believe in the heart of the cars

I've been excited to do this one for a while.

The Initial D Art Book was released by Kodansha in 2001, and features a lot of the art made by Shuichi Shigeno for the series up to the time of release (which would have been around the time of the Northern Saitama Alliance races).

The books 233 pages are split between pages of artwork, block coloured manga pages, art featured on cover pages of the manga chapters, and photos of the courses. Also included is a several page interview with Shigeno himself, and a look at merchandise that had been released up to that point.

It's a very interesting book, and I'm glad to have been able to scan it in full. A previous scan does appear to have existed, but it was likely made in the early 2000s and thus the quality isn't the best. The only surviving remnants of that scan are a handful of cropped pieces that have been archived, as well as a deck of cards that somebody made using the art.

rival racer, keeping pace but visibly sweating: holy FUCK. what the actual SHIT. this is an 86. this is a cardboard box of a car and he's ahead of me. HOW is he drifting so effortlessly!? the kid behind the wheel must be under constant pressure to stay focused. he's so close to touching the guardrail on every corne- DID HE JUST USE THE GUTTER TO TURN

can you hear    eurobeat