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SUMMARY

Time is quickly going by as Takumi and the Akina Speed Stars race toward the big competition between their team, and Red Suns leader Ryosuke Takahasi.  Itekani, worried that Takumi is becoming too distracted by his personal life, decides to fire the young lad up by taking him to a race between the Red Suns and the Night Kids.

While Itekani moves forward with his plans, Keisuke Takahashi of the Red Suns, and Nakazato Leader of the Night Kids, are having one last battle.  What seems to be a predestined conclusion takes a startling turn.

Takumi, excited by the events unfolding before him takes, accepts a new challenge by Kenta, a junior member of the Red Suns.  This race may be the most dangerous ever, because the two of them will go head to head in the middle of a heavy rainstorm!

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: The video is excellent. No pixels , color bleeds or rainbows to be found. The video is so good that the CG animation looks sharper and cleaner than on the Japanese VHS release.  There is some edge enhancement, but you only see it if you look hard for it.

AUDIO: Well done for both the English and Japanese 5.1 audio tracks. The Japanese track has a fuller sound, but the English language track is louder in volume.  During the races, the engine sounds come from the front speakers, while the music comes from the back.  It's almost like you are riding in a real car.

EDITS: Well, there are two versions of Initial D.  The "Classic Import Version" which is uncut.  Then there is the "Tricked Out Version" which uses the clean open with English titles, a totally different closing, English episode titles, and "enhanced" CG scenes.  Interesting thing is that you can watch either version with the English or Japanese 5.1 audio.

EXTRAS: Some short, but funny, outtakes, and a car gallery.  Lame!

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

STORY: While this show has been compared to "The Fast and the Furious", Initial-D has a lot, and I do mean a lot, more depth.  What made Shuichi Shigeno's manga so popular was it's focus on the characters, not just the racing, and the writing staff follows this editorial rule.  Those expecting hard core street racing every episode will be a little disappointed, especially with this volume.

ACTING: The acting on both tracks is very well done.  On the Japanese side, I truly believe that Shinichiro Miki could care less about whether or not he races.  His deadpan delivery of Takumi helps to define the character.

The more I watch, the more I enjoy the English Dub.  While I still think some of the voices are a little too old, they are all very good actors.  Our favorite is Robbie Rist (Iggy).  He really made us laugh as he is tossed about in Tak's dangerous race in the rain.

FAN SERVICE: Bummer, all the fan service must have been used up with the previous volume!

CONCLUSION

This is it, the moment you all have been waiting for.... well, almost.  While we are moving ever so closer to the final battle, we still have a couple of more races to go.

Red Suns leader Ryosuke Takahasi is ready to get revenge for his brother, and reclaim the good name of his racing team.  However, that isn't his only reason for challenging Takumi.  Like most "geniuses", he finds the world he loves full of wanna be's and posers who provide absolutely no challenge what so ever.  Even the lure of professional racing holds no appeal to him.  The only thing that has peaked his interest, and brought back his passion is the unprecedented skill of Takumi Fujiwara.  

Unlike Americans, who would find an upstart racer like Takumi a cause for concern, Ryosuke has a much more Zen view.  In his mind, the only reason worth racing is to fight against the very best.  For him, a victory earned is far sweeter than one given.  While the Night Kids, Mako and Sayuki, and of course his own team mates all have amazing skills, Ryosuke believes that Takumi and his brother Keisuke are the only ones who can beat him.

He may very well be right.  While Takumi was accidentally impressing his fellow racers, Keisuke has slowly but surely improved his technique.  Taking a page out of his brothers book, the raw racer from the first two volumes has started to use tactics and his knowledge of cars to win races.  Even his fellow Red Suns have noticed the improvement, making him an even bigger threat than before.  I also think Keisuke's expanded knowledge helps Ryosuke become an even better leader.  When you have someone who understands you, and is able to keep up while you bounce ideas off them, that level of confidant helps making that hard decision even easier.

While most of the subplots are moved into the background, we do get some personal history on some of our supporting characters.  We discover that Bunta was more than just a simple street racer, he has ties to the world of pro racing.  Another thing we learn is that in many ways, Ryosuke is another Buntai.  More than just a bad ass street racer, he has the potential to become one of the biggest professional racers in the world, like Bunta.  He and Keisuke are also working on a project called "The Fastest in Kanto".  The goal of this program isn't exactly explained, but it's fast becoming clear that Ryosuke wants Takumi to be a part of it.

Speaking of "The Fastest In Akina", there is a lot more racing in this volume.  First up is a competition between Keisuke and Nakazato of the Night Kids.  While both have fallen to the "hachiroku", when you put the two of them together, there isn't necessarily going to be a clear winner, until the race starts.  While many may not be surprised at who wins, I honestly did not expect it.

The second race is really a tacked on affair, barely lasting one episode.  While it does provide important lessons for driving in the rain, it really has no purpose.  On this one, you who is going to win, leaving you to wish they would just hurry up and move on to the next stage!  Especially when the last episode of the DVD ends with the very start of the big battle!

TOKYOPOP has gotten the right idea about how to effectively use digital effects on their tricked out version.  Gone are the crappy split screens, lame warps, and melting snow dissolves.  The transitions are smoother, and they use a cool slide effect during some of the high action moments.

A weird thing happened on the English dub version on episode 23. Iggy makes a remark about the dinging of the "too fast" bell, asking it to stop.  I don't know about you, but I didn't hear any bell.  On the Japanese audio, there it is, clear as day, but on the English dub, I didn't hear it.  Mind you, I don't have a stereo system that can pick up every little nuance, so perhaps that is the reason I didn't hear it.  Still......

Perhaps bowing to fan pressure, they continue to have less and less original music.  While I wasn't exactly thrilled with the over use of "crap rap" on the first couple of volumes, I think they have gone a little too far in the other direction.  On the last couple of discs, there have been some pretty good tracks that had me groovin' to the beat, and I miss hearing them.  While we have an awesome "Blondie" inspired track, "awwwoooon", we still have a cat giving birth version of "Initialize" at the end of each episode.  Arrgh!

On an interesting note, this volume has the changing of the opening theme "Wanna Fly to be Wild" by move to the super annoying music of "Break in 2 the Night" also by move.  While their voices are perfect, the backing track has a little to much of a prance feel for my tastes. 

The start of what we hope is a nerve wracking finale, "Initial D: Battles in the Rain" marks the downhill portion of the first stage.  In this big battle, two men enter will enter the ring of fire, one man will leave the victory flag.  Who will it be?  You have to get the next volume to find out!

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