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I've been to Barnes and Nobles a few times and I've never seen the Initial D manga, its in Amazon, but I'm pretty sure Barnes and Nobles don't have the Initial D manga anymore. All we got for the manga with better translation are scanlations.

This post has been edited by Eternal Firebird on Aug 10 2016, 12:14 PM

This post makes no sense.

The Dragonball franchise is a multimillion (billion?) dollar franchise. Initial D isn't. The analogy doesn't carry. Funimation can say that Initial D's localization was a flop, because it was. They aren't "being crap" to the license, they are treating it like a toxic asset, because it is.

Viz has no ties to Kodansha and never will. They are rival companies, hence I mentioned that Kodansha was handing off licenses to Del Ray. Viz is in partnership with Shogakukan and Shueisha. They have never worked with Kodansha. The only history between the companies is a license transfer of Battle Angel Alita: Last Order from Viz USA to Kodansha Comics USA, and Kodansha dropped it before publication was finished.

Funimation is not going to spend money to dub a series that will not make them a profit, even with ten million signatures. That is not how business works.

nevermind, thought they were being "crap" to the license, screw it.

I didn't say DBZ was a flop, and I have no plans making a petition.

This post has been edited by Eternal Firebird on Aug 10 2016, 03:52 PM

You really have no control over your own words, then, since that's exactly what your post said.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

TBF he said "somebody" should make a petition, to shirk responsibility for the comment.

To take some action instead of just pissing in a bucket and wishing it turns to gold, I will send an email to Funi's PR dept about the future of the Initial D US license, and see what happens.

haha~ don't take it too harsh Eternal my man... Initial D was one big commercial to sell Super Eurobeat. Gen sugartits Fukunaga knew this and he still took a risk, it didn't pay off, so he's moved on. The license is still active, which is why their just gonna let it expire in ?? years ~

I just want this conversation to end.

This post has been edited by Eternal Firebird on Aug 10 2016, 03:51 PM

haha~ we're just being nit-picky. These forums have been around since 2002 ~ we've seen every thing related to Initial D anyone can fathom... including tofu-birfday cakes!

So it's settled, the reason nobody calls Iketani-senpai by his 1st name is cause it sounds like Takeshi Hongo on MugiMugi eyebrows meets caveman samurai... including his parents, yikes!

But you started it! Clearing up confusion regarding the license is important in shaping your viewpoint on the series. Instead of moaning that Funi "bungled it", know that it was a business failure and not neglect.

Nobody wants to see a 20 year old Corolla with a stock engine kick ass.


That's why it flopped, Xiao.

Deal with it.

>stock engine
Yeah nah bruv, even the original motor wasn't stock. It was no Group A, but it wasn't bone-stock either. I recall Bunta having made adjustments to make the car more 'driveable', which is to say not raw power but just driveability in general. Power band adjustments, stuff like that. Sure, you're still comparing an '83 shitbox to more modern turbo cars with electronic wizardry on board, but I still can't help but poke at false statements.

It flopped because lots of reasons, but at least from personal experience from those who watched it--including some car guys I knew who weren't into Anime--the hero car being an old Corolla was anything but a turn-off.

It flopped here because it had a narrow audience and most of them were more interested in illegally downloading it instead of purchasing it.

I don't know anything about the business inside Funimation, I've been here for about a few days, I created this topic to wonder why Iketani is called by his last name, but I went off topic and was wondering why Funimation aren't dubbing Fifth Stage. Didn't know Fourth Stage didn't sell well. I had to look up on the internet, and turns out all four stages were on this label called S.A.V.E., I also looked at a 2011 topic post on this forum and turns out the S.A.V.E. thing is anime that's being sold for cheap. I was unaware of this. So I'm sorry if I was neglecting and sorry if I was acting like a hypocrite.

This post has been edited by Eternal Firebird on Aug 11 2016, 05:59 AM

Ouch, truth hurts.


But that being said, I did purchase a "legit" DVD seal form Jackadeal, one of IDW's old sponsors.

Just wish more fans had the "bought not pirated" mindset I had back then.

★ You'll pay for this Captain Hachi-Roku!!

I don't see how Initial D "flopped" seeing as there is still a huge fanbase and demand for it (it was picked as the most wanted series to come back in a Japanese survey).

You're talking about the Japanese audience. I'm talking about the US release, which indeed did not sell very well by any definition. It was already reduced to S.A.V.E. sets within a year. That's bad. That's damn awful.

IDW probably had something to do with it, in a way. We do not throttle downloads hete, so illegal copies float around freely with no money going to Funimation.

While I don't want to argue about the effects of so-called "piracy", suffice to say I thoroughly disagree the sales were affected by anything other than lack of interest compared to their other licensed series.

I agree. It wasn't going to be a huge seller here unless it came over when the car craze was at that peak in 03-04. Instead Tokyopop fumbled it and we didn't get a decent dub for many years, by which point interest had already taken a plunge.

Well, it doesn't help that anyone who gives a shit about real '90's sports cars (not pimped out hella-flush MacStrut FF Civics) is (well) in their 30s by now. That's what happens when it takes damn near 20 years to finish a story that only takes place over the course of 2 summers, but who's core demographic are 16-22 year-old males.

In 1998 in my dorm room, Initial D was the shit.

In 2015, at 35, Initial D was, "Oh, when the fuck did they make a 5th stage? I haven't seen that since 2004. Wait... why do the cars have wings now???" Sure, I watched it for nostalgia's sake, but only Final Stage Ep 3 & 4 were worth a damn (and even then, the scene recycling was glaringly obvious).

But I like 90s sports cars.

And I'm only 20.

It's alright. Let the old guys keep saying that all of the younger generation are the problem and that all we care for is electronics. LOL

Normal people that write Otaku USA generally have less than stellar opinions about Initial D. All the majority of normie Jap people on twitter think Initial D & Eurobeat is for old people. They'd rather play video games and listen to Skrillex. We're preaching to the choir; normies don't like Initial D unfortunately.

Edit: What I wouldn't give for a Densha de D anime with the video game SuganoMusic eurobeat... but that's also a bit unlikely at this point.

This post has been edited by xiao on Aug 13 2016, 01:19 PM

I_D is stuck in a no-man's land. Anime snobs don't like it because it's not 'intellectual' (how's that NGE ending go again?? ). Serious car enthusiasts don't like it because it's promoted an army of drift fanatics who know nothing and think a 25 year old Corolla is the ultimate vehicle ever (for those keeping score, that's a slow car driven in a slow fashion). Seriously; you did NOT want to admit to liking Initial D around car guys for a good 10 years after 1999.

But, it's always been a guilty pleasure of mine. And Eurobeat on my car radio will inevitably get me to punch the tach a bit harder than usual.

So
Fucking
True

Over half the fanbase knows cars less than half as well as they think they do. Ask any of our members that have had to watch over the IDW Facebook group.