Initial D Turns 30 — and Caps It Off With a Father-and-Son Pair of Automatic Watches

Initial D Turns 30 — and Caps It Off With a Father-and-Son Pair of Automatic Watches
In 1995, a tofu-delivery kid in a panda-colored Trueno started quietly rewriting downhill history on Mt. Akina — and Initial D went on to sell over 56 million copies, spreading eurobeat and the gospel of drifting all over the planet. Yes, it has really been 30 years.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary, watch brand ANGEL CLOVER has been rolling out an official collaboration watch series — and for the grand finale, they are dropping the series' first-ever automatic (self-winding) models on September 30, 2026.
And here's the part that got us: the lineup isn't Takumi vs. some rival. It's father and son.
Not Rivals — Father and Son
One watch is based on the "Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86" that protagonist Takumi Fujiwara inherited from his father — the legendary Hachi-Roku.
The other is based on the "Subaru Impreza WRX (GC8) type R STi" driven by the man himself: Bunta Fujiwara.

The son who inherited the Eight-Six, and the father who still knows the mountain pass better than anyone. That father-and-son rivalry the series is famous for, expressed as a matching pair of watches.
Thirty years on, the kids who read Initial D in Weekly Young Magazine are fathers themselves now — which is exactly why this concept hits so hard.
Takumi Fujiwara AE86 Model (IN45-AE86)

At 12 o'clock sits an "86" index, the numbers that made the car a legend.
The bezel is carbon, a nod to the Trueno's carbon hood.
The sub-dials are styled after in-car gauges.
And the biggest point of this release: the skeleton dial. Watching the automatic movement tick away behind the dial is like watching an engine at idle. You could stare at it all night with a drink in hand.
The case back is engraved with the 30th-anniversary logo and a wheel motif.

Price: ¥59,290 (tax included).
Bunta Fujiwara GC8 Model (IN45-GC8)

This one gets an "8" index at 12 o'clock.
The bezel is glossy stainless steel — no flash, just quiet, hard presence. ...So basically, it's Bunta.
The gauge-style sub-dials, skeleton dial and 30th-anniversary case back are shared with the AE86 model.

Price: ¥54,450 (tax included).
Bonus: A 30th-Anniversary Coin Keyholder
Both models come with an original coin keyholder featuring the Initial D 30th-anniversary logo.

By the Way, There's a Wangan Midnight Collab Too
More of a "midnight Bayshore Route" person than a mountain-pass person? ANGEL CLOVER has you covered.
Their first-ever collab with Michiharu Kusunoki's Wangan Midnight lands a little earlier, on August 7, 2026.

Two solar-powered models: the "Devil's Z" (Fairlady Z S30) and the "Blackbird" (Porsche 911 Turbo). A big "28" — as in the legendary L28 engine — dominates one dial, while "911" sits on the other. Each comes with a metal-plate keyholder of the hero car, priced at ¥36,300 (tax included).

Automatic on the touge, or solar on the Wangan. Pick your religion.
Product Info
Initial D 30th Anniversary Automatic Models
・Takumi Fujiwara TOYOTA AE86 model (IN45-AE86): ¥59,290 (tax incl.)
・Bunta Fujiwara SUBARU IMPREZA WRX (GC8) type R STi model (IN45-GC8): ¥54,450 (tax incl.)
・Release date: September 30, 2026
・Special page: https://angelclover.jp/feature/initiald/
Wangan Midnight Collaboration Models
・Akio Asakura Devil's Z model (WM40-Z) / Tatsuya Shima Blackbird model (WM40-BK): ¥36,300 each (tax incl.)
・Release date: August 7, 2026
・Special page: https://angelclover.jp/feature/wangan/
RAW JAPAN's Takeaway
Anime collab watches tend to scream "merch." These don't. A carbon bezel here, an "86" index there, a mechanical heartbeat behind a skeleton dial — to people who don't know, it's just a sharp-looking watch. To people who do, it hits right in the feels.
Thirty years after the serialization began, the boys who read it are now old enough to be on the Bunta side of the story. A father-and-son touge attack is probably a bad idea — so maybe start by passing something down to the next generation, one wrist at a time.
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