Initial D Anime

The Initial D Anime is EPIC. I could stop here and that would no doubt lead 9 out of 10 of you to check out this Tokyo Pop re-release brought to us by FUNimation. But I can't help myself, for the 1 out of 10 readers that don't yet trust me when I use the word "epic" read on...

This is one of the few anime dvds that changed my life. Seriously. I was more into off-road 2-wheeling and lifted trucks and rock-crawling (my ancient readers may remember the old pictures archived off-line now) than pavement junkie sports. I used to scoff at my friends that ran from the cops at the local midnight strip and take weekend canyon bombs... Then I watched Initial D. Yep... I sold my 4x4 and bought an FF. ----screeeeeech!-FF-what?!?----  For those of you that watched Initial D already, you may wonder why I didn't go the eight-six route... That is the beauty of this anime... every style of racer, setup and course type is covered. There is something for everyone. I felt like I was going to drifting school during each episode! Don't flame my FF... I know it's not drifting - it's power-sliding... but hey, to each their own. Anyway back to the anime dvd review...

Do you remember how uncute everyone in Akira was? Get ready for round 2 (or maybe I've used this analogy clear up to round 300 by now) of uncuteness of character design... Nah... dare is say... ugly character design? The statement like Akira is made clear from the get-go. The character designer of Initial D obviously doesn't want the audience of this show to be fanboys and fangirls over the characters. They want to engage you with the story, science, physics, cars, cliff-hangers and yes... with a few nods of teenage angst to keep the story realistic to a degree.

But PLEASE don't let my snarks on the uncuteness detour you... Every race brings a new technique, a surprise that builds the main character's (Takumi) driver-charisma level to new peaks all the while staying true to his first car... his Trueno 86. I get goose bumps every time I watch this anime and usually DO "try this stuff at home" - get the car re-painted and tap those guardrails again. But don't be like me... Live vicariously through Takumi and the gang it's safer that way. Check out the preview:

Available at your preferred anime retailer, or for order online at the best online anime store, OtakuFuel

^)^