Hiya!

Well, it’s finally come to this. The ending of Initial D. It’s been a long road since I reviewed Initial D: First Stage several years back. I’ve seen it grown from it using very early 3D animation to the more cel-shaded look it’s gotten as the years have passed. I watched Takumi Fujiwara from being a naive tofu delivery driver to a legendary street racer. I’ve watched the evolution of his less than powerful Toyota Trueno AE86 hatchback to a high-revving downhill monster. Alas, every story, like every race, has to come to an end. I have just watched the last couple of “stages” of Initial D, Fifth Stage and Final Stage, and I am ready to give my thoughts on them both.

So, as both Initial D: Fifth Stage and Final Stage has been out for a long time by now, I will be giving a few minor SPOILERS here. I won’t be revealing the winners of the races but I will be talking about some plot points as these did factor into my feelings towards them. So, yeah. SPOILERS incoming.

Initial D: Fifth Stage and Final Stage is a direct continuation of Fourth Stage. Ryosuke Takahashi and his Project D continues to challenge street racers all over Japan. However, as Project D’s notoriety has grown, the other street racers have banded together to develop more effective strategies to counter Keisuke Takahashi‘s Mazda RX-7 FD and Takumi Fujiwara’s AE86, including scouting their races, in the hopes of finding a way to beat them. While this is happening, a mysterious street racer, who is willing to drive without caring for his safety or his opponent’s and who may have a connection with Ryosuke Takahashi, explodes into the scene as well.

First off, I do have to talk about the races themselves, as this is generally the primary focus of any Initial D series. The animation is gorgeous as the car models look phenomenal! They also do a lot of stylistic flourishes in some of the races, like cars simply phasing out of existence when turning a corner because of how fast they’re going. The animators also do a great job of seamlessly integrating the traditional cel-shaded animations, which include the characters, with the 3D car models.

Unfortunately, while all of that should make the races the highlight of the show, they’re kinda boring. It’s not really the fault of the animators but rather the lack of passion in the writing. Despite this supposedly being Project D’s most difficult area as all the racers are almost on a professional level, none of them have any real personality! I had a hard time trying to distinguish one racer from another because they all act the same and they all have the same motive of “I must be the one to deliver Project D’s first loss.”

The same thing can be said for the cars they drive. I know they’re inanimate objects but, in the earlier “stages,” the vehicles everyone drove had some distinguishing trait to differentiate themselves from one another. All I know is they’re finely tuned cars or they’re supposed to have a powerful engine or something like that. They don’t have a unique thing to them, which also helps with connecting to the personality of the racer who’s driving them. The same can also be said for some of the roads they race on. A few of them have a neat “gimmick” to them and, when someone like Keisuke Takahashi, uses it to his advantage, the win feels a little bit more earned.

While we’re generally on the topic of appearances and personalities, I have to talk about some of the redesigns the Fifth Stage and Final Stage did for a couple of the main characters: Keisuke Takahashi and Ryosuke Takahashi. I hate them! Keisuke’s overall redesign isn’t that big of a deal as all they essentially did was shorten his spikey hair a little bit. What I really hate the overhaul they did with Ryosuke! They gave him a totally different hairstyle, lightened his skin tone a big and made him look a little less intense! It took me a while to realize the white guy with the floofy hair was Ryosuke because of how different he looks! I’m sorry but when you have a character look the same way for 4 seasons, I don’t think you can simply change his design during the last season without a good explanation!

Speaking of Ryosuke Takahashi, I guess the reason why they gave him a “kinder” look is because of his subplot with the dangerous racer I mentioned in the summary. Basically, the two fell in love with the same girl a while back and things ended badly for everyone involved. Ryosuke used this tragedy as his impetus to form Project D. His rival, on the other hand, became a racer with a death wish. This entire storyline comes off as very forced. We didn’t need to have a weird reason for Ryosuke to form an elite racing team. It also comes really late in the series, making it come off as very forced. In the grand scheme of things, this doesn’t really impact the story as well. So, this comes off as very unnecessary and feels like additional padding to an already long story.

Both the Fifth Stage and Final Stage also elevate Takumi Fujiwara’s driving skills to an almost godlike level, which I didn’t like too much. It was fine when people thought Takumi was just some innate natural genius when it comes to driving. I was even okay when he would win a couple of his races through blind luck or how his losses were never official because of one reason or another. It a whole new level when you have the very analytical Ryosuke Takahashi starts to describe Takumi as entering the “Fujiwara Zone” because of how skilled he is at handling the AE86! Just say he’s a natural at driving! You don’t have to give it a name!

Takumi does get a little more character development throughout Fifth Stage as he does get a new girlfriend in Mika. I do like their meet-cute as Mika only crosses paths with Takumi because a scummy duo pretending to be Project D hits on one of her friends. When the “Takumi” from the fake Project D dumps her out of the blue, Mika confronts Takumi at the gas station he used to work at. Once the real Project D threaten the fake team and force the fake “Takumi” to apologize, Mika and Takumi start to get a little bit closer. I actually like this side story but the problem here is it doesn’t really affect Takumi in any meaningful way. I’m glad he found someone other than that harlot Natsuki Mogi. I just wish it showed Takumi change in some way to develop his character.

Now, the reason why I decided to rate both Fifth Stage and Final Stage is because they are essentially one complete tale. The entirety of Fifth Stage is more of Project D’s journey to beat every street racing team. It all culminates in Final Stage where Takumi faces off against his greatest rival, Shinji. Shinji is supposed to mirror Takumi Fujiwara’s journey in the street racing field. He started driving to help out his family, specifically, his mother who was always tired after working. He also drives an AE86 but the 2-door model. He’s also supposed to be unbeatable in his home turf of Tsubaki Line as, because of how often he’s driven on this road, he has memorized the most ideal racing path as well as what speed to use to minimize his time. Despite his obvious skills, much like Takumi during the early few Stages, Shinji doesn’t really like racing.

The problem is Shinji is a booooooring character! A part of the problem is we’re introduced to Shinji very late into Fifth Stage. It’s there to give him some plot development and to show how he’s a lot like Takumi. The issue is we’re only told his story and we never see his story. In fact, the only reason why he decided to race against Takumi by Final Stage is because he wanted to be a “hero.” In reality, he just wanted to get with Mako. Oh, they try to make it so he also realizes how driving can be enjoyable, once again, much like with Takumi. However, the real impetus is he thinks Mako is hot.

On a side note, regarding Shinji’s driving style, it actually mimics my way of driving! I’m not kidding! When rolling on a downhill slope, I tend to not use the foot brake and just rely on the clutch pedal. I don’t know where I got that habit from but, despite most people telling me it’s dangerous, I’ve never gotten into an accident rolling downward. Even through the steep ramps of commercial parking garages, I still use the clutch while I just generally feather the brake. It’s weird but it works for me. That doesn’t mean I now identify with Shinji any better as I still think his personality is as boring as watching paint dry. It’s just something I noticed.

I will say he does come off as a formidable opponent for Takumi as the race is fairly engrossing. Although Takumi has already faced someone before who can beat him out of turns, Shinji seems a little more unique as his car, although not the finely tuned beast as Takumi’s AE86 has become, is still capable because of how many turns the track has. Takumi can’t just race past him in the straights using his more powerful engine because of this.

My biggest issue with the race is, well, Shinji. Because he wants to be a “hero” (or just show off to Mako), he lets Takumi pass early on. This is so he can see “Takumi’s wings” as well as pass him later on right in front of Mako. It’s his overconfidence which did him in, which is kind of weird because they established he didn’t really have much of an ego prior. I guess that’s what happens when a guy thinks with the wrong head?

I don’t like this because, after Shinji does pass Takumi, he’s unable to shake him, leading him to believe he’s not good enough… like how he felt before the race started. I get they’re trying to make him naive and the slightest hint of trouble causes him to spiral because he’s young. However, as he was made out to be like how Takumi was at the start of the series, this doesn’t work. I will say I do like the conclusion as Takumi does figure out another of Shinji’s biggest weaknesses and this allows him to use his Blind Attack to much greater effect.

Overall, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed by both Fifth Stage and Final Stage. It’s just lacking the personality of the previous Stages. Despite things looking much prettier and more realistic, it’s also missing the liveliness and magic of what made the earlier episodes entrancing. To me, this does make Initial D creep over the finish line instead of exploding through it.

Byee!

Have you seen Initial D: Fifth Stage and Final Stage? How does it compare to the earlier episodes? Let me know in the comments section below!