!!The ''Initial D'' anime and manga have examples of:
* AsHimself: Keiichi Tsuchiya played as his fictional counterpart who calls Bunta Fujiwara in the Episode 23 of Initial D First Stage.
* ColbertBump: This series is responsible for Eurobeat having any sort of decent popularity at all outside of Japan or its native Europe.
* ChannelHop: The first two seasons aired on Creator/FujiTV and would later air in reruns on [[Creator/TBSTelevision MBS]]; Fourth Stage aired on [=SkyPerfecTV!=] and the last two seasons aired on Creator/{{Animax}}.
* {{Defictionalization}}: Many car enthusiasts in the world have tried replicating Takumi's [=AE86=] or other iconic cars appearing in Initial D.
* EnforcedMethodActing: How did they get [[Creator/MitsuoIwata Itsuki's voice actor]] to act properly scared while dubbing the scenes when he rides along with Takumi in the [=AE86=]? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r78ShGPQwQ By making him ride along with Keiichi Tsuchiya, the guy Takumi is partially based on, in his own AE86]].
* ExecutiveMeddling:
** The translators working on the English version of the manga originally wanted a straight translation, but Tokyopop executives demanded various changes because they were "aiming for a younger audience than Japan". This resulted in the translators writing an open letter to the fans in which they joked about releasing the manga shrink-wrapped with White-Out and a felt-tip pen.
** Additionally, they wanted even more significant changes including, but not limited to: removing the kanji from the show's logo and the car, changing "tofu" delivery to "pizza" delivery, and having Takumi renamed "Jeffery" because it was "easier to pronounce". In the end, the translators elected to give everyone the "nicknames" used in the English versions of ''VideoGame/InitialDArcadeStage'' - "Takumi" became "Tak", for instance.
* KeepCirculatingTheTapes:
** At present, the Tokyopop DVD releases are the only way to watch the original dub of the first two seasons, as those seasons were eventually redubbed by Funimation in 2009.
** Tokyopop made an english dub of the ''Third Stage movie'', but it was only screened once at the Big Apple Anime Fest on 2003 and it was never release on home video due to Tokyopop losing the Initial D license and Funimation redubbing the movie for their home video release. (According to some rumors, it also aired on Cartoon Network Australia during the 2003 Christmas season, but this has never been proved).
* NoExportForYou:
** With the expiration of Tokyopop's licenses to all the manga series it received from Kodansha (the publisher for the Japanese version of the manga), the manga volumes of this series after Volume 33 fell victim to this trope until 2019 when Kodansha USA picked up the license. However, Creator/{{Funimation}} picked up the licensing rights from ''First Stage'' to ''Fourth Stage''; unfortunately, most of the [=OVAs=] aside from the first ''Extra Stage'' have also not been picked up[[note]]The second ''Extra Stage'' and the two ''Battle Stages''[[/note]].
** The fact that ''Battle Stage 2'' wasn't picked up is a little disappointing because people will question [[spoiler:what happened in those two hill-climb races in ''Fourth Stage'' that were AdaptedOut, ''especially'' when the race between Keisuke Takahashi and "Smiley" Sakai is a pretty important one]].
* TheOtherDarrin:
** In ''Fourth Stage'' and the ''[[VideoGame/InitialDArcadeStage Arcade Stage]]'' games, Tomoyuki was voiced by Kazuhiro Nakata. Due to Nakata retiring sometime around 2011, he was replaced by Daichi Endo in ''Fifth Stage'' and ''Arcade Stage 8''.
** The ''Legend'' movies use a different cast from the TV series and [=OVAs=], the English dubs of those movies however avert this since Creator/SentaiFilmworks managed to get most of the Funimation dub cast to reprise their roles.
* RealSongThemeTune: Like it's video game counterpart ''Arcade Stage'', the AnimatedAdaptation makes heavy use of licensed Eurobeat tracks from Avex Trax's "Super Eurobeat" library..
* TheRedStapler: The [=AE86=], although already famous in motorsports circles, was virtually unknown outside of Japan before Initial D's release: in the countries where it was exported, such as the United States, it was looked down upon as an "old, underpowered Corolla". After Initial D's release, it has become a massively appreciated, sought-after classic, with prices for it going up ''ten times'' as a result. And whereas it only usually appeared in games by Japanese developers, such as ''VideoGame/TokyoXtremeRacer'' and ''VideoGame/GranTurismo'', it has now appeared in Western-developed titles such as ''[[VideoGame/{{Juiced}} Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights]]'', the ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' franchise [[note]]The car did appear in ''Underground 2'' as a red [=USDM=] Corolla [=GT-S=]; it appears in follow-up titles either in its signature white-and-black paintjob or as the [=JDM=] [=AE86=][[/note]] and the ''VideoGame/{{Forza}}'' franchise.
* StudioHop:
** The North American manga releases were initially handled by Tokyopop, before they eventually switched to Kodansha USA in 2019.
** Tokyopop was also responsible for the North American anime releases. Then, by 2006, the rights were snapped up by Funimation.
** ''First Stage'' was produced by Creator/StudioComet and Creator/StudioGallop, before switching to Pastel for ''Second Stage'', Creator/StudioDeen for ''Third Stage'', Creator/{{ACGT}} for ''Fourth Stage'' and finally Creator/SynergySP for ''Final Stage''.
** The ''Legend'' movies wound up being licensed by Creator/SentaiFilmworks instead of Funimation.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Tokyopop had big plans for ''Initial D'', which according to reports, was being eyed as their "marquee title". Indeed, other reports claimed the publisher was intending to market it as "''Anime/SpeedRacer''" for a new generation. They licensed it with the intention of turning it into a multi-media franchise. Besides a TV broadcast of the {{Anime}}, it would have included various merchandise such as die-cast cars, video games, and "comics". North America did get all three, but besides there being no franchise to speak of, the comics were, of course, the original {{Manga}} (which came first, and has ended in summer 2013), which had been changed to be more like the {{Anime}}, all because Tokyopop was going for "a younger audience than Japan" motif. The "[[IncrediblyLamePun initial]]" DVD release had even been delayed because Tokyopop was trying to get the show on television. Somehow, Tokyopop managed to get a CollectibleCardGame licensed and released.
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