I just made a new post about the video in the hopes of recruiting people into our new fandom. Of course, I'm the worst fandom recruiter ever, so it may backfire....

The Wikipedia entry that I linked to about Suzuka was pretty harsh on the anime adaptation (I haven't read the manga). I remember it fondly in part because it was the first series that I watched in real-time, downloading the fansubs that were released within a day or so after each episode aired in Japan. I wouldn't put in my top ten favorite series, but I really liked the titular female character.

And Suzuka had some really lovely, moving scenes of the kind that I only really see in Asian television dramas and anime. The latter have a way of lingering on these complex, immersive, even poetic emotional moments that Western media -- even a show like Friday Night Lights -- tend to hold at a distance and cut away from quickly.