Hiya!

So, just a couple of months ago, I did my review of Initial D: Third Stage. As it was just a movie and not an episodic series, I really didn’t get my Initial D fix from it. However, the ending did signal huge changes for the series, with Ryosuke Takahashi recruiting Takumi Fujiwara, along with is trusty Trueno AE-86, to a touring race team with the goal of beating the local mountain racers. At the end of Third Stage, Takumi does join the team, which leads to the events of Initial D: Fourth Stage, which is the focus of this review.

Like with the previous Initial D animes, it was pretty easy for me to start watching Fourth Stage as the entire thing is available in Amazon Prime Video over here in the Philippines. You can find episodes sprinkled around on YouTube but, as everything was on Prime Video, I opt to just watch there. What I was found unexpected is how… different Fourth Stage feels when compared to all of the previous entries. The changes are understandable but, in a way, it does make me feel nostalgic of the sometimes simplistic storytelling of the previous Stages.

Before I do get to the review proper, I do have to mention this will be a SPOILER FILLED review. Although the entire original Initial D series has already concluded for several years now, as it’s not available in all parts of the world, some fans may not have seen the series in its entirety yet. As I do have to talk about specific moments for this review, I will dive into SPOILERS. You have been warned.

As mentioned, Initial D: Fourth Stage takes place shortly after the events of Third Stage. Ryosuke Takahashi has formed Project D, a touring race group consisting of Takumi Fujiwara and his Trueno AE86 and Keisuke Takahashi and his Mazda RX-7 FD. Project D travels to the different prefectures of Japan to challenge mountain racers in order to prove their supremacy against even local racers.

The entirety of Fourth Stage is focused on, well exactly this. It’s just Ryosuke Takahashi taking Takumi Fujiwara and Keisuke Fujiwara to different parts of Japan to race against unknown opponents. This is kind of Fourth Stage’s biggest strength and weakness.

One of the oddly positive aspects of this turn of events is Project D do come off kind of like the villains in the series! Although they are technically the main characters of Fourth Stage, a lot of the time, the story is told from the racers Project D is “invading.” Yes, I said “invading” because, from their point of view, Project D is a group that come off as very arrogant as they have to gall to challenge them in their home turf! It’s kind of like how the Akagi RedSuns from First Stage and Emperor were in Third Stage. However, as we’re still just following Project D, aside for a couple of characters, we don’t really get much time to form a connection with the local racers. So, in a way, it feels like a waste to introduce these characters only for them to be forgotten almost immediately.

The only real exception would be Kyoko Iwase. She also drives a Mazda RX-7 FD like Keisuke Takahashi and becomes a love interest for him. Honestly, their relationship is pretty sweet and, I don’t know, a little naive? It’s born from Kyoko’s interest in FD cars and, when she does meet a kindred spirit in Keisuke, they hit it off. However, after Keisuke breaks it off with her as he would want to concentrate on racing and Project D, she too disappears from the series. Well, that sucks! Initial D finally gets another female racer (the other one was Mako) and she’s quickly forgotten as well!

Getting back to the regular characters, some of them do feel like they’ve outlived their purpose. Because Takumi isn’t racing in his home turf anymore and is out travelling the country, the folks back home don’t really do much but gab about how good Project D and Takumi are doing! It does feel like whiplash to see and hear them talking about how impressed they are when we, the viewers, just saw the races!

There was also one point where they tried to give the Itsuki, Takumi’s best friend from high school a story arc. Well, it’s more of a continuation of a story arc he had in Second Stage. He meets up with Kazumi once again who he met during Second Stage and the two start seeing each other. It’s very short lived as Kazumi was just dating Itsuki to forget about her last boyfriend. This just felt like a waste of time and pure anime filler since this had nothing to do with Takumi or Project D! I get they needed to find a way to involve the old gang into the current story but this was just not the right way to go!

They really revved up the animation quality for Fourth Stage. Gone are the days of those PlayStation 1 looking car models. The characters also look really fleshed out this time as well and they don’t have that flat look to them from the previous other Stages. They also did a much better job of blending together the CGI and the cell animation here as they come off like they’re actually in the same scene instead of one looking like they were pasted on later. I will say everything does look just a little bit darker but, as the tone of Fourth Stage does come off as a little more serious, I do believe the change in the look is warranted.

Thanks to the animation upgrade, the races look better than ever. However, I do feel unsatisfied with how Takumi wins a couple of them. Before, he would win just because he’s a racing genius and he’s just running on instinct. In Fourth Stage, he does develop news skills and techniques, such as the “Blind Attack,” where he turns off the AE86’s headlights so his opponent doesn’t know where he’ll be trying to overtake. However, there are a couple of races where, ultimately, luck played more of a factor to him winning rather than pure skill.

The first time it happened was during his battle with Tomoyuki Tachi. A professional racer from the Todou School, Takumu uses the Blind Attack for the first time in order to try to overtake him. The thing is, the Blind Attack isn’t the actual reason he was able to win this race. Rather, it’s because a squirrel jumped across the street. Tomoyuki instinctively braked to avoid hitting the creature. Takumi didn’t brake because he couldn’t see the critter jump into the street because he didn’t have his headlights on!

What’s even more disappointing is the final race of Fourth Stage against God Hand. It was a grueling battle lasting several rounds. Takumi tried using his various moves, such as a modified Gutter Technique and the Blind Attack but this just led to the AE86 getting damaged from the strain of hanging onto Tsukuba‘s deeper canals. However, due to exhaustion, God Hand had to stop his car in order to vomit. This allowed Takumi and his badly damage AE86 to limp across the finish line first. Although both Takumi and God Hand agreed this should have been a technical loss due to how badly damaged the AE86 was, this was still recorded as a win for Project D as Takumi did cross the finish line first. That’s a weird way to end the final race of the Stage, isn’t it?

I also noticed a slight veering away from the “classic” Eurobeat soundtrack they used for Fourth Stage. Don’t get me wrong! They still mostly play the pumping disco during the races for the most part. However, there is a very tiny shift to a more rock influence here. This is obvious with, strangely enough, both of Fourth Stage’s opening songs! I do like them a whole lot but it just feels odd. Also, I just don’t think the songs stand out that much here as well. Maybe it’s because I’ve gotten used to the Eurobeat sound for Initial D and I’ve become somewhat desensitized. The music is good but nothing I would call memorable.

My feelings towards Initial D: Fourth Stage is mixed. The races are much more exciting and the animation is stellar. However, character development seems to have taken a back seat and the stories almost feel like filler now. In a weird way, I would say Fourth Stage is the best and also the worst of the Initial D series because of this. I liked it fine but I do find it lacks the personality of the previous Stages. It seems like making too many upgrades made it kind of lose what made it what it was in the first place.

Anyway, see you again when I review Fifth Stage in a couple of months, I guess.

Byee!

Have you seen Initial D: Fourth Stage? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comment section below!