

Both the manga and anime series were initially licensed for English-language distribution in North America by Tokyopop (2002–2009). A live action film by Avex and Media Asia was released in 2005. Initial D has been adapted into several anime television and original video animations series by OB Studio Comet, Studio Gallop, Pastel, A.C.G.T and SynergySP. Although some of the names of the locations the characters race in have been fictionalized, all of the locations in the series are based on actual locations in Japan. The story is centered on the prefecture of Gunma, more specifically on several mountains in the Kantō region and in their surrounding cities and towns.
Initial d deja vu drifter driver#
Professional race car driver and pioneer of drifting Keiichi Tsuchiya helped with editorial supervision. The story focuses on the world of illegal Japanese street racing, where all the action is concentrated in the mountain passes and rarely in cities or urban areas, and with the drifting racing style emphasized in particular. It was serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Magazine from 1995 to 2013, with the chapters collected into 48 tankōbon volumes. Funimation has uploaded all of it, so there's really no excuse to not at least check it out.Initial D ( Japanese: 頭文字 イニシャル D, Hepburn: Inisharu Dī) is a Japanese street racing manga series written and illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno. But in the meantime, if you want to check out this show, you can seriously go ahead and watch all of First Stage on YouTube. I honestly hope it gets some sort of revival, be it in a spiritual sequel or a remake with better animation. That's what I did, and I fuckin loved my time with this show.īut seriously, what an amazing show this was.

It's my favorite anime soundtrack of all-time, and it's perfectly valid to watch for the music and stay for the cool cars. Honestly, the sheer effort and quality put into this show's soundtrack is amazing.

and their excellent work on series' openings and closings (Outsoar the Rainbow, Rage your Dream, Gamble Rumble, Dogfight, and Blazing Beat are my personal favorite pieces). (an underrated mix if you want to check out the origin of Eurobeat)Īnd it wasn't just Eurobeat music that made Initial D's soundtrack amazing, it was also thanks in part to the band M.O.V.E. The amount of excellent Eurobeat tracks in Initial D is immense, and there are many multi-hour megamixes for you to check out if you want more hype Eurobeat goodness: If you've heard the songs Running in the 90's, Deja Vu, or Gas Gas Gas through other videos such as meme compilations, this is the show that made those songs famous, and boy there's more where that came from.

Without a doubt, the aspect about that show that almost renders the manga IRRELEVANT is this show's phenomenal soundtrack, which primarily consists of tracks from a genre of music called Eurobeat (essentially, it's fast-paced techno dance music written by Italians, sung in English for the Japanese market) that was very popular in Japan in the 90s. However, it feels like I've neglected something, but I can't quite figure out what it is. Of course, the show's racing scenes are certainly the highlight and can really include some crazy moments (and if you ONLY care about racing, there is Battle Stage, which ONLY includes the racing). Of course, as the series went on, the CG and animation quality as a whole would improve as well (If you want to find the pinnacle of animation for the series, look no further than the Third Stage Movie). Sure, the CG in the early episodes looks EXTREMELY dated for today, but this kind of approach was really the only way to convey the fluent movement of the cars. The series would go on to gain a bit of a cult following among both anime fans and car enthusiasts alike and was many's first foray into the world of illegal Japanese street racing and would inspire others to become more invested in car culture in general (this was certainly the case for me).
Initial d deja vu drifter full#
On this day 20 years ago, Initial D, a street racing manga about a young spaced-out teen named Takumi becoming the greatest rookie street racer in all of the region all thanks to his impeccable driving skill he developed through the years delivering Tofu for his dad's business on the Akina mountain pass togue as well as his trusty Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno, was adapted to an Anime series that would go on to have 4 full seasons, a movie, and a several OVAs, side stories, and re-adaptations.
