“If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough."
– Mario Andretti
Most anime that I watch have some sort of meaning that correlates to real life in some form or another. Tackling life’s issues through slapstick comedy, deep thoughts of characters and bloody noses. Anime, to me, tends to go more in depth into the subject matter of which it is about than western cartoons. Therefore, I have a greater love for anime. Since I don’t have much interest in traditional sports, I have yet to watch any anime that are solely about these subjects. Soccer, tennis, basketball…etc. There is one that I first came across in circa 2006 that drastically changed my perspective of the racing world and the skill involved forever. If you haven’t guessed by now that anime is Initial D. Not only did I get thrown face first into the wonderful world of drifting, I also learned driving techniques that could be applied to real world situations!
Story
Takumi Fujiwara is a high school student that works as a gas station attendant with his friend Itsuki to buy a car, who plans to drift on the twisting mountain roads of Mount Akina. Unbeknownst to his colleagues, Takumi delivers tofu for his father’s store before sunrise each morning. In doing this he passively gains an impressive amount of driving skill behind the wheel of the family car, an old Toyota Sprinter Trueno.
Shortly after the story begins, the Red Suns, a local street racing team from Mount Akagi, challenges the local Speedstars team to a set of races on Mount Akina. Dispirited after watching the RedSuns’ superior performance during a practice run, the Speedstars prepare to lose. Later that night, the RedSuns’ number two driver, heading home after the last practice run, is beaten by a mysterious Sprinter Trueno, despite driving a much more powerful car. An investigation into the identity of the driver leads to Bunta Fujiwara, Takumi’s father. The SpeedStars beg Bunta to help them defeat the RedSuns and he initially refuses, later relenting to “maybe” show up at the race. At the same time, Takumi asks Bunta if he can borrow the car for a day to take a trip to the beach with a girl. Bunta seizes the moment by granting permission (plus a full tank of gas) with the condition that Takumi defeats the RedSuns driver.
On the night of the race, the Trueno doesn’t show up and the Speedstars enlist a backup driver for the first run. At the last moment before the race starts, the Trueno arrives, talk about suspense! Takumi steps out of the car to the bewilderment of the Speedstars, who were expecting Bunta. He easily beats the RedSuns driver, again, by utilizing a dangerous technique on one of the mountain’s hairpin corners.
The RedSuns, embarrassed by defeat, sets up the plot for the rest of the series. Drivers from neighboring prefecture come to try and defeat Takumi and the “Legendary Eight-Six of Akina” and prove themselves as racers. Eventually the story moves away from Mount Akina as Takumi becomes bored of racing solely on one road. He joins an experimental racing team formed by the disbanded RedSuns and challenges more difficult opponents on their home courses in the pursuit of his dream of becoming the “fastest driver.”
I’m not a professional driver my any means but I do consider myself an enthusiast. I also do plan on building a “missile car” so that I can learn how to drift. Becoming a professional drifter is not an end goal either. The idea of having fun doing something stupid with fun people will always be appealing to me. Coming from the extreme sports sphere, that is something that will never change. There is something about skateboarding, snowboarding, racing, drifting, that makes me feel more alive than if I were to participate in a pick-up game at the local park. Wanting to become a better driver, I feel that watching an anime that I enjoy has given me invaluable insight in to the techniques and methods that real pros use out on the track. Not only that the anime features the Drift King himself Keiichi Tsuchiya!!
Me drifting on FH2