Oban Star Racers: The Alwas Cycle

- Season 1

(2006)

The year is 2082. Eva Wei, a 15-year old boarding school student, escapes to reunite with her father, Don Wei. However, her father doesn't recognize her. Taking the alias of "Molly", she soon becomes involved in something bigger: the Great Race of Oban.

Don Wei and his Earth Team (with "Molly" stowing away), arrive on the planet Alwas for the preselections of the Great Race of Oban. Molly soon meets a new friend: Prince Aikka of Nourasia. What will happen during the team's first race?

After Rick's accident while racing against Groor, the team is granted a rematch but now have no pilot. Molly volunteers after the others failed to fly the Whizzing Arrow, but Don refuses. Knowing she is the only one besides Rick with some piloting skill, she disobediently becomes the pilot anyway. Can she and Jordan win against Groor, and win Don's approval?

After the president tells Don how serious the race actually is, Don knows he has to let Molly pilot the Arrow II, whether he likes it or not. After discovering she's not in the hanger, he sends Jordan to find her before the race against Flint, the home pilot of Alwas. Meanwhile, Molly is at a bar reminiscing about her past, and how she ended up at the Stern Boarding School in the first place.

Rick has recovered earlier than expected, and is back in the pilot's seat, albeit to Molly's surprise. Because of this, Molly isn't seen as a useful asset to Don anymore, and Jordan ecstatically favors Rick despite the previous races, offending her. During the practice run before the race against Ceres, Molly notices Rick doing unnatural flying habits. The others aren't concerned, but is there more to Rick's injuries then they thought?

There is only one round left before the Earth Team reaches the final six spot of the preselections. Molly gains full responsibility as the pilot since Rick is no longer an option, but Don sternly warns her about disobeying his orders from now on. Later, when Molly and Jordan are taking a stroll, they are invited to an arcade created by Para-Dice, a cat who treats the race like a game. However, the end result of playing in the arcade is anything but fun and games.

The Earth Team reaches the semi-finals, where each of the six teams race one another to earn points in order to qualify for Oban. Earth Team's first race is against Toros, a commanding officer of the Crog army. Meanwhile, Rick believes his crash in the first race was no accident, and he tries to find answers in any way he can.

Aikka is the Earth Team's next opponent, but not in the way Molly and the prince had hoped for. Wanting to keep their friendship intact, Molly strikes a deal: no attacking during the race. Pleased with the idea, Aikka accepts, but can Molly convince her own team to hold their fire?

After the painful result of the last race, Don Wei is unable to coax Molly out of her room. He decides to call Rick to personally train her. Jordan in the meantime investigates a long-standing rumor. Once it's time to race, their next opponent is Super Racer...who looks oddly familiar.

Molly's next opponent is Rush, where they compete to score the most points by shooting targets. Meanwhile, after Rick makes a particular comment on Don's poor treatment of Molly, Don decides it's time to reveal his past to Rick, recounting memories of how Don became who he is today, and why he "left behind" his daughter, Eva.

With the semi-finals nearly over, Molly is up against Spirit. Once he reveals himself, Molly and Don are horrified as they realize that Spirit is the racer Maya Wei--Molly's mother and Don's wife--got involved with when her death occurred years ago. Enraged and filled with hatred, Molly violently tries to get her revenge on Spirit during the race, no matter the cost.

With the Whizzing Arrow II completely destroyed, Stan and Koji desperately need to find parts in order to rebuild it before the final race on Alwas begins. While Molly considers what she'll do if she wins the Ultimate Prize, Rick continues his search for answers, and comes face-to-face with a mysterious entity: the "Timeless One".

The final race on Alwas is ready to start, and the stakes are higher than ever. In order to qualify for Oban, the Earth Team needs to win one more point. With their brand new racer--the Whizzing Arrow III--Molly is prepared to give everything she's got in their rematch against Toros; it's her last chance to getting closer to the Ultimate Prize, and to bring her family back together.

At long last, Team Earth has made it to Planet Oban, where the grand finals take place.

The second race of Oban is starting, and Molly and Jordan have a skirmish and a disagreement with Lord Furter, an alien pirate. Will he resort to crude tactics in the race?

Molly and Jordan have quite a time in the fourth race, can they overcome their internal and external conflicts to gain at least one point?

Molly vows to win the next race at the snow territory of Planet Oban.

The finals continue as the Earth Team has finally begun to catch up in the rankings. They soon face a bug racer, whose quest for the Ultimate Prize may not be so different from Molly's. Meanwhile, Don Wei is still haunted at the possibility that Molly may very well be his long-forgotten daughter Eva, and how such a possibility could effect the purpose of why they're racing in the first place.

The next race takes place in Oban's center, where the stakes are high, as future planets exist around them.

Prince Aikka forms a pact with two other teams to take out the leading racer, Sul, from the rankings. However, a hidden force behind the scenes may already have that planned as the sixth race commences.

When Don Wei breaks it to Eva that he's found out she is his daughter, Eva is infuriated with his attempts to run away from his life after Maya's death. And the next race also will impact their emotions.

In the previous episode, Molly (Eva) and Jordan had fallen deep into the ravine. They journey across Oban in order to get back to the temple before the start of the next race. During their trek, they have another encounter with the native beings of Oban. A shattering secret concerning the Ultimate Prize is learned as well.

Nothing is clear to Eva anymore. Personally, she doesn't see why she would want to race anymore, since she is unable to revive her mother because of what the Ultimate Prize's nature reveals. However, she can't throw everything away, since a Crog victory would lead to Earth being obliterated. Eva must stop Kross from winning.

The final race of the Great Race of Oban has begun. It's everyone for himself in this battle for the ultimate prize. Molly and Jordan have only one chance left to stop Kross from winning the race, and one chance to save Earth from the Crogs. Meanwhile, an evil plot thickens for the dark force pulling the strings of the competition.

Canaletto is free, and in order to stop him from destroying everything that "interferes with destiny," as he says, the remaining racers team up to stop him. Canaletto releases his fury, and it's up to one racer to sacrifice themself to save the galaxy and stop Canaletto.

As Eva, Jordan, and Aikka make their way through the temple and try to survive against Canaletto's ungodly evil, they must also try to get to the Creators to stop Canaletto. Canaletto is after Eva, and startling revelations and epilogues take place.