The Soul Of Initial D

[@parallel8306]

The worst part about watching initial D is finishing initial D

[@Viseak]

Real

[@themanwithsauce]

truuuuueeeee

[@spnowy9834]

It gets boring

[@dealt]

​@@spnowy9834opinions are like aholes

[@CVcab]

@@spnowy9834season 5 is so much less interesting

[@ash_vagabond3308]

Speed is when you drive your dads shitbox on a highway faster than a mercedes benz

[@Viseak]

Gotta gap every Benz you see, for Takumi

[@patrikpolda]

I once had a guy in an Audi S5 asking me what engine I have in my Ford Puma since I was able to keep up pretty good with the group. When I said it's a 1.7 he was pretty surprised.

[@Viseak]

@@patrikpolda we never got them over here but they look like a fun little coupe for sure I’m guessing they’d feel something like an MR2

[@patrikpolda]

@@Viseak I saw someone comparing it to a Miata. But it is super fun. Being light the 1.7, which was tuned by Yamaha BTW, is enough to make you smile. But their biggest is rust and body parts availability isn't great.

[@uchia4206]

I misss my hyundai manual shit box

[@jamessizemore7103]

While I was in college I used to watch initial d during my shifts working at the school bowling alley. After I’d get off work, I’d hop in my NA Miata, pop up them headlights,blast some eurobeat, and go fly up the local mountain roads. Nothing made me feel more alive than those little trips after work

[@candycouldntbesosweet]

That sounds wonderful

[@Vuzen]

Same here. Found Initial D during the COVID year of college when everyone was sent back home. At the time I was hanging out with a group that ran a local mountain pass every Saturday night. The name of it is Ortega Highway if you're looking it up on maps. A friend in the group suggested that I watch and I became hooked. I loved running the local canyon roads and that pass so much. Even more so after I watched D. Never felt more alive than that year. Unfortunately, I've never returned since at least not with my own car since I live in a different state now. Miss that pass and that feeling.

[@Viseak]

Driving with the windows down feeling the air, hearing your exhaust, and blasting some tunes really is quite the feeling isn’t it

[@Fuumisama]

​@@VuzenOrtega is such a fun canyon run when you aren't going thru there as your commute

[@colin__burke3416]

@@Vuzen dude no way, I spent countless hours going through Ortega, my Lock Screen to this day is still my old car on that gorgeous canyon road

[@bsti112590]

Early anime has that "warm, fuzzy 90s" feel because the colors are hand-painted into physical animation cels, vs being dropped with a paint bucket tool onto a digital frame of lineart. The brush strokes and slight imperfections from frame to frame give the animation warmth, and makes the lines and colors "bleed" and wobble slightly.

[@SecretHashiriya]

1-3 are best story wise for sure, but stage 4 and stage 5 are definitely the best when it comes to the racing. once you get fast enough you get to understand the pressure and nuances of takumi's second progression arc. kinda sucks cuz it excludes 4th and 5th stage from the general audience but after getting much more knowledge on top level racing they began to make a lot more sense to me thematically.

[@Viseak]

Yeah I get it, to be honest it’s almost like stages 1-3 and 4-5 are different shows, meant for different audiences. Don’t get me wrong I still enjoyed the series as a whole, but definitely preferred 1-3, and there’s nothing wrong with enjoying 4-5 more either, just different strokes for different folks. Maybe if I got more into professional racing I’d see it through a different lens though.

[@SecretHashiriya]

@@Viseak yea na i love both for different reasons, where one dips the other excels

[@thatfunnykekguy6377]

To me the most good part of Initial D Takumi's dev, was 3rd and 4th stages ... It reveals he's on another level regardless of his knowledge (just like Keisuke), and then the way he races and also the way he gets beaten up in Akina by Bunta, it makes things even spicier and later on, he drives another car and says he doesn't know how to drive the 86 anymore. Because of the trauma and how incredably fast the GC8 is compared to the 86 with the same driving he does on the 86. It's not like it's not interesting, it is. Also 5th stage even more. Specially in the Fujiwara Zone explanation.

[@Viseak]

@@thatfunnykekguy6377 it’s definitely still interesting, some of the best races happen through stage 4-5 It just doesn’t resonate the same way stages 1-3 did. I guess part of that’s cause it starts to become less realistic for most people as the races get more competitive. Basic street racing sure, entire team parading around a prefecture with seemingly unlimited money, little different

[@themanwithsauce]

@@thatfunnykekguy6377 I think a big part of the fall-off is that despite him being more skilled than before, and still having some great races to be sure, there are a few too many "takumi wins because we say he does" than I think I'd like to see. Like the CTR race where the other guy panic brakes at seeing an animal in the road, but Takumi missed it because he did his headlight trick. ANd I can forgive one or two of those no problem, but when the last race of 4th stage, especially after the epic Godfoot race, ends with Takumi breaking his car trying to beat the S2000 but "takumi wins due to old man getting sick"? Come on...

[@fresenaytakele2057]

"he drifts in the snow like a japanese santa klaus to save the day". the best line in the video.

[@Bruce_Mazi]

the style change from stage 1 to stage 2 is because stage 1 was produced using cell animation with the CG scenes being done digitally but being separate cuts that's why in scenes where there's a car and a character in the same frame the car is hand drawn rather than CG. Stage 2 was a fully digital production which meant that the line work for characters became sharp and consistent and the colours became more contrasty and bold vs the softer tones and more pastel-ish tones you'd see in stage 1. STAGE 3 was a traditional cell animation production (to match the standards of movie theatres) however unlike stage 1 they were able to digitally mix the CG backgrounds which is why stage 3 has a very unique look were its a mix of CG but has that 90s style look to it despite coming out in 2001

[@Viseak]

That makes a lot of sense. Stage 3 definitely did it the best, but of course, they had a movie budget and timeline to back it up. Probably wouldn’t of been possible otherwise

[@mageyannik2731]

And then there is Stage 4. While I am not sure about the technique it just looks like the cars are 2m a litte less than 7 feet tall. However this only applies to the driving scenes.

[@enix2k666]

​@@Viseak Stage 3 and Legend 1-3, I would say.

[@richiester100]

Ngl. i cried when the 4A blew. I had just wrecked a month before I saw the episode.

[@Viseak]

Definitely hits closer to home when you’ve been through something similar before

[@confusedredditor1660]

who doesn't

[@confusedredditor1660]

did you cry then?@@Viseak

[@Viseak]

@@confusedredditor1660 balled my eyes out bro Was in absolute shambles

[@confusedredditor1660]

@@Viseak ♥

[@Gamerbijjy]

the final couple of episodes introducing the motivation of dreams and accomplishing those dreams is amazing...

[@Viseak]

Yeah I did like the ending all things considered

[@michaelhoule2134]

​@@Viseakproject dream... I like how stage 5 ended.

[@snowmanii]

I'm disappointed you didn't cover 4th stage and Stage 5 tho. I think the later half of Initial D definitely still had soul. The soul was simply different. Second half shows change. Life changes. He couldn't be the same boy he was in the first half of the series. We grow and have different goals, different problems, different internal hurdles to overcome. I like how each stage showed a different portion of Takashis growth and ended with him being the older car guy that already had a name in the streets now seeing the newer generation kid that shows Takashi first hand probably how the older guys he beat felt as they watched his wings of speed spread before their eyes. 2nd and 4th stages are my favorite. The soul is still there. Life is just different.

[@charlescaulkins8306]

There's also a sequel anime that just dropped. MF Ghost.

[@Viseak]

I agree it definitely stuck the landing in the end, and the lead up to it with some of those races towards the end were some of the best in the series. But the way it leaned more into the ‘battle shonen’ I guess you could call it? style definitely soured it a bit for me. I was clocked out half way through stage 4 and it was hard to get me locked back in. I’m still glad I watched the whole series and still recommend everyone do so, cause like you’re saying there’s still bits of soul there and the endings great, but yeah. It definitely started to lose me towards the end.

[@Viseak]

@@charlescaulkins8306 I haven’t made the jump into MF Ghost yet, and I’ve heard a lot of conflicting things I’m sure I’ll watch it eventually, but if you’ve seen it what do you think so far?

[@charlescaulkins8306]

@@Viseak Honestly the pacing is a bit slow. The first episode set up the premise of cars racing in a time trial like its Forza, and then the following two-three episodes were about the protagonist running the course to qualify in the big race. There's a lot of racers battling it out at the same time (15), which meant not enough time to go over everyone aside from the protagonist Kanata who was trained by Takumi himself and has perfect photographic memory. A sideplot of romance with the girl Ren is pretty funny in that no one knows she is a pit girl angel because she keeps her personal life to herself, and she's so smitten by Kanata that she admits to herself that she loves him. The season was only 12 episodes long and it ends just on the time trial qualifier for round 2, so it seems to juggle a lot of stuff at once that makes you want to see more, but there's not a whole lot to see sadly. Two races tops, and a bunch of clips of other cars making their time runs but never seeing them in full. Still, it was engaging and fun like any other sport anime I've watched before as they take the time to explain why such stunts are crazy or cool being the ace rival being able to take first place, or Kanata's crazy driving skills as he can drive easily through a foggy ghost town with limited visibility.

[@Viseak]

@@charlescaulkins8306 that is a bit of a shame, but I guess it’s not too far off Stage 1’s pacing when you think about it. There were only 6 proper races over 26 episodes. So 2 in 12 is almost hitting the mark. To be fair by episode 12 of stage 1 we only really had Takumi vs Keisuke and Takumi vs Takeshi. But I see the problem with it being a competitive racing scene instead of street racing. Keeping track of 15 cars compared to 2 is a world of difference. Interesting to hear your take about Ren, I’ve got absolutely no idea what goes on, but I’ve heard so much about how MF Ghost also kinda treats it’s girls horribly/worse than Initial D 😅

[@daijev278]

goated anime, goated video. I really like how u edited the resolution so it looks like 2000s old blurry camera

[@Viseak]

Cheers man! I frothed over the early animation so much I figured I’d make the whole video in the same style hahaha

[@5yhfd]

Amazing video I like the fact this video is 4:3 aspect ratio

[@Viseak]

Cheers man! I thought it was a nice touch for nostalgias sake haha

[@Oi_Iggy]

The legend movies were so close to perfect, if they just keep the eurobeats the movies would’ve been the perfect “introducing anime to that one friend” movie

[@Viseak]

Yeah the soundtrack is the one thing they’re really lacking, it’s such a damn shame

[@ritchiesiepman5511]

Actually in stage 4 and 5, they started to shift more towards Keisuke and Ryosuke because Takumi kinda already reached his goal

[@michaelhoule2134]

Yeah I liked Ryosuke spotlight on 4 and stage 5 especially. I love how Takumi is even starting to get scared of him.

[@richl7564]

Great perspective of a past era of car culture and a show/story that had a major influence on many older car people. You've given me a little more hope for future car enthusiasts. I'm about a decade older, but it makes me happy to see the next generation of car enthusiasts truly appreciate and understand stuff like this. Living in the present and not being in/around the car scene just to chase clout is not something you see a lot of anymore, and it's kind of a shame.

[@Viseak]

Thanks mate! Glad to hear I’ve given you some hope for the future, and I hope you know a lot of this generations envious of yours when it comes to car culture. We can’t turn back the clock and experience things how they used to be, and in a lot of ways sure, the past isn’t completely better than the now. But if you’re able to understand and appreciate things that made the past so good and why people look back on it so fondly, you can try and make the future a better place too. The internet and internet culture has been a great thing in a lot of respects, creating a global economy, people over the word connecting, people not being taken advantage of and knowing what options they have out there as they can broaden their scope, the wealth of knowledge and so on, but that doesn’t come without its drawbacks of clout chasers, MLMs, and plenty of other harmful / predatory content. So, as much as I admittedly love the internet and am online more than is probably good for me, taking a step back and seeing the world for what it is in the moment is super important. It always sounds so cliche hearing people say ‘live in the moment’ but it is genuinely important to stop and smell the roses, rather than looking at everything behind a screen. Photos and videos are great for memories but not every second of every thing needs to be documented. That’s probably the most boomer thing I’ve ever written but eh, maybe that’s what happens the year you turn 25, frontal lobe developing and all that jazz

[@K0Y0I_sis]

You know we need to turn back when this year's TAS is filled with demo cars that can't even go over a speedbump, apparently the 70's Kaido trend has made a resurgence recently "thanks" to Tik Tok. Millennials and GenZs are so lost and confused.

[@Viseak]

@@K0Y0I_sis looks like there were heaps of amazing cars at TAS from what I saw online, and lets be real the stanced cars you see like the 326power 488 are most likely on bags and are more on the extreme not too common end (at least from what I saw lol) It’s not really my style but eh, they clearly didn’t spare any expense. It is starting to feel a bit ‘show car-ey’ like the early 2000’s though. Regardless I think meaty tyres and good fitment (or what I’ve seen people call ‘battle stance’ lmao) is becoming more popular which ain’t a bad thing at least, and is what I’m going for in my ISF. Guys like zc6_josh and japan_use20 on Insta have built some mad F’s if you want to see what I mean

[@ultimateshadeofwar]

Around 12:38 Something that the anime doesn't show well, it's that in the manga, Takumi when he sees the RX-7 move away from him fast, it's like a switch is flip, and he is putting his everything to catch up the RX-7, and once he does, he thinks of the way to most easily pass him. It's amazing how much of a difference there is to show that Takumi while without much effort, deep inside, he likes the adrenaline of the chase. Which is important for the next race.

[@tombuster]

I've had to stop watching halfway through, because I'm reading through Initial D at the moment, and the last part to come out covered the battle with Kenta - even though I know the story in-and-out, I still cannot wait for the next chapter to be translated and released where I live. I've watched through the series a couple of times, the first being at the end of middle school, and it's my all-time favourite! I have to say that I strongly aggree with your remarks about car culture today and just enjoying the moment - as someone who's turning 20 this year, I have to say that one of my favourite things to do is just going for a drive in my 30 year old FWD VW golf and enjoying the experience. The only thing that tops that is bring able to share this experience with friends. Initial D was - and still is - very influential on my approach towards many things in life. Iketani's fumbling of a promising relationship, Itsuki being inspired to enjoy his car and many, many other stories helped shape the person I am today, and I'm really thankful for that. Also, I really feel what you mean by "the series has a soul" - it's probably the biggest reason I can't get into many newre shows - they seem to lack that substance that keeps me coming back for more. I'll definitely give Hajime no Ippo a watch when I have some time! I'm also getting excited for the future, when I'll be able to afford to spec my car up a bit and learn to drive it even better! Thanks for this video! From what I've seen so far, the ending will not disappoint - I'll come back to it when the maga catches up to the end of season 1 ❤

[@tombuster]

There's also that feeling you mentioned - Anemoia - that I think encapsulates a feeling I've experienced quite recently, and given the name "second-hand nostalgia / melancholy". I find it really fascinating, and it's been on my mind for a long time, so it's nice to know the proper term for it as well!

[@Viseak]

Yeah I get it man, back when I first got my license as a teenager me and my mates would use any excuse to get out for a drive. Just go hang out in a carpark to take photos, go to a car wash, find some nice backroads, even go to monthly car meets they had at a local Sydney track (which they don’t hold anymore unfortunately). Initial D definitely captures that feeling, and those first 3 stages are pretty relatable which I think goes to their appeal over stages 4-5. Definitely give Hajime No Ippo a shot, even if you know nothing/could care less about boxing it’s WELL worth it. Awesome to hear about your Golf too, they’re plenty of fun to drive and tinker around with. Just don’t do an overly obnoxious crackle and pop tune yeah? Haha Thanks for watching man 🫶🏼

[@joshuahagelstein6624]

I'm so glad you mentioned Zoids Chaotic Century because I knew that I knew you from somewhere but couldn't place it. This is another great video where our interests overlap. Initial D taught me to love cars and love driving. I used to try to race my way to work as fast as possible (at 3 in the morning with no traffic) without realizing I craved more than that Point A to Point B experience. I drive a 2023 WRX now (say what you will about the plastic cladding) and it is basically my dream car. I would've never understood my relationship with driving without Initial D and Takumi's journey and I am grateful to have been able to experience it. I love 4th, 5th and Final stage because it builds depth to Ryosuke's role as a leader - and in some ways, the co-lead character. So you and I differ in that regard, though I definitely love the slice of life emphasis that was more prevalent in the earlier seasons as you did, too.

[@Viseak]

Haha I swear most people that like mecha, like cars, and visa versa. Which does make sense. That’s sweet man the new rexy’s are mad, shame they got rid of the STI’s though. I drove a Subaru for 7 years so I can’t shit on them, and while I don’t think I’ll ever own one again, I’ll always miss my Hawkeye. All things considered I did enjoy Ryosuke’s character arc, just not quite as much as everything else. Like some others have said though, maybe if I actually start racing/tracking my car, I’ll have a better appreciation for it.

[@confusedredditor1660]

what do you drive now?@@Viseak

[@sukottotsukeshi.]

I enjoyed watching zoids on toonami as a kid

[@henrik1743]

I remember a Reddit thread being like should I watch Initial D? And the response from a guy top voted was : depends, do you like good anime? And that basically summarises it, first stage is amazing

[@Viseak]

Yeah that pretty much sums it up. If stage 1 doesn’t get you hyped I dunno what will

[@t-bird_guy]

I watched initial D a long while back after hearing about it from donut media in my younger years, and now that I have a car it sticks more with me, and the message of driving a slow car fast really sticks with me more than ever, my 1995 t-bird (who woulda guessed) even with its v8 isn't as fast as i'd expect it to be, but I love every second of it, whether it be moseying around my suburban town, cruising down a mountain pass, or trying to keep up with a challenger it all feels so great, despite it being made to be a grandpa car. This video was an amazing analysis into the heart of this show, thank you so much for making it!

[@Viseak]

No worries at all man, glad to hear you’re enjoying your car all the same And thanks for watching!

[@gathel8574]

Ford Thunderbird ?

[@geoffreymak000]

Stage 1-3 is about coming of age, stage 4-5 is about the adult grind.

[@Viseak]

It’s definitely a grind that’s for sure, least it’s realistic lol

[@finatchos]

Watching Initial D again reignited my passion for cars and made me realize I can still have some fun with my little 1.0l Opel Corsa B shitbox on a gravel road, no need to be going super fast or having the best machine for that.

[@the_baron_von_germany7053]

i got a w124 e230 with a 5 speed manual just 4 months ago and it needs some love but is fun as hell to drive. i came lowered so it rides firm but not hard and it does exactly what i expect and ask of it. and i love it best car ever and nobody can tell me otherwise.

[@Viseak]

Yo that is super unconventional but cool as hell. Enjoy it man!

[@the_baron_von_germany7053]

i will and are Enjoying it i would not really call it unconventional, in germany anyway i am just sad that most of the good w124 are getting rare and costly as there become oldtimers after 30 years i just wish fun cars would stay/become affordable

[@dagreat201]

Great review, great editing/music choice, great commentary, I'm a long time fan of Initial D for 6-7 years, and I've been considering doing a little video essay or something, but the way you scripted this video is phenomenal, you don't dwell on unnecessary details that can be occupying, and I never noticed the subtext of what what fast feels, however I felt like you didn't give credit to the coming of age aspect of the series, I feel like particularly the different stages up to 3 reflect different phases of growing up transitioning from teenager to young adult, Takumi never thought anything of improvement in 1st stage much, 2nd stage he gets reality checked into desiring improvement from himself (and the car), and third stage being the beginning of the execution of that to keep it brief. 4th stage and 5th stage I agree don't have a lot going on, but I feel like in the big picture of a coming to age they still are important since they are Takumi improving and racing more like an adult, albeit in a dragon ball sense of the way, with final stage being the fruits of his training, as he needs to face himself and properly race like an adult to win using all of the skills he's honed, with the graduation from the AE86 at the end representing his final graduation of adulthood. Regardless, fantastic video, and although I'm not a mecha guy, I'll stay around and watch the rest of your stuff, this was a great video. 👍 Also your comment about how your car would open up at 3800RPM, I had a 1.6 miata that also would jump up in power at 3800, it's real fun, wasnt expecting it to be an ISF though, sweet car.

[@Viseak]

Yo thanks so much man seriously, I appreciate the kind words, feedback and reassurance. I felt good about this video but I really wasn’t sure if I fumbled the bag here, especially considering it’s viewership so far hahaha The coming of age aspect is an interesting one, it’s so obvious and integral to the plot it almost felt like it went without saying, but the series did do it extremely well so I probably should’ve given it some credit where credits due for sure. You’ve definitely nailed it by saying stages 4-5 take a Dragon Ball kind of approach, it really did start to feel very ‘battle shonen’, but the ending is pretty special. Kinda regret not talking about it now but it’s whatever 😅 Miatas are plenty of fun for sure! And nobody really expects the ISF, it’s a sleeper for sure I love the thing. Honestly I’ve got a real appreciation for NA cars in general, I’ve driven all sorts but only ever owned NA’s, something about em just hits different compared to turbos or superchargers. Can’t lie though, I’ll never get sick of spooling noises

[@dagreat201]

Thanks! I think the most important thing that you did was cut out a lot of fatty kinda unnecessary details that a lot of the Initial D/car community fanbase would typically get caught up on, the little shit that doesn't matter in the big picture. One more thing I didn't mention just for the sake of keeping everything neat enough and not sounding all nerdy and overanalyzing, is that we also see a silent shift in demeanor in Takumi with the whole coming of age aspect, his temper would get very easily flared in stage 1-2 over some very specific stuff (I think particularly unfairness is what sets him off, miki being unfair to mogi, shingo just driving unfair period, mogi being unfair to takumi about her relationship with the benz guy, wataru being unfair to takumi ridiculing his lack of knowledge), with that particularly being toned down in 4-final (which albeit there's few examples, but they're there where otherwise takumi would get riled up if it was an earlier stage) reflecting that he's more in control to win. Now if you were to put in that longwinded explanation about a silent background detail that really is only there if you look hard enough, then that would just be unnecessary filler in an otherwise excellently paced video. Also yeah the IS250s are actually starting to become a bit of a sleeper racer here in America, not sure about australia, racing and rally (like yes dirt rally!) rentals here commonly use them even in stock form, they'll probably become a classic car one day for sure. I do really hate though how much America hogs all the JDM imports though, I can feel it since I'm from Ireland and if I was to get something nice there, it would be significantly more expensive which is a shame since most of the cars here get trashed by not even like the youth but just the kind of car community we have, they just completely thrash them drifting, ignorant mods, etc, it's so shameful and then they wonder why the cars are getting so expensive.

[@Viseak]

@@dagreat201 Yeah I’ve been trying to get better at not just regurgitating entire plots and pretending it’s a ‘video essay’ haha Still gotta bring up plot points to make the video cohesive and work of course, but I reckon this approach definitely cuts a lot of the fat like you were saying. I actually love you brought up his change in demeanour, because it’s another parallel to Hajime No Ippo I absolutely love. Same kinda thing happens in Ippo with boxers that ‘cheat’ or bend the rules without the ref seeing, and it’s one of those things that while are wrong, and he’s adamantly against in the sport; is something he needs to come to terms with and deal with in the ring, cause nobody can save him in there. Yeah as much as it annoys me I can’t blame the Americans though, if I were in their boat I’d want the cars too, we all want em and there’s only so many of them around, especially considering they don’t really make cars the same anymore which is a damn shame. Gotta wonder how the peeps over in Japan feel, I guess I robbed them of a clean low km ISF so I shouldn’t complain haha We get a lot of cowboy mechanics and drivers here in Australia too, but I think it depends on the type of car. Your typical ‘Aussie’ Holden commodore and Ford falcon will most likely be beaten to shit, same goes for any spec Silvia (S13, 14 and 15) or Skyline. Most Hondas won’t be the best and clean Subarus are hard to come by too. I think a lot of that goes to how cheap and accessible they were up until a few years ago. A mate of mine bought his S15 for under 10k about 6 years ago, would be worth close to 40 now which is just insane. One thing I’ve noticed though is most people don’t spare any expense on their Evo’s in Sydney, we have roll racing every month at a local track and without fail you’ll see a stupid number of 500+kw evo’s that have tens of thousands put into them. But yeah overall, seems like fun cars are becoming harder to find everywhere

[@georgesanchez8051]

I was a student of Professor Felipe de Brigard, specifically for his Neurophilosophy class. Dude was cool and smart as hell. He also had mild prosopagnosia, so he occasionally struggled with recognizing people by faces and typically also needed to know a fact about you in order for your name to stick. Badass dude

[@Viseak]

Go figure, awesome to hear about the guy first hand! Small world haha

[@gasmaskerobin1560]

Amazing video, i loved it! You know the video is great when it feels like 15min but its actually close to an hour

[@Viseak]

That puts a massive smile on my face man I appreciate it 🫶🏼

[@SaberisloveSaberislife]

If I was into cars like I am now back in 06-07, I probably would have gotten an AE86 for cheap. The drift tax today is insane!

[@Viseak]

Yeah that and the JDM tax in general is crazy these days

[@LessonSmith]

I thought the 86 was special because it's a car that communicates near perfectly with the driver. I wonder if other cars can do the same

[@Viseak]

@@LessonSmith I think any car can achieve that if you drive it long enough I had my Hawkeye for 7 years and knew it from back to front, still learning about the ISF though

[@1985Link]

Watched Initial D in 2003 here in NSW when I was 17, perfect timing, iv owned 4 JDM cars since, currently have a blue 2018 WRX STI Spec.R, iv also driven with Fun2drive in 2017 in there AE86

[@EpicLakitu]

I gotta say I appreciate the work put into the captions, thank you very much for putting the effort in. Great work on the video and the 4:3 aspect ratio is such a fun touch

[@LenKusov]

I started driving in the mountains at age 13, same as Takumi, except my part-time job was groundskeeping at a tourist trap and I wanted to get home and wash off the sweat and grass clippings before it got too itchy. I got into Initial D around 16-17 cause of the memes and, coincidentally, ended up enrolled in a skid-pad training course to get the car insurance premiums down, which let me try the stuff in a slightly-less-risky environment than gravel fire roads. Most of the theory in the show's pretty sound until you get into the "fujiwara zone" type stuff, and I did actually put it to good use. Once I turned 18 I ended up on volunteer Search and Rescue in the Red River Gorge, so then I actually had a legal EXCUSE to fly up and down mountain roads at Mach Jesus and burn through a set of tires every month. Couple months back, Drift Appalachia came to one of my home courses on Hwy 15 up to Tunnel Ridge, near Stanton KY, but unfortunately for the Formula D guys who just wanna make noise and smoke tires, their time-attack record ain't even close to mine and I've got an Impreza now. FWIW the only crash I got in before I moved away involved wet leaves in my own driveway.

[@snowmanii]

Great video man. I Love Initial D! And this analysis definitely made my day.

[@ThisRiceEater]

Man, I'm only a few years older than you and remember seeing 180sx's on Carsales for around $8000-10000AU in high school and seeing them shoot up to $30000+ by the time I was in a position to afford $10000. Dream project car that I cannot justify the price of anymore. Your talk on youths being priced out of fun 90s cars definitely hit close to home. When I moved states in 2020 (Got incredibly lucky in landing a FIFO job in WA before the pandemic went full swing), I miraculously found a bone stock hawkeye Impreza wagon in WRX trim for $8000 which I bought immediately. This month I found examples going for $15000. Just a four year gap and will probably continue to rise. It's a great car, absolutely pulls off the line and the wagon body has made it a godsend in the day-to-day. Definitely a forever car. Though the price of 98 makes me think of getting a cheap daily. Initial D holds a special place in my heart. I grew up with Gran Turismo 2 on the original Playstation and absolutely fell in love with 90s JDM because of it. I was introduced to Initial D through the live action movie when I was 13(?) when a family friend brought home a DVD from Hong Kong and lent it to me and I was obsessed with the copy I burned. Because whadayaknow? It's a film full of 90s JDM. Found the Initial D anime on the Funimation KZbin channel some time later in high school and was absolutely hooked all over again. I was never into anime before then, but Initial D as my first anime became a gateway drug into me going full weeb instead of 'guy who likes Japanese cars'. I get what you mean about 4th Stage and beyond, but personally I feel as though it was an appropriate tonal shift. Takumi had finished his growth from 'NPC' as you put it, to a person with a goal and ambition. It was time for him to start to get serious and I feel the story stepping away from slice-of-life and car meets with the boys, to doubling down on racing seriously matched this stage in his life. As an aside, I haven't checked out MF Ghost yet, but another street racing story, Wangan Midnight, is a pretty cool series. You've definitely seen the arcade games in any arcade in Australia. Completely different tone to Initial D, but the pursuit of finding happiness at 300km/h in old JDM cars on Tokyo highways is definitely a spectacle to check out.

[@Viseak]

Man me and my best mate used to do the exact same thing every morning in roll call. Neither of our parents would let us get Silvia’s thought cause they were ‘2 door hoon cars’. I saved up about 10k from my job at Maccas by the time I got my P’s but yeah, the Hawkeye Impreza is where I ended up landing haha By the time I was 20 and got my fulls most shit had already skyrocketed then covid happened and the rest is history. I only sold my Hawkeye last year for exactly the same price I bought it for ($8,500) 7 years later, wild world we live in honestly. Great to hear you found a car you love though, FIFO’s a tough gig so you deserve every little luxury you can get. My Hawkeye Impreza was plenty of fun so I can only imagine how yours would be. But yeah, 98 ain’t great for the wallet. I’m just glad I work from home now or I couldn’t justify my gas guzzling ISF 💀 And burning DVD’s that’s taking me back jeeeez, you gave them the old blockbuster special. I’ve never watched the old live action but I gotta check it out sometime, plus I’m keen to see what the new live actions gonna be like whenever it comes. I agree the tonal shift felt appropriate for sure, I just didn’t feel it hit the same as the first 3 stages. Still the whole show was solid overall though. I just saw another comment about Wangan Midnight and said I’d never heard of it but you’ve just unlocked a piece of my brain mentioning the arcade games. I’ve 100% played those many times, here I thought the characters in it were just made up for the game lmao I’ll have to check it out.

[@Starscream8896]

Midnight wagnan is probably my favorite. Great for people that like to tune cars for highspeed , and “cut up” or “swim” like the recent wheres981 craze on social media

[@ieurobeatkids9378]

I saw some comments about you not including the last two stages, but honestly I don't mind. 1st-3rd stage was a complete story. Even though the manga was supposed to end after 1st stage (with the impact blue race last as that was Tsuchiya's home course) Shigeno did a fine job of continuing the story up until that point. A boy trying to find out what his goal in life should be with his friends and his first love and heartbreak. Afterwards, the story takes a back seat to the racing, and hard. We don't get multiple episodes to really get to know the opponents and their motivations. The most we get is the miata guy right at the start of 4th stage. They also start doing what the res suns and Emporer were shamed for: going to other courses just to break their records and beat them. There's barely any of the slice of life aspects that made the first 3 stages endearing. And this sucks because overall my favorite races are in 4th stage, but since the races are all it's got i can't bring myself to put in over the former 3.

[@ieurobeatkids9378]

And about MF Ghost, you can watch it if you want, but as a manga reader I would recommend many other racing series over it for a couple reasons: 1. The racing and plot aren't connected at all. If you took the racing out of MF Ghost, barely anything changes. The main character only races because he was invited to. The romance is the main thing that moves the plot forward, and I really bad imo. 2. Shigeno again tries to use real world logic to explain how a gt86 can race a 911 turbo and ferrari 488, but the performance gap with these cars makes it even more unbelievable than before. So he goes to using a tire rule that doesn't make sense and gives the main character superpowers (can't say anything more without spoiling). I have way more gripes about the seires, but these are the only ones I can make without fully spoiling it. If you still want to give it a try, go right ahead, but imo series like over Rev, Kanojo no Carrera, and especially Capeta(manga version) would deserve a review over Mf Ghost.

[@Viseak]

Yeah you pretty much summed up my thoughts perfectly. The first 3 stages really had it locked down, the story felt tight and there was a great balance between character writing, slice of life AND racing, which just kinda went off a cliff in Stage 4.

[@Viseak]

@@ieurobeatkids9378 yeah that seems like the consensus I’ve seen around MF Ghost… I’ll probably still check it out cause it’s only 12 episodes right now, but I’m not sure I’m gonna love it haha Kanojo no carrera and Capeta have peaked my interest though. I hear there’s a lack of translation for Knc though which is a bit of a shame

[@ArbitraryOutcome]

@@ieurobeatkids9378 MF Ghost's regulations (or really the lack thereof) also don't account for things like aero and downforce. In fact, I feel a higher downforce vehicle could abuse the hell out of the regulations, the increased weight from a more aerodynamic body kit just means one could access thicker tires, so you'd end up with a car that has high aerodynamic grip and mechanical grip simultaneously, especially if it's an FR-layout car like a Viper or C7 Corvette (I feel a C7 ZR1 or Viper ACR would one of the most optimal vehicles for abusing MFG's regulations on paper) that wouldn't be hampered by the handicaps levied on mid-engine and AWD cars.

[@ieurobeatkids9378]

@ArbitraryOutcome yeah that's why I said that the reasoning he uses in mf ghost doesn't really work and is more unbelievable than in Initiald D. I wad trying not to spoil to much, hence not actually talking about the rule.

[@weesamexpress6730]

The feeling of speed... Something I was chasing ever since I was young. Inital D helped me with my knowledge of cars... And now I owm a Civic EK sedan... Drove the hell out of it whenever dad wasn't sitting in the car to tell me to slow down... I love the feeling of speed

[@softydepzy3835]

great video, I have loved initial D ever since I started watching anime and it is still an anime I go back to every once in a while to watch the first 3 seasons. Absolutely amazing stuff, keep it up!

[@LiljamezZz]

Initial D is the sole reason I got into the chase of speed and I began to discover motorsports after that

[@rockvettel7497]

Love to see the „small“ intial d bubble to glow lately again Love the content men :)

[@Viseak]

Yeah hey, feels like the resurgence all started with a shit tonne of TikTok clips Least that’s how I got the push to finally start the series hahaha

[@HENRY-pe6ix]

Me and my firends just started our own Car-Team. We just want to have a chill atmosphere, car meetings at a gas station and on empty parking spots. For now, only one of our members even has a car a BMW 3 series from 2006 E90. Its pretty cool to drive with him and I and my friends will soon also have a driving license. This Video was very inspiring for me and I hope that our car team will have good future. Greetings from Austria :)

[@Viseak]

That’s awesome man, and E90’s are sweet! Have you and your other mates got plans on what cars you’re looking at? Got a whole different market over in Austria, I’m sure the euro cars are much more affordable than they are here 😅

[@HENRY-pe6ix]

Well we got a ton of bmw, audi, volkswagen and many more european cars. My friend got his bmw used for 4000 Euros (basic version from the e90) and then only had to pay 2000 euros more for repairing stuff. Especially Bmw and Mercedes cars from the 80s to 2000s are very popular. But unfortunately there are not many cheap sporty japanese cars. I see a mx5 or a Subaru Hatchback Impreza here and there but most of the time (if you see something sporty) you will only see bmw, audi or mercedes. My bmw friend is fine with that, the rest of my group(including me) is very unhappy that almost all sporty japanese cars cost 10,000 to 30,000 euros. But anyway this our situation in Austria@@Viseak

[@muhammadryanelyeddari8631]

I love the smaller aspect ratio and the lighting in this video. It really brings back the Initial D vibes.

[@pjetrek]

Wow, this was the best video I've watched in a good while. While I'm definitely not a fan of mechs and I don't even watch anime that much anymore I'm still subbing. Hope to see more car-related videos from you, because you absolutely killed it with this one!

[@Viseak]

Thanks seriously I appreciate the love 🫶🏼 Next videos gonna be on Wangan Midnight then who knows what the future holds. I could talk about cars forever and if there’s an audience for it, I might do just that

[@joshmeck9723]

the section talking about short form car content is so fkn real! Been doing photography for a while now but i almost feel embarrassed to use my camera at meets because of the sheer level of 12 year olds doing the exact same thing for some insta likes nowadays. Wish these kids could appreciate the process of improving your craft and the cars / owners themselves rather than the attention they get from posting it. The saturation of photography recently really is a motivation killer. Great video mate! would love to see more car stuff and other genres of anime, you’ve certainly got the talent to create an invigorating story, chur from nz 🤙

[@Viseak]

Fr man it’s crazy. I get being younger and excited about cars and shit cause like, that was me 10 years ago, but some of these kids have no shame and are so parasocial with these people they’ve seen online it’s insane. Cheers for the love too man, great to see some peeps from this side of the globe here 🫶🏼

[@cartermcgowen]

The art style change is due to it going from hand painted cels to digital ink and paint which was in its infancy at the time so the contrast is always really high compared to hand animated things really being at their absolute peak at the time. Stage 3 had a movie budget so I'm sure they went back to hand drawn for formatting purposes working with film projection and the higher budget overall.

[@OfficialDJSoru]

I can second you on the commute between Takumi and Natsuki. My last partner lived close to my college campus, which was literally an hour and a half from my home, and we made it work for several years until the lockdowns. That distance is nothing honestly.

[@adamc7987]

Surprisingly, or perhaps not, my favorite part of this video was when you didn't talk about Initial D. As a 23-year-old, the final minutes really struck home for me.

[@Viseak]

Thanks man, glad to hear it resonated Also sucks it resonated cause fuck the car market rn, but still

[@loonyshots5879]

Naw seriously, im trying to find an rx-7 FC. Where I'm at in the states, barn finds that have been sitting since they were bought in the 90s are 15k. An rx-7 FD is like 100k if you're looking for one that hasn't been in 20 accidents. So like really I'm just going to stick to my cobalts, they're front wheel drive, but under about 4k rpm it has a great mileage, pretty slow, but if you put the gas down, I mean shit, I've beaten NA V8 chargers from a dead stop before, and I have a worse version than the other versions I could get, and the better versions are still pretty cheap for what they are. But it sucks not having access to those more famous cars.

[@BlazeRodPepsi]

The engine getting blown in stage 2 hit me hard, I used to drive a Lexus IS200, not a powerhouse by any means but it was a fun manual rwd car. I had a particularly bad day and drove that car harder than I ever had for hours on end until mid drift through a corner my engine blew. I was stranded in the middle of nowhere with a blown engine just like Takumi. Although I didn’t have the money for a race engine I’ve been slowly stockpiling the parts for a 1JZ swap so hopefully revive it one day

[@Viseak]

@@BlazeRodPepsi that’s rough man, reminds me of when the radiator on my Subaru blew Luckily it didn’t end in a head gasket issue but it was not a fun time. Couple months later the clutch fork snapped too, lots of things went wrong with that car hahaha

[@volt_8339]

Horsepower makes quick, but skill makes fast

[@tonyblitz1]

Here in the U.S. the best decision I ever made was to buy a used 04 Mustang GT with a 5 speed manual. As a winter car. I now have a Subaru BRZ and I can't say enough how wonderful it is.

[@Viseak]

That’s awesome man, mustangs are much harder to come across here, always thought about grabbing a BRZ one day as a project car though Glad to hear you’re loving it!

[@LilSticcBoi]

I really appreciate what you said about driving slow cars fast, and being safe but having fun. I’ve got a 97 Integra LS, automatic, no VTEC, it’s slow. But god damn is it ever a JOY to drive. As far as crashing your car teaching you a lesson goes, I could not agree more. I was out with a friend hitting the twisties 2 years ago, and understeered right into a tree. This was at around 2am on backroads, no houses or cars around, which is the only time I ever really have fun with my car. Thankfully all the damage was cosmetic, it didn’t effect the drivability at all (and to this day, my passenger side quarter panel is still made out of duct tape lol). But it taught me an incredibly important lesson. I’m not Takumi, I’m not the main character, and I’m not invincible. All things considered, that night ended about as well as it could have, as under different circumstances, I could have easily killed someone else or myself. While it sucks my car is banged up even today, I’m glad it happened. It taught me some very important lessons, and has made me a much better driver as I slowly and carefully push myself to be better and learn my limits, unlike that night where I just threw myself into it

[@Viseak]

Understeer sure is a bitch, but I’m glad you and your car walked out okay 🫡

[@shadxwslash44]

0:18 Yep...I clearly remember the first time I sat in a friend's 1995 MX-5. He agreed to take me home from a house party on a September night in 2021. I open the frameless door, hop in, I'm 6'0" so I can just about sit comfortably in an MX-5. We start rolling, very chill drive out of town in the middle of the night, around 1:30 AM. I remember smiling like an idiot with my phone in my hand when we turned onto the highway and he floored it. It felt like we were doing 200 km/h, but it was around 120. At the same time, I can't feel anything of 230 km/h in my stepfather's Mercedes-Benz S500 Coupé, 180 in the S500 feels like 80 in the MX-5. Firstly, that shows how stable, well-insulated and heavy the S Class is, but it also shows how fun the MX-5 is, and how the perception of speed depends on many things.

[@Viseak]

100% man My Subaru was slow as fuck, but it FELT so much faster than my ISF. Similar to the merc you’re taking about, it just feels so smooth and with how well built ‘luxury’ cars are, a lot of the time it doesn’t feel like you’re going that fast. But with the rattly old subie, everything felt quick

[@DaydreamAnatomy]

Ay thanks for crediting me for some of the background music. Tik tok clout chasers are wild. Initial D has been on my radar but my backlog of things to watch is pretty staggering.

[@Viseak]

No worries at all! Your stuff suited so well to the Initial D vibe I just had to haha And yeah, backlogs really get like that. Couldn’t recommend checking it out enough though it’s a solid show

[@Rally_Armaments]

I race drift cars with my friends due to Initial D. It had an extreme impact on me and I love to rewatch it monthly. I even own 2 ae86s that I daily and drift.

[@Lucyfer_Eve]

Thank you, this video made me realize i have to re-watch Initial D ;w; ❤

[@dasraffnix9471]

I just wanna throw this out there, because something happened close to me recently: If you speed, know the risk. Know it can be the last thing you will ever do. And consciously decide for yourself, that that's what you want to do in that moment. More importantly, don't make that decision for other people. Never speed with people in your car, never speed with people around your car, nor with cars around you. Even if you are the best driver in the world, you can not control chance. If a tire blows or someone runs out in front of you, that's not up to you. I know it has been said during the video, but if this saves one single life, it's worth it.

[@NoGoodDirtyRicer]

It’s pretty safe to say Intial D was set around the time of its release, 1998.

[@zenna6000]

And the end of initial d was 1 year later, so from what youre saying, initial D ends in 1999 which cant make sense as cars like the evo 7 and 350z didnt release yet

[@Lu_Bu__]

YESSS we needed this, initial D has been a big cornerstone to following what you’re good at even if you think you’ll go nowhere, absolutely amazing series with too many ups and downs to even count! Thank you for doing this series justice my guy you’ve outdone yourself!

[@Viseak]

Cheers man! The series deserved it, it’s really something special for sure Can’t believe I put off watching it for so long

[@casper6800]

Your tangent at the end hit me in all the wrong spots. Im 21, going to be 22 in april, and by the end of the year I should be finished with school and able to start making good money. Ive always loved MR2's, and my dream car is a non turbo '94 SW20, in 2019 I could get a sub 100K kilometer one for under 5000 euros, but now even ones that are well into the 150K+ km's are going 8 grand and above. I know thats still relatively cheap compared to other cars, but Ive seen my dream car increase in price while simultainiously lowering in quantity and quality and it hurts.

[@Viseak]

Yeah seeing shit examples of cars 2,3,4 even 5x more expensive than clean versions were only a couple years ago is a real kick in the gut. And you’re right, it feels like the second you actually start working full time and making ‘adult money’, everything’s become so much more expensive that life doesn’t feel any different.

[@conte4967]

Speed is red lining the hell out of my shtbox '14 jetta down backroads at midnight

[@cor657]

The series reminds me of when I grew up street racing. We were not racing the mountains. Drag races on the streets. We had privet forums and leaderboards as well. Could only get an invite to the forum in person. Meets would happen 2-4 times a week. I wasn’t even close to the fastest. I have vary few loses. Good at baiting races. At the same time that was going on there f&f, mischief, Tokyo extreme racer and this awesome car related things happening at once. If cameras were around I would have went to jail more times than I did.

[@JohnDoe-xu7kb]

I don't know if it has been stated in the comments, but the comparison with Ippo deserves greater attention. Jyogi "George" Morikawa, the author of Ippo, actually worked as Shuichi Shigeno's assistant for a time before breaking out into being a popular mangaka. The similiarities in feel might in fact be something Morikawa picked up form Shigeno's work. On another note, the late Kentaro Miura of Berserk fame was an assistant to Morikawa. The lineage on that is much harder to discern.

[@Viseak]

Go figure, I knew about Miura being an assistant to Morikawa but had no idea about Morikawa’s relationship to Shigeno. Crazy how some of the greatest mangaka are all connected in some way.

[@trace6314]

the slice of life elements plus the 90s aesthetic really did make the first 3 stages of initial d feel special, even when youre not really a car person. fourth to final stage did kind of feel like a drag and i think the only reason i watched all of it was because i wanted to just have finished it

[@txkyxdrift]

I NEEDED THIS VID LONG AGO😮‍💨 great video tho👍

[@stormtroopert16]

I went to a Gabriel Iglesias Comedy show back in may, and one of the first things he says when he gets up on stage is: I’m going to ask you right now to not record anything in this show. I don’t want anyone to hear or see anything before I am ready to share it myself. And from what I could see from the nosebleeds, everyone was pretty good about not having their phones out, at all. Just everyone enjoying the comedy show they wanted to see. This kinda goes along with the around 6 minutes mark of the video. He even had a very retro style stage set. With a VHS player and old 70s Box TVs on the screens behind him.

[@ripamoramee14]

Awesome video, and i totally agree about your sentiments on stages 4 & 5 I’ve always kinda wished stages 4-5 were about Takumi actually joining the speed stars and the rest of the boys getting to a level where they could realistically compete against other street racers. Less daddy’s money and more of what it really was in reality, guys who weren’t rich but loved cars and racing in whatever they could afford. The 7 star leaf team were the only ones I really got that vibe from and even then the Miata guy was kinda bumming on his gal’s money lol

[@Kaminari_Kitsunokami]

running in the 90s hits different as synthwave i love it

[@vesterjul]

I get that point at the end. I get the same feeling of going fast when i press the throttle in my dads BMW 545e as i do in my moms Seat Cordoba from 2005 with 80 something horsepower

[@markdanlieabueva3718]

Initial D taught me that the real fastest drivers wasn't on straightways, the fastest are the ones who can enter the corners faster.

[@itsanofromme6099]

Being born in 02 growing up in Aus i feel you, ive left the social media side of cars because its just toxic, i found my people up in the mountains in NSW and we race. Not for money, not for social media. Just some mates that dont organise it they are just always there. After moving back to Melbourne to be closer to my family ive found that there isnt really anything like that here and what i had was special, i cant just drive my ae86 without getting yelled at anymore and thats only the last 2 or 3 years that have done that. I'll be moving back to NSW at the end of the year to be closer to the people that i know realise matter to me the most. My stupid friends and their 80-90s shitboxes. Also the joke about Tofurun made me laugh and realise i forgot to go to see Mike and Carla's art last night. Oops

[@jamessizemore7103]

Losing a car is like loosing a friend. Back in 2020, I was in an accident with my Miata, someone pulled out infront of me on a back highway and I T boned them hard totaling both cars. The emotion didn’t set in until I was in the body shop yard as I trying to pull the wheels off of it. I was never gonna see my car again, it was the last time Id ever wrench on it, and it was gutting.

[@Viseak]

It’s a real gut punch for sure. I forgot to mention this in the video but I sold my Hawkeye last year, which was hard enough I loved the thing and had it for 7 years, but it was time to move on. Then 4 days after selling it, I got a message from the new owner which was literally just a photo of it crashed. He rear ended someone and the car was written off. I thought one day I might see it driving around without me but nope, gone before I even finished 1 full work week.

[@Thibbs-vp6gm]

@@jamessizemore7103 my first car was my dads 2010 corolla and while it may not seem like a very cool car, I grew up in it and once it was mine I loved that car. Fast forward about a year after I got it and I unironically died, straight up cardiac arrest and my heart stopped WHILE I was driving the car. Miraculously the guy behind me called an ambulance and they sent one that was luckily very near by and here I am alive today, albeit with a machine in my side to stop future heart failure. I may have survived, but my car did not. After a year of not being allowed to drive because of my heart condition and I finally was able to get a new car and I got another corolla. A year newer with a whole bunch of stuff the old car didn’t have (power windows, tints, different color and a screen put in for the radio) and I loved that car even more, and all of my friends knew it. I had two corolla keychains with the names of each car. Fast forward to the LAST little snow squall of the year and I was late to work going just too fast around a corner and flipped it. Totaled. I’m still sad about both losses and to this day I’m still thinking about getting another corolla even though everybody else says they’re bad luck. What can I say, they saved my life both times

[@ultimateshadeofwar]

Around 24:59 Stage 4, it was amazing, the CGI didn't feel alien to the drawings, it felt like both fit together and like a 2d image interacting with a 3d one. It was expressive enough and similar enough to the art of the manga, to make it feel like an adaptation. It was just the best. But i have it tie with reboot the movies, and it isn't because i think they are good adaptations, it's because they better portray Takumi's competitiveness, they show better Takumi's desire to win races, to compete, the anime never manages to translate that way, and Takumi at time can come up as weak willed in the anime because of how streach out it's. While in the manga, most of the time, when people expect Takumi to be shocked, or giving up, he is like "F-CK, no i won't let it end like this". He has a competitive spirit that doesn't let anything bring him down, the only time he is shocked it's in the final race of the manga, where his rival does something that just doesn't make sense, and it's just for a second. He is like "WTF... Well whatever if he is an idiot i will take advantage of this".

[@sukottotsukeshi.]

First has its charm but that’s most 90s anime at the time 3rd n 4th stage is when it comes into its own

[@nvirevolution2235]

I had the most fun driving mountain backroads in america in my first truck: a 100hp 2002 ford ranger RWD with an AT. It had worn tires that i pushed to their limits and it rocked like a boat so every turn felt sketchy.

[@Viseak]

Haha sometimes it’s the last car you’d expect you have the most fun in. I borrowed a manual D40 Nissan Navara for some time and honestly it was fun as hell to drive, the tail end really loved to kick out in 2nd though

[@davidlawand2805]

16:56 you heard that little celly? driving you at 90kmph while you scream at the top of your lungs is an experience never to be forgotten :D

[@happi6969]

ive always been into cars, intial d got me into racing and changed my life forever.

[@BlankOfDoom]

i LOVE THAT INITAL D NEVER DIES!!!

[@RallyAddict555]

To me, the stage 1 art style, especially at night feels almost like an oil painting type art style

[@superpeytendo64]

Babe wake up new Initial D video essay All jokes aside, I definitely enjoyed this video. The Akina's Eight-Six Arc of the series is honestly amazing, and this touched on most of the reasons why I view it ( ESPECIALLY Third Stage ) as peak anime. Although I definitely would've touched a bit more on Takumi and Natsuki's relationship as I feel it was also very integral to the series' soul ( surprising I know, I'm one of the few Initial D fans who actually liked Natsuki as a character XD).

[@Viseak]

Yessir 🫡 I agree though Takumi and Natsukis relationship was huge to the series, it all came to a head in stage 3 then poof, gone. Which was such a damn shame

[@superpeytendo64]

@@Viseak Yeah, and honestly I probably would've been more alright with it if Shigeno hadn't introduced Mika Uehara at the start of the Kanagawa Expedition. I honestly didn't enjoy her and Tak's relationship as I did his with Natsuki since the latter two had alot more chemistry between them. Outside of Takumi × Natsuki I really don't think Shigeno can write decently good relationships which definitely can be seen with the other love side plots like Iketani and Mako, Itsuki and Wataru's sister (who's name I'm for some reason blanking on lol) and Keisuke and Kyoko. The only one that comes close is Ryosuke and Kaori's and even then she's kinda.... 'not around' anymore

[@Viseak]

@@superpeytendo64 yeah, writing romantic relationships definitely isn’t his strong suit. Most of the early ones did have an interesting premise though, I was rooting for Iketani but eh Same goes for Morikawa, absolute goated mangaka, Ippo is the best sports manga in existence imo, but bro either can’t or just simply won’t flesh out a relationship to save his life

[@kevinsantos7031]

If you liked Natsuki x Takumi in the anime, you'll like that relationship more in the manga, it's more deep and the chemistry is more strong, the narrative is essentially the same as the anime but with little changes that expand and improve the relationship (I don't know if you read the manga so I'm not gonna make spoilers).

[@Viseak]

@@kevinsantos7031 I haven’t read the manga no, but I’ll definitely check it out someday. Were any other relationships more fleshed out?

[@Ice-dp6qk]

Amazing video, just recently bought my first car which is a ton of fun though i can confirm that its hard to come close to the feeling of driving my moms vtec honda element lol

[@20.02clear]

good one, enjoyed watching it :) thank you for making this video

[@Viseak]

Thank YOU 🫵🏼 for watching the video

[@_KuKo_]

I love that this video is made in 4:3

[@Viseak]

Cheers man, thought it was a nice touch myself haha

[@gamingcraft8931]

This whole video is so well scripted and edited i absolutely love it.And as someone whos around 4 years younger, ive never agreed with another mans statements about car culture and inital D (i stopped watching at around stage 4 or 5 i dont remember) cause it just didnt feel right, and as a suggestion id love it if you did this sort of video for wangan midnight, i really think youd like it if you havent watched it, if you have then tou HAVE to make a video about it. Hoping to seeing it in the future :)

[@Viseak]

Thanks man I appreciate the kind words. To be honest, I’ve never heard of Wangan Midnight, so I guess I’ve got something else to watch and possibly make a video on 🫡 Is the anime good? Or is it one of those series where you gotta read the manga?

[@gamingcraft8931]

@Viseak i dont really read mangas, the only one ive read is berserk so i wouldnt really know. In my opinion it better than initial D just because it has that "soul" aspect trought the whole anime and all the characters have their own stories, i just really hate how it ends. The anime is essentially midnight club but anime, and i feel like you'd like it too.I watched it years ago so i dont really remember how many episodes it had but i remember it was only like 30 ish so it would only take you like a day to binge watch it

[@Viseak]

@@gamingcraft8931 hectic, I’ll definitely give the anime a go then!

[@gamingcraft8931]

@Viseak awesome! Tell me your opinions on it after you're done with it and how likley it is seeing a video about it. Very interested about how close the opinions are gonna be to mine (like for example this video)

[@oberonia7264]

great video! love the takes and style.

[@Viseak]

Cheers!

[@muhammadryanelyeddari8631]

32:28 Actually, the engine has no real life counterpart. The specs of the engine don't completely line up to any real life engine however it does take bits and pieces from lots of different engines. The closest engine to the one in the show I'm aware of is the Formula Atlantic version of the Group A 4AG engine however I think this is more of a coincidence because it's not exact and I think if Shuichi Shigeno wanted to use such an obscure engine he would've made sure to get the specs exactly right. I think the one it is mean't to be roughly based on is the Group A 4AG engine Akira Iida put into his AE86 Levin on the show ''Akira Iida's workbox'' (The entire thing is English subbed on KZbin if you're interested). I'm not sure the exact version he used though. Akira Iida was a former GT500, Super Formula and Formula 3000 racer. He also was a test driver for Honda in the RC101 project and probably most notably, He won a class in Le Mans alongside Tsuchiya himself. Iida only got access to the engine because he used to race for Toyota. That'd match up to what was said in the show about how Bunta needed some serious connections to get the engine. Also depending on timing it either makes this more likely or impossible. I'm pretty sure Iida's show came out in 1998, but the Initial D manga came out in 1995. I can't be bothered to check the release date of every Initial D volume to see if the show came out before or after the volume where the new engine was fitted into the car so I might be completely wrong. And on the Tsuchiya engine thing, I'm pretty sure he used a 4AGE but the engine in the show is a 4AG. I saw this on a website that interviewed Tsuchiya and it's possible that they meant a 4AG but I'm not sure exactly. It could possibly be a mix of Iida's and Tsuchiya's engines. Edit: I just watched slightly further into the video and it reminded me of another point to suggest that it's based off Akira Iida's engine. Keiichi and Akira were also friends. After Akira finished his 86 they even ended up racing each other on Fuji or Tsukuba (I forgot which one exactly) and Keiichi was getting gapped. Keiichi even eventually cut the track to get in front of Akira just to have Akira fly past him in his 86 again. It's possible that Bunta Fujiwara is based on Akira Iida which could suggest the engine is also based on Iida's.

[@miabbqpitgrill]

that armored core ost as background music throughout the video is fitting

[@Sens_A]

I wish after stage 3 Takumi became a solo racer like Kai or Wataru so he has the disadvantage of not racing home but not the advantage of being with project D, and instead of Ryosuke teaching him it could have been Bunta to also build their relationship more

[@thebluetardis]

Going fast is seeing everything around you going slower and slower.

[@amildemirovic6468]

I have no idea why this video still has not blown up

[@Viseak]

By my own standards it’s done well, but I’m keen to see just how big it’ll get 🫡

[@projectracingtheory4125]

Love this! It motivated me to push more content on my Chanel! Project Racing theory. Thanks for the story very well told I’ve seen the whole initial D series! I agree most JDM cars have sky rocket that’s y I’m looking at a different car market not main stream in social media.lots of great cars out there.

[@Viseak]

That’s awesome man! And yeah there’s still a bunch of hidden gems yet to be discovered by the masses. I think that’s part of the reason I found a good deal on my ISF. They’re underrated as hell and not many people know V8 Lexus’ even exist.

[@thomasriecks4027]

I feel the same way about muscle cars. My dad when ever we browse cars always talks about hot rodding stuff and I'm just sitting there thinking about how I just want to experience the car how it is.

[@smallben7744]

Enjoyed watching this as an initial D fan

[@Viseak]

Cheers man

[@seventh-hydra]

You pointed out how people on TikTok don't get stuff like Initial D, but tbh I'd say short form comment is actually why JDM tax got so high. For every dude who thinks Bugattis are the only car in the world, you get another dude who slaps Deja Vu over any video he can find. ID getting hardcore memed with the rise of short form content in ~2016 got a lot of people into it. And now people who were teens when it blew up are old enough to get their own cars. It also seems like over the last year or two there's been another surge of ID and drift related content in general, mostly in the form of shorts.

[@mathattaque]

For real I get the nostalgia it's like this period with super cars being made doing way cooler stuff without the clout chasing of sm today. This pre smartphone era I think was just the perfect balance of like social interactions and limited acess to the internet which is perfect imo I think people spend a tad bit too much time connecting which make interactions rarer

[@Viseak]

Yeah pretty much, I love the internet and am as addicted to my phone as the next person, but I’ve been trying to make the active effort to be more present and in the moment when going out lately But it’s crazy I gotta make an active effort to do that, which I reckon is part of what makes the time where it wasn’t even a possibility to be glued to a phone so appealing. By that same token, instant access to marketplace for a quick geez at locally selling shitboxes and wheels is phenomenal hahaha

[@mathattaque]

@@Viseak Totally agree with you man, myself aswell I've been trying to leave my phone in my pocket as much as possible when out, sometimes I even tell my friends to stop when like they get stuck on reels on tik tok which sounds annoying but frr it feels so much better when you have the full attention of your buds. But yeah like you said the internet is great it gives us access endless shitboxes and data but idk for when you hang out it sucks a bit. So thats why I think this period was cool because you had to go to a pc it's not 24/7 like today 💀

[@david-bl6is]

i drive a gr86 and its true, slow car fast is a lot of fun. sure straight line isn't that fast but it's a lot of fun to drive. getting side ways is a dream and easy to control.

[@thevendor5017]

You earned a Subscriber, I have never finished fourth or fifth stage so I guess for me I got the same feeling because when I stsrted fourth stage I made it 1-2 races in and enjoy those races but just get bored watching it.

[@Viseak]

Yeah it definitely started to her a bit, eh, at times in stage 4. I still recommend finishing the series if you haven’t though, especially for the ending. I reckon they were pretty good just not as special as stages 1-3 were

[@kizzagt]

@@Viseak I will say I agree with much what you said about the series, I will say with stage 4 and 5. I see them as Takumi working towards his dream with a tribe who're all aiming for the same goal creating a great brotherhood which young men require. I also like that we see more about the dynamic between Keisuke and Ryosuke, the evolution of keisuke's character from being an impulsive rash driver into a mature disciplined driver. Also you see Takumi become more vocal and confident within his skin. Also a nice touch with stage for was you seeing the evolution of the cars themselves as both the FD and 86 did they upgraded and improved as they went on. I will say my favourite battle in all of initial d is Keisuke vs Godfoot given the type of race it was, the tactics, music and most of all the best overtake in the show. You got a new subscriber from this video. 👍

[@ragingfred]

I also did the Fun2Drive tour while I was in Japan and I got to bomb around the mountain passes in the AE86 (with the fujiwara tofu shop livery of course) and I really see why people like this car. It weighs almost nothing and handles so well. A little gravity assist and it's insanely quick

[@Viseak]

Ha yeah someone took the AE86 out on the run I went on too, and I’ll give the guy props he kept up with everyone except when we got to the long tunnel straight hahaha I’m sure it would’ve been a blast to drive!

[@Starscream8896]

only 23 and completely agree, so many people chase clout and it ruins the overall vibe

[@ChuckRodriguez]

4th stage has a lot of really great battles,the civic EK9 from the pro driver and the last races, God foot and God Hand was the best of the anime

[@R32GT-R_Takeshi]

Hey there! Love the video man! Im currently working on a 90s streetracing manga myself actually! Aiming to be for the enthousiasts mainly but im hoping non enthousiasts read for the character interaction and story haha

[@Viseak]

Thanks man and that’s awesome! I’d love to read it when you’re at a point where you can share it

[@R32GT-R_Takeshi]

​@@ViseakNo problem! And thanks man! Will let you know when i get to that point !

[@panicwire]

yup. You know what's funny? I was actually alive and into cars at that time. I'm convinced we feel the same nostalgia.

[@favymcfly]

hey also Bunta and Takumi do actually race in the end of stage 5 which is reveled that he does race Bunta which is when its reveled that Takumi was gifted the 86 and Bunta now owns a WRX STI at the final half of intial D in stage 5

[@jotarosbae4343]

My grandad used to race in local rally competitions as a hobby in the 80s and in the late 90s/early 00s he had an S15 which he used to take to the track and it breaks my heart that he sold it :(

[@Viseak]

That’s awesome man, and who knows, maybe it’ll find its way back to you one day Won’t be cheap but ya know, thats todays market for you