Flashback

What's with me and reminiscing these days?

I was looking in my favorites list on Youtube just a few minutes ago (on my very first account, not mkyEND) and I saw that this was the very first video that I ever favorited. It's been awhile! This is obviously from Initial D First Stage, and is one of the most recognized and renowned scenes from the anime.

Quick history lesson: I began watching Initial D when I was in fourth grade, or around 2001 or so. Just for reference, I believe the anime began in 1998 or 1999, so at the time it was still relatively new to the world. I was about nine years old at a time when a friend of mine, who I watched A LOT of anime together with, mentioned the series, and I decided to check it out. Something about it struck a chord, because after the first episode, I was mesmerized and simply had to continue watching.

And so I did. First Stage, Second Stage, Third Stage, more and more. I watched all the Initial D I could get (up until the end of Fourth Stage, the most recent canonical season of the series), and although I can't remember many of the specific details, I can clearly remember the enthusiasm and endless fantasies that the series brought into my mind, and even though I knew very little about cars at the time, the entire concept of an anime series based on the art of touge was enough for me.

Looking back upon this has made me both miss and truly appreciate the childhood I had. Even as a child, I always had a sense of identity. Don't forget that this was in fourth grade; while most of my peers were playing basketball or enjoying their Nintendo 64s or original Playstations, I was rushing home, hopping on the computer, opening up my BitTorrent client, and downloading the next episode of Initial D that I had to watch. Before anybody even knew what Initial D was! Completely uncut and subbed, no Americanized watered-down episodes or ridiculous English dubs and voice-overs, just anime in its purest form, with only the addition of a visual language aid. That was where it was at, at least for my childhood.

I certainly do miss it, but the lack of anything new in the series (other than the manga) has left me with nothing to fill the void, at least for now. At any rate, I'm glad I found this little video, just one of the many mementos I've kept from my childhood and a reminder of the joyous and carefree life I used to live. (It's also validated my knowledge of the show; the song played at the end is Leslie Parrish's Save Me, one of the many gems in a genre of music called Eurobeat that not many have heard of. Ask me anything about the series, and I'll bet I can still give you an answer about it, even 8 years later :D)

Life was good back then, but I'll spare the pessimistic outlook. Just because something was once good doesn't mean it can't still be good (: I think I'm going to start rewatching Initial D, just for the hell of it.

It's way too late, but all this excitement from looking at my past has me way too excited to sleep. All-nighter?! Who knows, but for now, I'm off to reminisce some more. Late!