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| Reviewer: J. Evans |
Run Time: 25mins per ep |
Format: Fansub |
Distributor: N/A |
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I N I T I A L D |
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Initial D is an extraordinary anime series, which has 2 series spanning 39 episodes, as well as OAV and a movie spin offs. There's a new series which is going to air in Japan soon too, so its certainly popular... For those who like to know these things, it started off as a manga by Shiuchi Igano. Fujiwara Takumi is the main character in this series. He's a very relaxed character, almost spiritual (or in his friend Itsuki's words a sleepy head :P). Itsuki is mad for cars and wants to be a member of the Akina Speedstars, but Takumi is not bothered at all. Both guys work in the local gas-station and, handily enough, their colleagues, Kenji and Iketani, are the members of the Speedstars. Their main rivals are a rival team called the Redsuns, headed by the Takahashi brothers who challenge the Akina Speedstars to a Battle (downhill-street race). Meanwhile, there's a legend of a Toyota AE86 (Hachi-Roku - Japanese for Eighty-Six) speeding downhill on Mt.Akina using unbelievable speeds and drifts. After the challenge was issued, the Redsun's Takahashi Keisuke is on his way home on the downhill when the legendary Hachi-Roku appears and happens to beat him, even though Keisuke was driving a souped (riced!) up Mazda RX-7 FD3S which has roughly 340hp to its name but was beaten by a Panda Trueno with at least 140hp. The Characters in the series all have their flaws and weaknesses. Takumi for starters is the silent but violent type - he would get into a rage if someone pushed him far enough, and his anger takes over him in a race later on because the driver he was racing intentionally bumped him into a spin to get him to crash his car - his anger overcomes him and he just wants to beat him, regardless of the damage he's doing to his car - he cant really remember what happened until his dad points out the damage! When the series first started Takumi wanted nothing to do with cars because he was fed up of driving in the early hours in the morning, but as the series progresses he gradually starts to enjoy the racing. The CGI race sequences are breathtaking - they make you feel emotionally involved with what the characters are feeling during the races and makes you want to race as well (hence the game tie in I suspect - Ed) The soundtrack by SUPER EUROBEAT (Avex Trax) is suberb, and it gives you a BURNING DESIRE (one of the song names :P) Well, for me anyway. The drifts used in the series are real drifts and have been performed by real people. For example "The Drift King", Tsuchiya Keiichi actually appears in the movie and says a few things in the series accurately demonstrates the maneuvers on the 2nd Disc Of the Initial D Movie DVD set. The only gripe with the first series was the cheap animation, but this is addressed in Second Stage - I was blown away by the clarity, colour, sharpness and smoothness of the animation. 10/10 - This is one of Japan's best Back to Menu |
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| More speeding gangs... |  |
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With a mix of the apocolypse thrown in for good measure, bike-gang member
Kaneda sports the attitude and the acceleration in Otomo's masterpiece.Read the Review |
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