Initial D

For anyone who’s never heard of it, Initial D is a long running anime/manga series about a young tofu delivery boy whose job – which involves navigating a tricky mountain pass – has helped him develop indomitable racing skills. Though initially uninterested, he’s slowly drawn into the world of street racing and becomes the new star of the Gunma region’s mountain passes.

Though I didn’t think much about when I first heard of it, all it took was watching a couple of episodes for this show to hook me good. What I thought would be nothing but a Japanese version of The Fast and the Furious turned out to be far more than I ever could have hoped for. It has a well-balanced cast of very interesting characters, loads of very cool cars, and often blindingly fast action scenes.

It’s being released in North America by Tokyopop, who has done some very controversial things with it, angering a great many anime fans with their changes.

So what did anyone else who saw this or read the original manga think? What were your opinions on Tokyopop’s translation?

And lastly, how does it stack up against similarly themed projects?