Initial D

[OmegaWolf]

Initial D is one of my favorite animes and recently I found out that after a 4 or 5 year hiatus funimation has brought the third season (which is a movie but it counts as the third season) and the fourth season to the U.S. and as an added bonus the English dub is actually good this time. When Initial D was first released they replaced all the super euro beat style music of the show with rap and rap/rock hybrid music that was really bad luckily they left the original music in the Japanese language track. This time though They didn't mess with the music and the voice actors and translation is very good.

The story of the anime is good with some decent non racing plot points thrown in and good character development for the main characters but a lot of the secondary characters are throw away and sometimes super annoying. But the main draw is the cars, the music and the racing. If you like pretty cars going very fast down a mountain sideways then you'll love this show.



The video above is from the battle stage collection. It should give you a good taste of what the show is like. The battle stage dvds are just the races one after another and as far as I know only available with the Japanese special edition dvds.

[Kei]

Hmm, I've never seen Initial D... but that video clip reminds me of a certain Cromartie High School episode.

(Start at 1:31)

[Stilts]

Like Ritsu, I've never actually watched Initial D; but whenever someone mentions it, I think of Overdrift:



"It's impossible to drive straight!"

[Kagami]

I liked Initial D 4th stage the most. Hit the mark with Takumi and Project D, plus the cars were great. Need to get them on DVD...

[OmegaWolf]

I liked Initial D 4th stage the most. Hit the mark with Takumi and Project D, plus the cars were great. Need to get them on DVD...

I agree with you and you might want to check out Wangan Midnight Its made by the same team and what I've seen of it is pretty good. Its focus is on highway and street racing instead of mountain drift racing.

[OmegaWolf]

I don't think a lot of people have actually watched Initial D which is a shame because it really is a good show. Am pretty sure it didn't sell to well here in the states the first time it was released. For some reason sports type anime just don't do well here.