NEWS: Initial-D anime to get reboot

Speaking of mad mangas, Hollywood isn’t the only one endlessly retooling comic book movies. On Monday Kodansha’s Young Magazine announced that Initial D is getting the reboot treatment as well. Further details have yet to be announced but one thing for sure is that the new adaptation will be in anime form. 

Shuichi Shigeno‘s seminal manga about touge, drift and the hachiroku debuted back in 1995 and was followed up with an anime series in 1998. The stories became wildly popular despite primitive CG that made cars resemble cheap plastic toys rather than actual AE86s and RX-7s. Graphics did improve as time went on but given the Moore’s Law leaps that computing power has made in the intervening years, the new series promises to be a feast for the eyes.

[via natalie.mu]

 

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26 Responses to NEWS: Initial-D anime to get reboot

  1. Matt says:

    hang on to your fc’s and 86’s folks. anyone thinking the whole initial d/wangan/fast and furious craze will hit again with this?

    • Watt2159 says:

      I will gladly accept an Initial D, and definitely a Wangan craze, but Fast and Retarded comes back, I’m going to sell my car, and pursue an interest in moving to Northern Canada.

  2. Ben says:

    Agreed. Got mine safely tucked away.

  3. Jodecé says:

    I can’t wait. But I think they should keep the graphics they stopped with. It would just seem weird otherwise. I know I’d adjust if they did update the graphics. But it would take away the essence of the show imo.

  4. Rotary_lover89 says:

    Crap!!! There goes my chances of owning another FC in my life again…looks like i’ll be sticking to SAs for a bit longer :/

  5. Calus001 says:

    Everyone! Snatch up all the AW11s you can! They are about to go through the roof as soon as the next generation realizes they have 4A-GEs in them! SUPERHERO UNBEATABLE ENGINE ALL THE HURRRRRSPWRRRRS

    • Calus001 says:

      Because everyone knows that the new drift kiddies that come out of this new wave of FUNIMATIOSPLOSION aren’t gonna be able to afford an AE86 this time around.

    • Aw, this was a really nice post. Taking the time and actual effort to make a top notch article… but what can I say… I procrastinate a lot and don’t seem to get anything done.

  6. Nigel says:

    Loved the anime and the arcade games.
    I guess with the interwebs us North Americans will see this earlier than the time it took to see the old series.

  7. MRXAE86 says:

    Oh god this is stupid. No, I take that back. This is blasphemy! They should just leave it alone. It’s just fine the way it is. Why don’t they reboot something else? :grumble grumble:

  8. Ryan says:

    A lot of talk about FC’s and AE’s but is this reboot going to feature the old cars? maybe Tak now owns a GT86 and the Redsuns drive RX8s’? I hope this is not the case!

    • ErikFM says:

      No. The original manga for the series is still going on. Most likely the studio is either going to do an original video animation as a standalone movie, an entirely new season (continuing after the 4th stage), or a complete reboot with retooled graphics, but not new cars. There is too much heritage, money, and merchandise already invested into those classics. Not only that, but the point of Initial D was show that having a powerful/new car does not mean that you are a good driver. David and Goliath deal. Old ’86 car family car going up against Skylines and winning. Tale of the underdog.

      • Aaron says:

        creators have vision and often times will ruin their own art in the eyes of the observer to follow that vision…

        ie. Star Wars

        • dankan says:

          Yes, but as ErikFM pointed out, there is no need for a reboot when the story is not even finished yet. Given that the 5th stage is now able to be completely done as an anime to match the manga, I think it’s most likely that we will get to learn how that endless summer of Project D finishes, and if Itsuki can ever land a girlfriend.

  9. I do hope they either begin where they left off, and perhaps have Bunta involved more in the process of showing Takumi the ropes…LOL

    • Aaron says:

      I do hope they continue the story and don’t skip way off tangent, and Bunta is definitely my favorite character. I wonder if they will keep it touge or try and put Tak into a professional drift series?

      “Keep it touge” lol

  10. drift86 says:

    I’m kinda excited to hear about a reboot. Regardless of fanboys, the series was solid and had a great story. It kept things mostly based in reality, not underglow lighting, NOS bottles, and wretched vinyl graphics. True, everyone will start looking for AE86’s to deliver their tofu again, but its the fan’s and the hype that keeps my AE86’s value steadlly rising.

  11. hanzel says:

    i think its not a reboot. its a continuation of 4th stage, since project D is almost done in the kanagawa area. crunchyroll and animenewsnetwork already announced that the 5th stage anime already has a green light for production.

    And i think “new anime series” in the link given points to the new series 5th stage, where we will see again ryosuke battling it out with his long time rival shinigami in a r32 GTR. Also in the last issue, they just intorduced shinji, a downhill expert kid with an ae86 trueno coupe

  12. madfaber says:

    cant wait!

  13. Camshaft says:

    I’m just going to leave my white FC in the garage for a while and see how this pans out…

  14. James says:

    Reboot may probably change the cars too for a modern feel. The new Toyota GT86 may replace the old AE86 as the hero’s car.

  15. Ghetto-lux says:

    If they change up the chassis to mordern ones it’s done and will ruin the true feel of the show that’s why I enjoyed watching it in the first place no b.s. Nos and fancy bodykits

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