Initial D (頭文字D, Inisharu Dī?) is a
manga by
Shuichi Shigeno which has been serialized in
Kodansha's
Young Magazine since 1995. It has been adapted into a long-running
anime series by Pastel,
Studio Gallop, OB Planning, Frontline,
Gainax and A.C.G.T which premiered in
Japan on
Fuji TV and
Animax, and a
live action film by Avex and Media Asia. Both the manga and anime series were initially licensed for distribution in
North America by
Tokyopop (2002–2009);
[1] the anime license has since been picked up by
Funimation Entertainment, while the manga is no longer available in English.
The story focus on the world of illegal Japanese
street racing, where all the action is concentrated in the
mountain passes and rarely in cities nor urban areas, and the
drift racing style is emphasized in particular.
Keiichi Tsuchiya helps with editorial supervision. The story is centered on the Japanese prefecture of
Gunma, (mostly
Shibukawa where Takumi's home is) more specifically on several mountains in the
Kantō region and in their surrounding cities and towns. Although some of the names of the locations the characters race in have been fictionalized, all of the locations in the series are based on actual locations in Japan.
First Stage (1998)
The story begins when street racers called the Red Suns, a team from Mt. Akagi, come to challenge Mt. Akina's local Speed Stars team to a "friendly" race. After seeing how skilled the Red Suns are, the Speed Stars treat it as a race for pride, determined not to be humiliated on their home turf. However, the Speed Stars are left in a bind when their team leader and primary downhill driver Iketani has an accident during a practice run. They were desperate for a replacement, until Iketani learns from Yuuichi, the manager of the petroleum station he is working in, that the fastest car in Akina's downhill was a panda-colored AE86 owned by a Tofu store owner, and traces the car back to a local Tofu store. He discovers that the store's owner, Bunta Fujiwara, was a street racer of great repute in his younger days known as the "Ghost of Akina" . Iketani appeals to the older man to take his place in the race against the Red Suns. Iketani is confident that Bunta will come to save the day. But when the race day comes, his son Takumi appears with his
Trueno instead. Although at first reluctant to let Takumi race, Ikatani relents after it is revealed that he is actually the "Ghost of Akina," the one who outran Keisuke while on one of his delivery runs. Takumi proceeds to defeat Keisuke Takahashi and his
Mazda RX-7 (FD3S), causing considerable astonishment in the local racing community and putting an end to the Red Suns winning streak.
Despite being originally apathetic about the notion of racing, Takumi begins to grow more interested as he receives other challenges, and begins to understand the concept of a street racer's pride. He then proceeds to defeat drivers in more advanced and more powerful cars, such as the
Honda Civic (EG6) hatchback, the
Nissan Sileighty, and the
Nissan Skyline GT-R (R32). He defeats them in all sorts of conditions, mostly for the first time (Duct Tape Deathmatch, wet weather race, first race in a course other than Mount Akina), culminating in the battle between him and Ryosuke Takahashi, the so-called "White Comet of Akagi." Takumi handed Ryosuke his first defeat.
Second Stage (1999)
A group of street racers called Team Emperor, all using
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions, appear in the Gunma area, defeating anyone in their path, until their No. 2 racer, Seiji Iwaki, was defeated by Takumi, breaking their winning streak. Their leader, a professionally-trained driver named Kyouichi Sudo, challenged Takumi to a race to “teach him some things” and as a sort of cover event for his race with Ryosuke, his primary target. This race saw Takumi's AE86 blow its engine. While it may have been a defeat for Takumi, Kyouichi did not consider it a race instead considering it more as a seminar to show Takumi how much he needs a better car as he believes the 86 is far too old to match Takumi's skill level. Kyouichi, believing in his street racing philosophy that professional circuit techniques were adequate to conquer the mountains passes, races Ryosuke who had the opposing philosophy that somehow, the fastest street racing required more than just what the circuit could teach. Ryosuke proceeds to defeat Kyouichi after noticing and exploiting Kyouichi's inability to tackle some right-hand corners with full confidence. When Kyouichi confronted Ryosuke about the loss, Ryosuke explains that their techniques and abilities are actually quite close but that Kyouichi's weakness were right-hand corners which, on Japan's right-handed roads, had the possibility of encountering head-on collisions. He goes on to cite how Kyouichi was unable to conquer this fear due to the fact that circuits don't have the danger of head-on collisions and that his home-course, Irohazaka pass, was a one-way road. This proved once and for all to Kyouichi that street-racing had its own special requirements just as Ryosuke had believed.
Meanwhile, Bunta knew that the engine in the 86 was about to give out. In fact, one of Bunta's "secret" tasks for Takumi was "to lose." In anticipation, he had already bought a new engine
[1]- a high revving, race bred variation of the standard Toyota
4A-GE 20 valve twin cam engine, which is used for Group A Division 2 Touring Class races in the
Japanese Touring Car Championship. This is extremely unusual, because this type of engine is supplied to race teams only, and is not street legal. The source of the engine was unknown. It should be noted that in addition to being a high-revving engine, the 20-valve 4A-GE in Takumi's car is missing the timing cover and runs Individual Throttle Bodies (ITB). Bunta installs the engine without a new
tachometer to teach Takumi the importance of learning mechanical knowledge and understanding why the car behaves as it does, though he has an instrument set ready for installation once Takumi knows of it. A fellow AE86 driver named Wataru Akiyama, who was surprised with Takumi's lack of mechanical knowledge, told him that he needs a new tachometer.
Once Takumi unsealed the power of his new engine, Wataru challenges him to a race anywhere of Takumi's choosing. Choosing Wataru's home course, the treacherous Shomaru pass, Takumi went on to race Wataru despite the risks. Wataru, who knew the course well, was absolutely sure that Shomaru pass was a test of endurance and that it was not a course where overtaking was possible. Despite this, Takumi, upon noticing that in the process of four back-to-back runs through the course that the landslide which covered one half of the road at a certain part of the course had flattened out leaving enough space for another car, took advantage of Wataru not noticing the change in the course and went side-by-side with Takumi eventually overtaking the clearly shocked Levin driver and winning the battle.
Sumber : en.wikipedia.org
teamaryzs.com
![[1]](http://web.archive.org/web/20040422155043/http://hayasamotorsport.com/4A-GE+Silver+top.jpg){kind=link}
