Initial D and Me

Well..How many of you really watch anime these days? 6 years ago..it was very hard to get a comic book or even a VCD/DVD collection any of your favourite anime..but not these days huh.. I first read the Initial D translated comic book was in 1997.. .at one of my friend's house in Sandakan..I felt in love to this so called "Drifting" technique instantly… it took me a year to read its story again...one of my friend during Matriculation (Lester) bought its comic book...and I then began to have a desire to look for its cartoon (that was what it was called back there)..In 1999, I found its VCD...Probably I wasn't aware of it but it does not matter anymore… it was only an episode from its First Stage series...I didn't stop there though…just for the record…I love motor sports...my favourite programmes back there were Motor Grand Prix (Mick Doohan), Formula 1 (Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakinen) and other motor sports programmes as well… I’m still with F1 until today...since I was still a student back then, I didn't have PC or Laptop or enough budget to have my own collection...I think it was in 2002 when I first found the Initial D First Stage collection VCD in a yellow box (probably earlier than that) Finally, I managed to get it my own in the same year and have been continuesly watching them..over and over..I can't remember how many times I've watched it and I couldn't help my self wishing that I wish to have such nice car like Fujiwara Takumi in Initial D (Toyota Trueno or mostly known as AE86).. even most "drifter" would opt for that car..including our own Drift King..read more..

4 years have passed..now I have all its collection..from the First Stage to the Fourth Stage of Project D..I have the Initial D Movie as well although I was a little disappointed by the fact that they changed the stories and characters in that movie...I'm still hoping that they would continue its story to another length..perhaps a Fifth Stage? What exactly I love about this anime? Well..am not a mechanic to know most of the technical stuff in a car..but since watching this anime..slowly I get the idea on how to do the "drift" driving. If we look at the "drift" history, it was first developed back in 80s and founded by Japanese... Today, it has became one of the must see sport in US where they have a World Drift tournament…Not only the US. we, Malaysia has its own D1 Grand Prix every year...am sure those who love the "drift" technique would knew that we have our own "Drift King", Tengku Djan Ley Tengku Mahaleel which was placed 5^th in the D1 Grand Prix’s 2006 then 4th place in D1 Grand Prix’s 2007 of “World-All Star” tournament at Irwin dale Speedway....for the record Keiichi Tsuchiya is the world re-known Drift King... When drifting was still unknown in the motor sport world… it was called as skidding… The Japanese came up with this method to control their car as a counter attack when tackling a conner…Normal driver would slow down when tackling a corner but to some "drift" drivers.…They would maintain the car's pace and speed…at the same time take full control when entering as well as exiting every corner...

Tenku Djan showing off

Tsuchiya in the making of Tokyo Drift

I've had my own personal attempts and sometimes they worked but sometimes they didn’t… am not even an amateur "drifter”... I’m only a beginner...I wish I have lots of money to invest for this skill… I even have my own dream that someday I'd go to Japan to master this "cool" driving skill...I might conquer the Ranau/Tambunan - KK road at night...he.he..I wouldn't do that…I did once actually… I was pissed due to a personal matter and I drove crazily at dawn to reach KK asap....detail of story is kept secret… to tell how great "drifting" is, I need to tell my story first… the incident happened in June 2003..at around 3:++am I drove a car through the mountain pass of Ranau - KK without thinking of my own safety...When I first got into the car…I checked its fuel was already 1/3 but nothing can be done at that time… fuel stations already closed by then… No 24 hours in Ranau!!!!!! I don't think that amount of fuel would get me to the nearest fuel station in Tamparuli... perhaps "the power of love" took control of my mind and body… I drove uphill until I reached Kundasang...and I began pushing the car capability on down-hill. You all knew kan from Ranau - Kundasang is up hill...then Kundasang - KK is mostly mixed with up-down hill… I started pushing the car's capability… with its heavy body and fitted with rotary engine (carburetor)… I managed to maintain its pace over 90 kph..with the help of Initial D, I even used the gutter several times...and if I didn't the car would skid… thanks to the car’s suspension though... if it wasn't good, the car must have turned up side down... Un-intentionally I made the car "drift" along the corner then I just controlled the steering and speed by playing with the clutch and rev pedal…then suddenly I felt the car lost its traction when I reached Ranau-KK border...shit happens huh...yeah!!...the right rear tire was punctured…damn it!!...amazingly when I checked the time on my mobile... It was just over 30 minutes since I left Ranau...wow!! That fast?? I changed the tire and began to worry that I may not able to reach Tamparuli with the spare tire so I headed back to Ranau...the next day, I bought a new tubeless tire replacing the punctured one…Damn it!! That was something and still… one of the craziest incident I have ever done due to "the power of love"

Initial D is really fun to watch… you’ll gain lot of knowledge which you'd be able to get a proper explanation of several sports car advantage and disadvantage. Logically how can an AE86 beats the EVO...that’s how interesting the anime is... and it actually changed my view on car… years ago I thought that new model car is better than old model. well at some point they're but if we think in a way of avoiding accident… old car is better as it uses our own judgment and ability to control the car progression… new model car is well equipped with modern technology that causes carelessness or weakness in driving skill. Wouldn’t you agree more?

You'll be awed by Fujiwara Takumi and his father, Fujiwara Bunta the shitty old man..I watched the First Stage again yesterday evening when I suddenly felt asleep due to tiredness...Initial D would be my best and favourite anime of all time..especially their 3D graphic..

Bunta doing a test spin