News

New Initial D Film Trilogy to Be Screened in N. American Theaters

Film distribution company Azoland Pictures announced on Monday that it will screen the new trilogy of Initial D films in theaters in North America in partnership with Sentai Filmworks. New Theatrical Movie Initial D Legend 1: Awakening (Shin Gekijō-ban Initial D Legend 1 -Kakusei-) and New Theatrical Movie Initial D Legend 2: Racer (Shin Gekijō-ban Initial D Legend 2 -Tōsō-) will play as a double feature on February 23, while the third film, New Theatrical Movie Initial D Legend 3: Dream (Shin Gekijō-ban Initial D Legend 3 -Mugen-), will run on March 9. Azoland Pictures will release more details on the screenings at a later date.

The film will be screened with Japanese audio and English subtitles. Theatergoers will receive an exclusive giveaway item.

The first film in the trilogy opened in Japan in August 2014, the second film opened in May 2015, and the third film opened in February 2016.

Sentai Filmworks licensed the trilogy last July, and released the first film with an included English dub in December. The film also screened at the Los Angeles Anime Film Festival last September. It will release the second film on March 13.

SANZIGEN Animation Studio and LIDEN FILMS animated the films with Masamitsu Hidaka as chief director, Tomohito Naka as director, Mayori Sekijima as scriptwriter, Koji Haneda as character designer, and Akio Dobashi as composer. The cast included Mamoru Miyano as Takumi Fujiwara, Daisuke Ono as Ryōsuke Takahashi, Yūichi Nakamura as Keisuke Takahashi, Maaya Uchida as Natsuki Mogi, Minoru Shiraishi as Itsuki Takeuchi, Junichi Suwabe as Takeshi Nakazato, and Hiroaki Hirata as Bunta Fujiwara.

The film trilogy retells the beginning of the story from Shuuichi Shigeno's original car-racing manga. High school student Takumi Fujiwara works as a gas station attendant during the day and a delivery boy for his father's tofu shop during late nights. Little does he know that his precise driving skills and his father's modified Toyota Sprinter AE86 Trueno make him the best amateur road racer on Mt. Akina's highway. Because of this, racing groups from all over the Gunma Prefecture issue challenges to Takumi to see if he really has what it takes to be a road legend.