Far Out Son of Lung...

Initial D - 4th Stage

The Fourth Stage (not pictured) of Initial D has been playing in Japan this year and has finally come available on DVD in the USA. The DVDs are set-up as a boxed set (episode 1-14), as usual, but apparently the creators decided to add some episodes to the saga after the box set was released so there are now 18 episodes available.

For those unfamiliar, Initial D is the story of Takumi Fujiwara, a kid from Japan who delivers Tofu at 4 A.M. for his father's shop in the town of Akina. The town sits at the top of a huge mountain that is also used by street racers for drifting competitions and races from top to bottom. Since Takumi has been delivering tofu since he was 15, he has lots of practice driving on the mountain and typically tries to get home as early as possible so he can go back to bed before classes start!

As luck would have it, he's the fastest driver on Akina's mountain road without even knowing it, and eventually begins racing drivers from other prefectures as his knowledge and desire to compete gets stronger. His car is an outdated Toyota AE-86, but his skill is such that he can beat faster drivers, and his father has been secretly adjusting the car to help him go faster.

Needless to say this is a true car guy's TV show. One of the characters is goofy at times but others really take the time to talk about the technical side of racing and what makes things tick when you are driving on the edge. They delve into the mechanics of racing and high performance driving and it really makes things fun to watch... for car guys.

Character development is interesting as we see Tak's progression from apathetic contestant to committed racer as he competes against more and more drivers from different prefectures, and branches out to race at other team's home mountains.

Now in it's fourth stage, or fourth year, the Initial D storyline has progressed. Currently, Takuma and the Takaheshi brothers are competing against drivers from across Japan in what is called "Project D". The brothers are former founding members of the Redsuns team, one of the most dominant teams in Japan. At any rate, its all good fun to read since the shows are only sub-titled in English and do not sport any crappy dubbing.

posted by GreSam @ 14:57