Tag Archives: Initial D

Toyota GR86 meets its Initial D and MF Ghost predecessors in new ad

Toyota has teamed up with the creator of Initial D and MF Ghost again in a new ad. The spot features the new GR86, the old 86, and the really old AE86 on a late night touge run while a … Continue reading

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Initial D sequel anime MF Ghost debuts next week

If you’ve been jonesing for some automotive anime action, your time has come. MF Ghost, the long awaited follow-up to Initial D, will make its debut this coming Sunday. Like its predecessor, it follows the tale of an unlikely racing … Continue reading

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Subaru sends off the WRX STI with Initial D anime-style ad

Considering how Subaru will not produce an WRX STI based on the current WRX model, it seems like rubbing salt in the wound to debut an exciting new video starring what we know now will be the final iteration of … Continue reading

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Art exhibition celebrating Initial D creator Shuichi Shigeno opens in Japan

An art exhibition in Japan has opened to honor 40 years of art by Shuichi Shigeno, the author of Initial D. Long before the tale of a tofu delivery boy street racing his beloved Toyota AE86 hit the newsstands, Shigeno’s … Continue reading

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Initial D Toyota AE86 gets schooled by GR86 again, with a different master behind the wheel

In January a series of commercials for the 2022 Toyota GR86 reunited it with the famous Initial D AE86. In those commercials tofu delivery boy Takumi is defeated by none other than the Drift King himself, Keiichi Tsuchiya (or at … Continue reading

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An Initial D and MF Ghost Casio watch is here to keep time on your touge runs

Expensive motorsports-themed watches are nothing new, but typically they involve a Formula 1 team or some kind of luxury brand tie-in. Now there’s a watch — ahem, timepiece — for the lone wolf mountain racer in a humble Toyota. The … Continue reading

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Toyota AE86 meets 2022 GR86 in stunning Initial D-inspired commercials

We promise we are not turning into an Initial D blog, but this was too cool not to share. We’ve not been shy about crapping on Toyota’s terrible ads before. So consider us flabbergasted that the same company, just before … Continue reading

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Initial D‘s beloved characters: “Where are they now?” according to MF Ghost

We last wrote about MF Ghost in 2017, when Shuichi Shigeno had but published one chapter in Young Weekly, the same manga serial that Initial D ran in from 1995-2013. Back then, little was known about the plot, but now … Continue reading

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There is now a Takumi motor oil for Initial D fans

Since its debut about a decade ago, Japan’s Takumi motor oil has had nothing to do with Initial D. If Sears had been Japanese, its in-house line of tools would have been named Takumi, because though Takumi is a popular … Continue reading

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Inside the world of Kimono My House, one of the oldest Japanese hobby shops in the US

Before anime and Japanese sci-fi became mainstream on US shores, a small hobby shop in Emeryville, California filled that niche for those in the know. Kimono My House is probably the oldest Japanese toy store in the United States, its … Continue reading

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Official Initial D 25th anniversary store opens in Japan

On July 23, a pop-up store celebrating the 25th anniversary of Initial D opened in Tokyo. It will be open for just over two weeks in the capital city before moving onto Osaka. The shop features a small gallery of … Continue reading

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ART CORNER: Look at these amazing cars made out of cardboard

Are you having trouble figuring out what to do with all your used Amazon boxes? Perhaps these incredible cardboard cars can spark an idea or two. YouTuber Papa Ken has several videos showing off his amazing skills in building corrugated … Continue reading

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Behold, Japan’s suddenly famous Drift Dog

Earlier this month, a video of a Japanese dog went viral when the owner filmed it running down the side of an irrigation canal. Its cuteness, plus the fact that it had kind of an angled gait, quickly garnered it … Continue reading

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MINICARS: Lego should license this unlicensed Initial D AE86

In the old days unlicensed toys used to be somewhat janky, but in recent years in China, where manufacturing prowess and the wild west of intelletctual property law intersect, a lot of it has gotten quite good. Case in point: … Continue reading

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Drift back to school with an Initial D AE86 backpack

It’s hard getting up for class but when you’re wearing a snazzy AE86 backpack, you can slide to school in style. Forget your Jansport, a Japanese shop has made a replica of the Initial D Toyota Sprinter Trueno for all … Continue reading

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Forget tofu, Arby’s gets the drift

Takumi has gotten a new job, delivering roast beef sandwiches for Arby’s.

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MINICARS: A beginner’s guide to JNC Legos, Part 01

The popularity of Legos had exploded in recent years, leading to many fans going beyond off-the-shelf kits and building their own custom creations. We’ve posted about Legos before, starting from back in 2013, and while the Lego renaissance was already underway … Continue reading

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ART CORNER: Japanese artist recreates Initial D touge scenes with amazing model cars

It’s an iconic scene from the pages of Initial D — Takumi Fujiwara’s AE86 touge-battling Keisuke Takahashi’s FD RX-7, drifting through a hairpin. A Japanese artist known as Shinga on Twitter has recreated the moment, but as much as the finished product looks … Continue reading

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ART CORNER: Initial D author’s new racing manga has begun

Four years after the conclusion of Initial D, author Shuichi Shigeno has embarked on the development of a new racing manga. The first chapter of the series, MF Ghost, has kicked off in Japan’s Weekly Young Magazine, where Initial D began … Continue reading

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NEWS: Toyota creates Initial D-inspired 86

Often, things that are blindingly obvious to enthusiasts sail high over the heads of the automakers themselves. Sometimes, though, they nail it. Take, for example, Toyota UK’s creation of a Toyota GT86 (aka FR-S) inspired by Takumi Fujiwara’s fictional hachiroku from the classic … Continue reading

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