Wanted to Review an oldie but goodie, I am talking about the original Initial D anime series that came out in the late 90's and went to the early 2000's.
Back in 1998, before anyone even heard of The Fast and the Furious, Japan had a little gem of an anime called Initial D.
This anime was seriously awesome, packed with fast paced pumped up eurobeat music to get your blood moving throughout your body, as you watch the intense street race between the underdog new guy in his old school car and the fancy "experienced" drivers. This anime was great for everyone, even if you knew nothing about cars, because as you have it, the main protagonist didn't know anything about cars at the start of the anime either!
Not only does this anime have great battles with street racing cars, but there's also great slice of life situations, and even some romance is thrown in because even street racers need a little romance.
Initial D anime arose in 1998 and went to fifth stage and final stage ended in 2014 with a compilation movie. Other films include two extra stage special episodes focusing on other characters, 3 movies with the title of Legend 1, 2, and 3, and a live action movie featuring Taiwanese singer Jay Chou as the main protagonist Takumi Fujiwara.
The main story starts with Takumi Fujiwara and his friend Itsuki who are both high school seniors, Itsuki dreams of one day joining the Akina Speed Stars and becoming a street racer. While Takumi knows nothing about cars but works at a gas station alongside his buddies who are both petrol heads.
Little do his friends know that Takumi has been delivering tofu at night in his dads AE86 "Panda Trueno" for the past 5 years and Takumi is one hell of a driver on the downhill of Akina pass. This is clearly shown as one night he is delivering tofu and encounters a street racer that Takumi effortlessly ends up passing. The rest is history as Takumi joins the street racing ranks and becomes Akina's #1 downhill racer! This anime is one ride you will love to come along for.
