Initial D (頭文字(イニシャル)D, Inisharu Dī?, transliteration, "Kashiramoji Dī") is a manga by Shuichi Shigeno which has been serialized in Kodansha's Young Magazine since 1995. It has been adapted into a long-running anime series by Pastel, Studio Gallop, and OP Planning, which premiered in Japan on Fuji TV and Animax, and a live action film by Avex and Media Asia. Both the manga and anime series were licensed for distribution in North America by Tokyopop.

The anime and manga focus on the world of illegal Japanese street racing, where all the action is concentrated in the mountain passes and never in cities nor urban areas, and the drift racing style is emphasized in particular. Keiichi Tsuchiya helps with editorial supervision. The story is centered around the Japanese prefecture of Gunma, more specifically on several mountains in the prefecture and in and their surrounding cities and towns. Although some of the names of the locations the characters race in have been fictionalized, all of the locations in the series are based on actual locations in Gunma Prefecture.

Set in the late 1990s in Japan's Gunma Prefecture, the series follows the adventures of Takumi Fujiwara, an eighteen year old who helps his father run a tofu shop by making deliveries every morning to a hotel on Akina with his father's Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX. It is revealed that Takumi has been driving on Mt. Akina every morning to deliver tofu to the summit 5 years before he even had his license. As a result his skills were honed and he has become skilled at driving in adverse weather conditions as well.

In mountain pass racing, power is not the only key to winning. Balance, skill, and courage are what is needed to win. Mountain pass racing (also known as "touge") is divided into two areas, downhill and Hillclimb (Uphill). The hillclimb relies more on the car's power and the driver's acceleration control. The downhill depends primarily on the driver's braking and steering techniques, and requires less raw power from the car.

First Stage
The story begins when street racers of the Red Suns, a team from Mt. Akagi, come to challenge Mt. Akina's local Speed Stars team to a "friendly" race. After seeing how skilled the Red Suns are, the Speed Stars treat it as a race for pride, determined not to be humiliated on their home turf. However, the Speed Stars are left in a bind when their team leader and primary downhill driver Iketani has an accident during a practice run.

Iketani learns from Yuuichi, the manager of the gas station he is working in, that the fastest car in Akina's downhill was a panda-colored AE86 owned by a tofu maker, and traces the car back to a local tofu shop. He discovers that the shop's owner, Bunta Fujiwara, was a street racer of great repute in his younger days. Iketani appeals to the older man to take his place in the race against the Red Suns. Iketani is confident that Bunta will come to save the day. But when the race day comes, his son Takumi appears with his Toyota Trueno AE86 instead. Although at first reluctant to let Takumi race, Ikatani relents after it is revealed that he is actually the "Ghost of Akina," the one who outran Keisuke while on one of his delivery runs. Takumi proceeds to defeat Keisuke Takahashi and his Mazda RX-7 FD3S, causing considerable astonishment in the local racing community and putting an end to the Red Suns winning streak.

Originally apathetic about the notion of racing, having only raced Keisuke on the condition his father would let him have the car with a full tank of fuel for a day to use on a date, Takumi begins to grow more interested as he receives other challenges. He begins to understand the concept of a street racer's pride when everyone advises him to duck a challenge from a driver of Mt. Myogi's Night Kids team who drives an extremely powerful, technologically advanced Nissan Skyline R32. The competition against another member of the Night Kids, Shingo Shoji, becomes personal for Takumi after Shingo attempts to wreck Iketani and later forces his friend and co-worker Itsuki to crash when he mistook Itsuki's car for Takumi's. After this, which resulted in Shoji's defeat (in his Honda Civic EG6 hatchback--reportedly the rival to the AE86--in a "Duct Tape Deathmatch") came a duel with a female driver/navigator duo team hailing from Mt. Usui known as Impact Blue and their Nissan Sileighty.

Each of the races presents seemingly impossible odds to overcome. The opposing cars are almost always much more powerful than Takumi's AE86, and the race against Shingo is a "Duct tape Deathmatch," in which both drivers' right hands are taped to the steering wheel, a format which severely limits ability to steer and highly favors Shingo's Honda Civic EG-6, which is a front-wheel drive. Takumi's rear-wheel drive AE86 would be much harder to control, but by instinct, he figures out his own technique and went on to win the race. Shingo actually tried to crash into Takumi's car planning to end the race with a tie, but the AE86 entered a turn and dodged the EG6 and sent the latter to a major crash. The race against Impact Blue is the first for Takumi outside of Mt. Akina, in the completely unfamiliar environment Mt Usui, the SilEighty team's home course.

Takumi's first wet race was against Kenta Nakamura of the Red Suns, driving an S14, which happened in Myogi after Keisuke's race with Nakazato. That previous battle happened before the rain, with Nakazato leading all throughout until his tires lost grip, letting Keisuke drift his way to victory. Afterwards, the audacious Kenta asked the spectators if they wanted a race against the AE86, and they did. Takumi accepted the challenge. Kenta, having a more powerful car, led during the uphill part but Takumi went ahead on the downhill, finishing with a huge distance. This was among Takumi's easiest races, as he himself had tons of experience in more adverse weather conditions.

While Takumi races others over the course of the summer, Keisuke's brother Ryosuke Takahashi, who is the leader of the Akagi Red Suns, formulates what he refers to as his "perfect plan" to defeat Takumi, relying on computer simulations that he had formulated. As summer draws to a close, Ryosuke challenges Takumi to a race and is defeated when he is overtaken by Takumi on one of the last turns before Akina's finish line. Ryosuke acknowledges that Takumi was faster than him, and advises him not to be satisfied with Akina's small stage and to seek out bigger challenges.

Second Stage
A group of street racers called Team Emperor, led by the professionally trained driver Kyouichi Sudou and all Lancer Evo drivers, appears in the Gunma Prefecture. They move through Gunma challenging and defeating the best team on each mountain they arrive at. However, Kyouichi's real goal is to have a rematch with Ryousuke Takahashi, unaware that he has recently been defeated by Takumi. When he discovers this, Team Emperor challenges the Akina Speed Stars to a race in the hopes that Takumi will compete in his 86. Takumi becomes the first person in Gunma to defeat a member of the Emperor team on the downhill when he beats the Evo team's second best driver, Seiji Iwaki.

Kyouichi then challenges Takumi to a match to “teach him some things” and as a sort of cover event for his race with Ryosuke. Although initially uninterested, Takumi eventually decides to go to Akagi. During this race the engine of Takumi's 86 is blown and effectively destroyed. Kyouichi lectures Takumi on the disadvantages of using such an old car in a modern street race. The Emperor leader also didn't consider it a real battle. He tells Takumi to get a more competitive car and race him again. The loss was not due to the 86's lack of power, as Ryosuke explains, it was because Takumi had not driven on Akagi before and didn't know the entrance speeds or anything else about the course that he could use to his advantage, basically leaving him driving blind in front of a power mongered Lancer Evolution 3 with the Misfiring System (anti-lag). If Takumi only knew the course even a little the race would have probably ended differently.

Finally, the long-awaited battle commences. Kyouichi was hungry to beat Ryosuke once and for all. The race started with the white FC leading, as Kyoichi formulated a new technique, Simulation X, for this battle alone. Midway through the race, the black Evo 3 passes Ryosuke and went on to lead until Ryosuke discovers his opponent's weakness. After defeating Kyouichi again, he explains to him that he still had that fear of right-hand corners, wherein a car running to the opposite direction can collide head-on. His local mountain pass, Irohazaka, was a one-way road, which is why Kyouichi wasn't able to work on removing that fear.

On the other hand, Bunta, knowing that the engine in the 86 was about to give out, had already bought a new engine - a high-revving, race breed variation of the standard Toyota 4A-GE 20 valve twin cam engine, which is used for Group A Division 2 Touring Class races in the Japanese Touring Car Championship. He installs the engine without a new tachometer to teach Takumi the importance of learning mechanical knowledge and understanding why the car behaves as it does. Takumi encounters a fellow 86 driver named Wataru, who after reacting with great surprise to Takumi's lack of mechanical knowledge explains that the engine is an extremely strong powerplant and requires several new gauges including a high-revolution tachometer, to be useful.

Once Takumi has made these modifications, Wataru challenges him to a race anywhere of Takumi's choosing. Takumi chooses to race on Wataru's home course of Shomaru, an abandoned mountain pass that is very dangerous. The race becomes one of endurance, and will only end if the chaser overtakes the leader, or the leader greatly outpaces the chaser. Wataru and Takumi switched positions several times, until Takumi discovers a change in the course's environment brought on by their many high speed passes and passes Wataru on a stretch that was previously too narrow for him to do so.

Extra Stage
Capitalizing on the popularity of the all-female street racing team known as Impact Blue which appeared in First Stage, this OVA focuses on Impact Blue's dynamic duo of Mako and Sayuki rather than Takumi and the usual main cast. It takes place during Second Stage and through Third Stage, but not spoiling the upcoming story.

As Extra Stage begins, Mako is battling emotional wounds from what she thinks was a rejection by Iketani, while Sayuki's childhood friend Shingo (of the Myogi Night Kids) and his teammate Nakazato arrive to warn them about Team Emperor, which defeated the Night Kids on their home course just as they have so many other street racing teams from around the region. Mako's driving has been adversely affected by her preoccupations, and she worries about her ability to measure up to the Emperor's challenge in her current emotional state. Finally, a pair of Emperor affiliated Evos show up in Usui. The challenger, an arrogant blonde driving an Evo 4, dissed the female racers and was confident to win easily. Later on in the race, the Evo 4 can no longer keep up with the Sil-80, until it was finally decided in a long turn, called C-121. where it hit the guardrail and lost control. Shingo and Nakazato were late and didn't get to see the race. Thinking the girls also lost, they consoled them saying they lost in their home course as well, but Sayuki unexpectedly told them they won. The Night Kids leaders were startled, thinking they raced against the top Emperor drivers whereas they only dismissed an off-beat member.

Though Mako decides she doesn't need a man in her life for a while, she gradually develops a relationship with a friend of Shingo's named Miyahara after Shingo and Sayuki discreetly play matchmaker. Miyahara is a street racer himself, not a good one though, and he intends to give it up because he believes he has reached the highest level he possibly can, with no chance of progressing further. He has lost interest and intends to move on. He drives a red MR2 and plans to switch to an SUV in pursuit of settling down after racing. Mako feels differently, knowing there are many drivers better than her whose level she wishes to attain. As Mako and Miyahara grow closer, Miyahara reveals that he wishes Mako would quit racing also for her safety's sake, because if she was his girlfriend he would be consumed with worry for her each time she raced.

However, after Mako takes him on a drive on an unknown pass, that was home to the mountain snow resort they were vacationing at, he finally understands why she will not give up racing and realizes that she is in love with another man, Iketani.

Third Stage
Ryosuke approaches Takumi with an offer. Ryosuke has been putting together a racing team featuring the best racers of the Gunma prefecture, and would like Takumi to join.

Takumi doesn't want to decide whether or not to accept the proposal until he settles his score with Emperor driver Kyouichi Sudou. He arrives at Kyouichi's home course of Irohazaka, and after driving the course once, challenges Kyouichi to a race. Sudou lets Takumi go first, planning an overtaking maneuver at the slippery area at the bottom of the mountain. To his surprise, Takumi was able to steer properly at that spot, so he wasn't able to execute his plan. At the end of the race, Takumi thought it was a tie, but Kyouichi conceded because of his failed attack. Shortly after, another Irohazaka local surfaces, Kai Kogashiwa. He previously had Kyouichi as his target, but upon knowledge of his defeat, he challenged Takumi instead. Kai turns out to be the son of Ken Kogashiwa, who was once Bunta's rival and ultimately lost to him in the final race that counted between the two of them. Kai takes Takumi by surprise by taking the "one guaranteed line" his father told him about before the race. He passes Takumi by cutting a hairpin corner short and jumping the ledge. However, Kai mistimed his strategy and this allows Takumi time to recover and catch on. He emulates this line in order to keep up with Kai. Before the race Bunta knew Takumi would be behind at this point, and cryptically told him Irohazaka's dead leaves would be his only chance. As the race approaches its finish, Takumi uses the gutters to come up inside, forcing Kai on to the side of the road where leaves are collecting, then passes when Kai spins on the leaves before the finish line.

The Christmas holiday approaches and Natsuki surprises Takumi at his house, and celebrates Christmas with him and Bunta. On New Year's Day, Miki, a former student at the same high school Takumi attended who Takumi once punched over Miki's bragging about his sexual exploits with Natsuki (seen in a flashback from 1st Stage), arrives at Natsuki's workplace and threatens to make a scene if she does not get in his car. He takes her to Lake Akina with the intention of having sex with her, but after she reveals her feelings for someone else, he flies into a rage and attempts to rape her. She escapes his car briefly and calls Takumi. When Miki hears Takumi's name, and realizes that Takumi is the one Natsuki has feelings for and that he will be coming to save her, he forces her back in the car to take her somewhere else. They pass Takumi, who is coming in the opposite direction. Takumi turns around to chase Miki. As Miki tries to get away he enters a turn too fast in the snow and loses control of his car, crashing into the guardrail. Takumi then takes Natsuki home, both confessing their feelings on the way. As spring comes, Takumi tells Ryosuke that he wants to request another battle with him, this time on Mt. Akagi, before making his decision regarding the team. It is unclear who actually wins the race, but during the race Keisuke reveals to the other members of the Red Suns that the race is not really about who wins or loses. As they approach the finish, side by side, Takumi decides that it is his desire to remain with Ryosuke and join the team.

Fourth Stage
This series focuses on the exploits of the new team founded by Ryosuke, Project D, which is comprised of Ryosuke (leader and strategist), Takumi Fujiwara (downhill specialist), Keisuke (uphill specialist) and a staff consisting primarily of members of the Akagi Red Suns. The team travels the region, challenging other teams and posting the results of the battles on their website. Each race is intended by Ryosuke to develop a specific area of his drivers' skills.

Takumi matures slowly into a more confident and knowledgeable street racer, while Keisuke improves on his technical driving skills. Takumi instinctively develops many new techniques through his own ingenuity after some prompting by Ryosuke, such as passing with his headlights off so that his opponent is unable to see him coming and block him, and using weight shifting to execute maneuvers similar to the gutter-hook technique on Akina.

Project D's opponents get progressively tougher. Their first adversaries are members of local racing teams, but then they progress to facing students at the Todo-juku, a professional racing school, and then Tomoyuki Tachi, an actual professional racer, first when the school enlists one of their graduates to avenge their defeat and then when a street racing team they had previously faced calls upon a rally driver to race Takumi in an ultra-lightweight car.

As Project D's quest to conquer the area's street racing scene goes on, new relationships and old enemies complicate things for the team's members. Keisuke struggles with his attraction to Kyoko Iwase, a female street racer and fellow FD driver from Saitama who he met by chance shortly before they ended up facing each other in a battle, as he fears having a girlfriend would take away too much time from his driving and cause him to lose his focus. Later on in the series, Keisuke breaks Kyoko's heart when he confides to her that their relationship will not work. Meanwhile, Takumi's old rival and fellow 86 driver Wataru watches Project D's exploits with interest, looking for a way to bring about their defeat.

The team encounters yet another different kind of challenge as a new set of opponents turn to deceit and intimidation rather than skill for victory. They damage Keisuke's FD, and he borrows Kyoko's to defeat them. Plans to beat them up were thwarted humorously when those thugs hired bosozoku from Gunma, and ex-subordinates of Keisuke at that... (Note: Project.D is based in Gunma...)

Eventually Project D face off with the senior members of the Purple Shadow Team. Kozo Hoshino, known as "God Foot", is a driver known for his magnificent footwork (able to make his Skyline, a moderately weighed and wide car, accelerate without lag naturally instead of through the use of a misfiring system) and possessed of an uncanny ability to maintain his concentration. He screams loudly while driving to release tension and prevent himself from making an error due to overconcentration. With his amazing combination of skills, he's able to make his 4WD GT-R drift, a feat considered impossible because a stock BNR34 has an anti-slip system, ATTESA E-TS Pro, correcting the car's line if it were to begin to lose control. The GT-R he drives is a BNR34 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-spec II Nür, a run-out special featuring the handbuilt engine from the N1 homologation version. Joshima Toshiya, Kozo's counterpart who known as "God Hand", is a driver known for driving skillfully with one hand using a Honda S2000, reminiscent of the "Duct tape deathmatch" forced upon Takumi when he raced Shingo in First Stage. With his one-handed technique, he can limit countersteer and perform an ideal drift, conserving his tires while still gaining speed on corners. The overall theory for the one handed driving is that in doing so one is able to choose easily between the infinite driving lines possible in a race. Joshima spent all of his recent years trying to find out the limits of the technique, and in his studies after the race he teaches Takumi the theory of one handed driving. Though he doubted that Takumi would start driving with one hand, he did believe he would master using the infinite lines to his advantage in future races.

Initial D First Stage
http://www.zomganime.com/initial-d-first-stage.html
Initial D Second Stage
http://www.zomganime.com/initial-d-second-stage.html
Initial D Third Stage
http://www.crunchyroll.com/group/CRSeries_-_Initial_D_-_Third_Stage
Initial D Fourth Stage
http://www.crunchyroll.com/group/CRSeries_-_Initial_D_-_Fourth_Stage