Initial D

When it comes to animation, you have to give the Japanese the title of being the best. There was a time animation was plainly two-dimensional art but they pushed the boundaries and made it appear as if it’s three dimensional with the likes of “Macross.” They pretty much made anime series for all sorts of genres from giant robots (Gundam, Voltes V, Daimos etc), martial arts (Ghost Fighter, Dragon Ball Z, Flame of Recca etc), sports (Captain Tsubasa, Slam Dunk etc) and there was even a series about cooking (though I forgot the title). Anime as a word that the world would later accept has varying concepts and themes but present in all forms would be the attention to details the Japanese are known for and the manner they tell a story.

                                    

At the same time I was learning how to drive two years ago, a new series invaded Philippine TV through Animax. Although it is a bit delayed to reach our shores (as usual), “Initial D” as the title explores the fascination of Japanese with street (drift) racing in mountain passes composed of uphill and downhill segments. It started out as a comic book (manga) before it was adapted to anime, later on a video game and a movie. One element that made it more interesting is the use of “J-Pop” for its soundtrack. You cannot help but notice the sense of speed it brings during races. Although it’s in Japanese, which I don’t understand, I can’t help but appreciate the beat by the band “Move.”

The series revolves around a teenager named Takumi Fujiwara whose name alone which sounds like the first syllable of “tachometer” gives you a hint that it’s about cars and racing. A simple, most of the time quiet kid working as a part time gasoline attendant by day and helps his father Bunta, a famous street racer in his time, with the family business by delivering tofu. The car he uses is a “Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno GT-Apex” also called “Panda” because of its black and white color scheme. My first reaction seeing the car was that it’s outdated compared to the cars available in video games like Gran Turismo 4 and the ones you see in Top Gear and the horsepower is ancient compared to present ones.  As each season rolled out (1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Stage), modifications to the interior and exterior of the car made it look sinister and viciously fast. 

For fans of GT4, there’s actually a Trueno that can be bought with the same color scheme used in the anime (but without the sign of the tofu shop on the side) designed by Shuichi Shigeno, the creator of Initial D himself. The good thing about the Trueno is that it has a front engine rear drive configuration (FR) so it’s suited for drift racing.

 

                                                                    

Takumi got into racing to save his friend Iketani, who is the leader of the Akina Speed Stars, from humiliation by assuming the top driver of the group after he figured in an accident before his race against Keisuke Takahashi of the Red Suns. However, Iketani didn’t expect that Takumi would be the driver as they were expecting his father Bunta whom Iketani asked earlier to drive for them.He won his first race to the surprise of Iketani and his best friend Itsuki, unknown to them he has mastered the course since he had driven through Mount Akina for the past five years. He would go on to beat a lot of top drivers from other teams and develop driving skills and race tactics mostly during each race. He went up against modern cars like the Mazda RX-7 FD, Civic EG-6, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo (4WD), Nissan Skyline R32 (4WD) but always ends up ahead. Takumi joined the “Project D” team (4th stage) headed by Ryusuke Takahashi (Keisuke’s brother, top driver of the Red Suns which he beat during the 1st Stage) together with Keisuke as the teams two top drivers with the former specializing on the downhill battle (term used for race) and the latter for the uphill battle.

Initial D is not just all about racing, drifting and all you can possibly experience as a teenager (teenage love and disappointments). Underneath it all, it is about the relationship between a father and his son. Bunta schemingly passed on to Takumi what he treasures most aside from his family and he did this without asking his son directly. By making Takumi deliver tofu everyday early in the morning to a hotel crossing Mount Akina through dry, wet and snowy weather, he eventually developed his son’s driving skills. After each delivery, he observes the condition of the car, tires etc and to test his son’s skill, he tries different engine and suspension settings without even telling Takumi. Although Takumi’s skill is so far superior against his peers, he has yet to beat his father.

Initial D is not your typical anime so don’t expect cute animals/characters chasing each other around with ironically the protagonist pounding the hell out of the antagonist (and they say cartoons are just for kids) but there are funny moments mostly by Itsuke. There’s a lot of technical stuff about cars that are discussed, in the same way Slam Dunk explains techniques in basketball, by Ryusuke with each race that relates to tactics.  If you’re into cars and racing, you’ll definitely like Initial D but don’t even try to imitate Takumi’s driving or try drifting without proper training.