Initial D

Initial D
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Takumi Fujiwara and the AE86
頭文字（イニシャル） D (Inisharu Dī)
Genre	Action[1] Coming-of-age[2] Sports[3]
Manga
Written by	Shuichi Shigeno
Published by	Kodansha
English publisher	NA: Tokyopop (former) Kodansha USA (current)
Imprint	Young Magazine KC
Magazine	Weekly Young Magazine
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	July 17, 1995 – July 29, 2013
Volumes	48 (List of volumes)
Further information Anime television series Initial D First Stage Directed by Shin Misawa Produced by Ren Usami Written by Koji Kaneda Music by Ryuichi Katsumata Studio Studio Comet Studio Gallop Licensed by AUS: Madman Entertainment NA: Tokyopop (former) Crunchyroll (current) SEA: Medialink Original network Fuji TV English network AUS: Adult Swim SEA: Animax Asia Original run April 18, 1998 – December 5, 1998 Episodes 26 (List of episodes) Anime television series Initial D Second Stage Directed by Shin'ichi Masaki Produced by Kayo Fukuda Written by Hiroshi Toda Nobuaki Kishima Music by Ryuichi Katsumata Studio Pastel Licensed by AUS: Madman Entertainment NA: Tokyopop (former) Crunchyroll (current) SEA: Medialink Original network Fuji TV English network SEA: Animax Asia Original run October 14, 1999 – January 6, 2000 Episodes 13 (List of episodes) Original video animation Initial D Extra Stage Directed by Shishi Yamaguchi Written by Hiroshi Toda Nobuaki Kishima Music by Ryuichi Katsumata Studio Pastel Licensed by AUS: Madman Entertainment NA: Tokyopop (former) Crunchyroll (current) SEA: Medialink Released November 10, 2000 Runtime 55 minutes Episodes 2 (List of episodes) Anime film Initial D Third Stage Directed by Fumitsugu Yamaguchi Produced by Takayuki Nagasawa Written by Hiroshi Toda Nobuaki Kishima Music by Ryuichi Katsumata Studio Studio Deen Pastel (3DCG Production) Licensed by AUS: Madman Entertainment NA: Crunchyroll SEA: Medialink Released January 13, 2001 Runtime 105 minutes Original video animation Initial D Battle Stage Directed by Shishi Yamaguchi Produced by Takayuki Nagasawa Written by Hiroshi Toda Nobuaki Kishima Music by Ryuichi Katsumata Studio Studio Deen Released May 15, 2002 Runtime 45 minutes Anime television series Initial D Fourth Stage Directed by Tsuneo Tominaga Produced by Kayo Fukuda Written by Hiroshi Toda Nobuaki Kishima Music by Atsushi Umebori Studio A.C.G.T Licensed by AUS: Madman Entertainment NA: Crunchyroll SEA: Medialink Original network Animax PPV Original run April 17, 2004 – February 18, 2006 Episodes 24 (List of episodes) Original video animation Initial D Battle Stage 2 Directed by Tsuneo Tominaga Written by Hiroshi Toda Nobuaki Kishima Music by Atsushi Umebori Studio A.C.G.T Released May 30, 2007 Runtime 78 minutes Original video animation Initial D Extra Stage 2 Directed by Tsuneo Tominaga Written by Hiroshi Toda Nobuaki Kishima Music by Atsushi Umebori Studio A.C.G.T Released October 3, 2008 Runtime 55 minutes Anime television series Initial D Fifth Stage Directed by Mitsuo Hashimoto Produced by Kayo Fukuda Written by Hiroshi Toda Nobuaki Kishima Music by Atsushi Umebori Studio SynergySP Original network Animax PPV (Perfect Choice Premier 1) Original run November 9, 2012 – May 10, 2013 Episodes 14 (List of episodes) Anime television series Initial D Final Stage Directed by Mitsuo Hashimoto Produced by Kayo Fukuda Written by Hiroshi Toda Nobuaki Kishima Music by Atsushi Umebori Studio SynergySP Original network Animax PPV (Animax Plus) Original run May 16, 2014 – June 22, 2014 Episodes 4 (List of episodes) Films Initial D (2005) New Initial D (2014–2016)
Sequel
MF Ghost (2017–present)
Anime and manga portal

Initial D (Japanese: 頭文字（イニシャル） D, Hepburn: Inisharu Dī) is a Japanese street racing manga series written and illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno. It was serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Magazine from 1995 to 2013, with the chapters collected into 48 tankōbon volumes. The story focuses on the world of illegal Japanese street racing, where all the action is concentrated in the mountain passes and rarely in cities or urban areas, and with the drifting racing style emphasized in particular. Professional race car driver and pioneer of drifting Keiichi Tsuchiya helped with editorial supervision. The story is centered on the prefecture of Gunma, more specifically on several mountains in the Kantō region and in their surrounding cities and towns. Although some of the names of the locations the characters race in have been fictionalized, all of the locations in the series are based on actual locations in Japan.

Initial D has been adapted into several anime television and original video animations series by OB Studio Comet, Studio Gallop, Pastel, A.C.G.T and SynergySP. A live action film by Avex and Media Asia was released in 2005. Both the manga and anime series were initially licensed for English-language distribution in North America by Tokyopop (2002–2009). However, the anime license has since been picked up by Funimation (now Crunchyroll), while the manga was relicensed by Kodansha USA in 2019.

By April 2021, Initial D had over 55 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series in history.