Initial D - Volume 5
By: Mazinga |
Tuesday January 18, 2005 |
Tokyopop, noted purveyors of manga and anime to the American market, just celebrated the release of the first in its Initial D anime DVD series. But the company already has a history with the popular Japanese racing adventure series, as it also provides the U.S. release of the Shuichi Shigeno manga series on which the anime is based.
The Initial D manga, which appeared in 1996 within the pages of the weekly Young Magazine, follows the development of a group of young street racers in their quest to become the dominant driver in their prefecture. Like the anime it inspired, the Initial D manga is exciting and packs plenty of high-speed thrills. But unlike the series, which uses computer animation to depict the speeding cars, manga-ka Shigeno sticks with expertly executed traditional line drawing. And as is often the case with literary source material, there's much more exploration of characters and situations.
High school student Takumi "Tak" Fujiwara is lives in Japan's mountainous Gunma Prefecture. For the past five years, he's been driving up and down Mt. Akina to deliver tofu for his dad's business, and has mastered the mountain's treacherous winding roads at the wheel of his humble Toyota Trueno 86. When his friends on the local racing team are challenged by the heavy-rep Red Suns, Tak reluctantly answers the call, and in his first race, dusts the Suns' ace driver Keisuki "K.T." Takahashi.
Initial D's storyline follows Tak's growing love of street racing and his gathering reputation as he racks up an unbroken string of victories on Mt. Akina. The fifth issue, begins with Tak taking on K.T.'s brother, Ryosuke ("Ry"), known as "The White Comet" for his killer speed and cool head in battle. All of Gunma's major racing players turn out to watch the thrilling contest.
The race establishes Ry's tactic of hanging just behind his opponent. Helpful expository dialogue reveals the advantage of doing so; being in the lead puts psychological pressure on the other driver. And indeed, the pressure gets to Tak; his relative inexperience proves a liability in dealing with Ry's strategy. Nonetheless, Tak's absolute mastery of drifting earns Ry's respect.
In the second half of the ten-chapter volume, Tak's fellow racer Cole meets a lovely young woman stranded by her broken-down car. The reader knows that she's Maya, the queen of Mt. Usui's racing scene, an ace driver who unfortunately knows little about mechanics. Cole volunteers to assist, although the proximity of such a lovely young woman - and her short skirt - causes the racing geek to break out in a nervous sweat.
Relieved at getting Maya's car going, Cole is shocked and elated when she asks him on a date. Cole's fellow gas station employees, including Tak, are even more amazed that his story of meeting the beautiful Maya is true. Still unaware of her fine driving skill, Cole is delighted to discover her interest in racing, but the rivalry between Maya's team and his seems destined to come between the couple.
The manga's black-and-white art is superb. The characters - especially racing geeks Iggy and Cole - are drawn in typically stylized fashion, which uses exaggerated lines to depict emotion. By contrast, the settings are rendered in an ultra-realistic style that's reminiscent of architectural drawings, except that the backgrounds often consist of winding mountain roadways. The cars, meanwhile, are also drawn in loving detail.
Cleverly, Shigeno uses hashed lines in his racing scequences to present the illusion of speed. The manga's format of several small still panels per page also contributes to the sense of motion. By viewing the drawings in rapid succession, the reader is left with an almost tangible perception of the race's three-dimensional action. It's a testament to Shigeno's skill that the anime turned to computer animation to provide a similar level of detail.
The dialogue often consists of expository passages describing various aspects of street racing. The manga also "listens in" on characters' thoughts. Often, they will say one thing and think another, an especially amusing juxtaposition in the sequence where Cole meets Maya. Small editorial commentaries on the action are also sprinkled around - again, many poke fun at Cole's haplessness in attempting to impress the beautiful Maya. And the translation helpfully identifies the various signs sprinkled around Gunma Province.
Like many manga titles licensed by Tokyopop, the Initial D series appears in what the company calls "100% Authentic style." In other words, it retains the original Japanese page size and layout and is read right to left. Only the dialogue and narration is replaced with English text; the original Japanese sound effects remain.
The presentation does take some getting used to for American readers, but quickly becomes familiar. Tokyopop thoughtfully places a notice on the back page - which would be the first in a Western book - advising readers of the format. There's also a section introducing the characters and giving a rundown of their cars' stats. The manga also comes with a full-color collectible trading card.
Initial D is an excellent manga series and a fine example of the genre. Its accessible and action-packed subject matter - street racing - makes it a superb introduction to manga newcomers, but its distinct locale and faithful adherence to honored manga conventions provide enough of a Japanese flavor to satisfy Asian culture buffs.
