For those who are fans of “Initial D” or those who are curious about the series, will no doubt want to check out this more recent offering of an “Initial D” storyline featuring the race between the Akina Speed Stars vs. the Akagi Red Suns. “Initial D Legend 1: Awakening” is a film worth checking out!
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TITLE: Initial D Legend 1: Awakening
DURATION: 60 Minutes
BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: Sentai Filmworks
RATED: TV 14 L
Release Date: December 5, 2017
Originally Created by Shuichi Shigeno
Directed by Masamitsu Hidaka
Script by Mayori Sekijima
Music by Akio Dobashi
Character Design: Koji Haneda
Art Director: Shinichi Uehara
Chief Animation Director: Koji Haneda
Anime Production: LIDEN FILMS, SANZIGEN Animation Studio
Featuring the following voice talent:
Mamoru Miyano/Joel McDonald as Takumi Fujiwara
Daisuke Ono/J. Michael Tatum as RyÅsuke Takahashi
Hiroaki Hirata/Bill Wise as Bunta Fujiwara
Hiroshi Tsuchida/Eric Vale as KÅichirÅ Iketani
Junichi Suwabe/Brian Mountbatten as Takeshi Nakazato
Maaya Uchida/Brina Palencia as Natsuki Mogi
Minoru Shiraishi/Josh Grelle as Itsuki Takeuchi
YÅ«ichi Nakamura/Gray G. Haddock as Keisuke Takahashi
In Initial D Legend 1: Awakening, when aspiring racer Koichiro Iketani witnesses an unplanned street duel between Keisuke Takahashi, a member of a rival race team, and a mysterious Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86, Koichiro’s totally blown away by the skill of the 86’s driver. What Koichiro doesn’t know is that the driver is fellow gas station attendant Takumi Fujiwara, who was making a late-night tofu delivery for his father, a legendary Mt. Akina driver himself.Unforeseen events are about to springboard Takumi into the center of the street-racing world, turning the rivalry between Iketani’s Akina Speedsters and Takahashi’s Akagi Red Suns into an all-out street war! The legendary series that introduced the west to the sport of drift racing is reinvented in an all new feature film that’s even faster and more furious than ever before: NEW THEATRICAL MOVIE INITIAL D LEGEND 1: AWAKENING! Initial D Legend 2: Racer Preview.
For over 15 years, “Initial D†has been a favorite anime series for those interested in drag racing and drifting. Originally created by mangaka Shuichi Shigeno and serialized in Kodansha’s “Young Magazine†back in 1995 and still ongoing in Japan, the first season of “Initial D†was shown on television in 1998.
In 2014, it was announced that a new Initial D film would be released and it would be a three part story based on Shuichi Shigeno’s manga.
The movie is more or less a retelling of the earl stages of the manga and now “Initial D Legend 1: Awakening” will be released on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks.
The manga and anime is about Japanese street racing and focuses on a teenager named Takumi Fujiwara, son of Bunta Fujiwara, who owns a tofu shop. Takumi works at a gas station but when he’s at home, he delivers tofu at 4:00 a.m. and is known to speed through the mountain slopes of Mt. Akitna at high speed driving his father’s AE86 Trueno.
The purpose of this is that his father Bunta has wanted to develop his driving skills and sure enough, his skill is top notch.
But for Takumi, although he has been riding and delivery tofu for a long time and has sharp driving skills, driving fast and getting from point a to point b was merely doing it for his father and not for the sake of trying to race.
But when a well-known group of street racers known as the Akagi Red Suns come to visit Mt. Akina and Keisuke Takahashi of the Akagi RedSuns finds himself racing against a mysterious Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86 leaving Keisuke defeated.
Now fired up, Keisuke Takashi wants to know who drives the AE86 and wants to race him.
Meanwhile, the Akina Speed Stars are visited by Keisuke Takahashi of the Akagi Redsuns for a joint race but in reality, its Keisuke’s challenge to whoever beat him with the AE86.
With news of an AE86 beating Keisuke Takahashi (as witnessed by Akina Speedstars leader, Koichiro Iketani), Bunta can’t help but talk about it. But for Takumi, he has no idea with an AE86 is (unaware that the Trueno he drives is an AE86).
In dire need of a member who exceeds in downhill driving after their team leader Iketani gets involved in an accident. He learns from his boss at the gas station, Yuichi Tachibana, that the AE86 is a tofu delivery vehicle owned by Bunta Fujiwara. This leads to Iketani to plead with Bunta to race against Keisuke (unaware that Bunta is no longer delivering the food, nor does Iketani know that Takumi is Bunta’s son and is responsible for doing the deliveries).
Meanwhile, Takumi is getting closer to Natsuki and wants to take her out on a date and needs to borrow the Trueno AE86. But his father said he can in one condition…he must use the car and race against Keisuke Takahashi.
Who will race for the pride of Akina against Keisuke Takahashi of the Akagi RedSuns?
VIDEO:
“Initial D Legend 1: Awakening” is presented in 1080p High Definition and as one can expect from a newer film, the old artwork and CG that was utilized in the past has been modernized with better animation for the race scenes. The character designs are much closer to the manga series and are well-shaded and the background artwork is also a major improvement.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Initial D Legend 1: Awakening” is presented in English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. The lossless audio features crystal clear audio and also utilizing the surround channels for the rev of engines and the squealing of tires but also outdoor ambiance.
It’s important to note that both Japanese and English voice actors from the past have all been replaced, with the exception of Joel McDonald who was the voice actor of Takumi Fujiwara, J. Michael Tatum who was the voice of Ryosuke Takahashi and Brina Palence (voice of Natsuki) in the original English dub soundtrack.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Initial D Legend 1: Awakening” comes with no significant special features but the teaser that was at the end of the Japanese credits for the film is featured. Featuring the appearance of Myogi NightKids Takeshi Nakazato who no doubt wants to take on the person racing with an AE86.
EXTRAS:
“Initial D Legend 1: Awakening” comes with both a Blu-ray and DVD version of the film.
“Initial D†is an anime classic. I’ve watched this series when it first came out and I still don’t get bored by watching it. I’ve played the video games and there is something about the stoic underdog, Takumi Fujiwara, going from food delivery to become a top-notch racer.
But as the anime series was different and cut out a lot of backstory for the characters as featured in the manga. And with the new “Initial D Legend 1: Awakening” focused on the race between the Mt. Akina Speed Stars vs. the Akagi Red Suns, the story doesn’t stray too much into backstories.
No focus on Natsuki’s major secret, no focus on Ryosuke’s brother Keisuke or their friend Kenji. Nor does the film get into nicknames such as Bunta’s “Ghost of Akina” or Ryosuke’s “White Comet of Akagi”.
This is a film that strictly gets to the race between both groups and who will be racing for the Mt. Akina Speed Stars against Ryosuke Takahashi and it’s an hour long film.
The Blu-ray features better artwork and background artwork, with the former respectful to the original manga series. While the film in Japan featured a teaser for the second film at the end credits, that teaser has been made into a special feature.
Was there anything I didn’t like about the film? Possibly the 60 minute duration, I felt that they could have added another 30 minutes at least because it was too short. And because the film was released during the film’s 20th year anniversary, so I wish there were more special features included.
Overall, for those who are fans of “Initial D” or those who are curious about the series, will no doubt want to check out this more recent offering of an “Initial D” storyline featuring the race between the Akina Speed Stars vs. the Akagi Red Suns.
“Initial D Legend 1: Awakening” is a film worth checking out!
