Initial D - Project D

[Kraco]

Arise, arise, foul thread from your grave of ones and zeroes...

Fifth stage 1 - sage



- - - - - - -





Part of me wished they had upgraded the character designs to this millennium, but I suppose that would have been harmful in the bigger picture. Nevertheless, I quite enjoyed this episode, even if it was just playing around with quite a traditional twist and did more to get people back to the world of Initial D softly than progress any serious plot. It did have a bit of driving, although without any excitement for now. I wonder if all the girl talk was foreshadowing. Back in the old show it felt half forced just to make a point of realism since the characters are young dudes who think of such things in addition to the cars.

[Inazuma]

Dat CGI - Oh god why

[Kraco]

Dat CGI - Oh god why

Because it drops the budget strain to one fifth of what it would be without CGI?

[gos27]

Oh...My...God....... That was amazing! The end was unreal, got goosebumps! Man I missed this show sooo badly, and the soundtrack they used when Takumi drifted around the corner at the end was epic. Can't wait for more episodes of this. Only thing I didn't like is how stupid Ryousuke looks.

[David75]

They did upgrade the scenery CGI.
It's clearer, better details, but not that important.
Some more details in people, not that it matters since the style is so hugly to begin with.
And having the two fag fakes arc as a first ep really hurts. Ruined the joy to have some ID back...
We need touge battles!

[Kraco]

Episode 2 - sage

Episode 2 also has a new version of the op that doesn't look like it was upscaled from some 150p video, like was the case with the first ep.




- - - - - - -





Say what you will about episode 1, but this was got as back to full speed (literally, naturally). The first half still had other stuff, but the second half was good. You could really feel the same vibes the earlier seasons had. And it wasn't even Takumi driving yet!

[Munsu]

More Initial D, nice... now I need to see if I ever finished the 4th stage.

[Kraco]

Episodes 3-4 - Central Anime



- - -- - - - --






Pretty good races. I don't actually remember so well the earlier seasons that I could recall when Takumi lost the last time, but if he doesn't lose the race they were still driving by the end of ep 4, it might slowly start to feel like the story won't simply allow him to lose and that naturally would take away some excitement. Still, I didn't yet feel like that during these eps and they were quite thrilling, and thus it could go either way. To be honest, if he loses after I wrote this... Well, that would be somewhat anticlimactic as well.

I was getting worried when Takumi started to go out with the girl that it would suddenly affect his driving clichedly like in lesser stories, but fortunately there's no sign of that yet. While his disinterest in girls and his aggressive will to fight in races were opposite actions during the previous seasons (since the latter rely on testosterone, which should make him interested in girls as well), and thus felt a bit unnatural, I am, in the end, watching this show for the races, so I don't particularly want anything outside of them to have deeper meanings.

[TwisT]

Takumi lost at least once from my recollection. He lost when he blew out the old engine. Other then that i can't remember him losing.

[David75]

Yup, he lost against a Lancer Evolution VI
Then his father upgraded the engine to a formula atlantic 1600cc with a much higher RPM limit and power... That Takumi had to understand the slow and hard way.

He also lost to his father Impreza, before he knew it was his father driving, driving with one hand/smoking as if totally normal.

One could argue that his win against GodHand wasn't a victory.

He had other wins due to external elements, like with a pro racer and his Civic, and the guy with the MR-S he's fighting again, to name a few.


His win against the Miata in Ep3 was depicted by the oponent as an external one but:
-Takumi clearly knew what he was doing when activating his headlights. It wasn't the ghost attack, it wasn't for aerodynamics -or only partly- To me it carefully waited for the right timing so that his headlights show in the corner's miror. He was willing to add a surprise element. My guess is that the oponent had a split second hesitation for fear another car was coming on the other side of the corner. Even if he knows it's impossible, the sudden light was a new element he didn't anticipate, the suprise creating a lapse that had him miss his optimal break point.
This little mistake had him take further risks where he destroyed his rear wing, this time it's entirely his mistake.

So Takumi clearly remembered everyone his not just a driving God, but can also use very clever or genius tricks on the spur of the moment.

[Kraco]

In a fight with very even participants, luck is an essential factor, and one that can manifest in many ways. It's only reduced by repetitions, but it's not like these guys would race twenty laps. For public road racing something like luck is actually a very suitable factor, if you think about it.