Initial D as a manga had been running in Kodansha's Weekly Young Magazine since July 1995, building an audience for its depiction of illegal touge street racing in the mountains of Gunma. The anime adaptation in 1998 brought the story to a much wider audience and marked the beginning of an anime franchise that would span six main installments through 2014.
Professional race car driver and drifting pioneer Keiichi Tsuchiya had assisted with editorial supervision on the manga, lending the source material an unusual degree of technical authenticity in its portrayal of driving technique. This credibility carried into the anime adaptation.
First Stage introduces Takumi Fujiwara, a high school student working part-time at a gas station in Gunma Prefecture alongside his friend Itsuki Takeuchi and their supervisor Koichiro Iketani, leader of the local Akina Speed Stars racing team. Unknown to those around him, Takumi has spent years developing exceptional driving skill through early morning tofu deliveries for his father Bunta, piloting an aging Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86 down Mount Akina.
The series begins when the Red Suns, a team from Mount Akagi led by Ryosuke Takahashi, challenge the Speed Stars to a downhill race. After witnessing the Red Suns' performance, the Speed Stars grow demoralized. That night, Ryosuke's brother Keisuke — driving a high-powered Mazda RX-7 — is unexpectedly defeated by a mysterious Sprinter Trueno. Takumi is revealed as the driver.
Takumi's victory establishes him as the "Legendary Eight-Six of Akina," drawing challengers from across the region. His skills are tested when he faces the Emperors, a team using Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions. Outmatched by the superior machinery, Takumi loses to the Emperors' leader Kyoichi Sudo and damages his engine. The Red Suns intervene to defeat the Emperors. Bunta replaces the engine, and Takumi continues racing — defeating Wataru Akiyama in a Toyota Levin and later avenging his loss against Kyoichi on the Nikko Irohazaka.
A notable technique established in First Stage is Takumi's "gutter run" — placing the car's wheels in the road's drainage channels to maintain speed through hairpin corners — an approach to touge racing that becomes the series' defining signature.
First Stage was produced by OB Planning and Avex Entertainment. Studio Gallop and Studio Comet handled the animation. The series broadcast 26 episodes on Fuji TV over approximately eight months in 1998.
The series became strongly associated with eurobeat music — high-energy electronic tracks used to score the racing sequences — which became an enduring characteristic of the Initial D brand. When Tokyopop licensed the anime for North American release in 2001, it controversially replaced the original eurobeat soundtrack with rap and hip-hop produced by Tokyopop CEO Stu Levy. Tokyopop also altered character names to Americanize the series, drawing negative reactions from fans of the original.
Funimation later re-released and re-dubbed First Stage, restoring the original Japanese music. First Stage was released in two sets by Funimation on September 21 and November 16, 2010.
First Stage is credited with making the Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno globally famous. The car had been a modest 1980s economy coupe largely forgotten before Initial D; the anime transformed it into one of the most culturally significant rear-wheel-drive cars in Japanese automotive history. The series' depiction of touge racing and drifting technique — validated by Keiichi Tsuchiya's involvement — shaped how an entire generation understood Japanese street racing culture.
The Initial D franchise grew to 55 million manga copies in circulation by April 2021, with First Stage as the foundational entry point for most fans of the animated series.