Toyota races into the anime world with new GRIP series: Interview

Toyota is launching its first-ever original anime series, ‘GRIP.’ We got the chance to speak with the minds behind this upcoming animated adventure about their inspiration for the show and its unique message in an exclusive interview.

‘GRIP’ is bringing Toyota’s Gazoo Racing lineup to the world of anime once again — this time with its own original IP in a high-octane story all about the love of driving.

Gearheads might remember Toyota’s previous collaboration with Initial D, which introduced the GR86 into the winding mountains of Japan in a drifting race with none other than Takumi Fujiwara and his famous Sprinter Trueno AE86.

Fans of the classic anime were happy to see Toyota celebrate its brand with the show… and it looks like the sentiment didn’t go unnoticed, as the company is now set to unleash its very own original anime adventure.

We got the chance to sit down with GRIP Supervising Director Jae Woo Kim and Matthew Choy, Executive Director of Strategy/Creative at Intertrend, about the creative process behind bringing Toyota’s cars to the anime world and the lengths they took to ensure car enthusiasts and anime fans alike were left satisfied and keen to put their wheels to the pavement.

Toyota’s GRIP anime is a timely tale of tech vs tradition

GRIP is a five-episode anime series set in a not-too-distant future, where driverless cars are at odds with motorists hankering for the open road. The show’s antagonist, Dr. Aron Synth, was once a famous driver — but he’s on a mission to eradicate traditional cars with self-driving replacements after losing his hand in an accident.

Enter protagonists Jae Kang, Linh ‘Nitro’ Lam, and Kumail Jo, who together act as the “last hope for the spirit of driving” alongside their trusty mentor, Master Rugu.

GRIP’s premise presents quite a timely dilemma in the age of driverless taxis and nostalgia culture, something that Matthew Choy recognized during our conversation. Choy says we’re in a unique moment in history, where technology is advancing faster than ever… but at the same time, consumers are yearning for simpler days. It was this dichotomy that ultimately inspired GRIP’s world and storyline.

“When we looked into themes for this show, one thing that we looked at was our target audience, which is 18 to 34 years old. One thing that we really found curious is this: On one side, you have all this technology pushing us forward, with Apple’s Vision Pro, with iPhone releases, AI, ChatGPT. We have this huge push towards the future, and on the other hand, all these kids want things like Polaroid cameras and record players. There’s these things that are very analog that are also pulling us back. We want vintage everything,” Choy told us.

“There’s these two forces that are existing in a singular space, which is our culture. And so If I were to translate this into ‘car talk,’ what would these forces be, and how would they move? And so we created a world for this GRIP series.”

Choy explained that viewers will see a familiar, yet different, version of the present in ‘GRIP,’ which highlights the current cultural changes we’re seeing in our day-to-day lives focused around the world of cars and driving.

“We built this world, and then we had these two forces that were amped up to show this difference. On one side, we have the super futuristic, everything’s machine-driven, computer-controlled narrative,” he said. “And then you have these guys who are driving manual gearbox cars that give a lot of feedback to the driver, and it’s super exciting. We see the tension between these two worlds and cultural forces kind of grinding together.”

Bringing Toyota’s GR cars to life

It’s no small feat bringing real-world cars into an anime, and that’s where GRIP’s Supervising Director Jae Woo Kim comes in. Kim’s resume spans a jaw-dropping amount of high-profile animated series, from ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ to ‘Blood of Zeus’ and even ‘Ben10: Alien Uprising.’ For Kim, maintaining the vehicles’ authenticity was paramount for this series in order to honor car enthusiasts and fans of the GR lineup.

“These GR cars are not imaginary cars that we made up,” Kim explained. “These are real cars. These cars do exist, and people literally own them. I’ve seen quite a few of them outside whenever I’m driving. One thing I did not want to do was make up something on top of what’s already there, because not only will casual audiences come in and watch our show, but it’s also for the fans of the GR series. They’re gonna watch this show, and I don’t want them to go, ‘Hey, that’s not my car!’

We have to keep them in the exact look. I would say the most challenging part was that I had to figure out a way to make these cars look badass within our show. But at the same time, it was fun. Although I’ve seen these cars so many times out there, I’ve never really kind of focused on these GR cars until I started working on the show, and I just found them quite intriguing.”

Finding the right studio to tell GRIP’s story

It’s safe to say that GRIP is in good hands, as the show is animated by none other than South Korean anime studio DR Movie. This studio has contributed to an eye-popping number of iconic anime series, including the likes of Satoshi Kon’s ‘Paprika,’ ‘One Punch Man,’ ‘Megalobox,’ and much more.

For Kim, finding the right studio to bring GRIP to life was the key to creating an authentic anime series for Toyota’s GR-inspired story.

“We were really struggling with trying to find the right studio to do this, and we actually interviewed and talked to lots of studios out there. I’ll be honest, cost is definitely one of the things at the same time — but at the same time, we really need to look at the quality of the animations, and we found DR Movie,” Kim explained.

“They’ve worked on so many Triple-A titles in Japanese anime. So I’m like, ‘This is it. It’s got to be it.’ And luckily, we got a contract with them. We talked to them, and they were so excited about the show. They’re very very nice and very humble people with lots of experience. When we started getting some of the works from them, I mean, they’re just fantastic.”

GRIP is focused on quality and authenticity, and there are quite a few Easter Eggs tucked throughout the series for car lovers to spot. Choy teased a few that eagle-eyed viewers can expect to find in the show, including the progenitor of the GR lineup.

“One thing with Toyota and GR Racing is that it’s not new to Toyota,” Choy said. “And so, we wanted to build in a lot of Easter Eggs that hearken back to true car enthusiasts. If you’re a hardcore car enthusiast who’s really deep into the history of Toyota, you’ll see little things — specific wheels, minute little things in the background that may just look like set dressing. But all of those things have really, really deep meaning.”

“The one car that started GR Racing was actually not even a Toyota; it was a Lexus in some markets. It’s a Toyota, but it’s an Altezza. It’s known in the US as a Lexus Altezza, and it was the very first car that Toyota raced under the GR banner. It was just called ‘Gazoo’ back then. We have a replica of that car in the background of the series. We think that there are a lot of hardcore fans of Toyota and car history that will scrub the video really slowly and pick up all these little Easter Eggs.”

For the love of driving

Ultimately, GRIP is a series about the love of driving — the pure passion for getting behind the wheel and putting the pedal to the metal. In a world where self-driving cars and driverless taxis are becoming more and more commonplace, GRIP presents an extremely timely message as technology continues to advance at a rapid pace.

“One thing that made me want to work on this show was the love of the cars,” Kim admitted. For me, it’s all about driving. And here in our show, that clearly comes across. I mean, AI cars are nice and I’m not opposed to them, but for someone like me who just loves driving — when I see these characters, I see a little bit of a projection of myself.

Our world is set in the future, but I wouldn’t say it’s that far out there. These AI-driven cars are not far in the future anymore. It’s in front of us, right now. Our story is in a certain spot where it’s gonna help our audience to attach to our story even more easily.”

GRIP races onto screens on Monday, February 26.