IGPX after vol 1 - Continue or Not? Recommendations for Initial D?

[Nuriko]

Just saw vol 1 last night and I can't say I'm jumping all over it. I had high expectations knowing that it was a racing series and was hoping I can somewhat re-live the Cyber Formula GPX series+OVAs. The animation and CG was nice, but the designs! ummm ... after a whole volume, I still can't tell the difference between each robot, they all look alike and for once, there is so much details that it is hard to tell what the hell that is. Next major disappointment, the music! I don't think I've seen a racing/shonen series with more uninspiring music than this. It is outright boring.

In Cyber Forumula GPX, the music was pumped like the beginning of Rocky and all his boxing matches. It gets my adrenaline going and I feel like I'm in the crowd rooting and cheering for the protagonist. But IGPX has none of this. Aside from the eye candy depending if you like the CG animation used, I'm not sure if there is anything else.

Anyway, how is the rest, no spoilers please. I'm looking for excitement and great music, hoping to get in synch with this series and have pre-ordered vol 2. Should I cancel it and write off this series? I know I probably shouldn't compare to Cyber Formula which I love to bits and pieces, but watching IGPX seems to be very disappointing after vol 1, thanks.

[joelgundam01]

The series follows the same formula though out the show. However, the action does get a little bit more intense later on.

[lostnomad84]

After what I saw on TV, the series doesn't deliever much beyond what you've seen on the first disk. There are some intense action scenes at points, but you come to expect that with a racing series.

Overall IGPX is an average series that just has spectacular.

[AbeChinchilla]

Halley.
Joel.
Osment.

It's basically the same in each volume, seeing as it's just a series about... racing... or whatever the hell IGPX was all about (I never got it).

... Halley Joel Osment!!

[Vicserr]

I don't know... I'm one of the guys that would have prefered that they used the Premise of the Original IGPX Shorts(Mecha combat tournament instead of Mecha racing tournament) /images/graemlins/shy10000.gif

[Nuriko]

[ QUOTE ]
AbeChinchilla said:
Halley.
Joel.
Osment.

It's basically the same in each volume, seeing as it's just a series about... racing... or whatever the hell IGPX was all about (I never got it).

... Halley Joel Osment!!

[/ QUOTE ]

I used to think like that, like I'll buy anything that was voiced by Megumi Hayashibara but if the show is bad, there's just no way of saving it regardless of who are the voice actors.

Given, that I'm a sub fan, Haley Joel Osmnet means absolutely nothing to me or anyone for that matter. Even if I was a dub fan, the rest of my dissapointments still apply.

[Nuriko]

Thanks everyone, I'll hold off on this series. It's weird since I always collect the whole series or at least halfway before watching a new series, but since I'm mostly caught up with my backlog, I've been watching anime as I get them.

I'll either wait for the official reviews or a collection if I'm still interested.

How about Initial D? I've heard great things about it but the character designs and the trailer that I've seen in the past didn't do the trick for me. Considering I love the action and commedy in Cyber Formula GPX, would I like Initial D?

I know GPX is filled with cliches just like any shonen series but I dig that stuff, where the main characters get stronger as the series progress with the help of other characters. I also dig the competition/rivalry aspects of these shows.

I wanted to get the Cantonese dub R3 dvds but they don't have that for the first 3 stages I believe. They only started releasing dvds in stage 4. Doesn't make sense to watch half of it in Japanase and half of it in Cantonese which I did for CF GPX since the OVAs were not licenesed.

Anyway, can someone tell me the breakdown of Initial D like what is currently out, what is coming, how long is it, is it complete or if there is more coming like another stage/season, and the viewing order? Thanks alot.

[Johnny]

[ QUOTE ]
Nuriko said:
How about Initial D? I've heard great things about it but the character designs and the trailer that I've seen in the past didn't do the trick for me. Considering I love the action and commedy in Cyber Formula GPX, would I like Initial D?



[/ QUOTE ]

There is a recent Initial D recommendation thread here (http://forums.animeondvd.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=recommend&Number=1291221&F orum=,f18,&Words=initial%20d&Searchpage=1&Limit=25 0&Main=1291055&Search=true&where=sub&Name=&dateran ge=1&newerval=1&newertype=y&olderval=&oldertype=&b odyprev=#TOP).

In short, I'd say definitely buy it. The character/car designs aren't all that great in the first stage (episodes 1-26, disks 1-9) but improves vastly from there onwards.

The action in Initial D is unbeatable. Seriously, combined with the music and some of the more nail-biting later races, you'll be on the edge of your seat the entire way through.
There is quite a bit of comedy too throughout.

As for what has been licensed on R1 by Tokyopop, they have released the First, Second and Extra Stages. The Battle, Third and Fourth Stages remain unlicensed.
It is extremely likely a 5th (and beyond) Stage will be made due to the fact the anime still hasn't caught up to the manga and there's quite a bit of important story to come.
The Tokyopop release is as follows:

DVD volumes 1-9 (episodes 1-27) gives you all 26 episodes of the First Stage and episode 1 of the Second Stage.
DVDs 9-13 (episodes 27-39) gives you the Second Stage which is 13 episodes.
DVD volume 14 is a 2 part OVA entitled Extra Stage which is a side story featuring characters that appear in the Second Stage. Tokyopop have labelled these episodes as 40 and 41.

Third Stage which is currently unlicensed is a movie which ties up a story arc before heading into the Fourth Stage (which is 24 episodes).
There is also the Battle Stage which is essentially all the races from Stages 1-3 edited together with re-done CGI making things look a lot better.

[Nuriko]

Thanks alot. I read vol 1's review and I will watch it sub, not the tricked out version.

I'll get the first 2 stages in R1 during the next Tokyopop sale and the last 2 in R3 since they are currently being released. R3 just needs 1-2 more volumes since vol 7 of Stage 4 covers episodes 19-20. I hate to split between R1/R3 again like I did with CF GPX, but R3 does not have Stages I and II in dvd and the vcds cost alot more than the current R1 release dvds.

I'm sure that R3 will be done with Stage 4 by the time the next Tokyopop sale goes on. If Tokyopop licenses Stage 3 and 4, I'll just wait and get the entire series in R1 instead of splitting it.

Thank you so much for the info. Now I can't wait to see it. If IGPX didn't let me down so much, I probably wouldn't have persued Initial D so early to get my car racing fix, lol.

[Johnny]

[ QUOTE ]
Nuriko said:
Thanks alot. I read vol 1's review and I will watch it sub, not the tricked out version.


[/ QUOTE ]

Not a problem - definitely stick to the subs, even though they deliberatly mistranslated some of Natsuki's dialogue early on.


[ QUOTE ]
I'll get the first 2 stages in R1 during the next Tokyopop sale and the last 2 in R3 since they are currently being released. R3 just needs 1-2 more volumes since vol 7 of Stage 4 covers episodes 19-20.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just out of interest, how much are the R3's? I'm guessing they're unsubbed too?
I would buy the R2 4th Stage DVDs but they're around £25-£30 for 2 episodes /images/graemlins/stunned0.gif

[ QUOTE ]

If IGPX didn't let me down so much, I probably wouldn't have persued Initial D so early to get my car racing fix, lol.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was kicking myself as I got into it late too and it turned out to be one of my very favourite series. I'm pretty sure you enjoy it /images/graemlins/happy.gif

[Nuriko]

[ QUOTE ]
johnny said:

Just out of interest, how much are the R3's? I'm guessing they're unsubbed too?
I would buy the R2 4th Stage DVDs but they're around £25-£30 for 2 episodes /images/graemlins/stunned0.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

The R3's I'm looking at is from Yesasia. They are dubbed in Cantonese/Japanese with traditional Chinese subtitles.

Only the Extra Stage, 3rd and 4th stage are on dvd.

Extra Stage = $5.99
Third Stage = $5.99
Fourth Stage v 1 = $12.99 eps 1-3
Fourth Stage v 2 = $12.99 eps 4-6
Fourth Stage v 3 = $14.99 eps 7-9
Fourth Stage v 4 = $14.99 eps 10-12
Fourth Stage v 5 = $12.99 eps 13-15
Fourth Stage v 6 = $14.99 eps 16-18
Fourth Stage v 7 = $14.99 eps 19-20

All in U.S. dollars. I understand Cantonese so it is not a problem for me.

[Johnny]

[ QUOTE ]
Nuriko said:
[ QUOTE ]
johnny said:

Just out of interest, how much are the R3's? I'm guessing they're unsubbed too?
I would buy the R2 4th Stage DVDs but they're around £25-£30 for 2 episodes /images/graemlins/stunned0.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

The R3's I'm looking at is from Yesasia. They are dubbed in Cantonese/Japanese with traditional Chinese subtitles.

Only the Extra Stage, 3rd and 4th stage are on dvd.

Extra Stage = $5.99
Third Stage = $5.99
Fourth Stage v 1 = $12.99 eps 1-3
Fourth Stage v 2 = $12.99 eps 4-6
Fourth Stage v 3 = $14.99 eps 7-9
Fourth Stage v 4 = $14.99 eps 10-12
Fourth Stage v 5 = $12.99 eps 13-15
Fourth Stage v 6 = $14.99 eps 16-18
Fourth Stage v 7 = $14.99 eps 19-20

All in U.S. dollars. I understand Cantonese so it is not a problem for me.

[/ QUOTE ]

At that price, you should definitely pick up the 3rd Stage movie after you've seen the first 2 stages. That's a great price for what many consider the best part of Initial D so far.
Those 4th Stage prices have definitely got my attention. Not to turn this into an R3 recommendation thread, but what is the general audio/visual quality like? And are the Chinese subs hard-subbed or are they removable? (i.e. can I watch it in just Japanese?).

[Nuriko]

[ QUOTE ]
johnny said:

At that price, you should definitely pick up the 3rd Stage movie after you've seen the first 2 stages. That's a great price for what many consider the best part of Initial D so far.
Those 4th Stage prices have definitely got my attention. Not to turn this into an R3 recommendation thread, but what is the general audio/visual quality like? And are the Chinese subs hard-subbed or are they removable? (i.e. can I watch it in just Japanese?).

[/ QUOTE ]

The subtitles are not hard-subbed, you can turn it off. The languages are either Japanese or Cantonese, so you can definitely watch it in Japanese without subs.

I don't own any Initial D dvds but I used my R3 HXH and Saint Seiya's Hades Chaper dvd to test it. They should mirror all R3 dvds in Cantonese/Japanese.

They don't have chapter stops though. I can't tell if the audio/visuals are good. I say it won't be better than the R2's but it is decent. For example, HXH had a bit of rainbows but it's a much older series. The Hades Chaper is much newer thus the animation is amazing.

Feel free to talk about R3 dvds since I hardly find anyone to chat with regarding R3 dvds, lol.

[Johnny]

[ QUOTE ]
Nuriko said:
Feel free to talk about R3 dvds since I hardly find anyone to chat with regarding R3 dvds, lol.

[/ QUOTE ]

*points to new topic in R2 forum containing the words Naruto and R3* /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

[Starwind Amada]

[ QUOTE ]
AbeChinchilla said:
Halley.
Joel.
Osment.

It's basically the same in each volume, seeing as it's just a series about... racing... or whatever the hell IGPX was all about (I never got it).

... Halley Joel Osment!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Fuck him. Mark Hammill, Steve Blum and Tom "Spongebob" Kenny are the only reasons I'm watching this show. Wait, I forgot to mention the small bits of profanity that aren't edited on CN. But screw the "plot," I lost interest in the repetitive and boring storyline ages ago.