The story is centered on the prefecture of Gunma, more specifically on several mountains in the Kantō region and in their surrounding cities and towns.

Dispirited after watching the Red Suns' superior performance during a practice run, the Speed Stars expect to lose.

Later that night, the Red Suns' #2 driver, Keisuke Takahashi, heading home after the last practice run, is defeated soundly by a mysterious Sprinter Trueno, despite driving a much more powerful Mazda RX-7 (FD3S).

Iketani begs Bunta to help the Speed Stars defeat the Red Suns, who refuses, but later recruits Takumi for the race.

The Red Suns' embarrassing defeat sets up the plot for the rest of the series: drivers from neighboring prefectures come to challenge Takumi and the "Legendary Eight-Six of Akina" and thus prove themselves as racers.

He joins an expedition racing team, Project D, formed by Ryosuke and Keisuke Takahashi, and challenges more difficult opponents on their home courses in the pursuit of his dream to be "the fastest driver out there".

Also, while making tofu deliveries, Takumi is defeated by a mysterious Subaru Impreza WRX STI, but after finding out the driver is his father, he must learn the characteristics of 4WD in order to better himself.

Ryosuke disbands Project D and later reveals the meaning of the Initial "D" and starts training other potential drivers under him to pursue his dream.

Keisuke becomes a professional race car driver whereas Takumi continues delivering tofu in his father's Subaru Impreza.

[13] The company released thirty-three volumes from May 21, 2002,[14] to January 13, 2009,[15] before they announced in August 2009 that their manga licensing contracts with Kodansha had expired.

[17][18] In August 2023, Kodansha USA announced that they would be re-releasing the manga in an omnibus format with new translation and lettering beginning in 2024.

A recurrent feature of the anime is its extensive usage of Eurobeat as background music in race scenes, especially by Italian singers.

This was followed by Extra Stage 2 in 2008, which look at the relationship between Impact Blue's Mako Sato and Iketani of the SpeedStars (following on from the original side-story in the manga).

Since the anime's original run, Japanese musical group m.o.v.e has performed all of the opening and some ending themes of the series.

Tokyopop had completed an English subtitled version of Third Stage, and screened it at the Big Apple Anime Fest on August 29, 2003.

[26] This version of Third Stage reportedly retained the original Japanese soundtrack, in contrast to their treatment of the rest of the anime series.

Their release included a brand new English dub and retained the original music from the Japanese in an uncut format.

It was directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, whose credits include the 2002 Hong Kong blockbuster Infernal Affairs.

The adaptation featured Taiwanese singer Jay Chou as Takumi Fujiwara and Hong Kong stars Edison Chen as Ryosuke Takahashi and Shawn Yue as Takeshi Nakazato.

"[46] Bamboo Dong of Anime News Network rated it B−, stating it "is the first time in a long while since I've been so fired up about a series, so I recommend to everyone to at least check this out.

"[47] Some fans of Initial D reacted negatively to the Tokyopop's extensive editing and changes made in the English-language version of the manga.

Similar reactions were made towards their English dub's script and voice acting, and the removal of the original music from the anime series.

[12] Reviews of the Funimation re-release of the anime note a marked improvement from the Tokyopop iteration, with most complaints leveled against the lack of anamorphic widescreen on the DVDs.