It's best to judge MF Ghost on its own rather than comparing it to Initial D because it falls far short in comparison. It's passable on its own, but it doesn't have the same essence and soul as the original, which made it such a success.
This show loves referencing the fact that it is even linked to Initial D.
It literally tries to reference it in every spot imaginable; it likes to reference Takumi, but he isn't even in Japan anymore; Ryosuke has only made an appearance on screen; and the only Initial D characters shown in MF Ghost are minuscule side characters people only notice after they reference themselves from a race from the Initial D series.
The main problem with this anime is that it has a lot of romance and filler content. To put it bluntly, it's so unenjoyable that I would rather drink the chemicals under my sink than be subjected to the filler content that doesn't add anything to the story.
This "romance" wouldn't be an issue, but it interrupts the race every 3–7 minutes to skip to Ren thinking of Kanata's car podium changes, to then go back to the race, to then be shifted off to the announcers, or Ogata having a breakdown over stuff he already knows Kanata is capable of, or just the fact he has zero belief in Kanata after he has shown his talents.
I am being honest here; these cuts to Ren, announcers, and Ogata happen randomly in the middle of a race; they actually worsen the race every time they pop up since you are taken out of the race forcefully without any lead up to it.
I'm pretty sure that everyone that came to watch this came for the racing, not getting cut off by the one-sided romance of Ren acting like a fangirl for Kanata, which feels forced onto the viewer, the same with announcers and Ogata's reactions to Kanata in a race.
These interruptions are like getting a cut-scene in a video game when you are trying to do something passively, then it forces you into a random cutscene that has zero reason to exist, and then you lose whatever items you were trying to get right before the cut-scene happened. This is an exact representation of the annoyance of these random filler content events.
I wish the show would focus more on the races themselves rather than cutting to other characters' opinions. These interruptions take away a lot of the excitement from the races, especially when they happen randomly during intense moments. I'd prefer to watch and form my own opinions. The anime could use the details and inner thoughts of the drivers to explain techniques in a simple and understandable way, all while keeping me engaged in the race, just like Initial D did.
Next gripe: MF Ghost differs a lot from Initial D's focus on street racing. Initial D centered on things like road conditions, driver techniques, and sometimes the mental endurance of driving. MF Ghost lacks these elements to various extents. The main reason for this is that MF Ghost leans more towards professional motorsports, similar to GT automotive races on tracks, unlike Initial D's individual "head-to-head" street races. For instance, Initial D had intense races like the "Gum Tape Death Match," where Takumi had his hand duct-taped to the wheel for a downhill battle on Akina. This tested his adaptability against an experienced opponent. MF Ghost hasn't presented a test like this yet or anything to show Kanata's ability to handle different stressful situations; he just starts off perfect, with very few flaws. Thus, how would he even grow as a racer if he just constantly had more skills for plot reasons?
Moreover, MF Ghost adopts a hyper-focused professional driving style. The characters are mostly trained motor professionals who deliberately went to driving schools to learn their techniques. This is a significant contrast to Initial D, where most characters had little professional experience before facing Takumi. The result was very different races with street techniques, not track techniques, as shown in MF Ghost so far.
Next is the racing aspect, and honestly, it seems a bit impractical. It's hard to believe that a mostly unmodified Toyota GR86, without a turbo or supercharger, could realistically compete with a Porsche or a Ferrari in this context. Not to be critical, but a base GR86 has 228 horsepower (170 kW). To be on par with these higher-performance cars, it would likely need a turbo, pushing it to around 300–375 horsepower (224–280 kW). Even then, it might only have a fighting chance against a Porsche Cayman, which starts around 300 horsepower. Going up against a Ferrari seems like a stretch.
Perhaps if the entire race were downhill, a base-engine GR86 could have a shot, especially with a skilled driver adept at drifting and managing weight distribution. However, in any other scenario, it seems a bit unrealistic and not quite reflective of the actual capabilities of the car.
Even when suspension changes happen, they are almost more unrealistic. The changes done to the vehicle only assist with the ability to drift; any vehicle with 200–400 more horsepower than the GR86 can 100% pass it on straightaway almost instantaneously. With what is being raced on here, it is more like a track race than a touge, and it is statistically much better to have a vehicle that can grip corners than one that can drift with ease. Quick examples can be time attacks, where vehicles are all wheel drive, like Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Nissan GTRs, are extremely popular and will 100% dominate a closed-circuit race.
Another problem is just characters in general. Many are nonsensical and insanely forgettable, and one character actively seeks out 17-year-old schoolgirls because they have a "loli fetish" and I guess cannot fathom dating women that are 18 or older (This is their whole character outside of racing). Not to mention, the show copies aspects of characters from Initial D, like Ogata being just a modern re-imagination of Itsuki; they seem to have 80% of the same identity. Even copying the scene from Initial D where Itsuki is going down Akina with Takumi and freaking out about the speed, MF Ghost copies this almost perfectly with Kanata and Ogata. It does not feel like a "love letter" to Initial D fans, more like a company watering down a product because they couldn't keep the soul of the original series. The season also ends on a cliffhanger too, not fun.
This also ties in with the art style. Remember, this can be subjective, but Initial D's art style is moderately lost here and is replaced with a mediocre job of making the characters look close to the original. I am mainly talking about the eyes. I know they tried their best to get the style of initial D, but it flops big time and looks a bit weird. I would rather it be an entirely different style at that point; then it would look somewhat weird and not do justice to where the show originally came from.
To be honest, I have zero clue why they wouldn't make this anime by the original companies that produced some of the original Initial D stages, companies that are SynergySP (5th & Final Stage), A.C.G.T. (Extra #2 & Stage 4 + Wangan Midnight), Studio Comet & Galloop (1st Stage), or even SANZIGEN & LIDENFILMS (New Initial D movies). These all could have done a better job at creating an art style that would work well with the series. This series, in general, is pretty popular and profitable, so it shouldn't be an issue to have a previous company do it. I personally would've chosen SANZIGEN & LIDENFILMS since they made an amazing reinterpretation of Initial D's First Stage with their 3-movie set.
Lastly, some of the characters in MF Ghost say that Kanata is already a much better racer than Takumi. This is not true; Takumi had to learn his own course since he was 14 and was a very talented touge racer since he could go a few millimeters from every guard rail in a race. Kanata was just well instructed in his racing driving school by Takumi. Small rant: "Why would they say this? It wouldn't bug me for them to say that Kanata has been the best driver since Takumi, but they basically claim that he is already much better than him. This show is so bad at alienating OG fans of Initial D that it is almost comical.".
I associate Initial D with street racing and downhill touge battles; that's what made the anime memorable. While MF Ghost is okay in its own right, don't approach it with the expectation that it will mirror the exact experience of Initial D, because you will be disappointed.
I would recommend this to anyone that doesn't get bugged by these issues as a 7/10.
But if you're an Initial D fan, I think you will be very upset at the bare minimum, give it a quick look, but overall I wouldn't recommend it to you: 6/10.
If you think I am being hard on this anime, I am. Of course, if your favorite series had an addition to the it that didn't add anything besides complaints, then you would be somewhat upset too.
🗿 (Quick hint: Please watch Initial D instead if you haven't, even with the dated animation, it is still golden.) (Hint 2: Overtake! is also a great anime this season and has a racing themes) 🗿
Hoping for an anime adaptation of GT-giRl, its a manga blending grand touring, track racing, and CGDCT elements. The fact that there were already two racing anime this season gives me hope that we might see GT-giRl on screen someday!
