Initial D

The story focuses on the world of illegal Japanese street racing, where all the action is concentrated in the mountain passes and rarely in cities or urban areas, and with the drift racing style emphasized in particular. The story is centered on the prefecture of Gunma, more specifically on several mountains in the Kantō region and in 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 Japan. Both the manga and anime series were initially licensed for English-language distribution in North America by Tokyopop , however, the anime license has since been picked up by Funimation, while the manga is no longer available in English. Unbeknownst to his colleagues, Takumi moonlights as a tofu delivery driver for his father's store before sunrise each morning, passively building an impressive amount of skill behind the wheel of the family car, an aging Toyota Sprinter Trueno. Shortly after the story begins, the Red Suns, an amateur racing team from Mount Akagi, challenge the local Speedstars team to a set of races on Mount Akina. An investigation into the identity of the driver leads to Bunta Fujiwara, Takumi's father. The Speedstars beg Bunta to help them defeat the RedSuns, and he initially refuses, later relenting to "maybe" show up at the race. At the same time, Takumi asks Bunta if he can borrow the car for a day to take a trip to the beach with a potential girlfriend, and Bunta seizes the moment by granting permission on the condition that Takumi defeats the Red Suns driver. On the night of the race, the Trueno does not show up, and the Speedstars enlist a backup driver for the first run.