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I know I'm gonna get ratioed to oblivion, but I can't stand the disrespect this show is getting.

I'm gonna start with the obvious complains everyone has. The story is trash and the characters are bland and boring. And yes, I do agree with all of you on that. And the fact that Kanata already knows everything before the show starts is very lame and makes his character a real Gary Sue. But! As I'm gonna explain later, those aren't the things I watched Initial D or MF ghost for, and I'm suprised so many people act like that's all that matters.

This show is simply very ... fun to watch. The writer of this show has really nailed subverting expectations in a way that isn't too jarring or too forced. Not to say that you can't entirely see twists coming at all, but I'd say it has a very good balance of doing satisfying stuff people want to see and stuff that keeps the story intresting.

I feel like I just escaped from a mental asylum saying this, but I actually like the animation, the thing everyone is ragging on. 3D animation has some really good camera shots, the animation is fluid and it just looks, dare I be blunt, cool. The 2D I don't really care for, it's good enough, the character expressions are conveyed well. I know they used some real life backgrounds to save time, which is kinda funny actually, and is also the same thing that happened in the manga, so I guess you can excuse it for being acurate to source lol.


I don't mind people who aren't really into these type of shows calling it bad, because it does have blatant issues and definetely isn't a show for everyone.
But...
What really pisses me off is people that hail Initial D as some sort of masterpiece while trashing on MF ghost.

Let's start off with how intresting the races in both series are.
In initial D, besides the first stage and a few moments in fourth, the only thing suprising about the races was how far the writer was going with Takumi's plot armor. The races were extremely boring with takumi either losing or dominating the entire time with some bozos talking over 15 minutes of cornering footage, after which Takumi pulls some trick out of his ass to end the race.
MF ghost's longer races and higher ammount of said racers provide a good backdrop for a lot of exciting moments which also happen more often. The fact that the show takes it time, also gives a more realistic feeling with Kanata not always succeeding. Rather than just "Wow, thanks to that Fujiwarblindattacgutterrun, he beat that guy who was way better than him! Again!".

Next thing are the complains about the new characters being bland compared to the old ones.
Now, I do agree that the slice of life segments are way better in Initial D, but let's not go as far as to say that the characters blow the new ones out off the water. Takumi, who was basicly the only character with any thought put into him, had his character arc end in third stage,
after which he just became a husk who races randoms for no apparent reason. Keisuke being no better, was just an autist who's only changing trait was how good he was at racing. Ryouske wasn't all that smart he was made out to be either. Not even getting started on the girls and opposing racers... So it's not like there was a sudden drop in quality of character writing.

I've heard people say that the new eurobeat soundtrack is way worse, and I don't entirely agree with that either. It's more modern, sure but has some bangers. Same as with Initial D, not every track back then was a hit like Gas Gas Gas, people forget (man).

And don't get me wrong, Inital D is still one of my favourite shows, some seasons being better than MF ghost.

What am I getting at here?
Neither Initial D or MF ghost are shows I would watch for their deep messeges, hidden meanings and enticing character arcs.
While it is true that it's harder to root for characters you don't really care all that much for, in my opinion it doesn't diminish the HYPE MOMENTS that this genre is known for. And MF ghost's hype moments are dare I say really good and happen often. The story is fairly unpredictable and keeps you on your toes.

This show could be a lot better, which kind of sucks to think about, but I wouldn't call it bad, especially compared to Initial D.

Meh, this show a mixed bag. Probably wouldn't want to watch it again.

If you're watching it now and are hoping that it gets better, it doesn't. You can stop watching around episode 11 since it's the same thing on repeat since that point.

It had some really good moments here and there, which was the main reason why I ended up watching it until the end. Hoping it was actually going to amount to something. But it just ended up dissapointing me.

Of course, if you're planning to watch this show it's 99% likely that you're coming here from Initial D. Just so you know the ... "races" in this show are just guys riding in a straight line to see who has the faster car. So don't be suprised. It's more of a car tuning show anyway.

Every 4-5 episodes the same exact arc repeats itself. A new racer with a JDM car shows up. They race against the MC and lose. They decide to forsake their personal life in order to upgrade their car. That takes about 3 episodes. They race the MC again and fucking lose AGAIN (lmao). Then they decide that racing is for losers, quit the racing scene so that they can focus on their actual life instead of wasting all their money on cars like a fucking dumbass. The new racer never appear in the show afterwards.

Now repeat that 6-7 times and that's the whole show.

Now, the first time this kind of arc happened it was actually well done, and pretty touching.
But then it just happens again and again. I thought it was doing that to subvert expectations and finally do something meaningful one of these times, but nope.

The characters... Well they sure are some of the characters of all time.
Everybody besides the mechanic with a scar is the same boring nice-guy racer, or nice-guy tuner, that acts exactly in the same way in every situation. The only thing that differentiates them is that some of them treat their cars like machines and some have this weird
sort of partner relationship(?!?!). I know it sounds weird but that's like the main dilemma for the characters in this show.

The whole fucking plot point of the MC's car being haunted or some shit goes absolutely nowhere, the same with his teacher and many other things that just end up unresolved. Leaving the feeling that the show runners just forgot what they were making.

The fact that the ending is just some random race that abruptly cuts doesn't help either. In fact it might be the main reason why I got frustrated after finishing the show, I'd be hard pressed to find a worse ending in anything ever. But it was probably due to budget or whatever so I guess you can use that excuse.

The 3d animation is pretty nice, pretty boring camera angles but whatever. The 2d animation is... Really uneexpressive and unimpressive, to be curt.

One of the few redeeming qualites is that you can actually learn a thing or two about tuning cars from this show (I think? They do throw around a lot of buzzwords).

Anyways, as always people are probably going to tell me that I just didn't get it or some shit like that. Just keep in mind that for many people this show is going to be really boring for like 80% of the time.