Title : Initial DGenre : 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).