Review: Tokyo Pop's Intial D Box Set 1

If you've read our bios on this site you know that I have been credited as some sort of anime freak! And while I would like to think that this isn't wholly accurate I realized that I do like to dab into it a bit now and then [current obsessions include Samurai Champloo, Samurai 7, Grenadier and Bleach].

So it seemed the obvious choice when we got the first Initial D box set from Tokyo Pop the other day that I would be the one to review it. My first ever exposure to this anime was with fan subs on VHS tapes lent to me every week, a couple tapes a time, by an old friend from church who belonged to an anime club here in the T-Dot. After the first couple of episodes I was hooked for life.

Now, you must know something else about me before I continue on. I don’t have a driver's license. I even manage an auto repair shop and I know nothing about cars. So why on God’s good green earth have I been so jazzed about an anime based on street racing culture?

Well, other than the great racing moments in Initial D it’s also the story behind the racing. Takumi ‘Tak’ Fujiwara is your typical teenager. Takumi goes to school, holds a job at a local gas station and hangs out with his friend Itsuki ‘Iggy’ Takeuchi. Itsuki is Initial D’s comic relief. Obsessed about cars and women, Itsuki is always there to bring his friend Takumi out whatever day dream he’s in and keep him abreast on what’s cool and uncool. Your third major character is Natsuki ‘Natalie’ Mogi, a local hottie who was friends with Takumi and flits in and out of his life. So there you are: Tak, Iggy and Natalie. You get the dynamics of this little triad of friends adding another layer to the story in this anime.

What works most for the story lines in this show are that they are paced very well. Each episode leaves you wanting more and you have to watch the next one to find out how Takumi wins each race. How will he overcome the odds? Can Takumi defend the Akina Speed Stars name and honor and be the downhill champion on Mount Akina? You also watch him not only develop and learn new techniques but you also see him discover new thing about himself.

Let’s talk about the set. It’s a great looking set to start off with. You get five discs and each comes in its own case with nice looking sleeves. Depending on the episodes on each disc you’ll find nice artwork depicting each of the cars on the cover and small strips of the manga on the bottom. Each disc also comes with an insert full of car details, racing terminology and/or character profiles. Some discs came with an Initial D card game piece. Another disc came with a full pack. Each disc is its own surprise. Which is a heck of a lot nicer than getting nothing. The extras vary from disc to disc as well. Each disc comes with a showroom highlighting different cars in the series and a series of outtakes from the dubbing sessions. With disc 2 you get an intro to the Initial D card game but on discs four and five you get exclusive footage from Mt. Akagi. The actual Mt. Akagi. Suh-weet candy!.

And as if getting all that stuff in each disc case wasn’t enough you also get three racing team decals and three die-cast metal cars in a gift box.

Tokyo Pop has done good and made the original Japanese version and something called the ‘Tricked Out Version’ available on each disc pleasing both the long time fans and newcomers to the Initial D universe. The original Japanese version is just that. You get the original episode the way it was first watched. In the Tricked Out Version you get fancy fades and wipes that honestly end up being more annoying than cool. They take away from the driving sequences and in some instances you’re looking at a blurred image for a couple seconds until the next scene comes. It didn’t work for me. I was wondering if Tokyo Pop knew their high school interns got into the editing room and tampered with their product.

The audio has its highs and lows. While the Japanese dialogue is simple in the English dialogue it seems that they’ve tried to ram in as much hip lingo as humanly possible to make it ‘cool’. And the delivery is… well… it just doesn’t cut the mustard in my books. Even my roommate, who watches [term used loosely] anime only when I have it on and he’s at his desk in the living roomed noted that the English dialogue lacked the same intensity that the Japanese dialogue did.

The music mixes are different as well. Gone is the Japanese Hyper-Pop at a million bpm. In comes a variance of hip-hop, rap core and electronica/industrial mixes.

But no matter what you think or feel about any of the versions here’s why what Tokyo Pop has done works so well. You can take either video version or either audio version and tailor your viewing experience to your own tastes. If you like turning your brain off when you watch anything then you’ve got the dub to save you from all that reading. Me? I admit I am a purist when it comes to my anime and I like it in its original Japanese with subs. And I get that with this box set. This is wicked. But even if you don’t like the dubs I recommend that you at least check out the outtakes from each disc in the extras section and hear the voice actors mess up their lines. Funny stuff.

Tokyo Pop’s first Initial D box set is a must have for fans of the show and those who desire to be street racers but don’t have the bankroll to git-r-done. It’ll also help the next time you’re in an Asian mall trading throwbacks with Chinese teenagers on the Initial D arcade games.

Now if you’ll excuse me I promised Todd’s kid that I would wrestle him for the cars that came with the box set. Keep your fingers crossed that he’s not wearing his Ninja Turtle costume from Halloween or I am in serious trouble.

The box set is available here.