I would avoid the live action, that movie was a turd!<br/><br/>Initial D is a long series, you can skip the very first 3 "stages" aka seasons by watching the battle stage. Which are basically the movies/recap of the first few seasons.<br/><br/>Initial Drift-Full Battle Stage 1 [Eng subs] [HD] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FXdGSPCX1U#)<br/><br/>You miss a lot of the plot, like romances and character development. Takumi is pretty clueless when it comes to cars at the start. He "races" because his dad makes him deliver tofu to a resort up the mountain and in a haste to get back home to sleep. But his passion for cars does manifest over time.<br/><br/>Also its an old anime, so I would not recommend starting at the start.<br/><br/>Initial D Stage four was one of my favorites- Don't skip these, it is really great.<br/>I have yet to see five<br/><br/>Overall the show gets technical once in a while but easy enough to follow