Manga to anime and finally movie, Initial D is indeed the most successful Japanese manga to date. Yes, I'm a true fan. Thanks to Bam Bam's colleague's boyfriend's friend, I got to watch the preview.

Personally, I would rate the movie 4 star, mainly because the movie focus more on characters development rather than the superb driving technique which is what Initial D is all about...

Takumi ��� the talented street racer who is a hidden gem of Mt Akina, sometimes also known as the tofu boy. It's a mistake to get Jay Chou to portray this lead character. He bloody can���t act! He puts in too much feelings and emotion whereas in the manga, Takumi is someone without much facial expression. The part were he cries, makes me wanna die of laughter. Come on~ When Takumi found out that Mogi is a social escort, he is juz devastated but being a bloke of wood, egoistic and prideful, he didn���t show his feelings out but choose to hide it. That scene of Jay crying makes me feel like he is being forced to cry and so not real. Guys who got hit hard on emotion cry with feelings not faek crying!

Ryosuke ��� Leader of Red Sun race team. An ace racer, technical genius when is comes to racing. Many racer aspire to be like him even his rivals have deep respect for his knowledge, skills and experiences. Together with his vase experience and skills, his ability to think and analyze while racing makes him a formidable opponent. He is my favorite character in Initial D. He is very humble and you will never hear him bragging about his achievements, even when he is explaining to his opponent why they lost the race. He does so without malice just stating the plain facts as he sees them. He is always willing to help a fellow racer improve their technique; even he knows he is their target. In the movie, Edison Chan is playing this spiritual character. Can I just tell you that he failed badly and tarnish the character completely. Utterly disappointed!

Takeshi - Leader of Night Kids race team. An excellent racer but his "win at all cost" attitude made in impulsive and impatient which he tends to try too hard and push his car beyond its limits, making mistakes and causes him to lose the race. Shawn Yu is starring this character which was a mistake as he does show the audience Takeshi eagerness to win. Personally I think he should play Takumi. Compare to Jay Chou, Shawn is more Takumi than Jay.

Bunta ��� Takumi's father. The legendary racer of Mt Akina. Played by Anthony Wong. He is good but again shows way too much expression for the character. On certain scene, he really looks like Bunta.

Itsuki ��� Takumi's buddy. Played by Chapman To. Probably the only actor who can portray closest to the character in the movie. 2 thumbs up! Well done.

Like what Bam bam say, I know the character too well. I really hope that the movie concentrate on the drifting and driving skills which I know in Japan, this is what professional street racer are expert at. To me the movie is juz like any other extract-from-comic movie like Spiderman or Batman.

For more information of the Initial D, you might want to check out this webby.

http://www.geocities.com/initial_d_battle