Initial Thoughts On Initial D



Artists' rendition of Initial-Ds' protagonist, Takumi Fujiwara &
 his "panda" Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT Apex AE86 or "Eight Six".

                                   
                                          Initial Thoughts On Initial-D

                                                                by

                                                                    Jay Agan

      When I picked up a copy of the first disc of Initial-D at Half Price Books I was initially enthused. After a few more discs, I gave them to the local colleges' anime club. Not that I don't like Initial-D, I just don't love it.

      Takumi Fujiwara is an indifferent "racer" as he delivers tofu for his dads' business to customers on Mt. Akina. It's no big deal to him as he only follows his fathers orders & in so doing, unknowingly becomes the "Ghost of Mt. Akina" in his impromptu races with other drivers on the treacherous bends & turns of the mountain. In the five years he's been delivering for his dad (Without a drivers license!) he's become a superb driver with skills to match anyone. As the story progresses he makes himself known & his enthusiasm for illegal street "drift" racing grows.

      In my formative years, when I wasn't digesting horror/sci-fi, etc., I was reading any & every about cars. While stuck in military school, I latched on to Henry Gregor Felsen s' books (Hot Rod, Street Rod, Boy Gets Car, Crash Club.). Speed Racer  (Mach Go Go Go!) also fired the imagination.

      A few years back I became aware (Through the now Bigfoot 'n Bullcrap er ..... uh History Channel about the present day drag racing scene wherein a lot of Japanese cars are used. As I had lost interest since the "muscle car" era of the 70s, this was something new to me. The Fast & Furious franchise (Not to be confused with the present BATF royal screw up.) later made me aware of  "drift" racing.

      I thought Initial-D to be a Felsen-like experience & for the first few eps it was ("Boy gets car", has an enthusiastic buddy or two, gets a girlfriend, etc.). After that it turned into "opponent of the week" with lots of racing around looking grim. That's when I lost interest. At least Speed Racer had a variety of stories (Albeit "kiddy" stuff.). I understand later "stages" (seasons) to be a bit different.

      As it is, I got as much out of it as I did the parody in ep 6 of Lucky Star.

Article copyright © 9-28-2011 Jay Agan

Go to Main Page here.

DISCLAIMER: All images used on this blog are strictly copyrights of their owners. I do not claim credit/ownership for any images used here in my blog unless stated otherwise. If I have offended anyone by posting any images on my blog, please contact me via email and I will remove specified image(s) ASAP.

This article (only) may be copied in whole or in part. Please cite proper credit & backlink.

To Grandmothers' House We Go

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

                                       
                                        To Grandmothers' House We Go
                                                                              
                                                               by

                                                                  Jay Agan

      I hated going to my grandparents. Being there was OK, but the trip itself? Eight hours from Mt. Vernon, Ohio to Elmira, NY & Dad loved his air conditioning & cigars. (In the dead of August we're wearing sweaters!) It was great when we stopped. We'd all pile out of the wagon to warm up & clear our sinuses.

      The actual visit to Grandma & Papas' was great. Visiting relatives & getting away with what we otherwise couldn't.

      "Hey, Grandma! Wadya get me!?"

      "Why hon, I have it right here."

      We were steeped in materialism at an early age.

      Yeah, there were things to look forward to in out bi-annual visits. One of which was "different TV". When we left for central Ohio in '61 there were only two TV stations in Elmira. We didn't know about ABC Network until we got to Mt. Vernon.

      While Dad was building a new life for us in the mid-west, Grandpa aquired the services of this new fangled tech. called Cable Television. I got aquainted with it on subsequent visits back to New York state.

      Eleven (Count em!) WHOLE channels (2 through 12. 13, the "meter channel" didn't count.) with something different on each (Unlike hundreds today with NOTHING on.). Back then, TV stations did a lot of their own programming & weren't as dependant on networks. Much of their production, graphics, & shows were either produced locally or "in house".

      Grandpa got cable so he could take in Yankees & Mets games on the New York City independants (WPIX et al). When there, I found a much better use for it: Movies & cartoons! (Including some of those "different" cartoons that I later learned were made in Japan.)

      4, 6, & 10 (WLWC/WCMH, WTVN/WSYX, WBNS) in central Ohio were OK as far as they went but they did have their drawbacks. Almost no sci-fi or horror flicks were ever shown during the day. 10s' Chiller Theater/Armchair Theater reserved that for Friday nights in the 60s through the 90s. 6s Terror In the Night/Seymour Presents on Saturday nights in the 70s. 4 showed quite a lot on weekend afternoons during the '81 baseball strike.

      Anime in central Ohio was next to nonexistant. 10 had Marine Boy/Undersea Boy Marine in the mid 60s on Saturday morning & 6 had Speed Racer/Mach Go Go Go in the early 70s weekday afternoons. Aside from the rare movie (Alakazam the Great, Panda & the Magic Serpent, & Jack & the Witch) that was about it here until Sandy Frank came up with Battle of the Planets/Science Ninja Team Gatchaman in the mid 70s.

      NYC TV via cable? Wow! Sci-fi/horror flicks (As these stations rented different movie "packages" I got to see a lot of flicks I couldn't see at home.) every afternoon in the summer & seemingly wall to wall anime on at least two stations (WPIX ch 11, & I think WNEW ch5.) No one called it "anime" back then. To me, they were those "wierd cartoons we can't 'pick up' back home."

      The "line ups" included 8th Man/8 Man, The Amazing Three/Wonder 3, Astro Boy/Mighty Atom, Gigantor/Tetsujin 28-go among others. "Stone age" anime of the 60s. Mostly black & white, with very minimal animation. Peter Fernandez, Corinne Orr & crew scripted/dubbed the English versions for just about all of them (They also did a LOT of dubs for Italian & Japanese films.) As these were edited down for US audiences, the results were pretty much "kid stuff". Being a kid, that didn't matter much to me at the time. They were still quite different enough for me to appreciate their "otherness".

      Cable finally came to Mt. Vernon in the 70s but we couldn't get it. We lived about a mile & a half out of town & WMVO (1300 AM, 93.7 FM) who ran the franchise, wouldn't go beyond the city limits. Something about it not being profitable enough. I figured it was part of the then ongoing conspiracy to keep me from watching anything kool. How I rankled about what I was missing out on as I would look over the TV Guide & newspaper listings (I envied the kids in New York City!). There were plenty of people living out our way, but as they knew I was out there too, well .....

                                            Article copyright © 2-24-2011 Jay Agan

Go to Main Page here.

DISCLAIMER: All images used on this blog are strictly copyrights of their owners. I do not claim credit/ownership for any images used here in my blog unless stated otherwise. If I have offended anyone by posting any images on my blog, please contact me via email and I will remove specified image(s) ASAP.

This article may be copied in whole or in part. Please be sure to include proper credit & backlink.