ToykoDrifta, working at a video store has it's perks.
I've already seen it, and if I were you, DON'T WATCH THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE "ENHANCED" VERSION! It's, well, let me let my friend tell you:
Hey I'm King Geedorah (if you haven't seen Venom's drift videos yet, I'm the editor), heres my review for the US release of Initial D.
Well, first off Tokyo Pop did the US release of Initial D. Now don't get me wrong, Tokyo Pop does sweet manga translations and other very good anime releases as well. However, for Initial D, they stopped very short of any goal. Included in the DVD, is the original "classic" japanese version with english subtitles and the US "tricked out" version. The DVD menu presentation is very clear and to the precise. It includes alot of nifty features, displays, and an original Initial D car showroom. The goodness ends there, sadly. We first decided to check out the u.s. "tricked outed" version, because after all, like everyone else we've seen the whole series in japanese long before it ever came out ^_^ First butchering...the intro. Animation wise, its identical to the japanese intro. The difference ends there however. Whereas the japanese super euro beat-esque music goes very well with the intro, the U.S. music falls pathetically short. I'm not sure who the hip-hop artist is, but the music mixing is dull and the lyrics are laughable and unispired. I love and actively listen to underground hip-hop (del and mf doom anyone?), and trust me this intro is _no_ good, and I would especially not like to see it on the intro of every episode! If you can manage to get past the intro, you arrive to the first scene, which introduces you to akina and to the AE86. Unfortunately, instead of the always likeable and highly pleasing super-euro beat, you are treated to generic guitar abusing rock, that bears no semblance to the original japanese series. To make matters even worse (if thats possible by now), the 3D trueno drifting down the mountain has been "enhanced" using effects like mirroring and multi-boxing, which are so amateursish, I could have done it all myself with my freeware movie software on my home computer! If you're not aggrevated with the whole "fast and furious" vibe yet, just wait, theres more. Once you actually get to the speaking part, you probably won't be surprised that Tokyo Pop hired the most generic and least enthusiastic voice actors possible. It also doesn't help that the translation (dubbing) is not very true to the japanese wording, and that they use "cool" fast and the furious lingo like "this s13 costs 10,000 bones!"...please, come off it already. Coupled with that, is the fact that the regular background music is a craptacular mix of boyband/punkrock, that totally destroys the mood of the anime. So, in conclusion these are my two ratings. Original japanese Inital D...5 out 5. Ok, I will admit that if I never watched Inital D before and I was an average american consumer who enjoyed music on the radio and thought the fast and furious was a well done movie, I'd give it a 2.5/3 out of 5. Now for everyone else who has seen the Japanese version and has any taste in artistic style...if you watched the U.S. "tricked outed" verison muted, with your own background music, and somehow managed to swallow the childish "effects", it'd recieve a solid 1 out of 5. Thats my review, take it how you like, but don't flame venom about it. Btw, I recomend buying the whole series in japanese off ebay for 40 bucks, than spend your money on the us release for the same price. Peace all
The man is right, and I agree on every point. Seriously folkes, unless you have to watch horribly dubbed english, then fine, thats your own perogative, but I HIGHLY recomend you watch the japanese release instead.
Venom and King Geedorah
