Anime Profile: Initial D

The anime starts out with Takumi driving early in the morning, doing his normal tofu delivery for his father, Bunta's, shop. He is driving an AE86 (aka: hachi roku, which means 86 in Japanese) Toyota Sprinter Trueno (it's American name is Corolla GTS). Takumi has been driving the Akina mountain pass since he was in middle school; he knows every bump and crack on the road. Takumi has also learned the art of drifting, which he didn't learn on purpose, to get himself home faster. As well as doing the deliveries, he works part time at a gas station with his best friend Takeuchi Itsuki, and the leader of the Akina Speedstars team, Koichiro Iketani.

Little does Takumi know, but he is going to become a very famous person, through trials and tribulations with other car drivers that wish to beat him in a race. His first race is with Takahashi Keisuke, who drives a third generation RX-7. Takumi, for some reason that the characters in the anime can't explain, beats Keisuke and his 340 horsepower RX-7.

Takumi continues winning the battles against rival drivers, until Initial D: Second Stage (the second season). He blows the engine in the hachi roku, and gained a technical loss versus Sudoh Kyoichi, who drives a Lancer Evolution 3 (all the Lancer's have been dubbed LanEvo's in this series). Takumi then gets a new engine put in the hachi roku, but has some minor problems with the engine, being that it hasn't been tuned properly. He and the others that work at the gas station get the needed parts and put them on the car, for the last race before the movie, which is the race between the hachi roku, driven by Takumi (Trueno), and Wataru (Levin Turbo).

The movie has the best overall animation and the races are great and plentiful. You will not be bored with this anime if you love cars, drama, and lots of fast action. I give this movie a 10 out of 10 for the simple fact that the realism factor is incredibly close in this anime. Closer, in fact, than in any anime I have witnessed over the years.