As the title suggests, Sentai Filmworks has acquired the rights to all 3 Initial D movies that retell the beginning of the manga and anime. Initial D Legend 1: Awakening, Initial D Legend 2: Racer, and Initial D Legend 3: Dream are finally coming stateside. They were all released theatrically in Japan with the first on releasing in August 2014 and the final one in February 2016.
This is incredibly exciting news to me, and not so much to Eric and Jason because they are dumb. Initial D is one of my favorite anime’s and I have been clamoring for it to come stateside. If you are unfamiliar with Initial D, it tells the story of high schooler Takumi Fujiwara that works at a local gas station. Every night however he delivers Tofu for his dad’s shop to the hotels on top of Mount Akina. Driving the pass every single night for years in his dad’s Toyota AE86 Corolla has fine tuned his driving skills to expert levels. This eventually gets him discovered by street racers who drift the mountain passes, also known as touges. He gets challenged by these expert racers to see just who is the best.
Attend any local drift event, and you are sure to find tons of fans of Initial D. The reason is for that is pretty easy to see. Drifting started in Japan, so fans of the motorsport are predisposed to Japanese culture, so being a fan of anime and manga isn’t too far of a stretch for most. Add in the fact that Initial D is about a group of kids drifting the various touges around Japan and you have the recipe for a cult hit. Not much else is known yet on Sentai’s plans, but I’ll be sure to let you know how this all plays out.