Initial D vs. MF Ghost
After finishing the first season of Initial D... Wow. It's such a well written show. Itsuki being annoying is really its only weakness imo, and minor at that. The action is great. The romance and relationship aspects outside of the races feel real and compelling. The side characters feel rich and real. It's really quite good, especially considering how old it is. I think it still holds up.
MF Ghost pales in comparison imo. I don't think the female characters are written well at all, nor are the main characters terribly interesting. In Initial D the reason for why he is so good is explained in detail and is quite believable, while being a really funny plot point! In MF Ghost it's just "this guy had training and is a genius. Look at him go". So bland. Natsuki is actually interesting. And the "seventeen complex" guy in MF Ghost... Ick.
Even the plot points on driving techniques employed feel more fresh and wins earned in Initial D, even after having watched MF Ghost first. In MF Ghost it's like "oh he's hurt he can't drive wait nevermind now he can 😮" 🙄
Admittedly the animation in MF Ghost is quite a bit better, as technology has improved significantly. The car races are still fun to watch, cause cars go vroom, but the rest of the show feels very mediocre to me. I appreciate the effort the artists are putting in and would really like the writing to meet the same standard of results.
I'm curious if folks feel the same. I don't know how the rest of Initial D is but I'm hoping it's equally as amazing as S1!
MF Ghost pales in comparison imo. I don't think the female characters are written well at all, nor are the main characters terribly interesting. In Initial D the reason for why he is so good is explained in detail and is quite believable, while being a really funny plot point! In MF Ghost it's just "this guy had training and is a genius. Look at him go". So bland. Natsuki is actually interesting. And the "seventeen complex" guy in MF Ghost... Ick.
Even the plot points on driving techniques employed feel more fresh and wins earned in Initial D, even after having watched MF Ghost first. In MF Ghost it's like "oh he's hurt he can't drive wait nevermind now he can 😮" 🙄
Admittedly the animation in MF Ghost is quite a bit better, as technology has improved significantly. The car races are still fun to watch, cause cars go vroom, but the rest of the show feels very mediocre to me. I appreciate the effort the artists are putting in and would really like the writing to meet the same standard of results.
I'm curious if folks feel the same. I don't know how the rest of Initial D is but I'm hoping it's equally as amazing as S1!
Commentaires
In Initial D, you could have a 2 person battle, write outside motivations, another battle. You could choose to have multiple battles back to back if it felt fitting. If you wanted equal amount of downtime in MF ghost, to show people’s personalities, training, you would need very long downtime that might feel like filler.
I appreciate trying to incorporate so many people at the same time, but it’s not great for the character interaction IMO.
I'll tack on though that most of the characters when they do develop them in MF Ghost seem gross. Like they're written weird or creepy. Like Aiba and Sawatari's obsession with underage girls. Kimouchi warui desu.
In Initial D you even have the older manager guy at the race in a crowd of women and he's just like "this is a great place I've found myself in" and then when they run off he's like "ryosuke-kun" in a girly voice and chases after them off screen. That's fucking hilarious and I didn't find it creepy in the slightest. It seems to me there's a large tonal shift between the two that I really don't like.
Takahashi also was off screen before this season most of the time having most races cut.
Ryosuke's hair style/color changes like three times, same with Kenta.
The story between the two pales in comparison. Second Stage is probably my fave Initial D season coz it's the Lan Evo arc lol (I love Lan Evos). Been a long time so I don't remember much but I'm pretty sure this was the Season where something monumental happened in Takumi's relationship.
I'm glad to hear it! A very solid first season has me excited to continue!
Don't do it.
The animation gets a lot lot better in each season of Initial D. Fourth Stage downright looks modern which is kind of insane when you see it was from 2004.
If anything I thought the 2d animation of early Initial D was actually its weak spot. It looks really bad and goofy oftentimes. While the car 3d is a little jank it also is used really well to do things that you just couldn't do in 2d for an entire show. The character designs constantly changing each season is actually one of the things I dislike about Initial D's anime as it goes on. There's was a certain point in fifth I want to say where I didn't even recognize Takumi until they said his name.
I found the 3D composites they inserted into Initial D pretty hilarious honestly.
That's good to know about later seasons, I'm glad the animation improves but unfortunate about changing character designs in a jarring way rather than just showing age. Initial D's (S1) art style is pretty nostalgic.
Ryousuke is the worst offender in this regard. More than once did I have no idea who this guy is supposed to be. His design in the first season is also the best one.
https://i.imgur.com/DlF5846.png
The Angels aren't really developed enough to be all that interesting. They each have essentially one personality trait (old, overweight, into romance, etc.). It's so reductive and gross to watch.
Someone said the 1v1 is more conducive to character development as well, which I agree with. It's much better for pacing, both for development and for the race itself.
I drive a lot on the Nordschleife TFs myself, and the difference between a car with around 450 hp and one with around 200 hp is huge on the straights. Regardless of the difference in exit speed from the previous corner, a car with such a higher horsepower will leave you far behind on the straightaway (Edit: its literally like the rubber effect in online racing games).
Initial D felt really consistent in this regards (taking into account the tighter mountain roads they drove on).
I find the car racing enjoyable from a layman's perspective. I don't really know all that much about cars, but loved playing Need FSMW growing up. I change my own oil and that's about it. But from an entertainment (visual) perspective the races are well animated.
I don't recall that much detail about HP and cars differences in MF Ghost, but they do go into details in Initial D, I can't account for any accuracy though.
In MF Ghost, they're somehow amateur drivers racing a sport that everyone seem to watch, while the economics of pro racing should indicate that skilled drivers should be going for that league, and the skill gap shouldn't be huge. Instead, 2 guys with F4 experience and a guy with DTM experience are somehow the top drivers.
I've been trying to figure out if he's the guy who repairs the cars, but that's someone else, he's just so forgettable I completely forgot his name. XD
The main reason why I like MF Ghost more is actually that there are more racers, so it's a much more interesting dynamic. It's not just the MC getting first place every single time, but actually working his way forward.
Also after just having bought and listened to both OSTs, I think the MF Ghost OST is overall better. Though Initial.D has the better openings.
I hear you in terms of more racers, but as another commenter said (and I concur) that has the side effect of making the show shallow as there are too many characters to develop effectively. So while I see your point on racing dynamics it weakens the storytelling. S1 of Initial D it's always "will his skills hold up against this new challenge?" And we see some new techniques in the races. It never feels certain that he's going to win.
The main character of MF Ghost doesn't really have a detailed background so the gains in places don't really feel earned. But I see your point on progression. It feels to me like standing is growing but not him, though.
I cannot stand the music in MF Ghost. Initial D it seems to match with the time period.
Your opinions are valid, and I'm glad you can enjoy MF Ghost! There are parts I enjoy too, but I want more, especially after watching Initial D!
Still though, I'm just grateful to get more eurobeat racing anime. I can only play Mario Kart to eurobeat for so long before it's not enough
The 90s atmosphere, especially in stages 1-3 is unmatched. The rest passes the vibe check too, but I didn't enjoy the structure of the second half of the series as much. I read that the mangaka managed to get Keiichi Tsuchiya, the Drift King himself as a consultant and that's why the races feel grounded even if some of the things Takumi pulls of seem borderline impossible. Despite this, at some point in stage 4 the explanations get really handwavy and there's a lot more deus ex machina during the races compared to the earlier seasons as well.
Regardless, Initial D is definitely the winner for me, the difference is night and day (pun intended) and I don't think S3 of MFG can change that but I'm still looking forward to binging it towards the end of this season.
I'm not into cars at all, but if we were back in the late '90s early '00s when cars weren't riddled with so much software and modding was still as accessible as in the show, it definitely could've gotten me into it. It made it look a lot more appealing than the early Fast movies.
P.S. Check out Wangan Midnight too, it's about people from all avenues of life who're into pushing cars to their limits on the highway despite the risks.
Edit: P.P.S. Don't forget to watch the few Initial D OVAs. The battle stages are mostly skippable, they're just compilations of the races with different music but I believe the second one has one or two races that aren't shown during the season.
Like how he overtook 4 cars in a row without proper explanations or repetetive tricks like he is god or something gave me the ick
*insert drake meme.jpg*
Personally what I like about Initial D the most is the power fantasy. A car thought to be old and slow ended up performing beyond expectations. You also have an audience that really hypes up the race (MF Ghost commentary sucks)
Music I still think Initial D wins hands down. The Eurobeat in MF Ghost doesn’t have that same hype
As for female characters in MF Ghost, they are better off not having them