Initial D Anime Review

Reader Review

• Reviewer: M. Othman
• Review Date: 2005-11-28 (updated 2010-09-15)
• 3 stars out of 5 (?)

If you've ever seen any "sports" anime you'll know how this one goes. Determined young man beating the odds in his sport of choice in every episode while learning important lessons in life. Based on the manga of the same name, the sport in question here is car racing (downhill car racing to be exact; downhill drift racing to be even more exact), but the rest is accurate enough. That's not to say that Initial D isn't good of course.

With a formula like this it's all too easy to make a very shallow anime with shallow characters. Fortunately, Initial D manages not to fall too deeply into that quagmire. The characters are well formed and fairly three-dimensional. Some care is put into character development, too; Takumi in particular grows a lot during the series. Takumi doesn't hog the stage light either--other characters get their own chance at exposition and growth. While the focus of Initial D is on the races, it equally focuses on the racers themselves. Their motivations; their love lives; how racing changes their lives for better or worse.

But, of course, where Initial D really shines is the racing (wouldn't be much of a racing anime otherwise, would it?). While the characters are your regular hand-painted 2D animation, the cars and the race sequences are detailed 3D CGI. The pace is furious, and you can practically smell the adrenaline pumping, all enhanced by a dose of terrific racing music. The races manage to be exhilarating and still look quite realistic (no cars spinning 180 degrees, changing to reverse, and still maintaining top speed, thank you very much), and will definitely induce the highly impressionable to go down and take the ol' gas guzzler for a high-speed spin or two.

Which is another highlight of the series: realism. The techniques used are real. The cars are real, down to the noise they make. Even the race courses are real (although names were changed to stop fanboys from locating them and trying their hands at the real thing). The characters spout plenty of technical jargon, too, but thankfully the anime doesn't dwell on that too much, so even if you're just a novice and can't tell the difference between an inertia drift and grip style you'll still get along well. If you just like fast things that go zoom you'll get along particularly well.

Animation-wise this show is a bit of let down. While the races are 3D and quite well rendered for a TV series, the rest of the animation (people and non car-shaped objects) are decidedly ugly, especially the character designs which are faithful to the manga designs. The contrast gives Initial D an uneven look, which is a bit jarring, though it manages to grow on you in time.

On the other hand, Initial D's music is easily one of the series' main highlights--catchy, pulse-pounding, hard to forget, and suits the racing motif to a T, actively adding to the excitement of the races. Several well-known Japanese "Euro-beat" artists such as MOVE contribute to the wonderful soundtrack, including several ending themes.

A very important thing to note is that I'm reviewing the subtitled version, which everyone should watch as opposed to the dubbed version. While I'm quite neutral in regards to the infamous Dub vs. Sub Wars I feel I am justified in putting my foot down just this once. When Tokyo Pop acquired the rights to Initial D, they planned for it to be a TV release riding on the popularity of street racing culture in the US (i.e. "The Fast and the Furious"). If that doesn't make your Spidey danger senses tingle go see a doctor, you're a vegetable.

Names were of course changed to something more "American friendly," but I can always overlook that. It's just one of those lesser evils you learn to live with. What was an unforgivable crime was changing the whole soundtrack to more mainstream Hip Hop, replacing the wonderfully upbeat Euro Beat songs of the original. I've never understood the reasoning of Hip Hop as racing music. They also changed the engine noise to sound more beefy. Baffling. So just be a good anime Otaku and stick to the subs. Just this once.

One other thing. First Stage is Initial D's first season, which is what this review is covering. So far, it is followed by Second Stage (the 2nd season), Extra Stage (an OAV covering some of the secondary characters), Third Stage (movie) and Fourth Stage (the 4th season, which at the time of writing is still being aired I believe).

So to sum that all up, Initial D: First Stage is something of a clichéd anime. But it does what it sets out to do and does it very well. Nothing groundbreaking mind you. If the subject matter doesn't really interest you, then of course Initial D probably won't change your mind, although a little peek at the first episodes wouldn't hurt. Racing fans, on the other hand, will be in racing heaven (just smell that good ol' burning rubber in the air!). Just be sure to heed the warning that comes at the beginning of each episode: obey traffic laws and regulations! Excuse me while I take my car for a spin... or two.

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