Initial D: First Stage - Drifting Into Our Hearts

Initial D: First Stage

An Anime Review - Bonus Content

Studio: Comet / Gallop |  Released: 1998 |  Duration: 26 Episodes | Streaming on: Crunchyroll

Hi Everyone!

Well, we hope you liked the 90s cause Initial D: First Stage has the uncanny ability to drift us right into the past, and with that, into our tiny nostalgia-driven hearts.  

No, seriously, with its blend of early CGI animation mixed with its iconic Europop soundtrack, you’ll soon be forgetting that the year is 2022. Which, let’s be honest, is a pretty nice gift right about now. And in our case also had the added bonus of sending us on a thrilling quest to locate our dusty old video game consoles from back in the day. All to satisfy our ever-growing need to play old racing games, which arose thanks to working on this video. Not gonna lie, we may have gotten a tad too obsessed with gaming for a “short” period of time, which may or may not have been a factor in the lateness of our video being released, but after our Gundam SEED video, we needed a break, so we hope you’ll cut us some slack. Please and thank you.

Back to the anime - So why are we just focusing on First Stage (Season 1) instead of covering the whole Initial D franchise, you might be wondering? Well, a big reason is the fact that except for Initial D Fifth Stage and Initial D Final Stage, no two seasons were ever done by the same team or even studio, and you can definitely see this reflected in its animation and even character design (Just look at Ryosuke Takahashi). Not to say they’re not entertaining or even good, but what we are saying is that the perfect combination of elements that created Initial D First Stage, which we love so much, was never duplicated again. A fact that makes us a little sad. Besides if we have any real shot at getting you into the franchise, it’s gotta be through First Stage. Sure, you can read the manga, but unlike the slice-of-life genre, action stories always just hit us harder when we can see them in motion. Then add in a fantastic soundtrack to top it off, and you got yourself something really worth checking out.    

If you’re still not convinced, feel free to watch our video on the series below, where we go over the story and characters, as well as the creative process of the anime. We also delve into the origin of Drifting, which was a lot of fun. So if that sounds interesting make sure to check it out. 

Till then - Stay safe out there, and as always,

~ Stay Obsessed