INITIAL D - DVD review

Before I begin this review proper, let me just get the introductory stuff out of the way for the benefit of those who are new to the "Initial D" universe.

Takumi Fujiwara is a regular 18-year old kid who prefers to keep a low profile. He is always calm and composed and nothing seems to faze him, except maybe the sight of the beautiful Mogi. Not so for his best friend, Itsuki, who is just the opposite--loud-mouthed and highly excitable. Both of them work part-time at a gas station and the main topic of conversation there is always racing the winding downhill road carved around the nearby Mt. Akina. Most of the employees of the gas station are members of the local racing team called the Akina Speed Stars. While Itsuki is always babbling about saving enough money to buy his own car to race with the Speed Stars, Takumi just cannot understand what all the fuss is about downhill racing.

However, behind Takumi's spaced-out exterior hides an exciting and remarkable ability unknown to anyone outside the Fujiwara family. Other than the gas station job, Takumi also delivers tofu from his father's shop to various customers. His daily 4am delivery route includes traversing the winding, downhill road on Mt. Akina. For the past five years, Takumi has been handling the tofu delivery using his father, Bunta's Toyota Trueno AE86. Unknowing to Takumi, Bunta was a famous Mt. Akina racer and Takumi's daily delivery chore has served to hone his driving skills to a level unmatched by anyone. Before every delivery run, Bunta puts a cup of water in the cup holder of the car, telling Takumi not to spill a drop while driving. Bunta's unusual training method, while helping to keep the fragile tofu intact during the entire journey, also enables Takumi to learn how to properly "drift" around the hairpin corners at incredible speeds.

Takumi's vehicle is a FR (front-mounted engine, rear wheel drive) Toyota Trueno AE-86 (in the U.S., it is known as the Toyota Corolla GT-S). FR cars are the most popular type of transmission used in small sports cars and also the best for drivers who have an affinity to use the "drift" technique around corners. Back in 1983, Toyota in Japan started to manufacture the last of the rear wheel drive Corolla's, the AE-86 model. Its production run continued until mid-1987 and it gradually became more and more popular as a budget performance car. The hachi-roku (or 86 in Japanese) is only made available with a relatively small capacity factory-installed 1.6-liter 4AGE twin cam 16-valve engine. However, due to its big following in the racing community, it has been greatly developed as a high performance street-racing car. Much like the unexplained popularity of the original Volkswagen Beetle, the AE-86 still has its own group of rabid fans that revere it as one of the most beloved street racing cars.

Like all the previous releases, "Initial D: Battle V.5" is divided into three 25-minute episodes. You have the choice of watching these episodes in its original Japanese broadcast version called "Classic" or the U.S.-only, slightly edited version labeled "Tricked-Out". The "Classic" version features Japanese language audio with optional English subtitles while the "Tricked Out" version has the dialogue dubbed in English.

At the point where the ongoing story temporarily halted at the end of V.4, Takumi has so far defeated two superior opponents on the Mt. Akina downhill course--Akagi Red Suns' Keisuko Takahashi who drives a Mazda RX-7 FD3S and Myogi Night Kids' Takeshi Nakazato, racing in his Nissan Skyline GT-R32. Both cars have different drive trains, leading to vastly different driving techniques on how to attack the winding Mt. Akina road. In both races, Takumi has shown that he can quickly adapt to his opponents' different driving styles and pull out astonishing wins. However, a new rival has recently appeared on the scene and he races to win, no matter what the consequences are.

Anyone who have been following the "Initial D" series as close as I have will be glad to get their hands on this latest installment. V.5 showcases Takumi's latest tussle with hotheaded Night Kids' number two driver, Shingo Shouji in a dangerous downhill race like no other. Driving a flame red Honda EG-6 (in the US, it's the 2-door Honda Civic Si), Shingo is not only racing for the honor of beating the hachi-rokku but he is also after his own agenda of wresting control of the Night Kids team from the defeated Nakazato. Like always, Takumi's new challenger drives a car with a different drive train from his other previous rivals. This time, the EG-6 is an FF (front-mounted engine, front-wheel drive) car that calls for gripping the corners tightly using an advanced driving technique unique to FF cars called "left-leg braking" instead of drifting like Takumi's FR AE-86.

To make doubly sure that he wins, Shingo proposes a dangerous challenge called "Duct Tape Death Match" where the driver's right hand is duct taped to the steering wheel. At first, this restriction seemed harmless but not being able to turn the steering wheel more than one revolution means that Takumi's drifting style will be severely constrained. To drift successfully, it demands that the driver counter-steer in order to keep the car going in the right direction when attacking a corner at high speeds. With the right hand duct taped to the steering means counter-steering becomes next to impossible for the driver. Iketani, leader of the Speed Stars tries to talk Takumi out of the race, knowing full well the consequences that such a challenge has on an FR driver like Takumi. However, Shingo craftily makes it impossible for Takumi to back out by forcing Itsuki's car off the road and landing Itsuki in the hospital. This race promises to be the hardest challenge yet for Takumi, as his driving style has to evolve and change in order to overcome his car's severe disadvantage. They don't call this challenge the FR-killer for nothing. Will Takumi rise to the challenge or will he lose his first race? You have to watch to find out but I can promise you that this is the best racing action yet in this series.

Apart from the racing, Takumi's relationship with Mogi is slowly growing stronger. Before, it was Mogi who always make the first move but this time, Takumi takes the initiative when he needed someone to confide in before the big race against Shingo. Even Itsuki gets himself into the dating scene, going out with Mogi's friend Saori, whom he met previously on a double date with Takumi. While the boys are getting serious about their respective relationships, Iketani falls madly for a mysterious stranger who is far more sinister than she seems.

Video:
"Initial D" combines regular 2-D animation with CG-rendered effects. The 2-D stuff is drawn in typical anime fashion but the CG effects--unfortunately just confined to the external view of the racing sequences--are very well done, giving the cars a cool brush metal look. Some scenes combine both styles and may be jarring for some to see. A small amount of aliasing can be detected but it is fortunately not too prominent. Presented in fullscreen format, the video transfer is pretty good without any visible dirt or artifacts.

Audio:
Available in both its original Japanese and English language tracks, the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is very well defined and dynamic. The distinct roar of the various car engines are beautifully reproduced and they can move from side to side and from the front to the back speakers to great effect. In fact, all the speakers are actively used throughout the 3 episodes, with some dialogue even appearing on the back surround speakers.

Extras:
Like the previous releases, there are not many extra features on this disc. Continuing from the first part in V.4, the most interesting feature on this DVD is the second part of a home video about a road trip in search of the Mt. Akagi (home turf of the Red Suns) racing course in Gunma Prefecture.

Next is "Outtakes", a series of line flubs by the English voice actors and finally "Showroom #5", a set of stills that explains the mechanics behind Takumi's challenge against Shingo.

Packaging:
In this release, no more "Initial D" game cards are included. Instead there is a coupon for 50% off the purchase of a Zip-Zaps micro RC car from the "Initial D" line.

Film Value:
"Initial D: Battle V.5" is another clear winner from TOKYOPOP. The racing action featuring Shingo and Takumi is the most intense yet in the series. Takumi's evolution as a racer is in full throttle, whether he knows it or not and his relationship with Mogi is entering a new phase. With three challengers now out of the way, a new one is sure to pop out from the most unexpected place. And you can be sure I will be there to catch Takumi in action!