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Initial D
Japanese manga series by Shūichi Shigeno and its franchise From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Initial D (Japanese: 頭文字 D, Hepburn: Inisharu Dī) is a Japanese street racing manga series written and illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno. It was serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Magazine from 1995 to 2013, with the chapters collected into 48 tankōbon volumes. 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. Professional race car driver and pioneer of drifting Keiichi Tsuchiya helped with editorial supervision. 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. 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.
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. A live action film by Avex and Media Asia was released in 2005. Both the manga and anime series were initially licensed for English-language distribution in North America by Tokyopop (2002–2009). However, the anime license has since been picked up by Funimation (now Crunchyroll), while the manga was relicensed by Kodansha USA in 2019.
By April 2021, Initial D had over 55 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series in history.
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Plot
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Takumi Fujiwara is a high school student working part-time at a gas station in Gunma Prefecture alongside his friend Itsuki Takeuchi and their supervisor, Koichiro Iketani, leader of the local Akina Speed Stars racing team. Unbeknownst to them, Takumi has spent years honing his driving skills while making early morning tofu deliveries for his father Bunta in their aging Toyota Sprinter Trueno (AE86).
The racing scene in Gunma is disrupted when the Red Suns, a formidable team from Mount Akagi led by Ryosuke Takahashi, challenge the Speed Stars to a downhill race on Mount Akina. After witnessing the Red Suns' superior performance, the Speed Stars grow demoralized. Later that night, Keisuke Takahashi, the team's second-in-command driving a high-powered Mazda RX-7, is unexpectedly defeated by a mysterious Sprinter Trueno. Investigations point to Bunta as the driver, but when Iketani crashes during practice and begs for his help, Bunta declines before secretly arranging for Takumi to race in his place. Utilizing an unorthodox "gutter run" technique—placing the car's wheels in the road's drainage channels to maintain speed through hairpin corners—Takumi soundly defeats Keisuke.
The victory establishes Takumi as the "Legendary Eight-Six of Akina", attracting challengers from across the region. Though initially indifferent, Takumi gradually develops a passion for racing. His skills are tested when he faces the Emperors, a team specializing in Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions. Outmatched by their superior machinery, Takumi loses to their leader, Kyoichi Sudo, and blows his engine in the process. The Red Suns intervene, defeating the Emperors and preserving Gunma's racing reputation. Bunta replaces the AE86's engine, and with guidance from friends, Takumi refines his technique. He later graduates from high school but continues racing, defeating rivals such as Wataru Akiyama in a Toyota Levin and avenging his loss against Kyoichi on the latter's home course, the Nikko Irohazaka. He also overcomes the son of Bunta's old rival, who drives a Toyota MR2 (SW20). A personal crisis arises when his girlfriend Natsuki Mogi is kidnapped, leading to a dramatic rescue at Lake Akina during winter, though their relationship eventually ends amicably.
Seeking greater challenges, Takumi joins Project D, an expeditionary racing team founded by Ryosuke and Keisuke Takahashi, aiming to prove himself as the fastest driver in Japan. The team faces numerous opponents, including skilled racers from Todo Racing School, the Northern Saitama Alliance, and the underhanded Tsuchisaka Lancer Evolution team. During this time, Takumi is humbled when his father, driving a Subaru Impreza WRX STI, defeats him, forcing him to adapt to four-wheel-drive dynamics. He also develops a relationship with Mika Uehara, while Ryosuke confronts a bitter rival tied to a past tragedy.
Project D's campaign culminates in a climactic race against Shinji Inui of Team Sidewinder. Despite blowing his engine mid-race, Takumi coasts backward across the finish line to secure victory. He retires the AE86 from competition, opting to restore it gradually. Ryosuke disbands Project D, revealing the meaning behind its name and shifting focus to mentoring new drivers. Keisuke pursues professional racing, while Takumi resumes tofu deliveries in his father's Subaru.
Years later, Takumi transitions to rally racing, eventually becoming a world champion; this would lead to the events of MF Ghost, another series by Shigeno.
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Media
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Manga
Written and illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno, Initial D was serialized for eighteen years by Kodansha in the seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Magazine, starting on the July 17, 1995 issue,[a] and concluded on July 29, 2013.[6][7] Kodansha collected its 719 individual chapters in forty-eight tankōbon volumes, released from November 6, 1995,[8] to November 6, 2013.[9]
In North America, the manga was licensed for English release by Tokyopop (along with the anime series) in 2001.[10][11] The company changed the names of the characters in the anime edition, and subsequently changed them in the manga to match.[12][13] These name changes matched the name changes that Sega implemented into the Western releases of the Initial D Arcade Stage video games.[12] Tokyopop also censored the brief scenes of nudity from the original manga.[1] In addition, "street slang" was interlaced in translations.[13] The company released thirty-three volumes from May 21, 2002,[14] to January 13, 2009,[15] before they announced in August 2009 that their manga licensing contracts with Kodansha had expired.[16] In April 2019, ComiXology and Kodansha USA announced that they had released volumes 1 to 38 digitally, while volumes 39 to 48 were released in July of the same year.[17][18] In August 2023, Kodansha USA announced that they would be re-releasing the manga in an omnibus format with new translation and lettering beginning in 2024.[19] The first volume was released on March 19, 2024; it has three cover variants: a new cover made by Kodansha USA, a Crunchyroll and direct market exclusive variant, and a Kinokuniya Books variant.[20] As of December 3, 2024, four volumes have been released.[21]
Anime
Avex has released the anime in several parts called Stages. A recurrent feature of the anime is its extensive usage of Eurobeat as background music in race scenes, especially by Italian singers.
- Initial D (referred to retroactively as First Stage): 26 episodes (1998)
- Initial D Second Stage: 13 episodes (1999)
- Initial D Extra Stage: 2-episode OVA side-story focusing on Impact Blue (2000)
- Initial D Third Stage: a 104-minute movie (2001)
- Initial D Fourth Stage: 24 episodes (2004–2006)
- Initial D Extra Stage 2: a 50-minute OVA side-story focusing on Mako and Iketani (2008)
- Initial D Fifth Stage: 14 episodes (2012–2013)[22]
- Initial D Final Stage: 4 episodes (2014)
- New Initial D the Movie - Legend 1: Awakening: feature movie (2014)
- New Initial D the Movie - Legend 2: Racer: feature movie (2015)
- New Initial D the Movie - Legend 3: Dream: feature movie (2016)
The Battle Stages are musical films serving as a compilation of the racing action scenes in the preceding series, stripped of all but minimal character dialog and featuring new music.
- Initial D Battle Stage: a 50-minute movie (2002)
- Battle Stage is a compilation of races from the first three series, except for Extra Stage. The battles from First Stage have been reanimated and remastered with the more advanced CGI used in Third Stage, however the character art remains the same. A battle not featured in either the manga or the anime is featured, using the new CGI and old character art.
- Initial D Battle Stage 2: a 1-hour movie (2007)
- Battle Stage 2 is a compilation of races from Fourth Stage with unchanged CGI, even for the hidden battles. It features Keisuke's first two races as part of Project D, as they were not featured in Fourth Stage.
- Initial D Battle Stage 3: (2021)
- Battle Stage 3 features every race from Fifth Stage and Final Stage. Unlike the previous two battle stages, it does not feature any new battles, and does not feature any character dialogue.
- New Initial D the Movie Battle Digest: (2022)
- A recap of the movie trilogy with additional scenes of the characters test driving their cars.
In 1998, Initial D was adapted into an animated television series produced by OB Planning and Prime Direction. The first episode premièred on Fuji TV on April 8, 1998. The initial series ran for 26 weekly episodes with the finale airing on December 5, 1998.
The second series, named "Second Stage", aired from October 14, 1999, to January 20, 2000, with a one-week break over the New Year period. This was followed by animated feature film in 2001 and an OVA documenting all battles from the previous three stages, with the battles from First Stage being re-animated.
Initial D Third Stage was a feature film covering the story arcs between the second and fourth stage, released in Japan on January 13, 2001.
In 2004, Initial D Fourth Stage aired on SkyPerfecTV's pay-per-view service, airing two episodes back-to-back every two months. 24 episodes were made until the final episodes were aired in February 2006.
Following Second Stage in 2000, Initial D Extra Stage was aired as a spinoff to the original series. This story focused on the all-female Impact Blue team of Usui Pass and their point of view of the recent events of Second Stage and the upcoming Third Stage movie. This was followed by Extra Stage 2 in 2008, which look at the relationship between Impact Blue's Mako Sato and Iketani of the SpeedStars (following on from the original side-story in the manga).
Eight years after the release of "Fourth Stage" in 2004, Animax aired "Initial D Fifth Stage". Animax has aired the series on a pay-per-view basis on SKY PerfecTV!'s Perfect Choice Premier 1 channel.[23] The first two episodes aired on November 9, 2012. The rest of the episodes were broadcast two per month till May 10, 2013.[23]
In 2014, "Initial D Final Stage" became the latest installment in the anime series. Animax has aired its first two episodes on a pay-per-view basis on its own brand new Animax Plus channel, on May 16, 2014, on its new subscription video on demand (VOD) service, which allows subscribers to watch all the latest anime series. Initial D Final Stage starts right after where Fifth Stage left off. It consists of four episodes.[24] The final two episodes were broadcast on June 22, 2014.
Since the anime's original run, Japanese musical group m.o.v.e has performed all of the opening and some ending themes of the series. This followed on from the success of one of their first hits, "Around the World", which was used as the first opening of First Stage. Their latest single to be used in the series is called "Outsoar The Rainbow" and it is used as Final Stage's opening.[25] They had another recent unreleased song, "Days". It was played in the finale of "Final Stage".
Like in the manga, Tokyopop changed elements of the anime to suit Western audiences. As well as changing the names and using western slang, the company also changed the anime's music from the series' staple eurobeat tracks to originally developed tracks of rap and hip-hop via Stu Levy (DJ Milky), the Tokyopop CEO and an in-house musician.[12]
In 2006, Funimation announced that it would be distributing the DVDs of the anime (since Tokyopop's original distributor went bankrupt). This new distribution was marked by slightly revised packaging and two box sets corresponding to the licensed seasons Tokyopop had dubbed, although the DVDs themselves were exactly the same as the original Tokyopop release.
Tokyopop had completed an English subtitled version of Third Stage, and screened it at the Big Apple Anime Fest on August 29, 2003.[26] This version of Third Stage reportedly retained the original Japanese soundtrack, in contrast to their treatment of the rest of the anime series. This version of the film was never released on DVD, although Tokyopop mentioned its plan to release it in 2006.[27]
At the New York Anime Festival 2009, Funimation announced that it would be re-releasing and re-dubbing Initial D: First Stage, Second Stage, Extra Stage, Third Stage, and Fourth Stage. Their release included a brand new English dub and retained the original music from the Japanese in an uncut format. Funimation released the series out of order, with the Third and Fourth Stages releasing before the First and Second Stages.[28] The first Extra Stage was included in the Second Stage box set.
Animated feature film series
In July 2013, it was announced that another feature film, titled New Initial D the Movie, and a last anime series, Initial D Final Stage, would be produced.[29] The movie is a retelling of the early Stages with a wholly new voice cast and is split into three parts, with the first part released on August 23, 2014, titled Legend 1: Awakening, the second part was released May 23, 2015, titled Legend 2: Racer, the third part released on February 6, 2016, titled Legend 3: Dream.[30]
Video games
- Initial D Gaiden (1998): Game Boy
- Initial D Koudou Saisoku Densetsu (1999): Sega Saturn
- Initial D (1999): PS1
- Initial D: Ryosuke Takahashi's Fastest Typing-theory (2000/2001): PC/Mac & PS2
- Initial D Second Stage: Fastest Typing in Kanto Project (2001): PC/Mac
- Initial D Arcade Stage / Initial D (2002): Arcade (NAOMI 2)[31]
- Initial D Another Stage (2002): GBA
- Initial D Arcade Stage Ver.2 / Initial D Ver.2 (2003): Arcade (NAOMI 2)[32]
- Initial D Collectible Card Game (2003): Collectible Card Game
- Initial D Special Stage (2003): PS2
- Initial D Mountain Vengeance (2004): PC
- Initial D Arcade Stage 3/Initial D Version 3 (2004): Arcade (NAOMI 2)[33]
- Initial D Street Stage (2006): PSP
- Initial D Arcade Stage 4 / Initial D 4 (2006): Arcade (Lindbergh)[34]
- Initial D Arcade Stage 4 Limited (2007): Arcade (Lindbergh)
- Initial D Arcade Stage 4 Kai (2008): Arcade (Lindbergh)[34]
- Initial D Extreme Stage (2008): PS3
- Initial D Arcade Stage 5 (2009): Arcade (Lindbergh)[35]
- Initial D Arcade Stage 6 AA (2011): Arcade (RingEdge)[36]
- Initial D Arcade Stage 7 AAX (2012): Arcade (RingEdge)[37]
- Initial D Arcade Stage 8 ∞ (Infinity) (2014): Arcade (RingEdge/RingEdge 2)[38]
- Initial D: Perfect Shift Online (2014): Nintendo 3DS eShop (free-to-play)
- Initial D Arcade Stage Zero (2017): Arcade (Sega Nu2)[39]
- Initial D RPG: Sony Ericsson mobile phone
- Initial D Pachislot (2021): Arcade
- Initial D The Arcade (2021): Arcade (ALLS)[40]
- P Initial D (2022): Arcade
Live-action film
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A live-action film based on Initial D was released on June 23, 2005, in Asia. The film was jointly produced by Japan's Avex Inc. and Hong Kong's Media Asia Group. It was directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, whose credits include the 2002 Hong Kong blockbuster Infernal Affairs. The adaptation featured Taiwanese singer Jay Chou as Takumi Fujiwara and Hong Kong stars Edison Chen as Ryosuke Takahashi and Shawn Yue as Takeshi Nakazato. Despite many changes to the original plot, the film was met with generally positive reviews and was nominated for multiple awards, including Best Picture, at the Hong Kong Film Awards and Golden Horse Awards, winning many of them.
In October 2023, actor Sung Kang stated that he is working on developing another live-action film and is "trying" to direct it.[43]
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Reception
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By July 2013, collected tankōbon volumes of the Initial D manga series had sold 48 million copies.[44] By April 2021, Initial D had over 55 million copies in circulation.[45]
Initial D received praise. The Anime Review rated it A−, with the reviewer calling it "simply the best show I've seen in a long time."[46] Bamboo Dong of Anime News Network rated it B−, stating it "is the first time in a long while since I've been so fired up about a series, so I recommend to everyone to at least check this out."[47] Some fans of Initial D reacted negatively to the Tokyopop's extensive editing and changes made in the English-language version of the manga. Similar reactions were made towards their English dub's script and voice acting, and the removal of the original music from the anime series. Tokyopop said that it was trying to Americanize the series so it could be aired on television, while at the same time keeping the Japanese spirit of the series.[12]
Reviews of the Funimation re-release of the anime note a marked improvement from the Tokyopop iteration, with most complaints leveled against the lack of anamorphic widescreen on the DVDs. Initial D has drawn comparisons to the later Fast & Furious film franchise (debuted 2001), particularly The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006),[48][49] for which Initial D's consultant, Keiichi Tsuchiya,[50][51][52] served as a stunt coordinator and also made a cameo appearance in the film as a fisherman.[52][53]
See also
- Wangan Midnight, another car racing-themed manga produced by Michiharu Kusonoki, focusing on highway racing in Tokyo's Bayshore Route
Notes
- It started in the magazine's 30th issue of 1995, with cover date July 17.[4][5]
References
External links
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