Initial D

Initial D
The cover of the first tankōbon volume, released in Japan on November 6, 1995
頭文字D (Inisharu Dī)
Genre	Drama, Sports (Car racing)
Manga
Written by	Shuichi Shigeno
Published by	Kodansha
English publisher	AUS Madman Entertainment NA Tokyopop
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Young Magazine
Original run	1995 – 2013
Volumes	48 (List of volumes)
Anime television series
Initial D First Stage
Directed by	Shin Misawa
Produced by	Ren Usami
Written by	Koji Kaneda
Music by	Music score: Ryuichi Katsumata BGM composer: Dave Rodgers (English songs) M.O.V.E. (Japanese songs)
Studio	Studio Comet & Gallop
Licensed by	AUS Madman Entertainment NA Funimation
Original network	Fuji TV, Animax
English network	AU 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
Written by	Hiroshi Toda Nobuaki Kishima
Music by	Music score: Ryuichi Katsumata BGM composer: Dave Rodgers
Studio	Pastel
Licensed by	AUS Madman Entertainment NA Funimation
Original network	Fuji TV, Animax
English network	SEA Animax
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	Music score: Ryuichi Katsumata BGM composer: Dave Rodgers
Studio	Pastel
Licensed by	AUS Madman Entertainment NA Funimation
Released	February 22, 2000 – February 29, 2000
Runtime	25 minutes (each)
Episodes	2 (List of episodes)
Anime film
Initial D Third Stage
Directed by	Fumitsugu Yamaguchi
Produced by	Kayo Fukuda Takayuki Nagasawa
Written by	Hiroshi Toda Nobuaki Kishima
Music by	Music score: Ryuichi Katsumata BGM composer: Dave Rodgers
Studio	Studio Deen
Licensed by	AUS Madman Entertainment NA Funimation
Released	January 13, 2001
Runtime	105 minutes
Original video animation
Initial D Battle Stage 1
Directed by	Shishi Yamaguchi
Written by	Hiroshi Toda Nobuaki Kishima
Music by	Music score: Ryuichi Katsumata BGM composer: Dave Rodgers
Studio	Pastel
Released	May 15, 2002
Runtime	45 minutes
Anime television series
Initial D Fourth Stage
Directed by	Tsuneo Tominaga
Written by	Nobuaki Kishima Hiroshi Toda
Music by	Music score: Atsushi Umebori BGM composer: Dennis Martin
Studio	A.C.G.T
Licensed by	AUS Madman Entertainment NA Funimation
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	Nobuaki Kishima Hiroshi Toda
Music by	Music score: Atsushi Umebori BGM composer: Dennis Martin
Studio	A.C.G.T
Released	May 30, 2007
Runtime	45 minutes
Original video animation
Initial D Extra Stage 2
Directed by	Tsuneo Tominaga
Written by	Nobuaki Kishima Hiroshi Toda
Music by	Music score: Atsushi Umebori BGM composer: Dennis Martin
Studio	A.C.G.T
Released	October 3, 2008
Runtime	55 minutes
Anime television series
Initial D Fifth Stage
Directed by	Mitsuo Hashimoto
Written by	Nobuaki Kishima Hiroshi Toda
Music by	Music score: Atsushi Umebori BGM composer: Dave Rodgers
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
Written by	Nobuaki Kishima Hiroshi Toda
Music by	Music score: Atsushi Umebori BGM composer: Dave Rodgers
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)

Initial D (Japanese: 頭文字D（イニシャル・ディー）, Hepburn: Inisharu Dī^?) is a Japanese sports manga series written and illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno. It was serialized in Young Magazine from 1995 to 2013, with the chapters collected into 48 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha. 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 drift 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 television anime 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 and its sequel, Initial D 2, will be released in 2016. 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, while the manga is no longer available in English.