Initial D

2021-07

Watching Initial D. Finished the first season. This is the only series where I ever wished there was better CG, probably it will improve season by season?

Watching Initial D. Finished the second season.

And now the first film. At first I didn’t care much for the romance portions of the series, but I now find it kind of interesting how tough it’s portrayed. There isn’t a single successful couple so far. MC’s mother isn’t around either.

Watching Initial D. It occured to me that part of “willing suspension of disbelief” is that you forget the heroes cannot lose, villains cannot win and so on. Stay on the edge of your seat even though there is no logical possibility that a show would betray its “promises”.

2021-07

Watching Initial D (Fourth Stage). Seriously, what is it with this author/series and romantic relations. None of them work out, and it’s not like there is some global “curse” because everybody why drives a car prospers in the story. It seems the reason there are relationships in the first place is that they can be made to fail, as they don’t really connect to anything else in the work. A more cynical person might suspect the author is venting out real-life frustration with women… Personally, I don’t dislike this kind of trope, I’m just a bit mystified.

Some lampshading regarding the above: Seeing Itsuki (the boke) meet by chance his crush, one of the senpais gasps that surely Itsuki can’t be the only one to get a happy ending.

It’s not easy for Itsuki either: He is finally reconnecting with the girl, and hears from her that while they have been separated she has had a very intimate relationship with an older guy, and “still isn’t quite over him”.

The other guy appears suddenly and reveals his love for the girl (Kazumi). Itsuki goes in his head “what is this guy doing? Doesn’t matter, me and Kazumi are in love!” then he says aloud to Kazumi: “What are you waiting for? There is no reason to hold back. Just go with how you feel. Run to the chest of the man you really care!”, closes his eyes and smugly prepares to embrace Kazumi. But of course Kazumi then happily runs to the arms of the other man. On the top of that, Itsuki finds out his friends were in hiding and saw all of it. Man, this author.

Kyouko best girl. She’s there to save Keisuke’s ass when he breaks his car, just because she always goes to cheer for him even though he said she shouldn’t come. I love how she calls Keisuke “darling” in her head, ever since first meeting him. Also her car (black FD3S) looks cool (at least with this CG) and fits her. Could be I just like black cars. Like I like black everything. Remember the Day9 quote: “You know those guys who wear all black because they haven’t established their fashion sense yet?”.

Are all the Lan-Evo drivers assholes?

2021-07

Watching Initial D. I’m not a big fan of the driving sections but nearing end of the series, I thought I might list some of them that I really liked. Chronologically:

In the duct-tape match, when the opponent crashes his own car after trying to ram Takumi.
In a combined uphill-downhill race, there’s a turning point where the drivers circle a marker, and one driver passes the other by suddenly circling the marker from the opposite direction.
There are several instances where drivers bump each other deliberately, but I recall one where a pro driver overtakes Takumi after giving him a slight bump.
The match where a guy tries to kill Ryousuke or himself.
The young genius driver who first disses Takumi by letting him pass, so that he can overtake him in a impossible corner where some girls are watching in order to impress them. He overtakes splendidly.
The last moments of the match against the above guy. Lots of bumping and Takumi blows his car in the last corner and drivers backwards to the goal.
Also there is a lot of repetition across battles, but everything is pretty cool the first time it occurs.
And finally, every time some good Eurobeat starts!