Cheap Initial D - Battle 1 - Akina's Downhill Specialist (DVD) (Noboru Mitsusawa, Masami Hata) Price

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Customer Reviews of Initial D - Battle 1 - Akina's Downhill Specialist

Initial D is about a guy named Takumi who unknowingly becomes good with handling his car down the sharp curves of Mt. Akina in Japan while delivering tofu from his father's shop. The first 3 episodes build up a race between the local racing team the Speed Stars and the rival Redsuns, and honestly, it has my attention. I'm not one for street racing or anything related, but this first volume really has me wanting more.

Audio and video on this disc seem solid. Usually I only listen to the origianl Japanese track for my anime, but I decided to give the dub a try. Sure enough, the dub is full of name changes and "touch ups" to the script along with a brand new soundtrack. Needless to say, I won't be listening to that ever again. Extras are pretty slim with only TOKYOPOP previews and some info on the cars in the show.

I guess I have to adress the altered subtitle in one episode. Basically, it deals with one female character being involved with a man MUCH older than her(read: child prostitution). The subtitle reads, "But you've already seen me in a swimsuit." The actual translation is, "But you've already seen all of me." I'm not really into people altering stuff, but I can definatly make an exception for this.

Overall, if you don't listen to dubs and can get over the fact that one (yes, 1) subtitle was altered, then I'd suggest checking out this disc. The price is right for only 3 episodes.

Anime for car enthusiasts!
This is an awesome anime series. If you're a fan of cars and/or anime then this is for you! Some people are calling this the Fast and the Furious in animation, but it is much different. F&F focuses on illegal drag racing and the use of nitrous to win every race while Initial D is about the Drift and grip styles which take a lot more skill to master and it also shows that you don't need super power to win.

The racing scenes are awesome and done in CGI while they also keep the typical Japanese animation style for the characters. Tokyopop brought this series over and changed the names of the characters and the music to make it more hip, which in my opinion is lame. While they offer the original or the 'tricked out' version, they still cut some important scenes that you will need to see to understand stage 2 (season 2) which may or may not be released.

Overall, it's very well done and fun to watch. Reading subtitles isn't as hard as a lot of people think and you won't miss any of the action. I gave it 4 stars because they changed the original music, names, and cut some scenes.

Gran Turismo anime.
Intial D is ono the weirdiest anime that tokyopop ever released in 2003. Its about a teenager named Takane, he deleivers tofu around his city and he own's a Toyota Trueno. Tak mastered the akina downhill track which is one of the the famous trcks in tokyo. It really reminds you of Gran Turismo and makes you wanna learn how to drift with a car in the game. The races in this anime is in 3D so some times it is weird and a lot of getting used but anyway get this anyway if you like anime or intrested in racing.