Video:

Nice picture quality! Although a little blurry on some scenes, but not all the time! Some of you might not even notice it =P

Audio:

Normally I'd rate it down for the audio sounding like it came from a microphone (echoing), but I think by playing it on a widescreen or surround sound system, it would sound very good! But other than that, I love the audio. Nothing wrong here!

Subtitle:

These are some great subtitles, but not the best ones either. The only flaws that these subtitles suffer is SOME late timing, early timing, and a hint of engrish. Maybe once or twice you'll catch some engrish on these subtitles. But really, nothing extremely wrong with the subtitles. They got the names right and the grammar is 98% correct (I'm bad at estimating, but it's still good right?). Great subtitles overall!

Comment:

Initial D is one of the best anime series I've ever seen, and this DVD set is worth the purchase! With the use of CG animated cars and sceneries (even though it looks like 1999 CG, I think it's cool), energetic Eurobeat tracks that will keep your ears rocking, and a cast of amazing characters, this is guaranteed to entertain both racing/import car fans and non-fans alike. Enjoy!

Video:

1rst, 2nd and 3rd DVD: Very good quality however, there is some grainy and blurry part during the race scenes but it's very minor.

Audio:

No complaint here, the music really gets you going. I really liked the first ending song Rage Your Dream but I didn't like the second one.

Subtitle:

Excellent subs. During the 2nd DVD, Saiyuri name was sometimes mispelled Sayuri. At times, the text was not timed right (the character was speaking and the text appeared 3 seconds afterthat.

Comment:

I liked the show very much. If you liked street racing with high powered cars, then this is for you. There is only a few rules in downhill street racing and there even the infamous deathmatch wich makes your blood pressure raises through the roof. There is some good romance part in it like Takumi and Mogi. I find Itsuki the most annoying character I've ever seen in an anime. The racing part were aweome to see especially with Mako and Saiyuri in their Sil-Eighty, one mistake and it's all over. Highly recommanded

Video:

If you've seen the Berserk set by AC/MI, then you know what to expect of this set. The video quality is done the same way. (Which seems to be a Laserdisc to SVHS to DVD rip). Overall it looks OK, but in some area's like darker colors (dark-blue, etc.) you can see some artifacts, which probably came from the LD to SVHS transfer. Overall it's passable, but it isn't DVD quality. Like some others said, the 3d mixed with 2d sometimes looks a bit weird, especially when there are characters 'pasted' in the screen.

Audio:

I didn't notice anything wrong with it. I didn't have the 'hollow' sound effect of the fake 5.1 Dolby Digital, but that probably depends on the setup. I connected my DVD player to my tv with a normal RGB-Scart. Also... I don't see why people love the music in this show. Though the in-show music was OK, I thought the ending song was just horrible... But maybe I just have something against crappy Japanese Eurobeat music with their horrible "rappers" and crappy music video's.

Subtitle:

Also "Berserk-quality". Near-perfect rip from fansubs, with only a few lines that are timed odly. But no 'lagging'.

Comment:

Very good set. From what I've seen this series is pretty cool too. Don't know if it's for everyone (people who hate cars might hate this series) but I'm enjoying it. It has one chapter stop per episode, but that didn't bother me that much. Packaging on this one was beautifull too! Very recommended!

Video:

I was highly impressed with the video transfer of this series. It could definately pass for a DVD rip. Only thing that is kinda annoying is the combination of 3d and 2d elements in the series, it looks oddly done, but that has no impact over the "video rating". What i commented upon is inherit for the whole series, so you'll most definately see that if an official version comes state-side.

Audio:

Take a perfect audio transfer, run it through "great hall" mode on a soundcard, for example, and thats what you got. It was kinda wierd at first, but you forget about it as you watch the series. its only noticeable when there is little or no music/sound in the background when the characters are talking.

Subtitle:

accurate, but a minimal amount of dropped or late lines. no complaints here.

Comment:

WOW. gatefold set is excellent, i was psyched the moment i opened it up. Everything looked so professional. Note: The reverb audio might be a little off-putting, but i know after watching just 2 episodes, i forgot all about it. Amazing value for the price. Pick this up immediately!

Video:

There are only a few minor problems in the video, but for the most part they remain unnoticed.

Audio:

Like others said, there was a bit of echo in the audio

Subtitle:

a couple grammar errors, nothing to worry about

Comment:

I was really surprised by this series. I'm by no means a fan of car racing, but this series caused me to be excited during the race scenes. Don't judge the series solely on the style of the characters, initially I thought I would dislike it because of the animation style, but I really liked the way the characters developed, there was something about them that made it easier to relate to them, they had truly human aspects that some anime series forget to include. There's some romance, but fortunately the story line is not engulfed in a cliché love story. I also had the fortune of having an oral tour of the cars because I watched it with a car expert, you can get a lot out of this anime if you've got a car lover present. It's really a series I'd recommend, it turned out to be a favourite of mine.

Video:

Maybe a DVD rip, definitely at least laser disk. Video will not disappoint. Only minor pixilated video to be seen as well.

Audio:

I don't like fake 5.1 echo audio. But it is ok if you set your system to 2 channel stereo.

Subtitle:

Very good English subs. I rank this right up there as one of the best looking HK DVD subs I have.

Comment:

This series really grows on you as you watch it. I found myself addicted and watched the whole thing in two sittings. Even if you don't like cars you may find yourself absorbed in this series.

Comment:

Most of the episodes look like TV-rips or vhs quality to me.I do not know why..and the fake echo in the audio is still okay..Subtitles r very good..near perfect. If u want to buy this set,i think u need some luck.

Video:

The video quality in this series is almost perfect. Only one or two spots have color bleeding

Audio:

Audio quality is great. One scene however has a slight humming in the background but nothing serious. The soundtrack consists of some hardcore techno that you can jam to as you watch the series

Subtitle:

Subtitles were excellent. Few errors if any. Once or twice you'd get words that are mixed together.

Comment:

Initial D is an excellent series. The racing scenes are very exciting and each one is slightly different. Even though they are predictable, they still leave you at the edge of your seat.

I reccomend Initial D to anyone even if you're not a fan of street racing, it has an excellent story and great characters.

Comment:

Aite well, i wasnt happy with the way battle stage was *yuck* but this one kicks ass Video: Seems to be a LD rip, i think, on my tv u kinda notice lil blurs and what not, but its really good so no problems there. Sound: Dam that echo, but really its not that bad, i got used to it, at first i was like wtf? but now its like, whoa, cars hehe, seriously u'll live Subs: Kick ass subs, had to be a fansub script which is great, names and stuff are all right, lil spelling errors, lil grammer ones, but for HK, this is gold lol. So all in all this is a must have for any initial d fan, it kick ass, just believe me. :P PS: Skyline owns :D edited by zero_ndn on 04 Nov 2002 6:20 pm edited by zero_ndn on 04 Nov 2002 6:20 pm

Comment:

This is a very engaging series. I didn't think it could be this interesting. I kept asking myself, what else could they possibly show us in a car racing story? Surely enough, they kept coming up with even more exciting races as the series progressed. I am now watching the second stage. I just haven't gotten enough of Initial D, yet. This set is well made. Good video and audio. Fun soundtrack. The subtitles are very good, too. This is one of those series where you need to understand the monologue and dialogues to fully appreciate the action sequences. And the translation successfuly delivers.

Comment:

Great series Almost flawless subs/sound/picture.

Comment:

i actually have the entire series DL. i then bought the series. i did have trouble on the last 3 episodes on the first disc and the entire 2nd disc. i have tried eight dvd players and have had all of them do the same thing. these dvd just came out the box into a dvd player with these problems. The series was very good and detailed. alot of drifting skill were mentioned but the only skill not proven is the gutter run. that was a little made up. Great anime for those who can enjoy technical explinations and alot of pride in their cars.

Comment:

When I heard that TokyoPop was planning on releasing Initial D here in the States I was very excited. Like many people I was downloading crappy mpegs/avi files of Initial D but I wanted better quality. Then I heard that TokyoPop was planning on Americanizing the release of Initial D....I was PISSED. So, I decided to pick up the entire Initial D HK Collections. The first series looks great, and I am very impressed with the subs. Overall, the picture quality is very good and the sound has a bit of echo but doesnt take away from the experience. The packaging is also very well done. I highly recommend this series boxed set to any anime/car fan :) On a scale from 1-5 Series: 5 Picture Quality: 4 Sound: 4(Stereo 2.0....bleh!) Packaging: 5 Subs: 5 Overall: 4.5

Comment:

Video: 5.0 / 5.0 Perfect LD rip. I didn't notice any problems. Audio: 4.0 / 5.0 The audio was good, except for an echo i noticed. It was pretty annoying..kind of like theyre constantly in a dream or a flashback. It's watchable though, definately. Subtitles: 5.0 / 5.0 As said before, almost flawless fansub scripts.

Comment:

WOW! I never thought I'll get this excited over car racing. I used to hate it. But look what this show did to me :) Very recommended to all anime fans. The DVDs themselves are very well made. Excellent audio/video. Subs are great too.

Comment:

Iniital D: First Stage 3 DVD set English and chinese subbed/japanese language. Video: um, i belive LD rip. Very good though. Audio: Great. No Dolby Digital but you understand. Subtitles: I think they're ripped from cental anime's scripts so awesome subs with the occasional spelling and grammatical errros.

Comment:

The boxes from anime cartoon are awesome each box contains 2 DvD, so in total there are 6 DvD's The three boxes are put together in a very beautiful box. These boxes are much better than from anime studio. It has one-heck-of-a soundtrack. The subs are great, sometimes too fast. Also when someone says "Thank you" , the subs will reveal "Arigato". But further it is one awesome DvD for your collection Did I mention it has an awesome soundtrack. ^_^ edited by Newtype D on 04 Mar 2002 5:50 am edited by Newtype D on 04 Mar 2002 5:51 am

Comment:

There are versions of this set: a 6 dvd set and a 3 dvd set. The 6 dvd set is DVD-5 (Single Layer) and the 3 dvd set is DVD-9 (Dual Layer). These sets appear to be identical. The video looks pretty good. I've heard people say that it's an LD rip which sounds about right. I haven't noticed any motion blur or pixelation, it simply looked great. The audio was annoying sometime because of an echo. I heard people say this only happens when you have a 5.1 surround and you can fix it by turing off the rear speakers but I watched it on a 2 speaker bigscreen tv and I still heard the echo. I believe this is caused by a fake 5.1 surround. This is the only nitpick about this set though. The subtitles are really awesome, taken from the fansubs. Occasionally there is a line missing and a few words might have some spelling errors but other then that they are really good, one of the best subs for Hong Kong dvd's out there. All in all a very good set and a must buy for people who love racing ^_^