wintermute-3 Reviews

Initial D: Second Stage (1999–2000)

Excellent Anime About Street Racing in Japan.

[25 August 2001]

Initial D is a Japanese Cartoon dealing with the Drift Racing scene which is now popular among the youth of Japan. The story revolves around Takumi Fujiwara, a drift racer of incredible skill, and his car, a Toyota AE86 (Hachiroku) Corolla. The art is a combination of traditional animation and CG, usually when dealing with the cars. What really makes the series, however, is the attention to detail. Keiichi Tsuchiya (Dorikin, The Drift King) is an advisor to the show, and it seems to have paid off. Not only is the driving technique realistic for the most part (drivers are shown heel-toe'ing, car detail is spot on), but the characters take the time to explain many of the driving techniques.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this anime has acquired quite a following in the United States, among automotive enthusiasts. While distribution was largely limited to VHS copies subtitled by fans, in the past few months proper DVDs with English subtitles have shown up on ebay.

Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)

Great for car buffs, not enough action.

[7/10 · 29 June 2000]

Let me start this off by saying I'm a car guy. As such, I truly enjoyed this movie, as it's one of the few I've seen with an enormous amount of detail given to the cars. I noticed very few factual errors during the movie... they did their homework, even down to the way the cars sound. Unfortunately, the acting was mediocre, and the chase scenes failed to display any particularly notable stunts (although it did prove Nicholas Cage capable of turning quickly at 20 miles per hour).

End result, if you're into cars, you'll love it, otherwise I suspect you'll be bored to tears.