over.

Years later, in Rin's college days, she is fascinated by a motorcycle-like-robotic vehicle called Rideback. Rin is very fluid with the Rideback because of her acquired skills as a ballerina. As she sets off on her adventures, Rin comes into conflict with the dictatorial GGP.

9 Uma Musume: Pretty Derby

Available on Crunchyroll

Uma Musume is the story of great racehorses who are reincarnated as horse girls. These girls aren't horses just in terms of speed and endurance; they also have inherited horse ears and tails. The best of the horse girls get a chance to attend Tracan Academy based in Tokyo.

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Things are fine until, one day, countryside girl Special Week is transferred to the big-city academy. She is impressed by Silence Suzuka and is determined to join her team. Uma Musume is an informative insight into the world of race horsing and a tale of hard work and perseverance. Overall, it makes for a very delightful series.

8 Nasu: A Migratory Bird With Suitcase

Nasu A Migratory Bird With A Suitcase image.

Nasu details the journey of a group of cyclists known as Team Pao Pao Beer, who travel East of Japan to participate in the cycling race for the Japan Cup. Things are a little different than normal, though, as this might be the final season the team can work together.

They have been through some rough times in the past, such as the suicide of their former teammate, Marco Rondanini. The two mates, Pepe Benengeli and Jean Luigi Ciocci, gauge the true meaning of being cyclists in their race for the Japan Cup. It is an introspective take, but in retrospect to tragedies of the past.

7 Bakuso Kyodai Let's & Go!!

Bakusō Kyōudai Let's & Go!! is a series that tells the tale of two sports adventurists and brothers, Retsu and Go Seiba. Their lives take an exciting turn as they receive two racing cars called "Mini 4WD" by Dr. Tsuchia. From then on, the boys never look back, eventually reaching to compete on the racing circuit.

Viewers should watch iBakusō Kyōudai Let's & Go!! to revisit all those classic elements of competition, brotherhood, and a sense of childhood nostalgia. There's also decent knowledge to gain about car customization, too.

6 Nasu: Summer In Andalusia

Nasu: Summer In Andalusia is an anime that works on multiple fronts. It tells the story of a Spaniard cyclist, Pepe, who has entered Vuelta a España, the Iberian cycling race, as a support rider. Things take a dramatic jump when it is revealed that the racing day is the same when Pepe's oldest brother, Angel, would marry his former girlfriend, Carmen.

If all of this wasn't enough, poor Pepe will be support riding through his hometown of Andalusia, and the sponsors are looking to drop Pepe from the team. Against all odds, Pepe has to make it through the storm.

5 Future GPX Cyber Formula

Future GPX Cyber Formula is a racing anime that is a heartwarming take on the story of a 14-year-old boy, Kazami Hayato. He holds the title of the youngest Cyber Formula driver, a special sort of Grand Prix that enables vehicles with computers. Kazami Hayato is a passionate racer who, with the help of an advanced cyber-navigation system, Asurada, aspires to win.

Just like the classic stories, with Kazami's relentless passion and grind, he wins the 10th Cyber Formula Grand Prix. But the journey to this destination isn't an easy one for Kazami; along the way, he learns the meaning of true grit and discovers the dark world of racing.

4 IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix

Set in 2048, IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix represents a futuristic story about racers who mix the thrill of racing with fights. This larger-than-life event grew so big that an entire city was built just for the purpose of IGPX. Moving at speeds above 400km/hr while driving around 60-kilometer tracks, each race generally focuses on two teams of three machines apiece.

The game will be decided between two teams of three IG Machines, which are humanoid mechs raced by humans. At that speed, everything from how well the machines operate to how well a team works together becomes vital.

3 Redline

Available on Amazon Prime

Redline is an aesthetically breathtaking anime movie that focuses on a dangerously competitive space race. The only rule in this space race is, predictably, that there are no rules. The hero of Redline is JP, a nonchalant racer who is hell-bent on proving himself as the best of the best. In Redline, the only two human racers, JP and Sonoshee McLaren, will battle it out against others.

The other major difference between the previously held Redlines and the current one is that this one takes place on the planet Roboworld. The participants are not just JP and McLaren, but also immoral militants of Roboworld, who seek to mint money out of the race for their dubious motives.

2 Yowamushi Pedal

Available on Crunchyroll

Yowamushi Pedal features an unabashed anime fan, Sakamichi Onoda, a happy-go-lucky guy who wants nothing more in the world than to join his school's anime club. But the club has limited membership, so it ends up getting disbanded. Sakamichi's resilience knows no bounds, though, and he decides to get friends on board. One day, when biking on his journey to Akihabara, he bumps into first-year Shunsuke Imaizumi.

Shunsuke is impressed by Sakamichi's ability to trek the difficult Akihabara terrain on his old bicycle. Quickly, Shunsuke challenges Sakamichi to a cycling race, promising to join the school anime club if he lost. Thus begins the bicycle diaries of Sakamichi, and the proof that any sport can be an anime.

1 Initial D: Final Stage

As the premiere racing series in anime, Initial D needs no introduction. As the name suggests, Final Stage tells the final tale of the ace race-car champion Takumi Fujiwara. Bidding goodbye to his career, Takumi competes one more time with a new, young racer.

Faced with his toughest and last battle, Takumi must defeat the racing prodigy Takahashi in his faithful vehicle AE86. Viewers should watch this action-packed anime for the emotional thrill that it provides. Initial D: Final Stage is the perfect emotional goodbye to an otherwise thrill of a franchise.

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