Aieeee! TokyoPop is translating Initial D!

[Krazy Krow]

http://www.tokyopop.com/dbdocuments/9/8/3389.mov

I liked the Initial D fansubs, but this...

I'd be swearing at them for being so stupid if I weren't laughing out loud at that ridiculous rap. First I thought it was just some generic rap, then I listened to the lyrics... ugh. That's as bad as that "asian pryde - racing and a thang" mp3 floating around the net. And sticking "INITIAL SOMETHING" in the trailer every 5 seconds grates on me too. Dunno why they did that, the eurobeat sountrack is great, and perfectly marketable here. Hell, it's in friggin' ENGLISH!

From that brief clip, I already hate the voice actors. They all sound like they have phony California-hip-surfer-dude accents.

Someone should e-mail TokyoPop and tell them not only is there no drag racing in Initial D, the star of the show would probably lose against every car they showed.

This is kinda like Samurai X, the translator decided to take a great anime (Rurouni Kenshin) and mangle it into something it isn't. Complete with lame tag lines, "X-treme action! X-treme fighting!"

[Susano-[MacH]]

MAN WHAAOW LIKE WHAAOAOWWW I WANT TOFU DELIVERY PAINTED ON THE SIDE OF MY CAR, LIKE WHAAAOWWW

[Gymkata Warrior]

Tokyopop is doing a nice butcher job on the manga too. I picked up # 1 a while back, and was going to get # 2 yesterday, until I realized Tokyopop had decided to re-name everyone. Needless to say, I won't be getting any more. And Tokyopops reply about the changes really upset quite a few of the fans. I don't quite remember the quote, but it was something about releasing it in a special collectors edition with white-out so people who didn't like the name changes could fix them.

Ya know, if their gonna butcher the dvds, I'll import them, already got a region free player.

[Krazy Krow]

Ahhh, bastards! I just read there press release. "Tak" I can live with, since I actually know a Japanese guy we call Tak, but "Iggy"?

I'm really dissapointed in them, given how impressed I was with their GTO translation. It seems like yet another company hoping that they can get mainstream sales, but they're screwing the fans over doing this.

[Gymkata Warrior]

I agree that Tokyopop seems to be doing a good job with the rest of their stuff. If I wasn't so into Love Hina and GTO I'd boycott them. It seems by trying to go mainstream, Tokyopop is alienating the "fans" they claim they cater to.

[Susano-[MacH]]

Oh cmon... at the very least, Tokyopop's format and marketing attitude have brought manga to alot of new readers. That's more than what could be said about the American comic industry, which was on the rise but it now stagnating because of the money-grubbing attitude of MArvel comics and DC comics.

[Krazy Krow]

I agree the once a month trades are great, but this translation...

I'm sure Intial D will sell well regardless, but this name change seems like a case of companies underestimating fans. If it was going to be broadcast, they might be able to justify the name change, but let's face it: a tv show about illegal street racing isn't hitting prime time anytime soon.

OTOH, I've heard they're planning to keep the original names in the subtitles, so the hardcore fans aren't losing out. So my only real complaint is the Tokyopop trailer that makes AD Vision's generic techno trailers look like works of art.