About a year ago I watched an episode of anime on a friend’s computer. Now, most anime has giant fighting robots. Initial D is something else entirely: For a start, it’s about streetracing.
In Britain this would raise thoughts of idiotic youths with oversized stereo systems doing handbrake turns in the local supermarket car park. Not so in Japan. Touge, or mountain passes, are the racetracks and racing is conducted at a semi-professional level. Obnoxiously loud stereos are not found, only modifications that improve performance. Likewise dangerous driving is frowned upon. These are not your local Novaboys, they have more in common with a rally team. Local areas have their own race team, which competes with others for prestige.
The story begins with Ryosuke Takahashi, a touge racer who realises that he does not have much time left before the adult world begins to impinge on his racing. He decides to start a new team, Project D, with the aim of beating every other team in Japan. He recruits his younger brother Keisuke and an uncannily talented young man by the name of Takumi Fujiwara as drivers, and in the best anime fashion the victories begin to pile up. Every race sees Takumi take on a far more powerful opponent and beat them by sheer skill with his 1986 Toyota Corolla (AE86, in racer lingo). Takumi’s skills improve with every race, as he learns from his opponents. Later in the series, his father buys a Subaru Impreza. Takumi uses this alternately with his AE86 to deliver tofu for the family business, effectively causing him to chase his Impreza times with the AE86 and develop his skills further.
So what’s the appeal, I hear you ask? Well, the idea of being faster in an old car than far newer models due to skill is very pleasant for those of us who through choice are still driving an 11 year old Land Rover (and before anyone says it’s not touge-ready, I’ll suggest you see it in action first…). The idea of developing your fast road abilities in the wilder parts of the country is also one I feel a natural affinity to, given that the vast majority of my miles are covered in terrain where the Project D crew would feel at home. Certainly I maintain that anyone who learned their car control in a Welsh winter will be a formidable opponent in all weather conditions, and very much enjoy showing clueless people in new Range Rovers precisely what a Series 1 Discovery is capable of.
