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.

The first battle of the series, Keisuke Takahashi (RX-7) vs. Takumi Fujiwara (Trueno), as seen in the anime.The protagonist, Takumi Fujiwara, is a gas station attendant working with his friend Itsuki to buy a car, which they plan to drift on the twisting roads surrounding nearby Mount Akina. Unbeknownst to his colleagues, Takumi moonlights as a tofu delivery driver for his father's store before sunrise each morning, passively building an impressive amount of skill behind the wheel of the family car, an aging Toyota Sprinter Trueno.

Shortly after the story begins, the Red Suns, an amateur racing team from Mount Akagi, challenge the local Speedstars team to a set of races on Mount Akina. Dispirited after watching the RedSuns' superior performance during a practice run, the Speedstars expect to lose. Later that night, the Red Suns' #2 driver, heading home after the last practice run, is defeated soundly by a mysterious Sprinter Trueno, despite driving a much more powerful car. An investigation into the identity of the driver leads to Bunta Fujiwara, Takumi's father. The Speedstars beg Bunta to help them defeat the RedSuns, and he initially refuses, later relenting to "maybe" show up at the race. At the same time, Takumi asks Bunta if he can borrow the car for a day to take a trip to the beach with a potential girlfriend, and Bunta seizes the moment by granting permission (plus a full tank of fuel) on the condition that Takumi defeats the Red Suns driver.

On the night of the race, the Trueno does not show up, and the Speedstars enlist a backup driver for the first run. At the last moment before the race starts, the Trueno arrives. Takumi steps out of the car to the bewilderment of the Speedstars, who were expecting Bunta. He easily defeats the Red Suns driver by utilizing a dangerous technique on the mountain road's hairpin corners.

The Red Suns' embarrassing defeat sets up the plot for the rest of the series: drivers from neighboring prefectures come to challenge Takumi and the "Legendary Eight-Six of Akina" and thus prove themselves as racers. Eventually, the plot moves away from Mount Akina as Takumi becomes bored with racing solely on that road. He joins an experimental racing team formed by the disbanded Red Suns and challenges more difficult opponents on their home courses in the pursuit of his dream to be "the fastest driver out there".

List of Initial D characters

Takumi Fujiwara (藤原 拓海 Fujiwara Takumi)
The main character of the series, Takumi develops his racing skills to be one of the fastest drivers in Kanto while driving an old Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86. This is due to Takumi's job delivering tofu to Lake Akina every morning for 5 years (since 7th grade). Although Takumi believes this to be just a job, he had actually been manipulated subtly by his father into developing driving skills, without being fully aware of Bunta's intent.

Bunta Fujiwara (藤原 文太 Fujiwara Bunta)
Bunta is the owner of the Fujiwara Tofu Shop and is the father of Takumi. He used to be the No.1 downhill racer in Mt. Akina years ago, but now guides Takumi's racing development. He is the original driver of the mysterious "Ghost of Akina" AE86 Sprinter Trueno that holds the record of the fastest downhill time at Akina. Later in the series, as Takumi used the Trueno more than Bunta, he buys a Subaru Impreza WRX, which Takumi alternates between the Impreza and his Eight-Six for deliveries.

Ryosuke Takahashi (高橋 涼介 Takahashi Ryōsuke)
Ryosuke is one of the most skilled drivers in the series as Red Suns/Project D's leader and older brother to Keisuke. He drives a Mazda Savanna RX-7 FC3S. Ryosuke is a very cerebral driver as he pours over technical data and is able to tell what kind of modifications have been made to a car just by hearing it, and what a driver is capable of just by watching the car drift. He is also referred to as "Akagi's White Comet" (赤城の白い彗星 Akagi no Shiroi Suisei) in reference to his early racing days.

Keisuke Takahashi (高橋 啓介 Takahashi Keisuke)
Keisuke is the number two driver for the Red Suns and the hillclimb ace for Project D. Keisuke drives a Mazda RX-7 FD3S, and is a skilled driver second only to his brother. Keisuke is a rather hot-headed and does not like losing. He isn't analytical like his older brother, but his ability to think less while he is driving, and to do only what he feels amazes Ryosuke. Because of his initial encounters with Takumi, he is Takumi's main rival.