On this day 20 years ago, Initial D, a street racing manga about a young spaced-out teen named Takumi becoming the greatest rookie street racer in all of the region all thanks to his impeccable driving skill he developed through the years delivering Tofu for his dad's business on the Akina mountain pass togue as well as his trusty Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno, was adapted to an Anime series that would go on to have 4 full seasons, a movie, and a several OVAs, side stories, and re-adaptations.
The series would go on to gain a bit of a cult following among both anime fans and car enthusiasts alike and was many's first foray into the world of illegal Japanese street racing and would inspire others to become more invested in car culture in general (this was certainly the case for me).
Sure, the CG in the early episodes looks EXTREMELY dated for today, but this kind of approach was really the only way to convey the fluent movement of the cars. Of course, as the series went on, the CG and animation quality as a whole would improve as well (If you want to find the pinnacle of animation for the series, look no further than the Third Stage Movie).
Of course, the show's racing scenes are certainly the highlight and can really include some crazy moments (and if you ONLY care about racing, there is Battle Stage, which ONLY includes the racing).
However, it feels like I've neglected something, but I can't quite figure out what it is...
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.
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Oh yeah, that fucking SOUNDTRACK
Without a doubt, the aspect about that show that almost renders the manga IRRELEVANT is this show's phenomenal soundtrack, which primarily consists of tracks from a genre of music called Eurobeat (essentially, it's fast-paced techno dance music written by Italians, sung in English for the Japanese market) that was very popular in Japan in the 90s. If you've heard the songs Running in the 90's, Deja Vu, or Gas Gas Gas through other videos such as meme compilations, this is the show that made those songs famous, and boy there's more where that came from. The amount of excellent Eurobeat tracks in Initial D is immense, and there are many multi-hour megamixes for you to check out if you want more hype Eurobeat goodness:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gah8FnYSypk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOYTfpHl0JA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7XPsCypaDE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IzlVF93THQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snojs7Hxjn8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrdnucKzoSI (an underrated mix if you want to check out the origin of Eurobeat)
And it wasn't just Eurobeat music that made Initial D's soundtrack amazing, it was also thanks in part to the band M.O.V.E. and their excellent work on series' openings and closings (Outsoar the Rainbow, Rage your Dream, Gamble Rumble, Dogfight, and Blazing Beat are my personal favorite pieces).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdKg6sNUpEo
Honestly, the sheer effort and quality put into this show's soundtrack is amazing. It's my favorite anime soundtrack of all-time, and it's perfectly valid to watch for the music and stay for the cool cars. That's what I did, and I fuckin loved my time with this show.
But seriously, what an amazing show this was. I honestly hope it gets some sort of revival, be it in a spiritual sequel or a remake with better animation. But in the meantime, if you want to check out this show, you can seriously go ahead and watch all of First Stage on YouTube. Funimation has uploaded all of it, so there's really no excuse to not at least check it out.
