Reasons Why Initial D is Wasted Potential.[Spoilers if somehow you haven't seen the show]

Before we get into the meat of the matter, I should maybe talk about something related as filler. I feel like making something special that marks my 2 years on (well lately half) CarThrottle. Well, I missed that by a week (26th of January) but oh well. Wooo hoooo.

Before you guys that are fans of the series light up your pitchforks and attack me in the comments, don’t worry, you guys can like the series all you want, after all it’s just my opinion, but still, I should explain myself.

First off, why am I doing this?

Because… well… I love this series. It is nowhere near my objective list of top anime, instead holding a special place in my heart as a series that got me both into anime and added fuel to the flame that is my love for cars. And I feel like analyzing the flaws of the series after recently watching an anime that stroked me in all of the right spots and hyped me up that a friend recommended me…

Which is Haikyuu. A volleyball anime.

And it keeps one upping Initial D in terms of the execution and characters when watching this especially after I took off the car lover goggles and (maybe unwillingly) put on the aspiring fiction writer and anime enthusiast ones.

I ask why am I feeling these feelings?

I’ll get into it by separating it into a few points, coherent or not. This is my first time doing something like this, so go easy on me.

The Main Character.

Oh my, where do I begin… Takumi just doesn’t lose. To get a sense of accomplishment when a character overcomes a hurdle… it has to be there in the first place. The main character or characters need to grow whether as a person or as a racer to overcome them.

I have to admit, they were there in first stage. Ounces of them, noticeable, from when Takumi won the duct-tape deathmatch and when he faced Ryosuke. But hurdles don’t only come from tough opponents you defeat.

They can come from opponents you LOSE to.

I’ll paraphrase my art fundamentals teacher here whom I consider to be one of the most intelligent people I’ve met.

Don’t stop making mistakes. If you do, then you’ll never learn from them and grow.

When a character has a near-flawless winning streak, how am I as a part of an audience supposed to feel like the character is human? Not to mention I can tell some of the parts where the wins were almost complete copouts like a squirrel jumping forward onto the opponent’s car’s direction?

I’m not saying Takumi doesn’t undergo character development, I’m saying that he doesn’t undergo enough. Granted, a character with a flawless winning streak like this wouldn’t be such a problem if he became a rival to the growing protagonist that they have to overcome, because the eventual loss will humanize the character, but… it’s the main character.

If we know he’s always going to win, why root for him? Granted, seeing how he wins is interesting too, but I feel like the lack of the aspect of experiencing major defeats (aside from that one time where the car he was driving blew its engine, but really, the car was of age, it was bound to happen, I’ll get to this one loss again in the later points) leaves a hole to be desired.

The Principle of Chekhov’s Gun and How it Relates to Initial D’s Ending.
“One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn’t going to go off. It’s wrong to make promises you don’t mean to keep.”

Why must I bring up this principle? Simply… because of the ending of Initial D.

Do you remember all the times when Keisuke made remarks on how he’ll beat Takumi again in a rematch or something? Over and over again? As if its a promise?

Yeah… that doesn’t happen. As if the show is mounting two guns on the wall next to our two duelists, promising a dogfight, yet it doesn’t happen. The guns remain unused, never reeking of gunpowder.

Instead we got…

Get-in-the-goddamn-mech-I-mean-car Shinji.

I see what the author’s trying to do. Or at least this is my interpretation. He’s supposed to symbolize Takumi’s past self, and Takumi defeating him would mean he surpassed his previous limits.

But couldn’t that have been done AGES AGO? You have a yellow FD shaped gun mounted on the wall right there. Fire it.

Hell, a battle between Takumi and Bunta, not much buildup it may be… it would still please the fans a whole lot more let alone make a fantastic emotional and objectively better finale. Doing a battle with these two to finish the series off would be so obvious yet much better than making up characters that you don’t know or don’t care about much do the finale.

“Why are you still gripping the steering wheel?”

In Haikyuu, you hear the characters plead and go on and on about how it feels to be on the on the court, how it feels to nail a good spike or just play volleyball. That obsession or drive to win just to stay on the court, to keep playing against tougher opponents. What the sport means to them.

When has Initial D and the characters taken the time to answer that question? What does driving mean to them? How and or when has it become more than just winning races or going fast? Well… this is a question or theme that to me… is under-explored in this show. Next-to-never has the show taken the time off the races to just… drive, you know? To describe or paint the picture of what its like to nail a rev-match downshift, or how it feels to nail a really fast drift, or how it feels when your car’s so connected to the road, you can feel all the tiny pebbles of asphalt from the tires, and up your back.

And what the sport means to them. It doesn’t even have to be an overly-dramatic reason, like “My father died and passed on this car to me and told me to keep driving” or something. It could just mean that driving itself is something enjoyable and provide meaning, or the thrill of a good battle, or the drive to self-improve or train to become the best drivers ever.

When you feel the character’s efforts, drive and will to succeed, the battles’ personal stakes become elevated and suddenly, the outcome and journey to reaching that becomes much more paramount.

Not saying that the show doesn’t include the elements of such… it does in form of small hints like Takumi’s blind attack, or God Foot’s insane overtake at the cone and maybe more, but I hope they had explored on this aspect more, because I felt it.

And remember the one loss Takumi suffered that I said would be mentioned again…

Well… here it is.

"What do cars mean to you?"

That loss with Emperor… and the engine blow… that scene shook me. Shook my heart, and I cried my eyes out for Takumi and the Hachiroku. And now as a semi-adult… it clicked even more. Because… right there.. right on the gravel on the side of the road… it became apparent to us that for Takumi… his AE86 Isn’t just a car. It’s his companion. His partner in battle. The ally that he can always count on… until that inevitable end of the engine’s lifespan.

Yet after that… this point is rarely touched upon again. Hell they did the same with Shingo before.

If my memory serves correct… when Shingo attempted the double crash and failed, what came out of his mouth after the incident wasn’t cursing or anything. He caressed his broken Honda, tears welling up with regret, and cried out “My EG6..” softly.

Even the buttcap of the series felt that his car meant more to him than just a murder weapon.

I’m not saying that every character should be this deep in terms of emotional attachment towards their cars, I’m saying that we should have varying personalities with different kinds of attachments, like someone who’s sentimental to their first car and won’t let go of her, to the guy who sees cars as just mere tools to reach victory yet feels a bit of attachment as well.

It’s just a shame we don’t see more moments like this… because again, cars are beyond what the specs say or how fast they go, like how they’re not just transportation. They’re our companions, or an extension of ourselves.

Conclusion and Ending Note.

So Initial D has its fair share of flaws. But does that mean it doesn’t do anything right? Hell naw, I still watch the clip of Ryosuke and Shinigami’s battle over and over again, because in my opinion, it’s the best battle in Initial D, from the stakes, to the personal drives, the intensity, and such. The battle sequences and the iconic Eurobeat are definitely the highlights of the show, as it had created some of the most memorable moments for us Japanese car people as a kid or teen or young adult.

Just because a series had flaws doesn’t mean you should stop loving it. Hell you can still argue that my points aren’t valid to you personally. To each their own. I’m just personally disappointed that I won’t see an anime about cars that goes up there against great sports anime like Haikyuu or such, with the problems I mentioned earlier fixed. I’d bawl my eyes out if it becomes a reality. Sadly not any time soon, so Initial D may be the last anime that has any semblance of cars as a main focus point.

But again… to each their own! Fad Hill, signing off.

This content was originally posted by a Car Throttle user on our Community platform and was not commissioned or created by the CT editorial team.