History WesternAnimation / ObanStarRacers

* TheTeam: The Earth Team.
** TheLeader and TeamDad: Don Wei, Mastermind type.
** HeroProtagonist: Molly
** TheLancer: Jordan
** TheSmartGuy: Stan and Koji
** TheBigGuy: Rick, who also counts as a BigBrotherMentor.
** TagalongKid: Molly starts off as this, plus RookieRedRanger.

* HeroesWantRedheads: Molly toward Aikka, and later on Jordan toward Molly.

* ThreeAmigos: Molly, Jordan, and Prince Aikka. While they don't get along at first due to the stress of the Great Race and FantasticRacism from Jordan, they eventually become amicable enough to work together [[spoiler:in stopping Canaletto]].

* ATeamFiring: Inverted; Jordan's [[ImprobableAimingSkills phenomenal aim is offset by his [[MoreDakka inability to conserve ammunition]].
** That and his weapon is far too weak to hurt most opponents and never hits the ones who have no protection.

* ATeamFiring: Inverted; Jordan's phenomenal aim is offset by his inability to conserve ammunition.

* AmusingInjuries: Don Wei hurts his right arm in episode 3 by punching a hard surface while arguing with Molly during her first race. Said arm is in a sling later in the episode, and it's still the for the entirety of the next.

** Hell, the worst you could call Sul is a {{Jerkass}}. [[GoodIsNotNice He isn't actually evil]], he has simply done everything-except win the Ultimate Prize, that is-and wants to win just for the sake of doing it. He's actually a fairly nice for someone who's almost god.

* HappilyMarried: Don Wei and Maya were this, which made her death all the more devastating.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Don Wei is very rarely pleasant, so he's mostly just a jerk. He was a very nice man before his wife was killed. He started acting mean to protect himself from the pain, and other people, too.
* IShallTauntYou: Used a few times. Molly defeats Flint by taunting him into taking on the traps the judges had been rigging in his favor. Toros defeats Rush by this method as well.

* MissingMom: Maya Wei, who died when, during a race with Spirit, her ship crash-landed and burned right in front of her daughter and husband.
* MoralityKitchenSink: This is in full-effect due to the many different factions and characters battling for the Ultimate Prize and fate of the galaxy. Of the Earth Team, Eva and her friends are generally good, while Don Wei is a greyer shade due to how his actions affect his loved ones. Prince Aikka is a noble warrior forced to take difficult choices by the state of his homeworld. The other alien racers range from gray to [[BlueAndOrangeMorality orange]]. Meanwhile the Earth government takes some alarming action to ensure humanity wins the race and triumphs over the Crogs. The Avatar is the BigGood, but otherwise a neutral force unless a planet proves worthy of his aid. Finally, Canaletto and the Crogs are unambiguously evil.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous / MultiArmedMultitasking: Ceres' ''six'' arms allow him to multitask impressively.
* MusicalAssassin: Ceres.

* TheNoseless: The whole cast. No, they're not mutants, it's just the art style.
** The artist apparently hated drawing noses.

* ObviouslyEvil: The Crogs have [[DarkIsEvil pitch-black skin/fur]], [[RedIsViolent red clothes]], [[EvilSoundsDeep deep voices]], [[GlowingEyesOfDoom yellow eyes]], and a [[SpikesOfVillainy love of sharp, pointy weapons]].
%%** BigBad [[spoiler:{{C|reepyCrows}}analetto]], as well.

%%* PlayfulHacker: Paradice.

* TheQuietOne: Spirit, and later O (yes, that's his name).
* RedeemingReplacement: [[spoiler:Jordan isn't a direct replacement, but his grandfather William Wilde is regarded by history as a traitor on the order of Benedict Arnold. At least in part, this motivated him to join the military in the first place.]]

* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: The blue 'jelly-bunny' creatures that stick to Molly's windshield in the {{Pilot}} and episode 17.

* RookieRedRanger: Molly joins the Earth Team as a stowaway. Even when she proves herself as a pilot, the ChillyReception doesn't fully wear off until halfway through the show.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Aikka. He's in the race for pretty much the same reason Team Earth is in too. Also, [[spoiler:Eva and Jordan wouldn't have gotten as far as they did in the climax without him and O.]]

* SecretTest: The entire Great Race of Ōban is this. The contestants can use any tactics short of murder to win the Ultimate Prize and have their wishes granted. However, [[spoiler: the real prize is becoming Avatar for the next 10,000 years]]

* ThreeAmigos: Molly, Jordan, and Prince Aikka.
* ThirdPersonPerson: Grooor routinely lapses into this, at least in the English dub.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Stan and Koji.

* WellDoneSonGuy: Gender-inverted. Eva's motivation for most of the series is to get back the love Don Wei denied her for ten years. The irony is that Don doesn't know she's his daughter at all until well into the latter half of the series.

* [[YouKilledMyFather You Killed My Mother]]: Molly's attitude towards Spirit, the racer who she thinks is responsible for her mother's death. When she faces him in the race, she wrecks the ''Whizzing Arrow'' trying to flat-out kill him. It's only when he shows her the events of that day through his eyes that Molly learns that Maya's death was an accident, and that Spirit actually tried to warn her about the engine fire. [[spoiler:Later, however, it turns out that Canaletto engineered the "accident."]]