Initial D/Trivia

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The Initial D anime and manga have examples of:

• Hey, It's That Voice!: If there's one thing this series is known for, it's its cast of very notable voice actors and actresses for the original Japanese version. Also, most of the cast have also been involved in a Gundam series either before, during, or after they voiced a role in Initial D.
  • Takehito Koyasu - Voices Ryousuke Takahashi. Also voiced Zechs Marquise/Milliardo Peacecraft in Gundam Wing and Mu La Flaga/Neo Roanoke in Gundam Seed.
  • Shinichiro Miki - Voices Takumi Fujiwara. Would go on to voice Lockon Stratos in Gundam00.
  • Tomokazu Seki - Voices Keisuke Takahashi. Also voiced Domon Kasshu in G Gundam and Yzak Joule in Gundam Seed.
  • Nobuyuki Hiyama (Takeshi Nakazato) and Keiji Fujiwara (Shingo Shoji) of the Night Kids transfered in from The 08MS Team.
  • Mitsuo Iwata - Voices Itsuki Takeuchi. You may recognize him as the voice of Marchosias
  • Toshiyuki Morikawa - Voices Todou-Juku member Daiki Ninomiya. Also voiced Shagia Frost from Gundam X.
  • Hiroyuki Yoshino - Before he voiced Allelujah/Hallelujah, he provided the voice of Sakamoto.
  • Keiichi Tsuchiya - Real Life drifting legend, appears via phone call a couple of times, where he's calling Bunta for advice.
  • On the English front (assuming you're watching the Funimation dub) we have Jacuzzi as Takumi, Watanuki and Doumeki as Keisuke and Ryosuke, and Holo as Natsuki.
  • In Arcade Stage 6 AA - KAORI! I LOVE YOU!
• No Export for You: With the expiration of Tokyopop's licenses to all the manga series it got from Kodansha (the publisher for the Japanese version of the manga), expect any manga volume of this series after Volume 33 to fall victim to this trope, taking into account that the chances of another company picking up the English distribution rights to the manga are currently looking very slim. However, Funimation only picked up licensing rights to all 3 TV Stages, and the Third Stage movie. The [OVAs] (Extra Stage 1 and 2 and the 2 Battle Stages) have not been picked up.
  • The fact that Battle Stage 2 wasn't picked up is a little disappointing because people will question what happened in those two hillclimb races in Fourth Stage that were not shown, especially the race against Sakai which was a pretty important race.
  • With Kodansha USA taking the torch from Del Rey it could be possible for licenses that expired under Tokyopop to be rescued, including Initial D. But that may have to wait until Kodansha USA actually announces something...
• What Could Have Been: Tokyopop had big plans for Initial D, which according to reports, was being eyed as their "marquee title". Indeed, other reports claimed that TP was intending to market it as "Speed Racer" for a new generation. They licensed it with the intention of turning it into a multi-media franchise. Besides a TV broadcast of the anime, it would have included various merchandise such as die-cast cars, video games, and "comics". North America did get all three, but besides there being no franchise to speak of, the comics were of course the original manga (i.e., which came first, and is still running today), which had been changed to be more like the anime, all because TP was going for "a younger audience than Japan". The "initial" DVD release had even been delayed because TP was trying to get the show on TV. Tokyopop did manage to get a Collectible Card Game licensed and released...

Initial D Arcade Stage provides examples of:

• Bad Export for You: The Japanese version of Initial D 4 introduced national online battles and the ability to change data on your save card online via cellphone or computer, among other things. The Japanese version of Initial D 5 introduced special Japan-wide events that would let you unlock special parts/paint jobs. None of these features made it into the English release of 4 (And then they went and took auras away from the English version too starting with 4.
  • The newest EXP version of 5 (2.0) has auras and the return of the avatar feature.
• No Export for You: Special Stage for the PS2, Extreme Stage for the PS3, and the English versions of Arcade Stage 5 and Arcade Stage 6. The console games were never released in English, although Extreme Stage can be easily imported. The English versions of Arcade Stage 5 and 6 have not seen a release outside of Asia.
  • Initial D Arcade Stage 6 AA is supposedly slated for a "Worldwide" release according to this video

Other

• The Wiki Rule: Initial D Wiki