Initial D, Volume 1

I can't believe how awesome these books are. My friend was selling these books to me for $5 each and I bought the first volume and couldn't stop; I fell into its addicting trap. Once you read the first volume of it you get addicted; I am planning to buy all the volumes. My friend has 1-11 and I have bought 1-3 so far and I am reading 3 right now; it's been two days since I first read the first issue I recommend this book highly if you just don't like Manga but you like street racing it will get you hooked. It is an awesome book for people who like Manga too. This series of books got me hooked and interested in Manga. And I hope you seek a ride on this awesome adventure of Tokyo and other parts of Japan.

I picked up this manga by chance at an import bookstore thinking that a car comic would be somewhat amusing. It has turned out to be one of the most fun comics I have read in a long time. This is an awesome comic for guys, dealing with all that good stuff like honor, pride, competition, male bonding, etc. This could have been a series which just had the same race after race with fake filler drama padded in between, but I was very impressed by how the author Shigeno goes way beyond that. He creates compelling characters that the reader will care about, and writes interesting stories about the characters' lives both on and off the street and how those aspects of their lives are completely intertwined. Shigeno's drawings of people are a bit rough, but it doesn't matter all that much because of strong writing and storytelling. The action scenes and the hype building up to them are spectacular nonstop page turners. From what I understand Shigeno made the effort to accurately depict the cars and the various racing techniques, and it gives the entire series a real edge of authenticity. At the beginning and end of each book, there are car and character descriptions, glossaries, and road maps. I'm not sure if they were in the original comic or if Tokyopop added them, but they're pretty cool. The Tokyopop English translation leaves a bit to be desired. Many of the characters' names have been Americanized and it seems a bit awkward. Tokyopop has also greatly toned down certain scenes that deal with sexuality. These name and content changes seem like an attempt to kiddify the series. The only exception is the first print of Book 1. For me the larger issue is that there are also numerous typos in the text descriptions and glossaries, as though Tokyopop rushed the books to print and didn't bother editing them properly. Also, in the team rosters at the beginning of one of the books, the Red Suns and Night Kids rosters are switched. Even within the actual comic of Book 5, one panel mislabels Ryosuke Takahashi's car as an FD. Once you get into the story, you will start to care about these distinctions. This manga series shines despite the spotty translation. If you enjoy the first one and don't mind the translation job, I would encourage you to buy up to at least Books 5 or 6 because they complete the first story arc, it's totally worth it!

One teenager is realizing his potential ability to be a great racer.. He already learned the techniques by his father, the legendary driver in the town, but he wasn't quite into the racing.. Isn't it amazing?Story is more and more interesting.. As he awaked, the more interesting the story became..First I was disappointed by its drawing, but I became to get used to the creator's style.. Amazingly it looks good!As I afore mentioned, story is great..But the drawing, if you are already used to reading the cute comics, it takes little bit of time.. In my view, the characters in this comic are still somewhat ugly..I can recommend this to every manga fans!

Well, I don't know much about cars, but I could follow it. And I enjoyed it. If the Japanese translations were off, I didn't notice. It was a good read even if you haven't watched the anime, (which I haven't).There _was_ one kind of shocking picture in it. But I guess that's what I get for reading an "Older Teen" rated shonen manga, when I'm a girl.Hey, I didn't see the rating until too late! (Also, this might have been an earlier version -- I saw one at the store where the rating was only "T".)Even though I'm not particularly taken with cars or car racing, I enjoyed this. It had enough stuff to keep me guessing. By the way, this is Volume 1 I'm reviewing; I don't know about the later volumes. I thought the characters were interesting.amr

Ignoring the debate on whether the series has been accurately translated from the original Japanese manga, I am hooked on the storyline of this Tokyopop-ized version of Initial D. As a person into the sport compact scene, I was overjoyed to find a comic on this topic that is realistic and accurate, not a fake exaggeration like a certain F & F movie that recently came out. If you aren't a total purist, and don't mind inaccurate translations but would rather enjoy a good story, check this book out ;)