Initial D First Stage

(Check out my profile for a link to my site containing more up-to-date reviews and bonus media!) EDITED 11/5/2025: Wow. My writing's improved a lot since I first wrote this. I didn't do a total rewrite, but I cleaned up some lousy syntax. Hopefully, it's easier to follow, as I noticed a fair amount of "confused" reactions. It's still not ideal, but it's at least [i]closer[/i] to my current standards. ------- Vroom, vroom, vroom—it’s anime’s most popular racing series, Initial D. Initial D stars Takumi Fujiwara, a constantly spaced-out and quiet gas station worker with seemingly no hobbies or interests in life. The reserved Takumi is forced intothe spotlight when his incredible talent for street racing is discovered by his peers, having been honed through years of making delicate tofu deliveries for his father’s restaurant business. Takumi is pressured by his coworkers and friends into testing his racing abilities by defending Akina’s hometown pride against out-of-towners aiming to be known as the fastest racer in the region. Takumi, initially considering both racing and cars to be a bore, finds himself nonetheless drawn to the thrills, pride, and accomplishment his new skills bring—and it helps when his normally carsick love interest compliments his smooth driving. Takumi is supported by his best friend and racing fanatic Itsuki, as well as upperclassman and lead racer of the Akina Speed Stars, Iketani. Of Takumi's many challengers, most notable are the Takahashi brothers, the fastest team around. Despite growing reverence of Takumi—a new, seemingly unstoppable racer—the older of the elite duo is confident that his driving skill and analytical ability will allow him to keep his crown. Initial D’s cast is generally realistic and likeable, with mild, yet distinct personality archetypes. Characters are passionate about their hobby and take it seriously, but winning or losing at the sport is hardly considered the end of the world. Takumi’s interest in cars and racing grows at an appropriately slow pace, and noticing the nuances in his evolving perspective on the subject feels rewarding and natural. Despite that, little of the cast evolve as people. Takumi’s hobby brings out a competitive spirit in him, but he remains unassertive and distant throughout the season. It’s endearing at first when Takumi is the underdog, as his lack of charisma goes full circle and becomes a charismatic contrast to his cocky opponents—but his small emotional range does get old. His awkward relationship with Natsuki is cute and does evolve throughout the show, but is otherwise uninteresting. Natsuki has no involvement with the show's racing element, and their chemistry is only supported by the "childhood friend" angle. I have no idea why Natsuki would be interested in a guy who only gives one word responses, never starts conversations, and has no interests or hobbies (known to her), but she’s all over him. The supporting cast is weak, because everyone is written to be an inferior, comedic cheerleader to Takumi. The screeching, melodramatic Itsuki straddles a fine line between endearing and unbelievably annoying, just barely landing on the former thanks to the few subplots in which his incompetence with racing and people, despite his passion, evokes genuine sympathy from the viewer. Iketani ends up listless outside of a short, romantic subplot. He’s supposed to be Akina’s number one racer until Takumi shows up, but the little we see of his driving ability is completely unimpressive, and he's far from knowledgeable about racing when compared to the rest of the cast. From behind the scenes, Takumi's street success is closely observed by his father Bunta, a former, once-legendary street racer. A friend of Bunta's, Yuuichi, also happens to be the owner of the gas station Takumi and his friends work at, and he's always willing to provide the adolescents some life advice. The main attraction of Initial D are its races, but there can be a lot of time between them that's spent on hyping up the next opponent, preparing for the race, or comedy/daily life between the main characters—probably more than most sports anime. This can occasionally be a drag, as the races themselves are never longer than three episodes, with the final race of all things being merely two episodes. Initial D does assume a fair bit of prior knowledge regarding racing and car terminology from the viewer, and it’s arbitrary which parts are explained and to what detail. I particularly had a problem following the physical logic of the races, where characters would explain how a technique was pulled off, but without any kind of visual aid. For someone such as myself with little racing knowledge, hearing about how one of the cars moved by shifting gravity and whatnot sounds plausible, but it’s difficult to conceptualize only through the dialogue and simple racing animations. Of course, this makes it harder to appreciate the creativity behind the races and techniques themselves. While the framerate of Initial D can be choppy, and there might not be a lot of movement, the art style itself is decently pleasant—for the most part. Many criticize the “fish-like” eyes and lips of the character designs, but they’re meant to resemble original manga artist Shigeno Shuuichi’s art style, and it’s otherwise distinct, so I don't mind it. By far, the most controversial aspect of Initial D’s animation is its use of computer-generated 3D renders for the cars. CG animation was starting to catch on around this time, with many studios believing it was the natural evolution of animation. Initial D’s studios jumped the gun on what was still a niche medium, haphazardly shoving it into their series in a presumed attempt to look innovative. The irony—as we now know—is that the CG is immediately the aspect of Initial D that dates it the most. Even though CG was a newer animation form than the cel animation otherwise used, the older form is professionally done by professional, experienced animators. Traditional animation had decades to refine its quality standards, while CG at this point was technologically primitive and implemented by people who had less time working with it. Initial D’s CG cars are basic models that lack texturing to give them a realistic surface, and consist of bold, flat colors that contrast heavily with the surrounding environment of 2D animation. So, the animation styles clash, look ugly, and break the series' artistic cohesion, but what else? Initial D’s studios also use the CG as an excuse to cut corners (as has been the case with CG ever since). One of the most noticeable things about scenes with CG in the frames is that the 2D cels they’re on will be completely unanimated. Not only is this awkward if you take the time to notice how everyone and everything in the background is as still as a rock whenever a car pulls up, but any attempts to mask this lack of moving frames is hilariously ineffective. A consistent "disguise" is to have a CG car pass in front of a group of people in the background, such as when it drives across a road at a 180 degree, horizontal angle, and then have that still frame of spectators swapped with another still frame of them looking in the opposite direction. Cheap animation has been a part of anime since its inception, but not often will you find a '90s anime that reminds you of Astro Boy. It's tempting to call it laziness. I can count on one hand the amount of times the series has 2D animation in the same frame as CG animation, but they can clearly do it. There are also occasional instances of disproportional scale and perspective, like a person standing by a car being way bigger than they should be relative to their distance. Use of CG also discourages use of traditional animation techniques to emphasize a sense of speed. There’s no motion lines, blur, or anything of the sort to give audiences a sense of motion or whiplash during the races. This makes the way the races far duller than they have to be—or should be. Without those techniques, there's no way to distinguish how fast the cars are travelling. That is, other than speeding up the rate at which the CG model is dragged across the screen, which would look ridiculous. The visual dynamic of the races is extremely hindered in this way, as the cars' motions always look identical. This means the drama and intensity of the races is primarily conveyed to the viewer literally, by characters commenting on what’s happening during the race, or the sense of speed. But the audience should feel like a front-row spectator, not needing to have it explained to them. Animation is a visual medium, and we have to be told what the stakes are, or what the current rhythm of the race is. The visuals should shift throughout the races to mimic the adrenaline rush and conflicts of the drivers themselves, recreating the dramatic perspective of what the characters are experiencing. Instead, it's delivered in a plain, flavorless manner that doesn’t sell the intensity of the race. On the contrary, that intensity is diluted because of the contradiction between how it's presented in dialogue and the action on screen. This is, without a doubt, the weakest part of Initial D. The CG cars are not cute or endearing. They're not even just aesthetically unappealing in their clash with the main animation style. The real issue is that they’re an active detriment to the very core purpose of the series, and are used to circumvent dynamic direction and animation techniques that could make the series much more exciting. The studios didn’t have the ambition to take Initial D to the level it should have been, and the most important part of the show, the racing, suffers greatly for it. Watch the animated movie Redline, and note the masterful ways it manipulates proportions to emphasize fluidity and speed, and notice how none of them are used in Initial D. Even considering that Redline is a blatant fantasy while Initial D is more realistic, there's no reason why a series in the same genre can’t utilize those same techniques without crossing the line into absurdity. If it’s not even going to try, then why is this series even animated? Does the medium otherwise benefit it? I’m definitely interested in the future of Initial D. While the storytelling pace in First Stage is leisurely at best, it hasn’t crawled for long enough to make me believe that Initial D has reached its full potential. Shuuichi Shigeno seems to realize the basics of having to introduce twists to keep the races interesting. As he becomes more desperate, he’ll hopefully bring more dramatic, significant deviations to his formula. These are all presumptions, though. It depends on Shigeno’s writing skill and ambition whether or not Initial D will reach the next level. Improvements in directing and animation would also be a major help. Though Initial D is a lukewarm thriller so far, there are enough hints of promise to keep me curious in where it might go, so I’ll probably watch to its completion. A street-racing anime is a fine premise, but in Initial D, it hasn’t come close to hitting full throttle.

I like watching sports anime. People who know me and have accepted the fact that I am a hardcore couch-potato find this hilarious. But the irony doesn't end there. I am a member of minority who does not possess a driving license nor has the faintest clue about driving. After my Yawara "Brain-Imploding-Annoyance-Rage" I was rather desperate. There were very few sports animes left I hadn't watched yet. And I was - still am actually, I can't take bludgeoned faces!- digging my heels in not to watch Hajime no Ippo. Barring any alternatives I gave in to desperation and started watching Initial D though inmy couch potato opinion Street-Car-Racing is no sport. The art took some getting used to. Every time I saw one of those "fish-on-land-gasping-for-air" mouths I just wanted to smash my fist into it. But then pretty soon something weird happened. I got sucked into the Takumi-Bunta duo. The story itself is nothing world-moving; the synopsis tells it perfectly accurate. Like ParaParaJMo says, this anime's hook for me was and is Takumi. He is not only a reluctant hero, but rather a lethargic hero. He breaths, he talks and he walks and he helps out his father with the tofu shop by driving out the goods but driving, it is a chore, that must be done. His heart is not in it. It is not that he is lazy but he has no passion nor any direction in life. Enter the "woman" and the rock starts rolling. God knows, I would have been as much interested if not more if this was Bunta's -Takumi's father- story, because Bunta is a character like Hiruma & Co (Eyeshield 21). He does things with a purpose even if the main character doesn't have the dream of a clue why. In that manner, Bunta started his son on driving 5 years ago, when he was barely out of diapers and from what we understand he was a strict master. And the fruits of that are now very visible in Takumi. I like an anime if I like the characters. I have watched and liked animes, anime-lovers would diss. I watch sports animes; yet I barely know the rules of any of the sports; just because I like the characters. The characters here grew on me too. Well most of them anyway. And in Itsuki's case (Takumi's best friend) it was rather like fungus. The development and growth of the characters drives the story on. Even though it is a repeated plot reel, - there is a challenge, Takumi drives, Takumi wins- weirdly it never gets old and you find yourself engaged time and again. The music is just awesome. It had me wiggling around on my couch so much so that I had a b.tt-print on it every time I watched it. I would have enjoyed it to the max if the female folk wasn't in there. And that is my only gripe about this anime. Honestly, I think the Mangaka needed to get laid really bad, or may be I am too outlandish but the female folk of this anime is just horrendous. Here is a summary of the female cast in this anime Takumi's first love interest: A teenage prostitute. Literally. Also rather "I haven't exposed myself in the last 30 seconds so let me show you my panties" type. Color me stiff but if my girlfriend is ok with showing her panties to my father, I'd be rather "peeved"! Mako: a challenger, also a love interest to Iketani, one of Takumi's friends/Sempai; here is what she says to Iketani: If you make the race happen between me and Takumi I will sleep with you. Kyoko, a love interest to Keisuke: 3 Seconds after she sees him, he is her "Darling" and she is a whiny, clingy, .... something. Oh and the mother is not even mentioned. The art does get better, And by that I mean, thank God they do lose their utmost annoying fish mouths. And the girls are not always there so my annoyance was kept in check, which is why Initial D gets 9 Enjoyment points and 8 overall. I recommend trying out Initial D. And extend the 3 episode rule to 4 if you are still undecided because Takumi doesn't officially race before the 4th episode. Initial D is worth at least that much of your time.

At first, I’ll admit that I did not think I would like the concept at first, but other factors which I will further elaborate on would keep on pulling me into this franchise and would like it more and more. I know it’s not the most exciting or appealing anime, and that I’m not the biggest gear head, but I felt something special about this one. Even though Takumi is not exactly the most appealing anime character of all time, it’s kind of weird that his lack of charisma in some ways makes him charismatic at the same time because he does all his talkingbehind the wheel and he’s a monster at it, and yet, he thinks his abilities are nothing special. The cast is well rounded and they all get equal attention for the most part. There’s not much that goes with story, but the characters is what really drives this anime. But it still has a lot of elements such as some romance, lots of comedy, and it’s a different kind of coming of age story. I’ll admit the character design isn’t really the most beautiful, nor is the coloring the most glossy. Yes, it’s nothing really great, but the character design is diverse and distinctive in lets say in comparison to Gundam SEED’s, nor way too generic like History’s Strongest Disciple Kenichi. I’ll admit Shigeno, the manga artist has a weird way of drawing, but he does have a style of making some of his characters, especially Ryosuke, look distinctively Japanese rather than relying too much on the trademark anime big eyes. Plus, there is none of this wacky hairstyle or hair color bull crap that is so trendy, so I was able to be glad to be away from that. Plus, the designs of the cars are of course accurate to that of the real cars themselves. I really like how they used CG for the races and it brings a trademark trait to this show. Granted the CG isn’t that impressive looking, but this was 1998. Look at the other CG cartoons that were out back then and compare it to where CG is now in 2008. But despite that, the physics for the most part I will probably have to assume are 95% real because the drift king himself, Tsuchiya Keiichi, was an advisor to the races. A lot of environmental factors are put into play with the outcome such as gutter gripping on the corners for traction. Also, all of the courses present in the show are real life mountains, except Akina is really named Haruna and from what I have heard, they are accurately represented. The show has a lot of technical jargon in relation to the cars and driving techniques. If you don’t have any prior knowledge, it will be hard to understand but at least you’re getting something educational in some bizarre regard. Now time to really talk about what made me a fan, the Eurobeat music. I first got into this anime in 2000 and was a junior in high school, and I was playing Para Para Paradise every weekend at my local arcade. I loved the music and even found other non-game dance routines on the internet and got addicted to the music. Then one day, my friend gave me this anime to watch and told me to watch it. I thought the opening theme, Around the World by Move, was pretty cool and catchy. Then, the moment things got underway, I immediately recognized the first song, Space Boy by Dave Rodgers and the last song, No One Sleeps in Tokyo by Edo Boys, and I thought, hey, this soundtrack alone has me sold. The Eurobeat in this anime is as synomous and central as is the jazz in Cowboy Bebop. I never watched the dub and to this day, I will refuse to watch it. I heard they change the music to 7th grade level grunge rock and to me, doing that is like replacing the jazz in Cowboy Bebop to Achy Breaky Heart! But trying to put a portion of my biases aside, I felt that the fast paced nature of Eurobeat really suits the fast paced atmosphere of this anime in its own unique way like that. The Japanese voice cast is also very excellent and multi-talented. I think Miki Shin’ichiro does a great job as Takumi. He does a great job of being quiet and unassuming, but in certain moments, he knows how to sound enraged if you push the right buttons on him. And the voice of Kaneda from Akira, Iwata Mitsuo, is funny as Itsuki. I just love it when he goes Kuuuuuu sound when he’s excited. And I really loved Koyasu Takehito as Ryosuke and his role in playing Ryosuke is why he’s my favorite character. He’s very serious about what he does and he is very charismatic and intimidating, but yet, knows how to act approachable at the same time. Tomokazu Seki as Keisuke I like him being so moody, hot tempered, and is straight out no nonsense. And to conclude, the sounds of the car engines are actually based on the real cars themselves. I saw a documentary on Initial D one time and they showed how they got the real car engine sounds and applied them to the anime. Unfortunately, I will restate I have never seen the dub, but have heard only bad things about it. OK, I’ll admit that you might not be able to relate to this anime nor most of its characters, or more specifically their situations. It’s definitely not for casual anime fans, or those who like Naruto, Bleach or DBZ. Hell, it’s not even for a lot more dedicated anime fans as well. But as a Para Para Paradise veteran, I just felt the music alone was something I could relate to and I know it’s weird to get into some animes based on that. But eventually, I personally came to embrace Initial D the anime itself. I just felt because it was something out of the norm, I was able to enjoy it. So if you’re truly looking for something different, I say give Initial D a try. I know this anime is not for everyone, but it takes the right circumstances when you get into it to enjoy it for some people.

Vroom Vroom, if you're into street racing then you'll love initial D. Tak is so gosh darn thicc and irresistible, and my homeboy Shingo can hit a drift faster than anybody can smack that nae nae. Whevever my homeboy Tak does a drift everyone goes zoo wee mama, including me. Bunta is smarter than any Rick and Morty and he smokes really cool. Because of him i've become a heavy smoker and my life expectancy has gone down to 30 years. My boy itsuki sucks at drifting, but he is such a qt π and he does the most epic fails xD. Overall, I'd giveinitial d a 69/10 but i can only rate it out of 10 so whatever :P