F is a Seinen manga and anime created by Noboru Rokuda (of Dash Kappei fame) and is one of the first motorsport series focused on Formula One along with Arrow Emblem Grand Prix no taka (worldwide known as Super Grand Prix and Grand Prix). The manga was serialized between 1985 and 1992 in the magazine Big Comic Spirits, gaining the Shogakukan Manga Awards in 1991, and received an anime series in 1988 by Studio DEEN and animated by Atsuko Nakajima (being Ranma ½ her most famous work.) The series received two sequels: F Regeneration Ruri (2002-2006) and F Final (2009-2011), none of them have an Animated Adaptation yet. The first manga received a digital release in English by Creek & River Co. from July 3 to November 18, 2015.
The story is about Gunma Akagi, a Hot-Blooded teenager country boy who fullfills his dream to race in Formula 1 and his way to become the greatest F1 racer of all and all the problems he has to struggle, as an Archnemesis Dad, treasons and even some significant deaths of his close people. F is both a manga about racing, and also the story of a conflict between father and son, as Gunma seeks to achieve his dream of excelling over his father with success on the F1 stage.
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Not to be confused with Macross F, F-Zero, Zero no Tsukaima: F, Resurrection 'F', or FF. And much less the Memetic Mutation of "Press F to Pay Respects" nor the Triumphant Example: F here on TV Tropes.
These tropes go full speed!
- Abusive Parents:
- Not just Gunma's father, he's also despised by his stepmother who doesn't see him as a son, receiving ostracism for their new parents and not being seen as a proper member of Akagi family, even as a teenager.
- Tamotsu's mother (a widow), also revealed to his son that his father was one too.
- Archnemesis Dad: Souichiro Akagi, Gunma's father and a famous politician who's always in struggle with his own son.
- Bastard Bastard: Gunma is considered as a bastard by Souichiro and the disgrace of his family. Gunma decides to retribute him becoming a real bastard to him and his new family as a kind of revenge for what he did to his mother.
- Berserk Button: "I won't let anyone overtake me!"
- Corrupt Politician: Souichiro Akagi, who prefers his political career over his own family.
- Country Mouse: Gunma and Tamotsu.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Tamotsu Oishi, Gunma's voice of reason.
- Department of Redundancy Department: The Japanese title Ｆ-エフ.note
- Determinator: Gunma's conviction when he gets an idea in his head what converts him in a racing pilot in first place.
- Dub Name Change: In Spain was known as F: A todo gas ("F: Full Throttle") and in Italy as F: Motori in Pista ("F: Motor on the Racetrack").
- Evil Stepmother: Souichiro's wife and Gunma's stepmother, who's so heartless as his husband towards Gunma.
- Face of a Thug: Gunma, who's closer to a Japanese Delinquent than a farmer.
- A Family Affair? Blame the Bastard: Gunma was born of Souichiro's affair with his mother, and being a famous politician, he left them behind to avoid any scandal and to get a proper family. After the death of Gunma's mother, Souichiro finally adopted him, but he doesn't consider Gunma as a real son but as a shame to his last name.
- Foil: Gunma and Tamotsu, basically the racing counterparts of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Tamotsu, Gunma's best friend and an excelsior in car mechanics, he's the one who put an old Porsche engine into a tractor, even managing a Nitro as tuning racecars.
- Hot-Blooded: Gunma is a Hair-Trigger Temper guy who doesn't control his emotions, so you better don't make him angry.
- Jerkass: Gunma, but with a heart of gold.
- Meaningful Name: F is for "Formula", of course.
- Never Mess with Granny: Sayuri Komori, Junko's aunt, who got her life full of thrilling after Gunma came to her life, being another beast behind the wheels as Gunma himself.
- Patient Childhood Love Interest: Yuki, Akagi house's maid, who's in love with Gunma.
- Percussive Therapy: As a way to discharge all the frustrations of his family, he prefers to race his tractor instead of to Punch a Wall or make other violent attitudes.
- Pimped-Out Car: Tamotsu is a car fan since a boy at the point to know how to modify vehicles. In the first episode is shown Gunma's tractor, modified to go 150+ km/h and easily can overpass a city racecar.
- Self-Made Man: The series is about how a country boy becomes a famous F1 racer and all the way to achieve this.
- Shout-Out: Not just mentions to real life car brands and models, also the Formula One details can be seen all over the series, as the posters of Grand Prix in Gunma's room.
- Shown Their Work: Instead of appearing some Brand X of vehicles, F makes mentions of real car brands. Notable in the first episode, which is mentioned that Gunma's Ford tractor was modified with an old Porsche motor and the first car he raced was a BMW.
- Struggling Single Mother: Gunma's mother was always a single mom who raise him alone. After her death when Gunma was a child, his biologic father adopted him finally, but that wasn't a good idea after all.
- Tomboy: Junko Komori, a young woman dressing always as a guy, having short hair and being short-tempered, especially with Gunma.
- Would Hurt a Child: Souichiro, of course.
