Well i had watched Initial D movie last week and was quite disappointed on how it goes. It completely break from the popular manga/anime story that only the characters and cars were linked. Was wondering if Tsui Hark was the director, will he do all these? These are the obvious changes:
1)In the first scene, it shown the drunk Fujiwara Bunta lying in their apartment living room before Takumi comes in and pull him into the bedroom. He was protrayed as an alcoholic and likes to flirt around with the ladies. But in the anime, Bunta is a cool headed guy who enjoyed a few cups of sake without getting drunk. Bunta was also shown as being very hot-headed in the movie as in the scene when Ryosuke (which was actually Iketani in the anime) confronted him in his shop when rumours claimed that he was the mysterious AE86 that defeated Nakazato's (which was actually Keisuke's FD3S in the anime) GTR as we see the protaganist speed along the downhill of Akina. Bunta supposed to be a serious character too but somehow he and Itsuki provides comic relief for the movie. Later in the movie, it was known that Bunta's turn to his current lifestyles is due to his wife leaving him.
2)Itsuki was protrayed as "the leader" of Akina Speedstars and is the legend of Akina. The Speedstars do not even existed in the movie except for the scene which the car, S13, parked at the patrol koisk. S13 was driven by Iketani in the anime but his character was somehow merged with Itsuki together with Kenji. Itsuki was not an employee of the Patrol Koisk just as Kenji but likes to hang around there just to talk with his good friend, Takumi. He was also protrayed as the good for nothing and loves to day dream, son of the patrol koisk owner, Yuuichi. Eventhough it was not known whether Yuuichi was the owner of the patrol koisk as in the manga/anime. Itsuki crashed the S13 in the race instead of the practice lap before deciding to get a Levin.
3)Keisuke Takahashi's character was cut in the movie too. I can't help but cursed at this move as Keisuke is considered a somehow major character in the manga/anime. His first test with the AE86 (which resulted in AE86 performing the perfect drift that surprised him) was replaced by Nakazato character which i believed the 2 character merged in such that Nakazato had his GTR but his character is somehow similar to Keisuke as such that he usually tag along with Ryosuke and made no mentions about his team Myogi Nightkids which made people assuming that he is one of the drivers of Red Sun.
4)Natsuki's is somehow quite close to the anime/manga. She is a escort for a middle-aged man while she was going through a relationship with Takumi. She too was spotted by Itsuki while in the middle age man's benz. I think the ending is a little different which shown Takumi dumping her instead of forgiving her after she apologised.
5)Ryosuke Takahashi was too protrayed as the very skilled driver in the movie. However it was not known whether he was undefeated (he was undefeated in the manga/anime before meeting Takumi) or not. It was him that confronted Bunta after he heard that Nakazato was defeated by a mysterious AE86. I somehow disliked the final battle of the movie. It's a triple threat battle between AE86, Evo3 and FC3S. It ended with Sudo being eliminated when his Evo3 crashes. His battle with Takumi is probably the closest battle scene as protrayed in the manga/anime. With Takumi overtaking him in the final stretch. Other then that, most were similar to the original.
6)Kyouichi Sudou, well his character is not clear in the movie except that he is an emperor and a professional racer. I would say that Sudou is just a semi-pro in the manga/anime since he was from Todo Juku which was known in the manga/anime that most grad from the school had either become professional or semi-pro racer. His misfiring system somehow was missing from the movie. Not sure about this, but i felt that he become the main anatonagist of the movie. His right handed driver, Seiji too was protrayed as quite close to the movie. Overconfident and usually had the tendency to look down on his opponent.
7)The background music that accompany the battle scene were hip hop similar to those of Fast and the Furious. Another major break as the Eurobeat soundtrack plays a such part in the anime.
8)Some of the scene were shot in stop motion and having a split screen. I find this quite annoying such that when they are racing, suddenly it stopped for 1-2sec or so before switching to another.
Conclusion: 4/10.
It had all the big names in the movie. Award winning director, popular actors and actress. But the plot had a very big break from the original manga/anime. I believed that this do not sit well with all the international fans of Initial D.
1)In the first scene, it shown the drunk Fujiwara Bunta lying in their apartment living room before Takumi comes in and pull him into the bedroom. He was protrayed as an alcoholic and likes to flirt around with the ladies. But in the anime, Bunta is a cool headed guy who enjoyed a few cups of sake without getting drunk. Bunta was also shown as being very hot-headed in the movie as in the scene when Ryosuke (which was actually Iketani in the anime) confronted him in his shop when rumours claimed that he was the mysterious AE86 that defeated Nakazato's (which was actually Keisuke's FD3S in the anime) GTR as we see the protaganist speed along the downhill of Akina. Bunta supposed to be a serious character too but somehow he and Itsuki provides comic relief for the movie. Later in the movie, it was known that Bunta's turn to his current lifestyles is due to his wife leaving him.
2)Itsuki was protrayed as "the leader" of Akina Speedstars and is the legend of Akina. The Speedstars do not even existed in the movie except for the scene which the car, S13, parked at the patrol koisk. S13 was driven by Iketani in the anime but his character was somehow merged with Itsuki together with Kenji. Itsuki was not an employee of the Patrol Koisk just as Kenji but likes to hang around there just to talk with his good friend, Takumi. He was also protrayed as the good for nothing and loves to day dream, son of the patrol koisk owner, Yuuichi. Eventhough it was not known whether Yuuichi was the owner of the patrol koisk as in the manga/anime. Itsuki crashed the S13 in the race instead of the practice lap before deciding to get a Levin.
3)Keisuke Takahashi's character was cut in the movie too. I can't help but cursed at this move as Keisuke is considered a somehow major character in the manga/anime. His first test with the AE86 (which resulted in AE86 performing the perfect drift that surprised him) was replaced by Nakazato character which i believed the 2 character merged in such that Nakazato had his GTR but his character is somehow similar to Keisuke as such that he usually tag along with Ryosuke and made no mentions about his team Myogi Nightkids which made people assuming that he is one of the drivers of Red Sun.
4)Natsuki's is somehow quite close to the anime/manga. She is a escort for a middle-aged man while she was going through a relationship with Takumi. She too was spotted by Itsuki while in the middle age man's benz. I think the ending is a little different which shown Takumi dumping her instead of forgiving her after she apologised.
5)Ryosuke Takahashi was too protrayed as the very skilled driver in the movie. However it was not known whether he was undefeated (he was undefeated in the manga/anime before meeting Takumi) or not. It was him that confronted Bunta after he heard that Nakazato was defeated by a mysterious AE86. I somehow disliked the final battle of the movie. It's a triple threat battle between AE86, Evo3 and FC3S. It ended with Sudo being eliminated when his Evo3 crashes. His battle with Takumi is probably the closest battle scene as protrayed in the manga/anime. With Takumi overtaking him in the final stretch. Other then that, most were similar to the original.
6)Kyouichi Sudou, well his character is not clear in the movie except that he is an emperor and a professional racer. I would say that Sudou is just a semi-pro in the manga/anime since he was from Todo Juku which was known in the manga/anime that most grad from the school had either become professional or semi-pro racer. His misfiring system somehow was missing from the movie. Not sure about this, but i felt that he become the main anatonagist of the movie. His right handed driver, Seiji too was protrayed as quite close to the movie. Overconfident and usually had the tendency to look down on his opponent.
7)The background music that accompany the battle scene were hip hop similar to those of Fast and the Furious. Another major break as the Eurobeat soundtrack plays a such part in the anime.
8)Some of the scene were shot in stop motion and having a split screen. I find this quite annoying such that when they are racing, suddenly it stopped for 1-2sec or so before switching to another.
Conclusion: 4/10.
It had all the big names in the movie. Award winning director, popular actors and actress. But the plot had a very big break from the original manga/anime. I believed that this do not sit well with all the international fans of Initial D.
