Video:

Very good video transfer

Audio:

Very good audio transfer

Subtitle:

Worst subtitles I have ever come across. Obviously if you are watching the 4th Stage then you understand the Initial D series which goes a long way towards your understanding. But even so, following the story is incredibly difficult. Those moments where he is in a race and realises what he must do are totally lost because the subtitles just don't make sense. The last reviewer was right, wait for the Perfect Edition.

Comment:

Fantastic apart from the subtitles, please hurry up and release a perfect edition!

Video:

Great video quality here. Rich colours and a total absence of pixellation make it a joy to view from beginning to end.

Audio:

Every sound is captured in all its glory to be totally enjoyed in good old fashioned 2.0 stereo sound. I thought that the opening song sounded a little muffled in a few parts but when I checked it against all the other openings I found that it was just the way the song was recorded. Given the high quality of the sound throughout the entire series I can't imagine the muffled sound was a result of the encoding by EZDVD

Subtitle:

These aren't the worst subtitles I've seen but they are pretty hard to understand. There are frequent timing issues and occasional dropped lines in every episode. The worst part is that the Engrish used requires the viewer to do a lot of guessing as to what people are actually talking about. Just to say something positive about them, they are in an easy to read white font... In the end these subs are best for giving the viewer a hint as to what is happening in the story.

Comment:

This set felt like it was slapped together in a hurry. The menu is easy enough to understand but very basic. There are no chapter breaks during the episodes following the intro or at the halfway point. Even the chapter breaks between episodes are sloppy so that when you skip to the next episode you end up seeing the very tail end of previews from the previous chapter. I recommend this set for people who like having a nice box on their shelf and absolutely can't wait for the R1s to be released (or for someone to make a HK set using some of the fansubs that are out there for this series). This is roughly the first two thirds of the fourth stage of the series. As I write this Episode 18 is the most recent episode to have been broadcast in Japan. Getting your hands on these 14 episodes now is pretty nice given that most people in North America are going to be waiting at least another year... if not longer before they will be available through R1 channels.

Video:

The video was fine. I didn't notice any pixelation but I wasn't watching it on a wide screen television.

Audio:

The car sound effects were authentic and sounded very good. The music has improved and really fits into the show. It doesn't feel like you are watching a music video anymore.

Subtitle:

The subtitles were horrible. There are several grammer mistakes and they did not use any punctuation. You have to really think about what they are trying to say. The timing was off and there are [enter word here] blurbs. They obviously didn't finish the English subtitles. The names also change after episode 3.

Comment:

There is a quick screen shot of the "Second Stage" in the DVD menu. At first I thought I bought the wrong DVD set. Wait for a "perfect" set.