Initial D

Title : Initial D
Genre : Racing, Drama

Initial D is a manga by Shuichi Shigeno which has been serialized in Kodansha's Young since 1995. It has been adapted into an anime series by Avex and a live-action film by Avex and Media Asia.

The anime and manga focus on the world of illegal Japanese street racing, where all the action is concentrated in the mountain passes (called Tōge) and never in cities nor urban areas, and the drift racing style is emphasized in particular. Keiichi Tsuchiya helps with editorial supervision. The story is centered around the Japanese prefecture of Gunma, more specifically on several mountains in the prefecture and in and 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 Gunma Prefecture.

Avex has released the anime in several parts called Stages. One noticeable feature is that it uses Eurobeat music as background music in race scenes.

Initial D First Stage - 26 episodes (1998)
Initial D Second Stage - 13 episodes (1999)
Initial D Extra Stage OVA - 2 episodes side-story focusing on Impact Blue(2000)
Initial D Third Stage - a 2 hour movie (2001)
Initial D Battle Stage - a 50 minute movie.(2002)
Initial D Fourth Stage - 24 episodes (2004—2006).

I loved Initial D. The races, and the outcomes so made me come back for more. At first the constant stream of "faster and stronger" oppenents struck a dragonball nerve with me, but I realized it was more akin to life and the series actually takes a story notice of this. The best can only be the best for so long, and even the undefeated records are sometimes broken. When Takumi beats Ryouske Takehashi and his past undefeated record he has to live with the fact that he is now the "fastest" in Gunma. Now he has to live up to the challenges and battles that come from the top. And then when Takumi finally faces defeat in the second stage, the bitter taste only drives him to further himself. I did dislike the way that some characters(namely Mako and Sayuki) dissapear until random cameos are made in later battles. I mean, they never develop the love interest between Takumi and Sayuki at all. And everything with Mogi...gah that drives me nuts. NO other series has the main characters girlfriend as a whore(literally). In the end, though i reccomend watching the special stage OVA after the 1rst and 2nd stages, and then the huge 3rd stage movie, which has stunning visuals and ties up some loose ends nicely.