Initial D Deserved to Be Way Bigger — 5ch: “The AE86 Is Just Showa-Era Scrap Metal”

Written by

in

A post on 5ch’s Livegalileo board (a general live-commentary board) arguing that Initial D deserved to be more popular than it was sparked a wide-ranging discussion. The thread covered everything from opinions on the AE86 and Ryosuke Takahashi, to the romance subplot and mixed feelings about the later Project D arc, to how fans feel about the spin-off MF Ghost.

1Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 13:44:39.49ID:ID:zyruY2us0
This is way too good
2Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 13:45:56.38ID:XqARZTNhd
Would've been better without the unnecessary romance stuff
4Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 13:47:05.17ID:zyruY2us0
>>2
You need some high school romance in there though
3Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 13:46:20.91ID:vha/wLlz0
The art style hits just right
Even decades later, rewatching it doesn't feel dated at all
6Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 13:49:02.71ID:AZvfV/m60
It got so huge that AE86 prices are still sky-high today, and other FR manual cars haven't turned into junk either just for being FR MTs
11Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 13:50:31.50ID:n4SkUxxE0
Kinda put off that the heroine was into sugar-daddy dating (papa-katsu)
84Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:28:20.32ID:Zmg6cTu3r
>>11
Man, that was way ahead of its time…
12Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 13:50:46.56ID:N6ZVNhGw0
The AE86 is slow anyway
18Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 13:51:49.56ID:zyruY2us0
>>12
Takumi's AE86 isn't even really an AE86 anymore at that point
21Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 13:52:43.29ID:N6ZVNhGw0
>>18
A BMW is faster
than a Corolla
24Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 13:53:39.74ID:N6ZVNhGw0
>>18
An AE86 is an AE86
Showa-era scrap metal
20Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 13:52:22.64ID:8u9HWGe5d
The cars are great, but aren't the character designs kind of bad?
29Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 13:55:15.93ID:zyruY2us0
>>20
Hard to say since the art style changes by season
The character designs are actually good in the 3rd and 4th Stages
30Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 13:55:30.14ID:ewCUnTFX0
The anime is free to watch from the very start all the way through New Movie Edition 3
33Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 13:56:17.71ID:zyruY2us0
>>30
That's why I'm binging it right now — it's so good I can't stop
47Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:05:27.17ID:C4Y2M4kR0
Ryosuke Takahashi was written to seem cool, but he was actually pretty lame
Burning through his parents' money to run his team and lord it over other teams
50Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:07:29.87ID:EUbcr9e90
>>47
That'd be fair if he did it behind his parents' backs, but was there actually a scene showing that?
He said the reason he provoked other teams on his website was to get them to come at him for real
51Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:08:18.15ID:N6ZVNhGw0
>>47
Go drive a real mountain pass
Initial D might as well be a video game
70Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:17:12.24ID:ahXsElUG0
>>47
I think it's fine since he's a student
The rivals spent plenty of money on their cars too
There were some rich kids among them as well
It's not like Team D was the only one with money
62Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:13:00.10ID:YUd5eVZn0
Couldn't they have done something about that heroine's face?
68Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:15:39.94ID:ewCUnTFX0
>>62
The Itsuki parts matter, but the Natsuki parts are the ones you skip
64Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:13:12.17ID:C4Y2M4kR0
>>50
If you're bringing that much manpower and equipment, mooching off your parents is the only option
Remember, he's still just a student while he's out there going wild
67Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:15:38.74ID:EUbcr9e90
>>64
Maybe he was secretly making bank off investments on the side
72Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:17:59.86ID:n7nhVr5S0
Kids today probably have no clue why he's constantly rattling that shift lever around
76Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:19:42.72ID:h+RYsShA0
>>72
If you want that rattly gear-shift feeling, you can still get it from a Prius…
73Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:18:11.80ID:C4Y2M4kR0
>>67
I think it would've been good if they'd actually shown that
Without it, he's basically just mooching off his hospital-director dad
75Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:18:42.91ID:EUbcr9e90
>>73
Ideally they'd have shown him landing sponsors through his racing itself
79Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:24:17.45ID:C4Y2M4kR0
>>70
Team D was clearly on another level
Showing up with three Hiaces packed with gear, swapping tires nonstop, basically playing pro team
While everyone else was grinding part-time jobs to scrape by
89Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:33:46.55ID:ahXsElUG0
>>79
Can't really help that when you're on the road
The home team knows the course inside and out and has their car tuned for it, but Team D is seeing it for the first time and has to set up on the spot
Wouldn't it be weirder if they showed up empty-handed and just dominated anyway?
83Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:26:57.80ID:YKBuy0OR0
They introduced the Impreza partway through, but the story ended without him ever switching away from the AE86
100Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:45:53.11ID:SPDheGFMp
>>83
There was actually supposed to be a rally arc
But probably due to editorial or sponsor decisions to keep pushing the "fastest on public roads" formula, they kicked off the Project D arc instead
That turned out to be completely unnecessary and just awful
I mean, it was already way too fantastical from the start, but it's a manga, so it still would've wrapped up nicely otherwise
92Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:35:54.44ID:EK7msMhy0
Maybe it's just because it's the YouTube stream, but up through around Stage 4 it's so blurry it feels like something's wrong with your eyes
Wish they'd do a digital remaster
93Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:36:54.87ID:EUbcr9e90
>>92
Wish they'd also fix those terrible early police-chase battle scenes
As for the trilogy movies, I just can't get on board with the art style or voice cast
95Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:38:20.44ID:Kl+BDNlld
What does the 'D' even stand for? I still don't know to this day
97Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:38:54.34ID:zyruY2us0
>>95
Seems like it has several meanings
For Project D, the D stands for 'Dream'
96Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:38:40.26ID:Zmg6cTu3r
The funniest part is early on when Takumi gets clowned on as 'a guy who doesn't know the first thing about cars these days'
98Anonymous2026/08/19(水) 14:39:55.00ID:F0hCaZ4l0
>>96
That part's basically a power fantasy
It's just satisfying and fun to watch

*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Livegalileo board) thread “Initial D really deserved to be bigger, right?”.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *