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Nov 24, 2013 8:12 AM
#1

Offline
Apr 2009
4211
THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
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First and foremost, I just realized; what the hell have I been watching this past few years when I just saw this! >_< There's only one single-episode anime that had me in a roller coaster of emotions the entire time I was viewing it, and that was Pale Cocoon. This one just made that into a list. Indulge me for a bit here, the comedy and humor at the beginning, the cheesy, lousy drama and the tension of the racing action in the middle, and the f**kin tragedy that still haunts near the end while I'm posting this. Maybe it's the recency effect and the placebo of my awe with this one will fade in time...

The comedy between our main protagonist and Ai, they didn't even confess to one another so it's just implied high school romance, it's cheesy but I totally dig the humor between them. It also applies to the rough bromance humor between him and Hideyoshi. Hiro and Miyuki also had their moments.

Satoru's abduction of Miyuki was just immature, he brought his own goons! What the hell is he, a high school level punk? Then his weird confession and well...lame excuse of letting Gun and Hiro's rescue effort distract him from having his way with Miyuki, I had this gut feeling then he might actually be a good guy. The heat of the moment must have gotten into him when all the years of lusting after Miyuki fueled his sudden passion. Ah my morality compass is being screwed so I will digress. XP

The Suzuka race was quite tense for me, the scorching summer heat on the asphalt coupled with literal blazing speed Gun was riding had me on fever to cheer for their team. One of the spectators in the audience said, he/she was on the edge of his/her seat, I realized I was the doing the same! ^_^ Two things that I've seen (I wish someone knowledgeable could confirm); that they have to run to their motorcycles in the beginning of the race and the racer must bring the motorcycle by themselves to the pit stop (like what the clearly injured Hideyoshi did).

The tragedy at the end, several things have clued me to it and each time they pile it up, the dread and terror in me increased that I feel like I should stop watching already. The first was when he had difficulty finding his motorcycle keys, his sister said it must be that he's not suppose to ride his bike today but he dismissed it as superstition. As he left, his sister thought she didn't like the color of the sky. Then there's the handshake, Gun thought that ruined their rapport, I guess that would be a mojo-kinda thing. Finally as they were racing, a saw a bouquet of flowers by the side of the road that they passed by, (the flowers as offering/remembrance to someone who might have died there, for the clueless), that was the last nail and I almost cried out of helpless and despair to what was about to transpire. TT_TT

Though burning Hideyoshi's Katana seems to be a waste, I strongly agree with Gun's sentimentality. I couldn't bear to see someone else ride it or let it gather dust in some storage as well. >_<

Oh crap I have poured my emotions in some wall of text again. Ah heck, my objectivity is flawed when it comes to this, and I'm not even a racing fan of any sort. I admit that this is not perfect but my own enjoyment of this compels me to give it 10/10 in my book.


You see there's no need to wonder where your god is,
Coz he's right here! ...and he's fresh out of mercy.
Jul 4, 2015 9:19 PM
#2

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Mar 2010
47
Well, it was a fine movie. Felt very rushed at some points and lacked development in some ways for a more impactful story (they tried to fit a lot of manga content in a movie... I believe they did the best they could, I can't really blame them), but the plot itself is REALLY DAMN GOOD and I liked its concept. I really want to read the manga to see the full story now.

EDIT: Just checked a bit of the manga and the movie covers the events of the first 11 volumes of it. Holy crap, there's a lot more of story to see besides it.
wd_nintakunJul 5, 2015 9:48 AM
Mar 31, 2018 12:28 PM
#3

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Jan 2013
14161
I had this kind of feeling that something bad would definitely happen in this movie... and I was right. When the scene showed the sister looking at the sky and getting worried, that's when I got so worried.

That tragedy... Hideyoshi really didn't deserve that ending. BUT, he died riding the bike he loved so much, and Gun never defeated him. I think this part was the strongest aspect of this movie. Seeing his lifeless body lying on the street was just painful to see.

The romance sub-plots were alright. I liked the Hiro x Mii couple but Ai could be developed more. Still though she had some screen time by defending Gun's bike.

God I feel really bad for Tomoyo now. She lost all three of her family members to road accidents.
Feb 6, 2020 9:38 AM
#4

Offline
Feb 2015
4122
The movie was alright. It definitely would have made me interested in the manga, if I wasn't already (since it's by the creator of Initial D). However, you could tell a lot of content was missing, so I just couldn't get that invested in the story and characters.
Oct 19, 2022 12:36 AM
#5

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Jan 2018
3283
I'll be honest, I only watched this for Youko Onigome. After I saw her performance in Miyuki I was immediately interested in other work she's done. But as an anime voice actress, she only had two roles. Itou Ai in this anime and Miyuki Wakamatsu in Miyuki 1983. She's much more famous as a singer I suppose. She sang the OP and ED of Bari Bari Densetsu too and they were great. Kind of disappointed she didn't have a bigger role here but I'm still glad I watched this movie.

I liked this more than I thought I would. It's from the Initial D author. Initial D has been on my watchlist since forever so I didn't expect to watch the author's older work before that.

Sadly, it's blatantly obvious that this movie tries to compress a long manga, even though I didn't read the manga. What's worse is this movie is just an abridged version of 2 OVAs and is missing around 20 minutes of content. But the OVAs weren't fansubbed so the VHS rip of the movie is the best we have for now. Though as a movie it works well enough so no need to watch the OVAs though I'm curious what was cut.

I wonder if the manga was ever scanlated. The ending really shocked me and I'd like to see the rest of the story continue. Though the chance of this series getting a modern remake is next to zero like a lot of older series with no ending I watched.
0451Oct 19, 2022 12:42 AM
Jul 7, 2023 12:54 PM
#6

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Jan 2016
511
I felt bad for the guy that got his car wrecked

Jan 14, 7:40 AM
#7

Offline
Apr 2020
157
Man got isekai'd by Skyline-kun

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Apr 12, 10:55 AM
It’s time to ditch the text file.
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