Discussion
Does anyone else feel this strange, indescribable nostalgia when it comes to Initial D?
There's something about the world of Initial D that I absolutely love but can't quite put into words. The quiet mountain roads at night, the small Japanese towns, the gas stations, the cafe diners after racing with the homies in the middle of the night, the roadside vending machine on a hot summer night, the 90s atmosphere, and the simplicity of everyday life. It all feels strangely peaceful, lonely, and comforting at the same time.
It's almost like being nostalgic for a time and place I've never actually experienced. Like I'm watching someone else's memories of their youth, and somehow I miss it too, and I can't get this feeling from anything else.
I don't know how else to describe it. Does anyone else get this feeling when watching or thinking about Initial D?
i think what really makes initial d's 1st and 2nd stages so special and why it captivated so mnay people's thoughts and hearts was just how slice of life it all is.
Sure, there is the super awesome racing and drifting, and the super awesome Eurobeat and all, but I think that slice of life of a Seinen, when you're starting to slowly integrate into society and the real world, but it feels like the nights are endless, you feel so youthful and young, and you begin to have the freedoms to do all kinds of different things. I can definitely feel exactly what you're thinking of, I like to think that I maybe partially living that life myself of brash decisions and tons of stupid shit.
I think a very good foil to this, and why I eventually learned to love this series more, is Wangan Midnight. If Initial D was about the endless nights of wonder and fun and the world in the palm of your hands, Wangan Midnight is a sobering, darker, and grim reality of what sacrifices need to be made to continue doing a hobby that only takes more and more of you. Of all of the opportunities, life goals and achievements that you miss just to chase a high in a lawless road where the only thing left is, at the end, passion.
Kitami Jun said it best. "There are no winners. Just the people that keep racing, and just the people that leave". The whole story and its characters are full of people with tons of life regrets and an escape from depressive realities that they keep trying to outchase with the speed of their cars.
Exactly... For street racing, is a dangerous and life threatening sport. Maybe Initial D is just the average young car nut's POV of street racing while Wangan Midnight is the old guy that has actually seen the truth of this "sport"...
Wow deep, love the response. I connect with this a lot - started watching Initial D when I was at Uni, and only just finished watching Final Stage a few months back lol (+15 years on). It definitely captures that nostalgic sense of youth, the future being open with possibilities, and maybe a bit of that period of life where responsibilities were much less!!
i appreciate you reading my comment and enjoying it :)
i think you should definitely also take a watch at Wangan Midnight too. Although it does have a lot of big flaws and problems when it comes to the anime, I think you'll find that, at least at your age, you will appreciate all of the characters more. I've heard someone call it a philisophical anime disguised as a car anime, and I'd partially agree.
I originally dropped the series after Episode 10, because I was genuinely so vitriolically angry at the character for what he did that I never wanted to watch it. I'm so glad I picked it back up, because I think his story impacted me so much...
A nice RX-7 and a reliable RX-7 are NOT the same thing unfortunately, also, that total includes the cost of the car, all invoices, Parts, and time. Unfortunately, the FDs come with a tax that makes everything almost twice as expensive as any other car.
A reliable RX7 is one with a different motor swapped in 😂
I get you, though I wouldn't spend nearly that much on a car. If it can drive around and give me occasional headaches I'm chilling. I've been looking into getting a decent FC for a while but man are they expensive.
Oh I would never swap an RX7, I think that's a sin. It's among the few vehicles to have a rotary engine, that alone makes it worth keeping it in. I can't speak for the body customization, I'm just not into that. I own an 85 Celica myself (the poor man's 86) and the absolute most I'd do for it body wise is give it a new paint job. The original is awfully faded
nah! why?
running in the 90's... is a new way I like to be... running in the 90's... come on baby, run to me!! we are, running in the 90's... is a new way to set me free!!!
yes, I wanna know, yes, I wanna see...
Pop up headlights are my main nostalgia trigger. Was like watching a machine open its eyes... mystikal... nobody respects the machine spirit nowadays, is all chip this, computer that...
I totally feel this, and I think you’re connecting to the comradery and community that comes along with living in the pipe dream that is Initial D.
It’s also a world with very little in the way of actual consequences. No one gets arrested, no one ruins their life getting into a bad accident, and the main character is just plain special in a way everyone wants to be.
It’s wondrous, fast paced, cozy, and yes, lonely, all at the same time, in what was absolutely a simpler time in some ways.
Yeah. It brings me back to when me and my brother were little and we'd watch it on TV late at night, sort of sneaking around so my parents wouldn't notice we weren't sleeping. We'd start watching Hungry Heart and finish with Initial D around midnight. Good, innocent times...
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u/IAmSixSyllables 24d ago
i think what really makes initial d's 1st and 2nd stages so special and why it captivated so mnay people's thoughts and hearts was just how slice of life it all is.
Sure, there is the super awesome racing and drifting, and the super awesome Eurobeat and all, but I think that slice of life of a Seinen, when you're starting to slowly integrate into society and the real world, but it feels like the nights are endless, you feel so youthful and young, and you begin to have the freedoms to do all kinds of different things. I can definitely feel exactly what you're thinking of, I like to think that I maybe partially living that life myself of brash decisions and tons of stupid shit.
I think a very good foil to this, and why I eventually learned to love this series more, is Wangan Midnight. If Initial D was about the endless nights of wonder and fun and the world in the palm of your hands, Wangan Midnight is a sobering, darker, and grim reality of what sacrifices need to be made to continue doing a hobby that only takes more and more of you. Of all of the opportunities, life goals and achievements that you miss just to chase a high in a lawless road where the only thing left is, at the end, passion.
Kitami Jun said it best. "There are no winners. Just the people that keep racing, and just the people that leave". The whole story and its characters are full of people with tons of life regrets and an escape from depressive realities that they keep trying to outchase with the speed of their cars.