It displays quite a few of the aspects that make anime in general bad.
Essentially it's the same as most other action animes of the 80's or 90's. This time it's about a high school student who's good at driving cars and uses that skill to win street races.
Why does anime bore me? In short, because it's a collection of tropes. I guess they have to crank them out so fast that they can't develop original plot devices:
1) The Secret Kung Fu Master Monk Trope: I think this trope originated in Kung Fu movies or perhaps the cinema of some other Asian country. It was brought to the US by the Karate Kid (1984) if I'm not mistaken (wax on, wax off!).
In short, someone becomes very good at some skill by doing seemingly unrelated drills in a quirky way. In the case of Initial D, the guy delivers tofu in his father's car and isn't supposed to let a cup of water spill. It's unrealistic, but what bothers me about it is that it's become a cliché. Pass.
2. The Dragonball Z Trope: The plot is the same formulaic pattern that started perhaps with Fist of the North Star but was populated by Dragonball Z.
Viz: Bad-mannered/evil and skilled antagonist is built up to be really great and infamous, then the invincible protagonist goes against him. Invincible protagonist at first looks like he's going to lose but easily wins at the last second.
EVERY... TIME.
How many times can you milk this cycle before people start catching on?
3. Stereotypical characters: The main character is the stereotypical anime hero. He's nonchallant and humble but great things keep falling into his lap. Of course he's too cool to care. He's also invincible in racing. Where's the drama? You always know he's going to win and exactly how.
The only thing that saves this anime from being unwatchable tripe is that the romance scenes. The protagonist's romantic interest is in an interesting situation with an older man. Also seeing the romantic missteps of the main character's awkward friends who come close to getting girlfriends but them fumble the ball hard is pretty entertaining.
Ohh, wait, and one more point for the music. I've known the music so long that I forgot this franchise single-handedly revived Eurobeat/Italo Disco. Yeah, it was worth making for the music, if nothing else. Eurobeat is one of the greatest musical genres of all time.
Honourable Mentions: Cowboy Bebop (1998) - a marginally less trite anime because the characters usually end up getting disappointed at the end of the episode. Still not as fresh or great as the creators (and most viewers) think though.
Essentially it's the same as most other action animes of the 80's or 90's. This time it's about a high school student who's good at driving cars and uses that skill to win street races.
Why does anime bore me? In short, because it's a collection of tropes. I guess they have to crank them out so fast that they can't develop original plot devices:
1) The Secret Kung Fu Master Monk Trope: I think this trope originated in Kung Fu movies or perhaps the cinema of some other Asian country. It was brought to the US by the Karate Kid (1984) if I'm not mistaken (wax on, wax off!).
In short, someone becomes very good at some skill by doing seemingly unrelated drills in a quirky way. In the case of Initial D, the guy delivers tofu in his father's car and isn't supposed to let a cup of water spill. It's unrealistic, but what bothers me about it is that it's become a cliché. Pass.
2. The Dragonball Z Trope: The plot is the same formulaic pattern that started perhaps with Fist of the North Star but was populated by Dragonball Z.
Viz: Bad-mannered/evil and skilled antagonist is built up to be really great and infamous, then the invincible protagonist goes against him. Invincible protagonist at first looks like he's going to lose but easily wins at the last second.
EVERY... TIME.
How many times can you milk this cycle before people start catching on?
3. Stereotypical characters: The main character is the stereotypical anime hero. He's nonchallant and humble but great things keep falling into his lap. Of course he's too cool to care. He's also invincible in racing. Where's the drama? You always know he's going to win and exactly how.
The only thing that saves this anime from being unwatchable tripe is that the romance scenes. The protagonist's romantic interest is in an interesting situation with an older man. Also seeing the romantic missteps of the main character's awkward friends who come close to getting girlfriends but them fumble the ball hard is pretty entertaining.
Ohh, wait, and one more point for the music. I've known the music so long that I forgot this franchise single-handedly revived Eurobeat/Italo Disco. Yeah, it was worth making for the music, if nothing else. Eurobeat is one of the greatest musical genres of all time.
Honourable Mentions: Cowboy Bebop (1998) - a marginally less trite anime because the characters usually end up getting disappointed at the end of the episode. Still not as fresh or great as the creators (and most viewers) think though.