Effort
I watched the live-action adaptation of Initial D in the cinema recently. I came away with mixed feelings. I’m not the biggest Initial D fan out there but I have watched the anime in its entirety and I’m slowly making my way through the manga right now. One can’t deny the impact the movie had on the media landscape especially here in Southeast. It was a movie filled to the brim with the who’s who of Asian cinema at the time. Young, up and coming actors and stars who are still in the limelight today.
The live-action movie also had its moments where it’s more faithful to the manga because certain themes were toned down for the anime but in other aspects it felt like such a huge departure from the series' themes that it felt almost alien to me. Characters felt like caricatures of those in the manga/anime and key pivotal moments that help solidify the characters for the audience are changed or removed altogether.
One of these moments was when the main protagonist, Takumi Fujiwara (Jay Chou), was taking a ride in his best friend Itsuki Takeuchi’s new car. Takeuchi (or Tachibana in the live-action movie, now the son of the petrol station owner but I'll stay with Takeuchi to reduce confusion) had bought the car after seeing Fujiwara race for the first time. In the movie, Takeuchi changes cars multiple times. He’s a far cry from the broke high school student portrayed in the manga and anime. This point will come in important later.
They are driving down Mt. Akina when a racer of a rival racing team catches up to them and chases them. This causes Takeuchi to nearly crash and they stop at the side of the road. After exchanging a few words, the rival racer leaves and Fujiwara takes over driving Takeuchi’s car and chases after the racer. In the movie, this moment is presented as Fujiwara getting angry over someone reckless driving causing them to nearly crash. In the manga/anime, this situation is presented a little differently as rival racers mocking Takeuchi’s choice of car as the boys are out admiring Takeuchi’s new purchase. And as the rival racers leave, Fujiwara in anger decides to chase after them.
The difference in how the situations play out changes the motivation as to why Fujiwara would take action. In the live-action scenario, they were nearly hurt and would justifiably want retribution or act in self-defense. In the manga/anime scenario, it seems more out of the blue as to why Fujiwara would react in anger. One could argue it's to preserve their honor but it's through this sequence of events that we learn that Fujiwara is envious of Takeuchi who managed to save up money even though they are still high school students and is not someone who looks down on others because of their status or capabilities.
And it’s this theme that permeates throughout Initial D that is why it resonates so well with so many of its fans and one that the sequel series, MF Ghost, falters on and is criticized as to why it’s not as successful as its predecessor. It’s this theme that even if you’re an underdog, if you’re willing to put in the work and effort. You’re not a loser. While Fujiwara’s skill might seem supernatural at points, his growth and wins throughout the series is because of his perseverance in the face of danger and learning from his past experiences.
It’s one of the reasons the live-action movie didn’t resonate as strongly with me. Perhaps it was due to its truncated runtime that they weren’t able to flesh out the story more or the fact that they chose to focus on fewer racers and the one of the more relatable characters which is Takeuchi is turned into a completely unrelatable character in the movie. Then there is the case of Fujiwara in the live action. Whether it’s due to a lack of experience in the field of acting by Jay Chou, Fujiwara seems to have been transformed into a neurodivergent trope of the savant. While I wouldn’t say that Fujiwara is completely devoid of any neurodivergent coding. But he comes off as more of a disinterested and directionless youth in the manga/anime. Which is another of its themes that resonated with many of its audience, those who are seeking a place to belong and can be super passionate about.
Again, I can’t fault the impact the adaptation had for the franchise and the new fans it brought in. But the handling of the characters and focus on other aspects of the series and missing the core of the series that it’s adapting. Themes of camaraderie, respect and when you’re going downhill, it doesn’t matter if you have the fastest car in the world, everyone is equal and it’s through one’s skill and hard work that they overcome their challenges.
