Must watch for petrolheads - Initial D!

[Cockey]

It was my girlfriend who introduced this to me a couple of months ago. She couldn't believe someone with such a love of cars had never watched it - let alone not even heard of it before.

I know a few of you have, with references made recently on the GT86 and AE86 threads, but I'm sure many of you haven't, and if that's the case you really have to give it a go.

I don’t want to give too much away, but the story revolves around a young chap who is, unbeknown to him, an extremely gifted street racer. Whilst officially he may have only just got his driving license, like any good parent, his father had been making him drive the mountain passes at night since the age of 12 in order to make deliveries for his tofu business. He races the tofu shop’s old AE86, and whilst the other street racers drive supped up R32s, RX7s, Evos etc with fancy decals all over them, his rather amusingly looks totally standard and has the Fujiwara Tofu Shop written on the side (In real life, the car has become somewhat of a cult hero over there, and I’m told you often see white AE86s driving round with the tofu shop decals on them).

I’ve never watched Japanese anime before but I’m totally hooked on this. I’m currently on the 5th series. The detail in the cars and the technical data which you get fed during the show is great, and the races are very entertaining. As you can imagine, there are loads of Japanese comics out there, however only the most successful ones become animated, which is a testament to how good Initial D is.

A company called Funimation has the rights and luckily have all the episodes on their You Tube channel (this is great if you have an Xbox). My only advice is not to watch the American dubbed version. It’s so bad you’ll throw yourself in front of the nearest bus.

So, give it a try. Here are the first 6 episodes (only 25 mins each) to get you started:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVG7zusJ1t8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpCWkNRcV48&fea...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bglYf5z5hiI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61nJl9npJVg&fea...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9jkpJRznpo&fea...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKTppypy9DQ

Enjoy!

[Carfiend]

Just don't watch this and then go to try and find some nice twisty roads... as it does say it is all fiction and you should not try it on the roads.

[LocoCoco]

<3 Initial D. I like the race where he's getting blocked off on every corner so he switches off his lights then puts them back on once he's pulled alongside.
The bombshell of who was driving the subaru.
Overtaking at the turn around point.
Using the gutters.
Can't remember their names but the guy with the expert hands and his mate with the expert feet was a good episode too.

The anime movies were good too but the hollywood style movie was awful

Classic anime.

[LocoCoco]

Carfiend said:

Just don't watch this and then go to try and find some nice twisty roads... as it does say it is all fiction and you should not try it on the roads.

Also, don't paint tunnel entrances on cliff faces after watching Road Runner and dont hit people with frying pans after watching Tom & Jerry.

[Carfiend]

I think you will find that painting tunnels works! I use it to skip my way to work every day.

Maybe my last post needed more winks and smiley faces?

[Cockey]

I find it really funny in the first few episodes how he's racing one of the best guys out there, looking totally bored and with one arm resting on the door

[P I Staker]

I have seen clips of this before but never the proper episodes, just watching the first on my Xbox now. Thanks OP.

[petrolsniffer]

I watched all the stages and the live action film years ago was a big fan!

Gave up waiting for stage 5 long ago though.

If you like initial d try wangan midnight based on tokyo street racing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlUGKisZvZI random ep skip to 4min to see a cheesy battle lol

[Marf]

petrolsniffer said:

I watched all the stages and the live action film

The film is probably the most fetid pile of unmitigated crap I've EVER had the misfortune to watch!

[LocoCoco]

Marf said:

petrolsniffer said:

I watched all the stages and the live action film

The film is probably the most fetid pile of unmitigated crap I've EVER had the misfortune to watch!

Agreed sadly, it could have been so awesome too.

[Carfiend]

petrolsniffer said:

Gave up waiting for stage 5 long ago though.

The thing with stage 5 is that they are still writing the comic for it as far as I am aware. So there is nothing to create the series off yet.

[MarkRSi]

Initial D FTW My favourites were the early races with the R32 and EG6, and one of the last battles with 'God Foot' (aka Expert Feet ).

And once you're done with that you can watch this too;

http://youtu.be/GlUGKisZvZI?t=3m53s

ETA Beaten to it.

And yes the action film is a bit st, unlike you like people vomiting and choking on cakes etc.

ETA again and for us bikers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZeLuXkfqm8

Edited by MarkRSi on Wednesday 8th February 11:54

[Carfiend]

Have to also add that I agree the English dub is bad like they all are but they replaced the Europop sound track in the earlier episodes with some generic 90s rock ste. So just suck it up and read the subtitles.

[Cockey]

Ah, maybe I'm on the 4th series then, not 5th. The one where they've made the racing team Project D. Pretty good so far and really enjoying it, but still think 1st series is best of all.

[3sixty]

Was off work ill for a week a few years ago and found IntialD.

Started watching and got through about 3 series. Really enjoyable and the detail is impressive

[Negative Creep]

LocoCoco said:

Marf said:

petrolsniffer said:

I watched all the stages and the live action film

The film is probably the most fetid pile of unmitigated crap I've EVER had the misfortune to watch!

Agreed sadly, it could have been so awesome too.

It is a very dull film indeed

[ajprice]

I've only watched the film. I'll have to see if the series is in the anime section on Netflix.

[Carfiend]

The main thing about the film that annoyed me was that they made Bunta an abusive father. Why?

[Dave Hedgehog]

proper anime is tentacles raping school girls ..

[XitUp]

Carfiend said:

Have to also add that I agree the English dub is bad like they all are but they replaced the Europop sound track in the earlier episodes with some generic 90s rock ste. So just suck it up and read the subtitles.

My mate had the supereurobeat soundtrack on minidisk in his car all the time.

Go Go Spaceboy!

Not watched this in ages, might have to get it all on DVD.