The anime industry sure likes to reuse content, huh?
Initial D's movie retelling- itself an adaptation of an adaptation- is not one that aims to reinvent the series it is based on. It is yet another sort of compilation movie, an inferior version of the TV series that came before. Does that mean the movie itself sucks? Not necessarily, though it is beyond any doubt a disappointment.
I'm not entirely sure why Initial D is being remade since 1998 isn't exactly what I would consider to be 'old'. I suppose it exists as a way for anime fans who detest anything from before the 2000's
...
(you have my condolences) to get into the series with its pretty new visuals. And look nice it does, although the movie has lost far more than it has gained.
Let me first mention the positives before I start complaining: Initial D Kakusei looks fantastic. First Stage was admittedly pretty rough-looking with its cheap CG during the races, which often detracted from the experience and made it resemble some sort of weird PS2 game. The CG in Kakusei, on the other hand, is thankfully kept to the bare minimum. I can hardly fault the original series for its CG considering the money situation is very different between TV series and movies, but it is still an upgrade nonetheless. Speedlines are far more effective than bouncy bouncy CG cars rolling around.
Takumi's new voice actor is also a far better fit. Takumi sounded like a 40-year-old man in the original series (really, what the hell was up with that?), whereas here he actually sounds like a teenager. Miyano Mamoru makes Takumi seem more alive and human, less lethargic, especially when you consider the same voice actor also played Okabe from Steins;Gate. It's a nice change, since in the original series it was like Takumi just didn't give a damn about much of anything. It is a bit strange to hear such a popular voice actor in his role, though. I've heard him in so many different anime now that I just can't identify him with Takumi.
Others do not fare nearly as well, with Keisuke being robbed of all personality by his new seiyuu. Depending on your tastes, you might also find the story to be lacking in emotion or humanity. And you would be correct, as this has been (at least for me) the main issue with the franchise. There's a lot of cool moments to satisfy both action and racing fans, but there's nothing to really make you care about the characters. The romance here feels even more tacked on and superficial than usual, considering the movie removes important scenes like an enraged Takumi punching Mogi's ex-boyfriend. Here, Mogi is just eye-candy and Takumi a quiet badass. Yawn.
The decision to use (generic) rock music rather than Eurobeat, the series' staple, is beyond disappointing-- it's actually baffling. There is a major lack of intensity during the races as a result of this stupid decision. Whereas tracks like 'Heartbeat' or 'Don't Stop The Music' blasting would often make the entire race, here the songs merely accompany it. The rock music has its place in anime, but Initial D is not where it belongs; it feels like something you'd find in a show like Kuroko no Basket instead. I don't necessarily wish the same tracks from First Stage were reused here ad-nauseum (the entire thing would reek of laziness), but certainly it could have at least tried to preserve the same mood and atmosphere from the original series. Maybe people new to the series won't care all that much, but it's a bummer to see the Eurobeat gone. It was by far the best thing about the series. Initial D was the music.
The pacing is also very strange since it's trying to tell a story in movie format while moving at the speed of a TV series. If the bigwigs behind the anime wanted to go for the movie approach, they should have tightened up the pacing and covered a much larger amount of content. It doesn't use the medium to its advantage; it just feels like a compilation with pretty visuals rather than an actual movie.
People new to Initial D should be aware that, like the original series, there's a bit of car and racing terminology that is pretty much gibberish to anyone who doesn't follow the scene. It doesn't really impede the enjoyment, though, since the spectacle is still more than enough. Most of it simply boils down to Takumi being a drifting god, anyway.
Should you watch Initial D Kakusei? I can't say I recommend it. It's simply an inferior version of the original series with prettier visuals. If visuals are all that matter to you, then hey, I suppose you'll have a pretty good time. But if you value characters, music and mood to any extent, you would be better off just watching (or rewatching) First Stage instead. There are much better things you could spend the hour with instead. You could watch three episodes of Aikatsu, for example!
Alternative Titles
Synonyms: Shin Gekijouban Initial D: Legend 1 - Kakusei
Japanese: 新劇場版 頭文字[イニシャル]D Legend1 -覚醒-
More titlesInformation
Type:
Movie
Episodes:
1
Status:
Finished Airing
Aired:
Aug 24, 2014
Licensors:
Sentai Filmworks
Source:
Manga
Genre:
Action
Theme:
Racing
Demographic:
Seinen
Duration:
1 hr. 2 min.
Rating:
PG-13 - Teens 13 or older
Statistics
Ranked:
#9932
2
based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity:
#3574
Members:
38,361
Favorites:
81
Available AtResourcesStreaming Platforms | Reviews
Filtered Results: 13 / 13
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Your Feelings Categories Apr 15, 2015
The anime industry sure likes to reuse content, huh?
Initial D's movie retelling- itself an adaptation of an adaptation- is not one that aims to reinvent the series it is based on. It is yet another sort of compilation movie, an inferior version of the TV series that came before. Does that mean the movie itself sucks? Not necessarily, though it is beyond any doubt a disappointment. I'm not entirely sure why Initial D is being remade since 1998 isn't exactly what I would consider to be 'old'. I suppose it exists as a way for anime fans who detest anything from before the 2000's ... Aug 23, 2014
This movie is a retelling of the first fifth of the original series, specifically the base rivalry between Takumi and Keisuke.
The pacing of this movie works for the way it is. Nothing feels to rushed but the specifics of Natsuki's story is more hidden this time. Other than that, fans of Initial D who have prior exposure know what to expect. As for the final race, if you play the arcade games, the pace of the race works in accurate conjunction to that so I can't really make an excuse it feels to rushed. I mean, most players can beat Akina in about ... Jan 15, 2016
When I heard Initial D was being remade, I was excited. Sure it was fixing something that wasn't really broken, but I knew the first stage had a few flaws. This movie improved on some points but completely missed the mark on others. As this is a remake of Initial D, I thought I would do a bit of old vs. new.
STORY- 5/10 DRAW: Initial D always represented a bit of a paradox in story terms to me. The plot remains simple and consistent throughout, but I could never really follow it. I know what happens, but it usually ends up becoming a big blur ... Mar 6, 2015
So i watched this Anime, i already liked Initial D years ago. But what i can tell is, that the Producers try with this new Movie to find more Fans maybe some who never Watched it before because the graphics where absolutly bad in past. What i liked is that some Details changed, changed maybe in the better way.
The Characters changed a bit, but they see like they are more Mature. Also the drawing Style is super, thats why i think that Initial D will have new Fans. The old ones most of them probably will stay. What i didnt like is that there ... Jun 10, 2022
I don't understand the complete dislike of this movie by the fan-base, OR rather I do, and it is a small part that doesn't exactly rid its ratings down to a 6, this is the lack of Euro-beat.
YES I do agree Euro-beat should be in the races, but that doesn't mean that ruins the beautifully re-imagined race sequences, this is 8 steps up from the original first stage in terms of Art and Animation. Also yes there has been some scenes removed that were "Non-essential" and yeah that sucks but this entire movie collection is only around 3.5 hours, so it is 100% watchable within a ... Dec 17, 2015
I've watched this story of the anime many many times. And I absolutely loved the changes in this movie's artwork. Rather than use 3D CGI in the battle scenes, they drew it, resulting in more fluid and dramatic racing scenes. The resulting product is much cooler to watch, as the image suddenly changes from one end of the car to another. You actually see lines in the spokes of a spinning wheel, rather than CGI modeling the actual spinning for you. I just think the lines in the spokes are way cooler to observe. The artwork for the active scenes in this movie are absolutely
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Mar 6, 2018
The movie seems like more of a summary episode and I do think you should treat it as that. If you're searching for the impact & excitement you had while firstly watching the series, don't look for them here.
As I have said, this seems like a long summary episode of the first few scenes in the series but with higher quality animation. It's not a good place to start for those new to it but is at least welcome to those who have watched the 1st season at least. People who would want to try ... Mar 2, 2022
This is rated lower than I expected, I thought the re-make was absolutely visually stunning, new VA's breathing life into our characters once again since Initial D first stage was a blessing.
The story was obviously cut into movie length which means alot of the context is cut before races but it still perfectly makes sense for those who watched Initial D back then so it didn't bother me at all. The art was amazing and I liked how they didn't CGI the crap out of the races which turned out to be one of the most thrilling watching experience for me. The sound was ... Feb 22, 2021
Look how they massacred my boy, (this also covers legend 2 and 3 since this also applies to them)
The original Initial D was iconic with its terrible Cgi but amazing soundtrack. The legend films on the other hand are the exact opposite of it. Story- 6 It follows the original Initial D plot but changes have been made, Takumi's character has been changed a bit, the race with Shingo (The Red Eg6) has been changed, there are some battles left out like the rx7 vs r32. Overall the story was crammed into 3 movies thus lots of good races were cut out and personalities had to be ... Apr 7, 2023
No more Eurobeat?!?>!??!?!1111!11
In all seriousness, Legend 1 was pretty good. The story: It basically is another Stage where there is another kid in town wanting to give Takumi a shot for his money. We know how this turns out. But man the Toyota AE86 is so cool!!! The music: No Eurobeat = 2/10 Animation: It was good CG a bit better than stages 1-4 but still CG is still CG nonetheless and it shows its age. Art Style of the characters is good tho I liked the designs ... Apr 10, 2018
This shall be my first review, and I'll try to keep it short.
I was expecting on watching a "recap" movie of the series, and that was what I got. Yet I was still disappointed. Story - 6 Can't say that it felt rushed, but the pacing of the first half and the usual "explaining everything" just reduced the immersion even more compared to the original. Art - 6 For better and worse, updated and reworked graphics. Personally I prefer the old version. The CGI cars here are definitely level-upped, but still in the middle ground of Good and Bad. I could say the old CGI was so "bad" that it actually ... Aug 1, 2021
i finished initial d series few months ago, and what can i say, i really love it. so i decided to watch new initial d, to see how did they remake the first stage.
i'm disappointed. lets start of with positive things. art style is ok and animation is better than in original initial d. and voice actors tried their best to sound like original va for these chars, well, they are similar to my ears. and now negative. some characters look similar, at least to me. ryosuke is like takumi but with black hair, and kenji is similar to takumi too. we don't get too see much ... Dec 26, 2022
This is difficult.. Somewhat of a conundrum really..
I'm writing this review as a "generic" review spanning the Legend movies 1 to 3, as I've watched all 3 in a row, and I think this will apply to all 3 movies. Now first things first, there is a lack of build-up in these movies compared to the show, but this is in my opinion rather normal, as it is not uncommon when trying to squeeze an entire season worth of content into a 1 hour movie. The animation in these movies are very heavily upgraded from the original show, they look amazing, which was really the only thing ... |