Anyone a fan of the Initial D manga? Well… I wasn’t. Something about the art style of drawing the characters made me think of romance comics for girls rather than a hot blooded journey of a young dude learning to master drift racing!
But that changed somewhat when the ‘MF Ghost’ anime aired on Netflix. Also created by Shuichi Shigeno, MF Ghost is like a spiritual successor to Initial D, with many key characters having aged and playing elder leadership roles in championing a new era of petrol-powered racing in the age of EVs. There’s still that element of gawking romance that I speed run thru to get to the actual street circuit racing.
Anyway, the animated action finally got me to appreciate the lore of the original: that highly skilled and bold driving in an underpowered car can actually triumph over more powerful rivals.
And so… I picked up a miniature of the hero’s original car from Initial D, the Toyota AE86 Trueno Sprinter, in its signature black and white scheme. I was surprised at the level of detailing, including an opening hood with engine block inside. While the pop-up headlights are fixed in the open mode, I didn’t mind as there were many races that took place in the dark of night.
As for a pencil pairing I thought, “What could beat a Sprinter except another Sprinter?” The way the Pilot uses the whole of its body to actuate the clutch is also kinda in the spirit of drift racing, I guess—directing the entire forward momentum of a car to carve out the fastest, most efficient turning circle? Now I’m looking at more manga and anime related pairings!
