Netgalley Review

Star Rating: ★★★★★

For telling people that I love all the old manga I can't believe that I had never read this one. It was a great read, interesting story, and I love the characters so far! Not a lot happened in these first 2 volumes, it was a lot of character development and laying the foundation of the story. So now I have to run out and get the next ones so that I can actually find out what happened in the big race!

Definitely one that I would add to my shelf at home!

Like always read it and decide for yourself!

I've never read Initial D before, but I've heard so many great things about it and that so many fans were excited for the re-release, so I decided to give it a try. The story is ultimately not for me, I didn't really enjoy it and the car stuff confused me, but I do understand the appeal. The art is charming and solid, and the characters have potential. The focus seems to be on cars and the one in particular, so I can't say much there, but there are other aspects of the story that is hinted at that will be interesting in future installments. I know this is a new translation as well, I don't know how it compares to the original, but I do think that it was done really well and there was a good amount of culture notes to describe what was going on.

This is one of the best mangas. I'm so happy I got to read it early. I already have it on hold at my local library.

I'm just starting to get into reading manga and kept hearing about Initial D. I am also trying to learn more about the drift scene in Japan, so reading this book was very informative.

This manga follows Takumi, a tofu delivery driver, and his innate talents honed by driving up and down Mount Akina daily delivering food for his family's business. Takumi has little knowledge or interest in the drift scene, but is pulled into the world of drifting as the discovery of the mystery AE86 driver comes to light.

I cannot wait to see where Takumi's story goes in the next installments. I did thoroughly enjoy the omnibus version, combining multiple volumes of this story. The art and storyline were so complimentary.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review was shared on NetGalley and StoryGraph.

This manga is about one thing: having a sick-ass car and doing sick shit in it.

The AE-86 is the true star here, highlighting its real life abilities on the rally circuit to a different group of fans. And now that it’s 25 years old, you can actually get a legit one in the states.

Amazing. As an avid fan of Initial D anime, live action, and arcade game, it was such a pleasure to read the first two volumes in one place and in color to boot. I had eurobeats playing in my head while reading.

I would definitely recommend this to any JDM car enthusiast or those that have dabbled in Shuichi Shigeno's MF Ghost that recently aired.

This came as a real surprise, I've always liked the street racing scene, since the first fast and furious and (most) of it's sequels, so to hear that this came before all the films and the original article, and that so many of the things found in the earlier films (before it became international heists against the SAS) were all found in this book. From the twisting roads and the drifting, to the RX7 and the different toyotas, to the character being a delivery driver.

Enjoyed this enormously, there were a few things in there that were a little dated (but it is thirty years old, so fair), and I'll probably be picking up part 2 to see where it goes.

As always, thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for the free copy in return for an honest review, no other inducements were received, my words are my own.