Initial D

Director
Shin Mizawa
Production
Fuji TV, Pastel, Prime Direction
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes
Year
1998

Initial D - Series - English Subtitled version

By Flynnstudio
27th Feb 05

Japanese dialogue - english subtitles - banging japanese HNG soundtrack in the races!!

So what's so cool about Initial D ?

Well its all about DRIVING. PURE DRIVING TECHNIQUES ARE ON DISPLAY!

If you love driving (in in today's street racing Fast n Furious Max Power world who doesn't!!) - you'll love Initial D - and you might just learn something you'd didn't know!

In the first episode we meet Takumi - an apathetic unfocussed and passionless high school student. Every morning he gets up at about 4:00 a/m and drives boxes of Tofu up to various mountain hotels in his dad's old Trueno '86 (that's the one with the twin cam engines as you'll find out!). Now the thing about driving Tofu is that it's very soft and is suspended in liquid so if you drive like an arse you'll smash it to pieces and Takumi's father will kick Takumi's butt!!

So Takumi's father puts a cup of water in the cup-holder and Takumi must drive the delivery without spilling a drop. On each corner we see the water sweep to the edge of cup very nearly tipping but never spilling!. Now Takumi's been driving since he was about 10 years old and so has become a very smooth and controlled driver but he doesn't know it. The cup of water has been teaching takumi about weight and power distribution!! COOL HUH!!.

However, he doesn't care about driving - it's a bore!!!

Anyway, cut to one early morning on the steep winding mountain roads and one of the Akina Mountain Speedsters, Japanese road racing team - every town has one!!, has been racing down the mountain in his powerful and modern high performance car only to find himself OVERTAKEN at incredible speed by Takumi in his old beatup up Trueno '86. This is where things get real interesting.

Who is this incredible driver in the '86 ?
He must be raced for the honour of the team!!
Can that be just an ordinary Trueno '86 ?

So as the series unfolds Takumi eventually takes up the challenge and races an ever increasingly series of powerful cars from RX7's, to 4 wheel drive Skylines and many many more. Every episode feature a new driving technique and style of driving, like heel and toeing or tail-out power overseer etc, and a gripping mountain battle which is animated in true dramatic style. There is genuine drama in the races and each race manages to have a plot or evolution in skill and technique required to overcome the challenge built into it - which is all seamlessly and invisibly explained to the viewer. That's what makes it so gripping! How can this beaten up old Trueno '86 manage to beat a brand new Mitsubishi Evo ? Can it actually beat it - Does it beat it ? Can technique alone be enough ? Well, you'll have to watch it to find out...Slowly we see Takumi become a better driver and become more involved with the downhill racing scene...

Each episode leaves you wanting the next one - to find out how the race ended.

There is much character development and plenty of (very occasionally irritating) sub plots about his friends, father, work, life etc and his would-be-girlfriend, ( nicely and true to form 'doing his nut in'), but they do in all fairness give a good stable foundation to the piece and make you actually care about the characters.

Takumi's father, ( who turns out to be an ex-racing driver!!) is the ultimate in dead pan comedy with some genuine laugh out loud moments.

Overall I'd say it's a great series with plenty for the petrol-heads and most drivers to get excited about, Tons of great races and lots to share.

I don't know about the dub version but I have heard it replaces the music with rap and hip-hop which apparently doesn't 'fit the tension' of the races so maybe this is one for the subtitles this time. The subbed dialogues not too intense or frequent and so doesn't spoil your overall experience.

One for the Nice to Have collection.

8.6 out of 10

-- Flynnstudio 27th Feb 05

Initial D Images