Initial D - Battle 1 - Akina's Downhill Specialist
001 4 It's mangled , just like the manga ( US release ) . In the English version on the disc , they really bent over for American Censorship ( TM ) . K.T . ? Natalie ? Iggy ? Who came up with these names ? Also , the original creators actually sampled the authentic engine sounds for each of the different cars for the original version . But the english audio has these tricked out rice rockets in an attempt to be cooler ' and more hip to the same people who think The Fast and the Furious is real . The background music as well was mangled , as they replaced the original tracks with - face it - horrible garage and punk bands . The major KICK-IN-THE-PANTS is that the relationship between Natsumi ( errr , Natalie ? ) and her daddy has been deeply removed . I guess enjou kosai is too deep a subject for American audiences . My advice ? Don't buy the TOKYOPOP release . Save your money for the R2 ' s .
029 4 I'm interested in getting the original Japanese release , but , the only reason . . . Its A LOT cheaper than the TP version , and you can get the ENTIRE series right now . But , the TP version wins me over , for one reason . . . When I watch something , I don't want to read , or watch other activities when trying to pay attention to a story . I'd rather just WATCH , and listen . Anyway you slice it though , Initial D , is a great watch , and , as proved by my fiance , can be enjoyed ( as well as infect ) , even by people who don't know about cars : )
017 4 Initial D tells the tale of an 18 - year old high school student Takumi Tak Fujwara and his very ugly buddy and fellow gas station worker Itsuki Iggy Takeuchi . Iggy dreams of owning a racing car , especially the classic Eight-Six . Tak does not share his friend's fascination with racing or cars . In fact , Tak does not even realize he drives his friend's dream car every night making deliveries for his father's tofu shop . Tak only knows his father's car is a Toyoto Trueno , not realizing it and the legendary Eight-Six are one in the same . Tak also does not realize that his father , Bunta , who was once the best downhill street racer , is teaching him everything he knows , testing his skills by giving him a cup of water and having him hit the corners at incredible speeds without spilling a drop .
This DVD introduces you to the main characters of the story , including Natalie who is supposed to be the hottest girl at the high school but , to me , looks like a younger version of that runaway bride with the huge eyes . The downhill racers of Akina are taking on the Red Suns , who look like they are easily going to defeat the locals on their own turf . Again , unbeknownst to Tak himself , he out-drives the Red Suns ' #2 driver during a tofu delivery run causing a big stir in the downhill racing community . That is where the three-episode DVD will leave you . Tak does not know yet what an incredible driver he is and is only hoping to win a tank of gas from his father to drive Natalie to the beach after his first race . One part I think is pretty funny is when Tak and Iggy see Natalie's underwear peaking beneath her very short skirt ( shocking ! ! ! I guess that's where it gets its PG13 rating ! ! ) .
You can watch the video in the classic video or enhanced video style . I watched the enhanced and just a little of the classic to compare and , to be honest , I couldn't tell much difference . The cars look very realistic in most of the driving scenes in both styles . You can also watch it with Japanese or English dialogue with or without subtitles . It is odd hearing the American voices with Japanese names and towns . I know nothing about cars and really could care less about them , but I found myself totally engrossed in the storyline and have tracked down Battle 02 so I can find out what happens . Anyone who likes cars and anime will definitely like this . I'm not familiar with either ( certainly not cars ) and I liked it .
002 4 I love Initial D . Initial D is one of the best animes out there . And I've been paciently waiting its arrival in the U.S . After buying and watching Battle 1 I've got a few things to say . There's good knews and bad knews . The good knews is that Inital D is a great show . The story , the characters , the cars , and definately the racing is awesome . I really like the whole CG effect used . The bad knews is that the tricked out version on this dvd is absolute garbage . They changed way too much . First off , they changed the music from the awesome eurobeat techno type of stuff which gets your blood pumping , to some really gay and loud rap . Not only is the music horrible , but in almost all parts of the episodes , the music is so loud you can't here what the characters are saying . Another bad thing is that the voices and some of the things they say have been somewhat changed . There is not possible way that they could have made Iggy's voice more annoying . The good thing is the enhanced video . It seems that the picture is clearer and brighter than the orriginal which makes it much easier to watch . Despite all these drawbacks , the best thing is that you can watch the original Japanese on this dvd . My advice is to choose the original version , make sure subtitles are on , and then also make sure in the settings part the video is on enhanced video . Because that way you can watch it with original music and voices , yet keep the higher quality video . That is the savior of this DVD . If it weren't for the horrible english version that has been created , I would have given this DVD a 5 . Get it , no questions asked . Just make sure you watch it in Japanese . ^ _ ^
003 4 Ugh , I've been a fan of Initial D for several years . For those of you not familiar with Initial D , the series has been divided into three stages , 1st stage , 2nd stage , and 3rd stage . From reading about the product on the website it sounded to me like this dvd contained all episosdes from first stage ( probably 10 + episodes , im not sure the exact number ) . Well in actuality this dvd has 3 episodes from first stage , barely enough episodes to get the plot even started . I was very dissapointed when I found this out . Also , even though they have a classic setting on the dvd , they still changed the subtitles . Even despite that they change the wording , what I found particularly annoying was that they tended to cut long sentences in half . If you can read at any reasonable speed though , you are left waiting to read the next half of the sentence . It makes the dialog feel much less smooth . Maybe for the price I shouldn't have expected all of the first stage episodes , but at the same time , 3 episodes at probabably 20 - 25 minutes each doesn't seem like its worth what I paid ( although with all the extra features they get to say they have 150 minutes of footage ) .
I was extremely dissapointed with this product , and I'm going to go see if I can exchange it or anything right this second .
004 4 Man I am reading some of your reviews and I must say STOP BI * CHING ! I mean I see people complaining about the American version of Inital D and how they changed the music SO WHAT ! Toykopop also added the Japanese verison for people that like to read the fast subtitles and miss the action .
The story is great about Tak not even knowing that he is a born street racer and he non-shalate ( sp ? ) atittude makes he a very good main character . To me this is the best of Anime and street racing all in one cartoon !
005 4 Takami Fujiwara doesn't know why his best friends Iggy and Cole are always making such a big deal out of racing down Mt . Akina all the time like it's some ultimate accomplishment in their lives . Cole even has a pro team called the Speed Stars which owns the bragging rights for fastest times down the mountain . Little do they know that Tak's father was a great racer in his own time and has taught Tak everything he knew . Not for racing , but to deliver tofu for his business ! Iggy and Cole talk Tak into getting a job with them to save up money to buy an Eight Six , a legendary racing car . Imagine their shock when they find out that the car Tak has been delivering tofu in IS an Eight Six but he was so ignorant of automobiles he didn't even know what it was ! Another racing team , the Red Suns , arrives on the scene to conquer the Speed Stars , and even Cole might not be able to beat them . But there is a car , like a ghost in the night , that defeated one of the Red Suns . . . . that just happens to have been an Eight-Six ! Will Tak reveal his skills to his friends to keep Mt . Akina under Speed Star territory or not ?
Initial D looks so bad visually that any good points it has are undercut . The character designs look awful with everybody's head looking like swollen bananas and their lips looking like dead butterflys . It almost felt like I was watching the Simpsons ! But I can't fault the anime creators because the manga looks just as bad and looks like a fan comic that somehow caught on with the teenage set during the street racing craze . So this sketchy and unfinished look was translated to the anime . What's funny is that in the middle of these awful looking characters are these CG cars that stand out in huge contrast to the crudeness of the animation around them and look like rhinoceri sliding across ice . The shaky edit cuts where the picture literally jumps doesn't increase my respect for the show either . It was mildly entertaining , but to me , for a racing anime , there wasn't a lot of racing , just a lot of talking by faces that would look at home on the Munsters . Interesting enough to try the second volume .
006 4 Theres only one thing wrong with this anime . The characters are poorly drawn , but other than that its an awesome anime with a great story behind it . The story starts with a car formally called a 86 ' toyota driving down the hill of Akina . There are conflicts between the racing gangs known as the RedSuns and the SpeedStars . I highly recommend this movie to anyone who likes a good story and enjoys cars ! ! !
007 4 although i didnt purchase any of the initial D dvd's i did see all of the episodes they feature and from what i saw they dont leave much to be desired . the animators really went all out for the racing scenes and it was worth it . it was all around a good series and there are only two minor complaints i have about it , the subtitles were a little fast , either that or im a slow reader , and secondly the show falls into the same trap that every other good anime has and that is the occasional corny line here and there but otherwise this series was mesmerising , and one of my favorite things about it was that it was one of the more realstic ones that I've seen unlike those childish shows like dragon ball or pokemon .
008 4 This is an awesome anime series . If you're a fan of cars and / or anime then this is for you ! Some people are calling this the Fast and the Furious in animation , but it is much different . F F focuses on illegal drag racing and the use of nitrous to win every race while Initial D is about the Drift and grip styles which take a lot more skill to master and it also shows that you don't need super power to win .
The racing scenes are awesome and done in CGI while they also keep the typical Japanese animation style for the characters . Tokyopop brought this series over and changed the names of the characters and the music to make it more hip , which in my opinion is lame . While they offer the original or the ' tricked out ' version , they still cut some important scenes that you will need to see to understand stage 2 ( season 2 ) which may or may not be released .
Overall , it's very well done and fun to watch . Reading subtitles isn't as hard as a lot of people think and you won't miss any of the action . I gave it 4 stars because they changed the original music , names , and cut some scenes .
009 4 I am a HUGE fan of Initial D and I was very disappointed to hear that the music was changed and names were changed . I haven't seen the American version but to hear these changes were made is appalling . The music is a major part of the series , the whole Japanese culture is a huge part of this show . It cannot be compared to Fast and Furious . Get the subbed version , reading isn't as bad as you would think , you get used to it very quickly . As to the Japanese version I cannot recommend it enough .
011 4 I did rated this one star because it couldn't go any lower than one star . I've been a fan of Initial D since it's fan sub days . I was so excited that it A ) got picked up . B Got picked up by Tokyopop . Tokyopop has such a wonderful reputation that I was positive that this would be good . Unfortunately , I should have known there were going to be problems . First of all , they had it for between one to two years . It took forever to release . You'd think it was because they were working hard to do a good job , but no . Secondly , when the manga was released we all noticed that the names were changed . We were all worried . Turns out , we had a reason to be . I have never seen such utter garbage in my life . I've seen terrible dubs before but this hurt . Even David Lucas couldn't save it , not that it sounds like he tried . And the music . Oh My God The Music . Why mess with success ? Why change a soundtrack that has created god knows how many well selling albums ? ? Why Why Why ? ? ? The music is part of what made the series wonderful . My advice don't buy it . My advice if you do buy it , only watch the subtitled verion . Why , because the classic version is the orignal version . And it is beautiful . The series is wonderful . I love Initial D . What Tokyopop put out was so bad it was pathetic .
012 4 You know , I've read review after review bashing this DVD simply because of the Tricked Out version included . Seems to me like a bunch of Initial D fanboys are trying to trash TOKYOPOP instead of giving a fair review . . .
Initial D is about a guy named Takumi who unknowingly becomes good with handling his car down the sharp curves of Mt . Akina in Japan while delivering tofu from his father's shop . The first 3 episodes build up a race between the local racing team the Speed Stars and the rival Redsuns , and honestly , it has my attention . I'm not one for street racing or anything related , but this first volume really has me wanting more .
Audio and video on this disc seem solid . Usually I only listen to the origianl Japanese track for my anime , but I decided to give the dub a try . Sure enough , the dub is full of name changes and touch ups to the script along with a brand new soundtrack . Needless to say , I won't be listening to that ever again . Extras are pretty slim with only TOKYOPOP previews and some info on the cars in the show .
I guess I have to adress the altered subtitle in one episode . Basically , it deals with one female character being involved with a man MUCH older than her ( read : child prostitution ) . The subtitle reads , But you've already seen me in a swimsuit . The actual translation is , But you've already seen all of me . I'm not really into people altering stuff , but I can definatly make an exception for this .
Overall , if you don't listen to dubs and can get over the fact that one ( yes , 1 ) subtitle was altered , then I'd suggest checking out this disc . The price is right for only 3 episodes .
013 4 It's series like this that dampen the beautitude of anime . I bought Initial D after I read an artical and found the story intriguing . While watching though , I could hardly pay attention . . . I had literally dropped my jaw at how awful a thing I was watching . The animation is generally terrible and hardly fluid . Many times in one episode the screen even tended to shudder .
During the cg car sequences the enhanced cars did not fit in well with the normal backgrounds , and why someone found it necessary to replace the original and better car audio with a horrible new track in the english version keeps me awake at night . Also in the english version , the original music was replaced by some annoying hiphop or punk sounding junk . Could the horrible quality of this dvd partially ( or mostly ) be Tokyopop's fault ? Probably . . .
For those who enjoy watching translated anime , you will be VERY disappointed with Initial D's english version for many more reasons than just the new car sounds and music . Most of the voices are terrible and unprofessional , and the dialouge has been thoroughly damaged through translating . Many characters have also been given ridiculous new names . . . this was quite insulting . . . for me anyway . I mean , it's not THAT hard to remember the original japanese names of these people .
Street racing is an interesting concept for an anime , and though I despised this dvd I still like the story of Intial D . As dissapointing as both original and english versions were , it's nice knowing that the series was not all action and there was an actual deeper story involved . So , if you're interested in the story of Initial D ( which I failed to mention anything about and no longer have any room left to do so ) I suggest reading the manga . . . it can't be worse than this dvd . Please . . . I beg you , avoid the anime if you do not wish to feel the regret that I have in buying it .
014 4 English version 0 / 5 Stars -
I'm sorry . They really should have left the background music and sound effects alone . Whoever they payed to make the new music needs to be shot . Then there are the engine sounds . None of them even match up with the type of car . What is even worse is that they change for the same car . Also , what is with Itsuki acting like a wanna-be thug ? It sounds stupid . Tokyopop should have either found somebody who knows about cars before making audio changes , or just left the own damn audio alone .
Japanese side 4 / 5 Stars
Not much to say about the Japanese side . Engine sound doesn't change for the same car . Original soundtrack . Subtitles are ok .
NOTE : I am biased . I watched Initial D when it was originally aired on TV in Japan .
015 4 Let me say in advance that I am not a fan of tokoypop . Never have been . Furthermore , I had read in advance about all the horrible things which were going to pop up in this US series of DVD releases . . . and I can honestly say that I'm more impressed and pleased with the product than I was expecting .
The Good : Original Japanese video track and audio track . Ability to customize your viewing between different language and video tracks .
The Bad : Horrific English audio track with awful voice acting and a ridiculous amount of script-changing .
The Ugly : ' Tricked Out ' Graphics .
Just Sad : English subtitles EDITED for some questionable content .
Conclusion : At this price , I say it's worth the buy , if only for watching the original japanese subtitled version of the episodes . Don't like the english audio ? Then don't listen to it . You're not paying any extra for it anyway , thus I won't down-rate the product for it . Frankly the only reason I give this 4 stars instead of 5 is because of the content editing in the subtitles . There is absolutely no excuse for this . Overall , still very enjoyable and I'm glad to finally have it in North America .
016 4 Initial D has a very catchy story line , one that will hook you and never let you go . I understand why this animation would tick people off though cause it looks like it's from the 80 ' s . Plus the not so great shift to computer graphics when it's time for them to get the street racing going is almost intolerable because of it's unrealistic look . It takes little time to spark a story with an idiot that doesn't truly know how good he is at diving . Tak is the idiot I was talking about and he is probably the most clueless person in the series but also the most riveting and action packed . His dad's car is what he calls a dump but other's call it an almost unbeatable drift car . I'm not that into drift racing but Initial D surely clues you in on it and Japans addiction to it . After a while your so into the episodes you pay little attention to those animation mess up's and it may become one of your favorite series .
019 4 The Initial D series as a whole is just interesting . I came into it hating cars , and such , and now after seeing all 26 episodes of the first stage ( this dvd is a part of ) the whole battle stage ( intrim ) the Movie ( 3rd Stage ) , and all of the current episodes of 4th stage ( current season ) , I have come out loving the sport of drifting . The series is just genuinely interesting as it covers the love , work , and racing of the characters . The story ( non racing ) parts of the series tend to drag on in the later episodes , but they build such a suspense that the viewer is on the edge of their seats for the races . The races are where this series truely shines , one because they are fast and frentic , but two they are where the main character grows and develops as a person . I highly recommend at least trying the first DVD , because this is a cool series that deserves watching .
020 4 Good story , good cars . Decent animation . Overall I just like this series .
021 4 This show rocks ! ! It's just really cool , especially if your into cars . The only problem is , Tokyopop . They are everything wrong with American dubbing companies . All of the music is changed to rap music , and the language is changed to american slang , my suggestion , get a bootleg from Japan that's subbed , or buy this , waste money , and atleast watch it with subtitles , it's the only way to see it the way it should be .
022 4 Let me start by saying that this show is great . It's very original and very addicting . Even if you're not into cars you will find this show very interesting and very good . Provided you stay as far away from the dub as possible . After 7 years they finally brought it to U.S . shores . Too bad we recieved one of the most butured animes to come out in a long time . Don't get me wrong , it's uncut and uncensored . Well , sort of . While no footage was cut , the dub is terrible . They basically decided to make the show more hip and happening by having the characters talk like ex-members of The New Kids of the Block . The diologue is fit for a poorly dubbed anime on Kid's WB . Lines are changed and just plained tarnished by this mess of a dub . If that's not enough , sound effects and music have been changed in order to make it sound more cool . The shame of this is the fact that one of the big features of the show originally was that the Japanese version sampled sounds from the actual models of the cars for the sound effects . That and the original music is very popular in the anime world . They ignored this and it made it look and sound more like a lame MTV music video rather than a real street race . Luckly you have the option to switch back to the original video and Japanese audio . I must also say that the back of the cover lies about the running time . It may say 180 mins but it's actually close to about 70 minutes . It only contains 3 episodes , but since there are different versions of those three episodes they displayed the running time to 180 minutes . Again , this is a great original show , but set this DVD to Classic and to Japanese with English subtitles for the real deal .
023 4 I've never been a hardcore anime fan , but this one is really good . I first heard about InitialD in some car magazine . Being interested in the AE86 , when I saw it at the store , I just brought it home . I must admit it's really amazing . . . As Tricked Out is more appealing than Classic , I watched it in english , then I tried the japanese soundtrack , and it is true that it's so much better . My first language is not even english and I preferred the classic version ! So it's not just a matter of I first watched it in jap so it's the only way I like it ; ) Some friends say it has the usual manga / anime scheme . . . I think they are right . As much as everyone can enjoy InitialD , there is an anime for everyone .
025 4 I was first introduced to Initial D by my cousin , like months or weeks after my graduation . During that time , I played the game in the arcades , not knowing what Initial D is about , so I was anxious to know what the series was all about . So out of nowhere , my cousin pops in the Japanese Initial D VCD in my DVD . This disc contained episodes 4 , 5 , and 6 and boy . . . was I hooked ! I loved how the music went , and how the races were set . Some of my friends thought it sucks , just because of the bad mixture of Cel animation and old fasioned CG . I didn't really care for that at all . Nowadays , I'm just gathering up all the info I need on the series .
Before the release of the first Tokyopop release of Initial D , I was aware of the name changes . I bought the first volume at Gamestop on the day it arrived , since I was very anxious about the first 3 episodes .
I expected name changes but nothing prepared me for this . On the English version of Initial D , they didn't use the original Japanese opening theme or the Eurobeat tracks on the racing scenes . Instead it was replaced by some stupid underground punk and hip-hop , which sounded so fricken annoying . I was sooo disgusted by the music and immediately , switched to the original Japanese version . The only thing good about the US version is the Tricked Out enhanced video , with special effects like inverted colors , four way split screen , and close ups . You can also view the Tricked Out enhanced video in Japanese dialogue as well .
As you know , the US and Japanese version are the same shows in two different layouts . As a matter of fact , you can choose between the two . The classic Japanese version , which contains the original video , original music , Japanese dialogue , and English subtitles . The Tricked Out English version contains the enhanced video with special effects , English voices with altered lines , and music designed for the English version .
As far as the acting goes . . . let me just say , it's just bad . What's with the monotone acting and stupid lines ? And from my point of view there are only two known voice-overs in this series like Steve Blum who plays as Keisuke Takahashi ( Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop ) and Crispin Freeman who plays as Koichiro Iketani ( Zelgadis from The Slayers ) . If you want to know the name changes . . . here they are :
Takumi Fujiwara : Tak Fujiwara
Itsuki Takeuchi : Iggy Takeuchi
Koichiro Iketani : Cole
Keisuke Takahashi : K.T . Takahashi
Ryosuke Takahashi : Ry Takahashi
Natsuki Mogi : Natalie Mogi
Takeshi Nakazato : Zack Nakazato ( sometimes pronounced Nakazoto )
Yuichi Tachibana : Boss
Kenji : still the same
Bunta Fujiwara : still the same
Note that Takumi's real name will be recalled twice and Keisuke's will be recalled once by Iketani ( Cole ) .
In my opinion , the Tokyopop release isn't all that bad ! Sure the translations blow , but at least you still got the option to switch to the original Japanese video and languages . So that pretty much makes up for all the needless translations , underground music that deserves to STAY underground , and the Americanized names . To those who are dying to know about the world of Initial D , buy the complete Japanese DVD sets and the movie at E-Bay or buy the Tokyopop release . I highly reccomend it ! See you at the finish line !
027 4 Initial D is an absolutely hands down awesome anime series that has me stuck to my seat when I watch it and gives me the urge to tackle the corners myself when it's over . I can't wait for Battles 6 and 7 to come out in the near future .
028 4 Man , I have never seen any animation that keeps me glue to the seat and on want to continue watching Initial D . After seeing battle 1 - 4 from Toyokopop studio , I decided to buy the Hong Kong version ( which have Chinese English subtitles ) and finish watching the rest of this Stage 1 series which have 26 episodes and 2 other stages because I don't want to wait for every 2 months for them to release the next battle which only have 3 episodes .
This is the first stage of the fourth stages of the entire series . . . . which are not over yet . Stage 1 have 26 episodes . I think Tokyopop will combine Stage 1 2 together . So , there will be 13 battle DVDs that you need to buy .
Stage 2 has 13 episodes ( Meet a new team name Evolution and Tak starting to race at opponents ? ? courts more often now . Also , a love story of Tak And Natsukiand continues . . . . Iggy make friend with a new out of town girl . Tak find out the dark secret that Natsuki has been hidden from him .
Stage 3 is the movie . Continuing a love story between Tak and Natsuki , also some battles take place . Ry ask Tak to join his new team called Project D and hope to conquer all the mountains in Japan
Stage 4 ( Project D ) is being air on Japan right now and DVD vol . 1 and 2 , which contain 2 episodes on each volume , is out . Tak will be the downhill and K.T will be the uphill specialist for this project . Stage 4 I heard has 14 episodes and there might be Stage 5 and is going to be a movie . I can't until next year to get Stage 4 DVD because I don't want to get volume by volume , hopefully they will put all the episodes into one package .
I would recommend everyone to watch the Japanese dialog track because the character voices and the music are ways better than the dub version . If you have to watch the dub version , switch over to Japan version whenever they race . You will know what I mean the differences in car audio sound and music from the dub version .
Natsuki has a dark secret and you guys will know in Stage 2 series .
030 4 I love both Japanese and English version . I read all the reviews here and it seems like some of the reviews are personal attack and imature . I don't think any anime fan will write that kind of review . If you don't like the English version , watch the Japanese version . I thought the English version was very well done , maybe a few little things , but no big deal .
If you love drama and cars , watch it , buy it , rent it , whatever . . . .
031 4 This is the single worst DVD I have EVER purchased . TokyoPop should be ashamed of themselves for releasing such garbage .
The series itself is quite entertaining , but this DVD release is horrible . The picture quality is barely acceptable at times and close to unwatchable on an HDTV . Only the CG-sequences look decent . Artifacting and color saturation are abundant and the overall picture is grainy . The video also tends to jitter occasionally .
I cannot recommend this specific release to anyone that wants to watch it in English . The English version is laughably bad . The voice acting is awful , all the character's names have been changed , the dialogue butchered , the music changed to some amateur sounding punk rock garbage that often drowns out the dialogue , and worst of all , the engine sounds have been changed . The original Japanese audio is there ( thank God ) , but is under whelming overall .
The extra's are barely worth noting . The tricked out video simply adds a bunch of bad video effects to the CG race scenes . There may be some other changes but I couldn't stand to watch it for very long . There are trailers for other TokyoPop releases , a brief description of the cars , and an Initial D trading card ( what a stupid pack-in ) .
There are only three episodes per DVD , which is unacceptable for a 40 + episode series . My advice is to go buy the multi-region box sets instead of spending your cash on this pathetic release .
033 4 I love Initial D , I've been a fan for a couple of years now I was somewhat excited about the new updated CG scenes . I'll say the update is a welcome advantage , that's about all thats good about the DVD . The Dub is awful , I mean really awful , I know dubs are rarely done well , but still . The new music is crap , totally changes the mood of the races , the euro beats are better , I dont even listen to that kind of music . Please listen to me , get the import version it's way way better cheaper too , you can find all 5 stages on ebay for like $60 . Thats season 1 2 , the movie , an extra side story movie and the battle stage ( just the racing ) .
034 4 You know that annoying charecter ? Yep , he's in here too . ( 2nd and 3rd episodes arn't as bad . )
The english version is quite dumbed down compared to the translation .
The CG sequences would have been cool in the 80s . Now they look like a student 3d animation project . The artists either have never been in a car before , or just bought Auto Modelesta for thier PS2 .
and it's s-l-o-w . . .
But it's not horrible . Rent it if you can . Plus , You get to watch a really odd music video !
035 4 I imported the whole 9 disc series from Japan and let me tell you I'm not disappointed what-so-ever . You don't have to be a car fan to enjoy this series . The drawing style resembled the older form of anime but the CG cars look almost life like . I'd definately give this series a peek , it's well worth the money .
036 4 This is an anime that really has a chance to cross over and make it into the hearts of Americans . It gives us a young , not so popular and rarely fully awake hero , Takumi . You will feel he really just does not get it or care to . The fact of the matter is he has been driving illegally for 6 years because that was his father's way of training him to become the best . Honestly I have not seen the DVD that Tokyo Pop has made , but if it has the original As well as their version , you won't lose . The Japanese version is very edgy with some of the personal conflicts and yes the relationship of certain people and a gargle of swearing . Think about it though folks if your car is not doing what you tell it to do you just give it kind words about it is the trying that counts ? No , you will swear . It is very unrealistic in a realistic way . You find yourself wishing for the little AE86 to beat the big bad Skyline . I did and I love Skylines , which leaves me to hope this really takes off because there are talks that filming of a live action Initial D movie is in the works .
I'm sure the English version will have all kinds of different things to keep it more palatable to everyone , but if you find it a let down try the Japanese version with subtitles like I imported back in late 1999 and fell in love with . The cars might not be the most beautiful animation by Pixar standards but you will never get to see Woody using an inertia drift .
038 4 Nothing much happens in this anime ; no giant robots , swords and / or sorcery , just goofballs eating up the scenery and yakking about car parts . The story centers around a group of street racers ( also known as time wasting punks ) and one mope who drives a really hot car really well ( Wow , look how he makes those turns on this hill ! - hoo-boy ) . The first thing that hit me was the music in the opening credits : Blaring guitars accompanied by something screaming INITIIIIIALIZE-INITIALLLLIIZE ! ! ! followed by an annoying rap diatribe . Uh-oh .
The hot car in question looks like an old egg-beater that my dad used to drive but what do I know ? You put in the gas , turn the key and drive - thats my Initial D experience . Characters walk around spouting dialog like Man , thats a Doogiehowser 9000 ! I did'nt think they made those anymore , If only my minimum wage jogb could get me enough money to get that car and some Minihousen XJ4 brakepads and a Nakamichi X200 exhaust system then I'd be really cool .
Whatever . At this point I begin reaching for the fast-forward button on my remote . To top things off , the animation is so-so . One volume of this ode to slackers is enough for me .
039 4 Though i am all for equality i think that the white people have been enslaving minority groups long enough so that asians may have something to themselves . personally i think white people make things uncool . japanese animes used to be only cool to the hongers or asian kids but now we have these redneck boys buying all this crap . its great for the people selling them but its just one more thing asians have lost . First they start driving our import cars making them less cool than they were before and now they are taking more and more of our stuff . please son . . . keep driving your 5.0s and reading your superman comics . stay out of china town and away from our honger clothing stores . just go back to zellers where you belong . no more white people in ITRs please . give us back our stuff . animes and japanese cars will never be the same . . .
040 4 When I saw Initial D the ( subbed version ) . I loved it . It has amazing CG for the car races . You'll see many cars including the : Lancer Evolution , RX - 7 FC , FD , 180sx , Sileighty , Civic , and the awesome black R32 Nissan Skyline . you'll also see many cars if you have a sharp eye to find ' em . After seeing this anime , you'll be hooked on finding yourself a 86 ' Corolla GT - S so you can get yourself a hochi roko . I loved this series from begining to end . And if you love touge or really its downhill drifting , This is the show for you . Unfortunately , I hear that the characters names where changed . Tak should be Takumi . And thats his real name . The only real dissapointment I got from it . But , it seems fair based on the information I recieved from various sources that its gonna be a pretty good dub . Lets hope so . Keep your fingers crossed . Drifting will no longer be a a secreative style from Japan no-more once the US fully knows what drifting is after watching Initial D . And Tokyo pop makes fair dubs . So , give it a shot .
041 4 This is by far the best racing anime ever . If your not into cars or racing after watching this show then you will be . The high speed downhill battles will have wanting to go out and drift your local mountain pass . The english version of the DVD will land you both the English and Original Versions of the episodes . I recommend the originals . This is a must buy for anime and street racing fans . Take that Fast and Furious .
024 4 It is a mistake although some people say that the Japanese version is cheaper than the U.S . version .
JAPANESE LEGIT INITIAL D DVDs ARE NOT REGION FREE , AND DO NOT HAVE SUBTITLEs , EITHER .
If you really want to buy a Japanese legit Initial D Super Complete Box , please go to amazon.co.jp and look for AVBA - 14821 .
The list price of the R2 Initial D Complete Box is 81905yen ( $744.6 @ $1 = JPY110 ) .
And AVBA - 14024 is 1st stage of volume 1 , the list price is 3800yen ( $34.5 @ $1 = JPY110 ) , and contains only episode 1 and 2 .
And AVBA - 14040 is volume 2 , the list price is 5800yen ( $52.7 @ $1 = JPY110 ) , and contains episode 3 to 6 .
I think this R1 DVD is cheaper than R2 .
