Title: Initial D Volume(s): 29+ Creator(s): Shuichi Shigeno Format: Unflipped; Right-to-Left Publisher: Tokyopop MSRP: $9.95 Genre(s): Action Rated: Teen (13+)

I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of street racing. I don't know what it is about street racing that turns me off, but I'm guessing it's the fact that street racing is a major hobby that's made mostly up of immature college students may have something to do it. I've always admired the car, I love the fact that when I want to go somewhere the car will get me there just fine as long as it works. And what do these morons do? They spend thousands of dollars to make their car the fastest thing in town, and then they drive it around in a circle 500 times. That's just plain stupid. It's my opinion that if you make a really nice car then that car deserves better then to be driven around in a circle just to make a few bucks. It's also my opinion that the car is a luxury people take for granted sometimes, but I guess I think to much about these things since street racing is, at the end of the day, supposed to be fun.

And apparently the author of "Initial D" knows what makes street racing fun, as "Initial D" is HUGE in Japan, and it has spawned popular arcade games, several TV shows (animated and live action), and of course the manga has lasted longer than most manga's do. The story of "Initial D" opens with a man driving on the road, minding his own business, when a car that looks like a Phantom passes him. Not only does this car pass him, but he passes him with speed and style. Shortly after this guy spills the beans about how a Phantom Eight Six car passed him on the road, rumors start to spread about who the driver of the car is. Enter Takumi Fujiwara. Takumi is a delivery boy who delivers tofu for his dad's business. Ever since he began delivering Tofu his dad has always put a full glass of water in the cub holder, telling Tak to make sure that he delivers the tofu without spilling a drop of water. Because Tak is in such a hurry to deliver the tofu though, Takumi picks up lots of street racing skills while on his delivery routine, skills that take most professional drivers years to learn. However Takumi doesn't realize he's a good street racer, and since he has no interest in racing all of his friends don't suspect him of being the driver of the Phantom Eight Six.

However word soon gets out that Takumi is the driver of the Eight Six, and so Takumi ends up getting dragged into street racing, even though he doesn't know a thing about street racing (or anything about cars for that matter). However as time goes on, Takumi starts to fall in love with street racing, and the more he races, the more he realizes how much racing is becoming part of his life. Judging by the description above it would seem like "Initial D" is nothing more then a mindless series about street racing, and to some extent that is true because there are a lot of street races, but Shuichi Shigeno has actually crafted a more intelligent merchandise machine then you'd originally think. As noted above Takumi starts out in this series not being too terribly interested in street racing. This is a good thing as that means Takumi has a real life in this series. Takumi hangs out with his best friend Itsuki, who is a little crazy but still a good friend. Takumi also has a crush on local hottie Natsuki, but unknown to him Natsuki is toying around in a VERY dangerous relationship for money! Takumi's dad is also a questionable character, as he is very secretive about his life in general, even to his own son. In fact if it weren't for the fact that Takumi's dad has a best friend that he talks about his life with we probably wouldn't know anything about him. But we do learn about him, and while the process is slow, he eventually turns into one of the most interesting characters in the book (despite playing a relatively miner role in the series).

However since this series is about street racing there is a good portion of the series that is dedicated to race, after race, after race. Strangely enough these races are far from boring, and the author draws them in a way so that the races are not only exciting to look at, but he makes it so that you can actually tell what is going on. Since Takumi doesn't know any more about street racing then we do, the characters take time out of their schedule to explain the way certain tricks work, what to keep an eye out for, and all that jazz. Then when the cars leave we all know exactly what is going on during the races. The artwork for "Initial D" is a mixed bag though. The character designs are poor and ugly, and some of the backgrounds look unfinished, yet when the races start the artwork becomes a style until its own, and totally immerses you in the series. So the artwork is half good and half bad I would say. So far so good right? From all the praise I've given this series it sounds like a must buy right? Well with everything good in most manga there is something bad, and unfortunately with "Initial D" the bad far outweighs the good, and the saddest thing is that this bad is that there isn't even supposed to be as much bad here in the first place. This manga is being released by Tokyopop. Tokyopop is the largest manga publisher out there, and they got there by basically taking risks and breaking every rule in book when it came to releasing manga.

Sometime after Tokyopop came along, someone in the main office decided to release the manga unflipped so that the manga would read right-to-left. Then Tokyopop decided to ditch the out dated "monthly comic book" releases, and they focused more on getting the books on shelves instead. Then they decided to release manga uncut, with Japanese sound effects intact, and they billed their manga as "100% Authentic Manga." As you can see, there is a good reason why Tokyopop is number one, and that reason is because they treat manga with respect. Unfortunately they seriously dropped the ball with "Initial D." When Tokyopop released the first volume of "Initial D" fans were happy with the book, they were happy with the translation, they were happy with the size (it was at least 20 pages longer then most manga books had), and many fans actually thought that Tokyopop would make this their best release ever. Unfortunately someone at Tokyopop decided that "Initial D" could do great business on TV, and if people watch it on TV they will buy the manga, and if they buy the manga they will buy toys, and so on, and so on. Unfortunately to do this Tokyopop felt that they needed to make some changes to the manga. These changes include changed names (Takumi = Tak, Itsuki = Iggy, and so on), language was censored, and a controversial relationship involving Natsuki (Natalie) was completely removed (while other relationships were altered to some extent).

The translation for the car races, which had originally been faithful and interesting, were watered down for people that are part of "The Fast and The Furious" crowd (BIG mistake). When Tokyopop was done with their marketing plan they had all but destroyed "Initial D's" story and credibility. Tokyopop re-released the first volume with these changes (and with a T rating replacing the original OT rating), and the changes are, unfortunately, too sever to be able to ignore. If I were to grade the series based on how good the story and characters were I'd give this series a B, but thanks to Tokyopop fudging up everything in the series but the art (oh what am I talking about, they screwed up the art too) I have to give this series a D. The sad thing about this whole thing is that the plan to turn "Initial D" into this big franchise was probably ruined BECAUSE of the changes made, and the fact that Tokyopop doesn't go back and re-release these books with the correct names and translation like they originally promised is baffling to say the least! They may have had big money making plans when they made these changes, but they have also lost my recommendation of the series. Better luck next time.

- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -