[LATE REVIEW] NEW INITIAL D THE MOVIE - LEGEND 1: THE AWAKENING
Some people might not know what it's all about. But actually, this movie -that based on manga series that spent 48 tankoubon volumes and 8 anime series in total including the Extra Stages to finish- is quite anticipated by its fans. Originated from serialized manga written and illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno, this manga takes real professional car driver and car drifting pioneer Keiichi Tsuchiya as editorial supervisor. Trailers here. Let's start up the engine.... the review!
STORY
Takumi Fujiwara is unsteamed-up teen who spends his days almost at school and gas station as part-time worker. Moreover, since his father runs a tofu store, he has to set off at daybreak to deliver tofu supplies to local hotel and restaurant by driving through Mount Akina which is well-known for difficult turn and downhill road following with extreme hairpin. To make sure he doesn't mess up with deliveries even by chance, his dad put a cup of water in his dashboard as an indicator to prevent excessive shocks. While Takumi thought of how boring his lives is, every time he makes a deliveries he tries to make a every metres fun and challenging. He has been speeding and drifting all the way commutes. By times, he had sharpened his skill unconsciously and created an urban legend despite his aging vehicle, Toyota Sprinter Trueno. Since Trueno and Toyota Levin is sharing the same chassis, some people used to call it in refer to the chassis code, AE86 (hachi-roku, in short)
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| The legend.. looks dazzling. Ah, my eyes! |
One day, Keisuke Takahashi, second best streetracer from Akagi Redsuns tries Mt. Akina route when he met the living-legend AE86 and get outdistanced in a glimpse. Being unable to accept things he seen, he is in search to look for AE86 driver start with challenging practice run for a times with local streetracer team, Akina Speedstars, following his brother suggestion in advance. His brother, Ryosuke Takahashi is also a leader of Akagi Redsuns and the strongest racer in rank. Of course, as a leader of Akina Speedstar, Koichiro Iketani that happened to work as senior in same place as Takumi and Itsuki Takeuchi, can't let this chance off for being challenged on their own turf. Unfortunately, there is a wide gap among them either in skills or the car used. Powered by Mazda FC3S RX-7 and FD3S RX-7, Takahashi siblings and his company leave Akina Speedstars behind easily. However, Koichiro Iketani can't accept this as a host and get too carried away in the midway of practice. Hence he get a collision. Not only get wounded, he also makes his Nissan S-13 Silvia get damaged.
Later he asks for help to Bunta Fujiwara, Takumi's dad who once a top streetracer in Akina. After a series of meeting and neglect, Bunta finally accepts his resolve and decides to help him. At the same time Takumi asks for permissions to use the car for date with Natsuki Mogi. Instead of beat Akagi RedSuns by his own, Bunta tries to make use of this situation. By offering an permissions and full tank gasoline as a grant, Bunta challenges his son to defeat Ryosuke Takahashi using AE86. The power of sequential twin turbocharger with boosting power reaching up to 255 PS installed in FD3-S RX-7 versus AE86 powered by 4-cylinder twin-cam with maximum gross power output to 130 PS, who will be the one conquered the Mt. Akina route? Does it the engine specs all matters? The answers reveals the awakening of the legends.
The story runs steadily as fast as the car comes. Introduction, relation amongst character and their nature comes in flow by the story. It comes out as well as the beginning of anime series. The story is rather usual, rivalry among streetracer group with simple love story added as sweetener. In my opinion the story comes out well until... the whole behind-the-scene documentary that played after ruins it.
Talking about the spoilsport, the documentary really takes the stage. It doesn't matter if you just put it for a few minutes but it's truly different things if you take almost on equal lengths of the animated movie. The director seems so eager to sugarcoat the movie by presenting the behind-the-scene part that I think it may be necessary but it's just too long. We come for the movie after all.
Thanks to ironically damn-long documentary that we know this movie is made out with thorough perspective and diligent hardwork. Nowadays, every anime and movie is using some CG in parts or a full one to their craft. While some manual touch sometimes is needed but actually the digital CG can work together to present different result if some techniques applied. This kind of thing is implemented in the movie to give manual sketch impression in more modern looks. It doesn't look any sophisticated, though. But, every hardwork must be praised. Trust me its'all CG but it doesn't look like it. A smart way to turn things around. What a modest classy. Confused, huh?
The movie is also implementing some technique that makes the animation is really depicting a high-speed car race. A little bit secret is unveiled which is not only the moving object but also the setting and the details that attached on it needs to be modified. A simple theory is explained. The transformation from a single dot to be a line recurred in some speed can create a 2D moving illusion. It just like a normal shading as the mangaka used to do. It's also happened if you implement it on cumulus color. The key is you have to set a right amount of frame skipping. Good job! Maybe we will see a better things if they use it with different technology in future. I will look forward for it. One meaning of "D" in Initial D is related of this technique.
The first thing you gonna notice from the movie is the roaring sound from the car engine. The sound effect sounds really realistic. While actually the sound can be synthetically made, they prefer to go with recording a sound from real car trial in real circuit in the first place. Way to go man! Initial D series is well known to be filled with good soundtrack either in opening, ending or inside anime. This also happened in the movie but this time without opening and ending song. If you heard various music genres in anime, instead of hip hop or ballad you would be hearing modern rock at most in movie. But don't you worry, all of them is well served.
Watching the movie is as good as watching the anime in old days if you aren't bothered by the documentary. If you were a die-hard fans of Initial D you would better watch this. Initial D is also inspiring Hollywood to create The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. This movie is kind of that excluding the gun, yakuza, woman striptease in bikini or any juvenile delinquency the protagonist had in the past. In short, it is a drifting car movie in a humble and modest way.
Hey, I still have an intention to watch the next series. We got to give people a second chance after all. The second part of the movie has set the release date. Speaking of drifting, this thing also can do the same thing.
Hey, I loved this series. Thanks for reading anyway. Be careful out there and don't forget to abide the traffic rules.
Source: official site, wikia, wikipedia (1), wikipedia (2), wikipedia (3), digitaljournal.com, gsc.com.my, idforums.net, japanesia.co.id, otakupt.com, orendsrange.com
The story runs steadily as fast as the car comes. Introduction, relation amongst character and their nature comes in flow by the story. It comes out as well as the beginning of anime series. The story is rather usual, rivalry among streetracer group with simple love story added as sweetener. In my opinion the story comes out well until... the whole behind-the-scene documentary that played after ruins it.
Talking about the spoilsport, the documentary really takes the stage. It doesn't matter if you just put it for a few minutes but it's truly different things if you take almost on equal lengths of the animated movie. The director seems so eager to sugarcoat the movie by presenting the behind-the-scene part that I think it may be necessary but it's just too long. We come for the movie after all.
VISUAL
Thanks to ironically damn-long documentary that we know this movie is made out with thorough perspective and diligent hardwork. Nowadays, every anime and movie is using some CG in parts or a full one to their craft. While some manual touch sometimes is needed but actually the digital CG can work together to present different result if some techniques applied. This kind of thing is implemented in the movie to give manual sketch impression in more modern looks. It doesn't look any sophisticated, though. But, every hardwork must be praised. Trust me its'all CG but it doesn't look like it. A smart way to turn things around. What a modest classy. Confused, huh?
 |
| "Trust me! Ore wa fushigi da! I mean CG. Let me say it once again, CG DAA!!" |
The movie is also implementing some technique that makes the animation is really depicting a high-speed car race. A little bit secret is unveiled which is not only the moving object but also the setting and the details that attached on it needs to be modified. A simple theory is explained. The transformation from a single dot to be a line recurred in some speed can create a 2D moving illusion. It just like a normal shading as the mangaka used to do. It's also happened if you implement it on cumulus color. The key is you have to set a right amount of frame skipping. Good job! Maybe we will see a better things if they use it with different technology in future. I will look forward for it. One meaning of "D" in Initial D is related of this technique.
SOUND
The first thing you gonna notice from the movie is the roaring sound from the car engine. The sound effect sounds really realistic. While actually the sound can be synthetically made, they prefer to go with recording a sound from real car trial in real circuit in the first place. Way to go man! Initial D series is well known to be filled with good soundtrack either in opening, ending or inside anime. This also happened in the movie but this time without opening and ending song. If you heard various music genres in anime, instead of hip hop or ballad you would be hearing modern rock at most in movie. But don't you worry, all of them is well served.
VERDICT
Watching the movie is as good as watching the anime in old days if you aren't bothered by the documentary. If you were a die-hard fans of Initial D you would better watch this. Initial D is also inspiring Hollywood to create The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. This movie is kind of that excluding the gun, yakuza, woman striptease in bikini or any juvenile delinquency the protagonist had in the past. In short, it is a drifting car movie in a humble and modest way.
Hey, I still have an intention to watch the next series. We got to give people a second chance after all. The second part of the movie has set the release date. Speaking of drifting, this thing also can do the same thing.
 |
| Surpraaaise Sekaijuu ga Drive! |
Hey, I loved this series. Thanks for reading anyway. Be careful out there and don't forget to abide the traffic rules.
Source: official site, wikia, wikipedia (1), wikipedia (2), wikipedia (3), digitaljournal.com, gsc.com.my, idforums.net, japanesia.co.id, otakupt.com, orendsrange.com
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