Just watched the much awaited movie Initial-D in TGV and it was superb. A must watch for both drifting enthusiasts and for car dummies.

I’m no movie critic but I would like to share my fascination of the show with everyone.

“Initial D” is an anime about street car racing and is based on a very popular manga by Shigeno Shuichi.

The story is focused on Takumi Fujiwara (Jay Chou), a 18 year old high school student who works part time at a gas station with his best friend, Itsuki (Chapman To). For the past 5 years, Takumi delivers tofu for his drunkard dad in his obsolescent Toyota AE86 every morning over Mt. Akina and soon became a very good racer and mastered the art of drifting.

Takumi was then challenged by NightKids Race Team’s Takashi Nakazato (Shawn Yue) to a downhill racing and won gloriously. His victory lead him to more races with Ryousuke (Edison Chen) and Emperor Race Team’s Kyouichi Sudou (Jordan Chan) which he inevitably won with the support and guidance from his ex-racer dad, Bunta Fujiwara (Anthony Wong).

This action-packed movie is loaded with great drifting skills and SUPERB cinematography by movie directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak.

If you’re lost with the characters of this movie, here’s a quick reference for you:

Jay Chou as Takumi Fujiwara
Takumi is the hero of this movie. An 18 year old student who delivers tofu since he was 13 driving over Mt. Akina on the Toyota AE86.

Anthony Wong as Bunta Fujiwara
Bunta is Takumi’s dad. Bunta owns the Toyota AE86 and a tofu business. Bunta was a great racer once but soon became a drunkard after the death of his wife.

Edison Chen as Ryousuke Takahashi
Ryousuke is from Redsuns Race Team and a theorist on racing. He was also beaten by Takumi and soon became friends.

Shawn Yue as Takeshi Nakazato
Takeshi is the captain of NightKids Race Team and the first person to challenge Takumi.

Kenny Bee as Yuuchi Tachibana
Yuuichi is the owner of a local gas station. Yuuichi and Bunta have been best friend for years. He is also Itsuki’s dad.

Chapman To as Itsuki Tachibana
Itsuki is Takumi’s bestfriend and Yuuichi’s only son. He is also a big time wannabe racer. This dude is the funny guy in the movie.

Jordan Chan as Kyouichi Sudou
He’s the captain of Emperor Race Team who drives the Black Evo III.

Anne Suzuki as Natsuki Mogi
She’s Takumi’s childhood friend and heartthrob.

Though I haven’t finish watching the whole series of Initial-D anime, the storyline of this movie is good enough for those who never even heard of this movie before.

How I rate this movie : 4 stars out of 5.
Great cinematography and storyline.

Gan Ba De Takumi!!!