Why Initial D is Such A Good Anime?
Initial D anime is a series that many anime lovers know and it has a special place for them. This is not just my opinion of course, it is a good series that can be among the favorites of people who like to watch both car races and anime. Especially at the beginning of the 2000s, this anime was very popular, and in fact, it was one of the series that many of us watched in our childhood, even without realizing it. Well, considering that Initial D came out in 1998 and is still popular today, we can’t deny that this series really has an important place in anime history. I’m sure many people have gained their admiration for cars since their childhood thanks to this anime.
Of course, there are many features that make Initial D a truly excellent series. It is a very high quality anime with everything, whether it’s the music, timeless concept, the characters and the cars used in the series. In one of the blogs I will write in the future, I want to give anime recommendations about cars and car racing, but before that, I wanted to write about Initial D anime separately.
One of the features that makes Initial D such a good series is definitely the music choices. Yes, it’s not a joke, I think Initial D has the capacity to be at the top of the list of anime with the best soundtracks. If you remember, the Dejavu soundtrack was one of the popular sounds on social media for a while. Oh, and Eurobeat memes that popped up on the internet.
Not to forget his other popular soundtracks such as Running in the 90’s, Gas Gas Gas and Night of Fire. I especially love Running in the 90’s. Even if it was independent from the anime, it would be still one of my favorite songs that I would love to listen to. Almost all soundtracks used in this anime increase the excitement of the scenes we watch. Especially the racing scenes of Initial D are truly breathtaking to watch, and the soundtracks used make this experience top-notch, they support the mood and atmosphere of that scenes.
Using Eurobeat genre music in Initial D was a very good idea because Eurobeat is all about energy and consistency. Important part of Eurobeat is the fast tempo, so that’s why this energetic music genre perfectly suits for speeding and driving cars. Initial D has had a huge impact on popularizing the Eurobeat genre. Especially in America, this genre became popular almost entirely with the Initial D anime.
Here, I leave the spotify link below if you want to listen to Initial D’s soundtracks!
YES OF COURSE I NEED TO PUT THAT SCENE!!!
The second thing I want to focus on is the characters. Although Initial D is an anime based on car racing, of course, it does not keep its characters in the background. This anime is well thought out so that everyone can enjoy it. Because we don’t see character development, especially in many motorsport animes, and this can be boring sometimes.
The main protagonist Takumi Fujiwara was a tofu delivery boy for his father’s job. Actually he was not really into driving cars in the first place but with his dad’s manipulations he learned how to drive with perfect skills. Yes that famous water in the cup scene comes from that! His dad would put a full cup of water in the cup-holder, and tell his son that if the cup of water didn’t spill, the Tofu would be alright.
One more interesting information about Takumi, he is actually a character inspired by a real racer. Takumi’s car, driving styles and many other features are inspired by Keiichi Tsuchiya (aka Drift King).
Even the old Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX AE86 (aka Hachi-Roku) driven by Takumi has a character in this series. If you haven’t watched it, I won’t talk too much about the other characters as I don’t want to give spoilers, but I can say that the other characters in the series and even the cars they drive are very well chosen. The cars assigned for the characters in the series also play an important role in reflecting the personalities of those characters.
The most striking feature of Initial D for car lovers is that real cars are used in the series. RX-7. FC and FD, MX-5s, Altezzas, Evos, Imprezas, S2000s, Cappucianos, even NSXs. Even GTRs as well. After all of these, we shouldn’t be surprised that Initial D is the best TV series which reflects the 90s JDM culture. As I mentioned above, this series is actually inspired by real racers and based on their knowledge. Therefore, it is quite normal for the cars in the series to be explained in such detail. If you have some knowledge about cars, I’m sure you will have some questions while watching this anime. For example, how an old and rusty Ae86 (actually the 80’s Toyota Corolla we know) can win against other premium cars. At this point, this anime is really successful because while watching it, you will encounter the answers to these questions in a logical way. Almost every chapter describes the features of a different car and how it works exactly. One of the things that makes Initial D so popular is how realistic it is. Not only the cars, of course, but also the place where Takumi lives, the famous Akina mountain where those races are held, many elements in the series are inspired by the real ones.
I should also mention: Initial D’s first stage was released in 1998, and this series is one of the first anime to be televised using 3D CGI. Of course, it should be taken into account that the CGI used in the first season according to the conditions of that time was not very successful. But I think even people who care too much about the drawing and CGI quality of anime and watch it according to these factors, can enjoy watching Initial D.
The impact of Initial D was so great that it even pioneered America’s introduction to drifting. There is no doubt that the Initial D is one of the best depictions of 90s Japanese street racing. Even the things I mentioned above will actually be short to describe this long-running anime.
I must also say that watching Initial D is not only a fun activity, but it is also a series that you can learn a lot about cars. You can even see pages of information about some cars in the manga. In fact, this explains why the Initial D series has been remade over the years, because when translators who are more knowledgeable about cars and know their terminology got involved, watching this anime became even more enjoyable and understandable.
Oh and of course, please don’t try to drive like you are in Initial D scene, after watching it and get too much hyped. Please drive carefully!
Please recommend if you enjoyed or learned from this text. Thank You!
Follow My Instagram Account “notrealkairi”
References:
