Manga Review - Initial D

My favorite manga is “Intial D”. “Initial D” is written by Shuichi Sigeno. He was born in Niigata. He liked drawing manga since he was a student. Besides “Initial D”, he draws the comic “BariBaridensetsu”. His good point is that he likes vehicles such as cars and motorcycles, so he draws works that show his understanding of vehicles. In his work, he draws vehicles well, but his reputation for facial expressions  of people is not so good.

“Initial D” is an example of a manga in the “ cars manga” and “adolescents manga” genre. This manga was published by Kodansha in 1995. The main character  is “Takumi Fujiwara” the son of a tofu shop owner. “Takumi Fujiwara” has disliked his job as a delivery driver since he was a junior high school student. He improved his driving skill by driving to the hotel near the mountain pass on his delivery route for the tofu shop. His father was the fastest driver on the route driving and “Takumi Fujiwara” got better at driving as he drove on the pass every morning. He requested a driving battle one day.　Due to victory in his first battle, rumors spread and various people wanted to battle and it is a story about who is the fastest driver on the mountain road.

With this cartoon, young people became interested in cars, and the appearance of car models became popular.　There is a similar manga called “Wangan Midnight”, but “Initial D” has more emphasis on humanity, and readers can enjoy both cars and humanity. I felt the emotion when a friend of the main character  got injured after being hit by his opponent and the main character must absolutely win in order to prove his friendship. So I think that people who are interested in cars as well as those without cars can enjoy reading “Initial D”.