After 5 years of driving to and fro everyday at dawn, Takumi has mastered the mountain pass like the back of his hand. With his mastery and driving skills that he developed along with the driving genes he got from his dad, a legendary driver in their area, Takumi is virtually unbeatable on Mt. Akina.

Takumi however is not so thrilled about becoming a road racer. The first time he raced, it was only so he could borrow his dad’s car so he can go on a date. His dad’s condition for loaning him the car was for him to beat the pants off a road racer who came to challenge the best racer that Akina has to offer. After winning and going out on a date, he still maintains that he does not want to be a road racer although the seeds of racing excitement has been planted in him.

In his second race, it took all of his friends cunning to make him do so. His manager in the gas station where he works had to appeal to his machismo and do a mean reverse psychology number on him, which made him want to race, forcefully at that. The rest is history. Once he was bitten by the racing bug, he never looked back.

If the movie was great (Jay Chou was cool as the oft-spaced out Takumi), the anime was even better featuring a lot more opponents and delving deeper into the other character’s lives. I think the anime was compelling because it did not shy away from the technical details of car racing. Even Takumi who was initially machine-illiterate, was spouting car lingo towards the middle part when he realized that being a road racer is not just driving a car but diving deep into and understanding his car’s mechanics as well.

In so doing, the anime appealed to the general public while ably demonstrating that the creators of the cartoon actually know what they were talking about.

Initial D is for everyone who loves competition and who appreciates the hardwork that goes into mastering one’s skills.

Arwork from IconUSA.

Anyway, below are some of my observations on this highly entertaining cartoon.

1. Unrequited love is a bitch. Wolverine loves Jean Grey who acknowledges his love but loves Cyclops anyway. How hard it must be for Wolverine to see his ladylove kissing and marrying somebody else. But he’s one tough hombre, even emotionally. If I were in his place, I would have retired. Perhaps Wolverine would rather suffer the heartache than be far away from the one he loves. Awww…

2. Bald men rules. In the series, in terms of the number of women they’ve dated. Nobody beats Professor X. He dated Moira, then that nurse girl who tried to make him walk again, and then he has an intergalactic love affair with Lilandra. That’s three girls compared to Wolverine’s Silver Fox and Death Strike (Jean Grey doesn’t count, as she was never his).

3. The more influential mutants have various agendas. Weird bunch these guys.
a. Professor X with his peaceful co-existence with humans
b. Magneto want’s to wage war against humans
c. Mr. Sinister wants to create a new breed of superhumans and be like gods
d. Apocalypse just wants to kill everyone

4. The most destructive machine ever built in their world is the time machine. If Apocalypse had a little sense, he should have just traveled back in time and offed Professor X’s ancestors. Doh. Actually, the producers should have just backed off from the time machine concept. It only opens up a can of what if’s and what could have been’s.

5. Cyclop’s father looked like Ben Stiller in Dodgeball.

6. The mutants have unbelievable costumes. I wonder who their costume designer is, Versace? Everyone knows that guy was a mutant.

Oh well.

Slam Dunk is just one of those animes (Fighting Ippo, Prince of Tennis, One Piece, to cite a few) I’ve watched that left me hanging. I don’t really have much cause for complaint as the anime DVDs I bought were the bootlegged kind. Still it would have been nice if at the end of watching these DVDs one gets a feeling of finality and not left wondering what happens in the end. For sure the manga version provides the full story, but as far as entertainment value is concerned, drawings can barely compare with its moving and talking counterpart.

But c’est la vie, we take what we can get, even if it’s only partial entertainment.