Have you ever had something (not someone) that has been part of a surprisingly good chunk of your life, for better or worse? Most of my friends would just say ‘videogames’, which is a little vague. I’ll just lump ‘em under Nintendo and/or Pokémon, since those two are forever intertwined. For me, it’s an anime, a car anime to be specific. You may have heard it: Initial D.
Overview:
To car guys, it’s no surprise why Initial D was so popular: they did it right. The manga (graphic novel) showed even the most minute detail, with multiple panels drawn to help the reader visualize the action; the anime took that attention to detail and added more to it, like the correct engine sounds and down-to-earth animation physics –overviewed by technical advisors with motorsports background- to deliver a thrill ride for everyone. Even though there’s always something that’s too extraordinary to believe, it’s all done with a degree of plausibility. There’s no magic here. Or constant exaggeration.
There’s another thing that makes it so popular: We can relate –to an extent- to the main character. He doesn’t have a supercar, he has an early-to-mid 1980s Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX hatchback that he uses as a delivery vehicle. It’s a derivation of the Corolla, one of the world’s best-selling nameplates, and just as recognizable. It’s this hatchback and this guy’s skill that has made a motorsports-equivalent of one of the most famous stories that humans resonate with: David vs. Goliath. Also, the motorsport discipline in question plays a big part: It’s not F1, it’s not drag-racing or circuit racing, and it’s not top-speed banzai running; all which need copious amounts of money and a dedicated place to do so. No, it’s drifting and mountain-pass racing. How much more grassroots –or clandestine, whichever way you put it- can you get?
Because the franchise takes place in an atmosphere that’s actually believable, I believe more people of different ages can actually watch it and not be put off by, say, gratuitous fanservice, overdoses of sugary cuteness, high-pitched voice acting, etc. Things of that nature may not always translate well between cultures. Even the hair colors are natural hues! This helps make the series more relatable. That said, the manga and anime are meant for ages 13+.
The Author:
It is said that those are his cars!
Before we begin to discuss the franchise itself, let’s talk about the author, Shuichi Shigeno. All you need to know is that he knows his stuff. This wasn’t the only series he’s done involving internal combustion-powered machinery, having made the iconic motorcycle series Bari Bari Densetsu/BariBari Legend in the 1980s. That one also got turned into an anime (clips can be found on YouTube) and videogame. Just like Initial D, he doesn’t sugar-coat it there either. He’s also been drawing a black-and-white AE86 liftback before Initial D, a romance novel called Tunnel Nuketara Sky Blue, but judging by how he portrays romantic relationships (as real as it gets, no knight-in-shining-armor malarkey) on Initial D, I’d think twice before reading it. In fact, I wouldn’t have even known about that if it wasn’t for Initial D.
Shigeno-sama didn’t have to go far for inspiration. All locations do exist, even if some names were changed. For example: Mt. Akina is actually Mt. Haruna. And the Fujiwara tofu shop? That actually existed! The same could be said about a few of the characters: the character of Ryosuke Takahashi is said to be based off Kunimitsu Takahashi, a Japanese motorsports icon said to be “The Father of Drifting”, and inspiration to “Drift King” Keiichi Tsuchiya, another Japanese motorsports icon who helped as technical advisor for the anime series.
The Manga:
33 U.S. market volumes. I’m missing 15 for the full series, but there’s nothing I can do about it for now. Hard to believe it all fits in two shoeboxes.
This is where it all began, as black-and-white filler story for a young boys-oriented publication. Needless to say, it caught on.
Major bookstores and comic-book stores sold these, printed in right-to-left format, costing $10 each. When I was new to this, I could’ve cared less about the shortened names or the creative freedom on, say, the chapter titles (there’s an Aerosmith references in one of ‘em!), but the more I got into it, the more I realized the numerous technical data mistakes, the embarrassing spelling errors, and North-American-market-oriented slang (they mention Punk’d for crying out loud!). Make no mistake: I still would’ve bought all of ‘em if the would’ve been available, warts and all.
You can see how a series taking place in contemporary times is affected by years of publication. From subtle references like cassette players, to the mention of an unpopular New-Millennium Japanese Prime Minister, to obvious indications like the introduction of cars like S15 Silvias, Z33 Z-cars, Honda S2000s -and for the anime, a Toyota 86 (Scion FR-S) product-placement.
If you must know, the manga finished its 18-year(!!!) run back in late-July/August 2013 in Japan. The official graphic novel of the butchered translations bit the dust when contract renewal with Tokyopop didn’t get the green light years ago. Tokyopop would later bite the dust themselves. “Scanlators” have picked up the slack to upload content that doesn’t come directly from Tokyopop’s pages (trust me, you’ll notice), and after many years, it’s been finished. To this date (and to my knowledge), outside of Japan, only the Speed Racer manga is the only other automotive manga to have been fully translated with the added bonus of an official U.S. print release, while the rest of the automotive subgenre hasn’t and probably never will receive such attention from publishing companies or starving scanlators. To say that the Initial D manga has made an achievement is an understatement!
To think that my fixation for the manga started with the three-volume pack sold in RadioShack…
The Anime Series (including some movies and specials):
The series is divided in Stages and while there are some key differences like a change in order of some of the races as well as some added content, it complements the manga, and viceversa. It avoids unwanted promotion to brands like instead of Nismo or Dunlop, you had ‘Nisno’ or ‘Danrep’, respectively. Aside from the Japanese dubbing/English subtitles version, I’m only familiar with the Tokyopop English dub, which doesn’t take much research to find out how unpopular it is (changing of names and background music, script material, etc. for a number of reasons), though it’s not the worst dubbing in history, which is always up for debate.
Unlike the manga, it was picked up from Tokyopop’s cold, dead hands; reworked, continued and redistributed thanks to Funimation. I’m not sure of the quality of their DVD English dubbing. Another thing, I’m waiting for official DVD releases for Fifth Stage and Final Stage, and haven’t watched those episodes. But research has me thinking it’s foolish to wait any longer. I’m publishing this post regardless…
- First Stage – The beginning, where it all starts for our deadpan, space-cadet driver and the family business’ delivery car. It started in 1998 in Japan, so unfortunately, the cutting-edge graphics were already dated at the time of its US-debut, as it mixed traditional animation with CGI. Japan has made car animes the traditional way –before and after Initial D: First Stage- with great results, just so you know.
- Second Stage –Story-wise, there’s important development going on that will take our heroes to their next step in growing up and becoming bona-fide racers. Better animation, though still a little dated.
- Third Stage – This one was done in a movie with the best animation to date. Still follows the original storyline. If you only have a passing interest in this franchise, watch the movie. It has something for everyone.
- Fourth Stage – For a (too) long time this was the best of the Stages. The animation is far more natural and similar to the manga, like the Third Stage but with a lighter color palette. The only complaint would be the missing races that were inexplicably cut out.
- Fifth Stage – After too long a wait, Fifth Stage comes along. You’d think that after all these years they’d take their time and do it right, but nope. Just like the latter volumes in the manga, it feels rushed (or so I’ve read).
- Final Stage – You’d think we’d have to wait over 5+ years for the final episodes, but surprisingly only a year after the Fifth Stage, here it is.
- Battle Stage 1 and Battle Stage 2 – Two battle compilations launched years apart. Can be watched with the original audio, or as a music video-style. The first contains the first set of battles of the anime, but with updated graphics, so if that was your excuse to not being able to stomach the First Stage, here’s the cure for your weak-suck excuse. The second one includes races that were inexplicably cut out of the Fourth Stage.
- Extra Stage 1 and Extra Stage 2 – Spin-off specials involving fan-favorite characters. Started out from a short story from the manga that had more to them added.
The Videogames:
This is where I started, with the Ver. 2.
While there were also games for both home consoles and handheld systems as well as card games, this is how I got into the franchise: videogames, the Arcade Stage, to be specific. You pay $2 to take this magnetic memory card, insert username, choose car, color, stickshift or auto, tuning package and start playing. Reach certain kilometers and your car gets tuned. Some of the other tuning mods became available the longer you played the game. With every subsequent Stage, the graphics improved, more challenges, opponents, gimmicks, tracks and weather conditions were added. You could even transfer your car and data to the next Stage, provided that you pay for a memory card that is not backwards-compatible. Overall, I had Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII, FC3S Mazda Savanna RX-7 Infini edition, S13 Nissan Silvia, Nissan Sileighty, AE86 Toyota Corolla Levin and, of course, a black-white AE86 Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX.
Not mine. Click here for a bigger version to see their little details.
It was unlike any other game I’ve ever played before. Because I wasn’t raised with a Sega Genesis or Playstation, this is how I learned about the importance of letting go of the gas, keeping those revs up and choosing the right line. I wasn’t alone. People lined up to play, young and old, good sports as well as complete d@uchebags in every sense of the word. I’ve won my share or races as well as lost during head-2-head competition. I went weekly, but I knew of people that played daily. It may have been one of the most expensive arcade machine at the time ($1 per play), but I felt it was worth it. I don’t know how many Arcade Stages actually made it to the U.S. (BTW, looking at Japanese videogame recordings, U.S. spec machines had the dialogue removed and animation simplified), but over here we only got as far as the 3rd Arcade Stage. I’ve heard that the 4th Arcade Stage and beyond were completely different animals. Alas, the economic downturn as well as the sorry condition of most arcades meant that we weren’t getting any new Arcade Stages or continued play like Dance Dance Revolution and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 fans enjoy.
Initial D has been into videogames for almost as long as the franchise has been around. Here. Have a copy of Initial D Gaiden, for the Nintendo GameBoy.
The Music:
Initial D, along with Dance Dance Revolution videogame franchise, are ambassadors to a music sub-genre called Eurobeat. What is it? It’s a type of music that’s been very popular in Japan. It goes very well with their Para-Para dance culture (think line dancing and you’ll get a general idea). Its roots are indeed European. Eurobeat is the evolution of Italo-disco/Euro-disco sounds of the early-to-mid-1980s that came to sound off by the mid-to-late-1980s and into the 1990s. But as its popularity waned in Europe, it held strong in Japan. Studios were formed, artists had a new lease on life and new songs were written, taking the Electronic Dance Music sub-genre well into the 1990s and through The New Millennium.
It’s not a complicated sub-genre. The lyrics aren’t the deepest and some are even silly. Like any disinterested party, they’d say it all sounds the same. It doesn’t help that a lot of the artists are actually the same group of individuals under different aliases. This isn’t an Eurobeat-only anomaly. Most European dance music does this. But the music does have a catchy, hard-driving beat, and most importantly, are fun.
Both in the anime and the videogames, Initial D relies heavily on Eurobeat to complement its own set of original tracks, as well as a little J-Pop and J-Rock. It all mixes and works uncannily well.
It’s not unusual for anime series to release CDs of their music, and Initial D is no different, but I’m pretty sure their selection overshadows many others:
- Soundtracks of only the Eurobeat songs
- Soundtracks with songs and background music
- CDs with the voice actors singing some songs
- Non-stop mixes
- Best songs compilations
Keep in mind that this generally applies to every Stage –gaming system or anime-, meaning that they’re dozens of CDs! It’s a shame they’re all overpriced…
The Live-Action Movie:
Yes, there was a live-action movie. It seems that the tradition of taking the original content and butchering it for a movie is not a Hollywood-only phenomenon, sadly. It crammed the First and Second Stage into one and completely changed some of the character’s back stories or just changed them completely, those that appeared anyways. The final insult is that not only is it filmed in Hong Kong, the main language is Mandarin, not Japanese.
And I still prefer it over any F&F movie any day. For starters, it’s a car movie, not an action/crime/shoot ‘em up with more car chases and more automotive product-placement than usual. Yes, it’s low-budget, but cleverly so, IMO. Minus a scene or two in CGI, the action is real.
There’s a sequel being made. VERY little information available on that one. Crossing fingers it’s better than the first (it’s been 10 years since the first. It better…)!
The Merchandise:
I have ‘em all.
R/C cars, die-cast toy cars, highly-detailed scale models, posters, wardrobe apparel; these were some of the things that I’m aware of that were available for sale. Then you added the DVDs, CDs, graphic novels into the mix. Of course, Japan had TONS of stuff more, like art books, even better die-cast toys and stuff. Don’t they always? Be still my beating wallet…
The Cultural Impact:
Initial D stands as one of the most famous car animes of all time. It’s what introduced me to drifting. While some will roll their eyes at that last sentence, I proudly stand by it. Besides, would you prefer that I or someone else said: “I got into drifting because of (F&F) Tokyo Drift, yo!” ? Perish the thought…* shudders*.
No Corolla? Not a problem down in Malaysia.
Tribute cars were inevitable. Heck, I had a college buddy that did his best to transform his AE-series Corolla hatchback into the Fujiwara Tofu Shop (Private Use) Panda Trueno (sorry, no pictures. He sold it soon after)! But it doesn’t just end with the Panda Trueno, as many of the cars in the series have been replicated. As far as the negative side of the fandom, I’m sure there are reports of bone-headed behavior on public roads inspired by the franchise, despite the warnings at the beginning attempting to discourage such behavior. It’s also inevitable.
The series has survived sketchy translations in both manga and anime, long waiting periods for new manga and DVD volumes, complete bankruptcy of its American translators, the discontinuation of the manga, sketchy fan scanning and translating, the hemorrhaging of fans, rumored disinterest of further distribution from current distributors, as well as the passage of time.
Initial D has carried on for over 18 straight years (the franchise turns 20 this year), and it’s still churning out stuff that die-hard fans can sink their teeth into, from new Arcade Stage versions (they’re up to the 8th!) to new motion pictures. And when the franchise finally hangs up its racing gloves, its impact will still be felt for years to come, whether it’s by parodies on anime or possible reruns on whatever anime-exclusive channels that haven’t been canceled.
--Tigerstrypes
References:
Panda Trueno real-life pic: facebook
Shigeno-sama and his two cars: http://ramapark.blogspot.com
DVD and manga pictures: mine.
Arcade Stage Ver. 2: ukarcaderacers.wordpress.com
U.S.-spec Arcade Stage cards: reddit
GameBoy game: www.gamefaqs.com
Live-action movie: http://www.driftingstreet.com
Die-cast and CD collection pics: eBay
http://owenssales.livejournal.com/
Perouda Kancil tribute car: Flickr, licence2speed.blogspot.com
Densha de D videogame pic: http://www.doujinstyle.com
LEGO kit: http://brickultra.com
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