Seeing this display at my local Kinokuniya Bookstore branch made my day and got me reminiscing.
In the early 2000s’, I was still in my phase of consuming everything Dragon Ball. I followed Dragon Ball GT at the time and knew it ended around 1997. Since simulcast streaming wasn’t a thing, I had to rely on Chinese-dubbed VHS tapes to rent for all the episodes.
When watching one of the final episodes of Dragon Ball GT on a tape I got, there was a trailer (which was actually the opening) for another anime that played before the episode. It wasn’t for a Shonen Jump series and I heard some really cool-sounding techno music.
That opening began my journey into a series that highlighted what anime and manga was really like outside of American marketing – Shuichi Shigeno’s Initial D.
For those who don’t know, Initial D is about a young man named Takumi Fujiwara who gets himself involved in the mountain street racing scene. He drives a car that isn’t suitable for street racing, the Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno. The car lacks horsepower and speed, but Takumi is able to utilize amazing drift techniques to make up for it. While reluctant at first, Takumi gets pulled into a race when a street racing team called the Akagi Red Suns challenges Takumi’s local team. Takumi beats one of the Red Suns’ top members and he slowly becomes a legend as he encounters more street racers who want to challenge him. The manga lasted 49 volumes, had 6 anime seasons in 16 years, and a Hong Kong live-action movie adaptation of the manga (which I appreciated as a Cantonese speaker) was made in 2005. The series also inspired a good amount of people all over the world to get into Japanese cars due to every car featured in the series existing in real life. It did not hurt that fans loved the Eurobeat music that played in races throughout the anime.
As you can see from the photo I took, Kodansha USA decided to re-release the entire Initial D manga in a 2-in-1 omnibus print format for a newer generation as the original English manga release by Tokyopop in the mid-2000s’ left a lot to be desired for translation reasons.
After watching the OP teaser in that one tape of a DBGT episode, I decided to watch all of the First Stage season of Initial D in Cantonese Chinese on VHS. I became hooked. I absolutely loved the music. I appreciated how analytical some of the characters were. Even though I didn’t understand a lot of the conversations being had due to my Cantonese not being good enough to talk about vehicle intricacies, I had the help of Initial D fansites to summarize things. I became obsessed when the manga was ongoing at the time to see who Takumi was facing. Fansites helped to bridge the gap.
Speaking of fan-related material, I learned about yaoi/boys’ love through Initial D. I saw many fanfiction sites about the relationships between the major male characters. In a sense, I got to see why sports-like series appealed to female fans way before the current sports series boom we have now.
Initial D also helped me get close with my dad. He actually watched the anime with me. During the years when I was so depressed, my dad always spent time with me. We played a lot of basketball, talk sports, and watched Initial D together. It helped that he was into car culture, so he helped explain a few things to me about certain cars.
One more thing Initial D did was that it got me to go to my very first anime convention in 2003. It was the Big Apple Anime Fest and the Third Stage movie was screened. While I watched the Third Stage movie before, it wasn’t dubbed in Cantonese. This time, I got to see the full film with English subtitles. I stayed for the 7:30pm screening and was excited with so many fans around me. The convention was also where I finally got to connect with a friend who lived in the same area as me. I still talk to and hang out with them today.
While Dragon Ball got me into anime in the first place, it was Initial D that got me to expand my worldview about anime and manga. The series gave me a glimpse of the other anime/manga communities out there. I got a first glimpse into series that weren’t mainstream yet loved by passionate fans.
When both the Initial D manga and anime ended in the 2010s’, my anime/manga interests were in a different place. But I still enjoyed Final Stage when it came out because I got to see Takumi grow immensely over time and the payoff was good. The final battle felt like two very similar individuals trying to impose their superiority over one another. It was a perfect way to end Takumi’s story, given that almost all of his opponents were different from him.
I know Initial D isn’t talked about as much as Dragon Ball or Sailor Moon in terms of impacting people’s lives, but it has done wonders for me in genuinely seeing what the world of anime/manga fans was like outside of the usual fare. I know I’m not the only one.
So I want to say that if the super-mainstream anime and manga series aren’t your thing, it’s okay. There will always be something that will catch your eye and maybe change your perspective for the better. And maybe it will find you a community that you love being around and help you grow.
To quote one of the Initial D opening songs sung by the group, m.o.v.e, let’s move into the brand new world and let’s dive into the brand new trip.
For more perspective on Initial D’s impact on its fans and car culture, this post from a car enthusiast is worth a read.