If you know what anime is, chances are you're going to spend a lot of time in prison in the near future, or at least get banned from driving through school zones. This is accomplished in two ways. Either you develop a new theory on lowering the age of consent, like significantly, or a new theory on how to use the Wendy's drive-thru at 183 mph, killing two people. If you chose the latter, then you may want to consider watching Initial D. [Music] If you've been living under the roof of a house, you've probably never watched the classic street racing anime, Initial D. Despite its relevance in internet meme subcultures thanks to his Eurobbee soundtrack. [Music] It remains astonishingly niche. I recently took a survey at my local Ross Dress for Less about whether or not people had actually seen Initial D and 100% of people told me to get [ __ ] That sample include the elderly, children, single mothers, the Chinese, Pizza Hut assistant managers. Initial D just somehow, despite everything that it has going for it, remains this underdog, mysterious franchise that people know of but don't watch. Whatever your reason for not watching Initial D yet, I'm here to tell you that you're wrong and stupid. And no matter what your wife said to you, as she succumbed to the fatal car accident, she didn't love you and it was your fault. But what is initial D anyway? Well, it's a bit of [Music] [Applause] [Applause] What the hell? Initial D is a coming of age story about how sometimes all a young man needs to find himself and realize his dreams is fast cars and [ __ ] Takami Fujiwar is your average everyday anime protagonist. Skilled beyond reason and endlessly endearing. They want him to be relatable to viewers, so he's incredibly stupid and doesn't understand social situations. The goal was for viewers to point at the screen and say, "Oh, wow. That's me." Except you can't do this or this. The series deals with the complex realities of navigating high school and romance while also learning who you are by driving your dad's Toyota Corolla really fast. In Initial D, finding the perfect exit point in your drift may be hard, but nothing's harder than growing up. I know you never use that brain of yours, but here you are acting like you're thinking about something constantly. She's become a part of me. I don't know. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about all the different things that could happen to us in the future. He's just cynical about driving. You know, typical rebel teenage BS. Driving is actually kind of cool. Your dad's seriously taking the car and you've got no idea when he's coming back. Well, nothing except maybe duct taping your hand to your [ __ ] steering wheel and breaking your arm when you screw up your attempted murder. It's a love letter to the street racing world of late 90s Japan. Taking a shownen type approach to depicting the intense and exciting high-speed races from the time. And especially the drifting. So much drifting. So much [ __ ] awesome drifting set to stupid loud Euro beat. It's so cool. Let's talk about the bread and butter of the series, the races. They are fantastic. The mountains of Japan. These are where we'll be spending the bulk of our time in Initial D. And you'll be spending it with Oh god, lowbudget '90s CGI. I could have sworn I was watching Initial D, not Hammud Habiti. So, um, here's the thing. If you have a thing against CGI and anime or cartoons, the show may give you primal rage. But before you go into your TED shed, let me just tell you that they could have done the whole show in this style. We're lucky. And honestly, it doesn't look that bad. You get used to it. I promise. Sure, the background spikes are clearly PGs that can't move, but neither can you. Anyway, like I said, imagine a shownen and the overexaggerated extremity of every action. And now apply that to street racing. What do you get? An erection that lasts for over 38 hours and 16 minutes. A good initial dra has four elements. One, a solid setup. Race this guy so dad will buy you gas and you can take your skank ass hoe to the beach. Race this guy because he hurt your friend and duct taping your hand to the steering wheel sounds fun. Race this guy so your friend can get laid. No, that's a real one. Check it out. I want to race the 86 here on my home turf. That's my final wish as a racer. If you help me, I'll even give you my virginity. You got to give us a reason to want to see our boy win. He's the race car boy. He's the one who wins. Two, a crazy driving technique. The race has got to do something cool like drive on the side of the road, gutter drift, reverse drift. It has to make me say, "Hell yeah." Three, the race should also have interesting camera work. Keep it close to the cars cuz that feels faster. And if anyone's going to talk, make damn sure it's important and doesn't waste our time. That's do a lot of shaky cam. Make it visually interesting. Later seasons are going to [ __ ] this up. Four. Euro beat. Euro beat. Euro beat. Eurob beat. Euro beat. Eurob beat existed way before Initial D. Being an offshoot of dance music, which is an offshoot of regular music, which is an offshoot of bird noises. Eurob beat is a collaboration between Italy and Japan, which right off the bat sounds like a bad idea to anyone who took 10th grade history. But unlike the commercial failure that was the axis powers of World War II, Eurob beat is all about high octane, fast-paced dance music that makes you feel like mainlining [ __ ] into your own ass. Why? Who cares? The point is that this music makes you feel unstoppable. A perfect fusion of European electronic dance with raging metal guitars and bizarre lyrics about incernible [ __ ] The point is, Eurobbeat was a relatively niche genre to anyone who didn't dress like the Deckers from Saints III in 1990s Japan. But thanks to a stroke of genius, the crew realized that this pumping insane music made this, this is insane, into this. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] They're coming right at us. Eurobbee matches the high heart rate you have when you're speeding on a mountain where one wrong turn means death. It matches the adrenaline. It is racing. Do you know Disney commissioned an official Euro beat remix of that sad song When She Loved Me from the Toy Story 2 soundtrack? She was my whole world. every hour together. Later seasons lost this magic recipe, and I'll talk more on that later, but essentially, this is what you're in for. Twists and turns, but also twists and turns. You learn a bit about the cars, too. It took me from being a poopy [ __ ] ass who knew nothing of cars to a shitty poop ass who owns a Gran Turismo game. I mean, honestly, if you can watch a race from Initial D and especially the earlier stages and not like what you see, I straight up just hate you. We're not meant to cross paths. Before I go in depth and discuss each and every inch of this goddamn series, let's go over some real life history just to uh explain what exactly the [ __ ] is going on here. In the beginning, God made the 1983 Torino AE86. An unassuming Toyota Corolla hatchback that for some reason, beyond my expertise, happens to be one of the best and most influential drift cars of all time. The Tueno AE86 is a lot like this ball of tin foil. It may look like trash, but under the right conditions, it can shine like a star. If you want me to actually explain why this car is good, that's tough. I can't. I'm an Initial D fan. I think it looks cool, though. Pop-up headlights need to come back. [ __ ] a pedestrian. Later on in the 1970s, Kunimitsu Takahashi, a Japanese circuit racer, learned how to control under steer and developed a new technique called drifting. 40 years later, an American teenage boy named Tyler will crash his dad's 2003 Camry trying to do donuts in the Costco parking lot. He'll be without a Game Boy Advance for 2 weeks. Somewhere between this, during the 1980s, Kichchi Sushia, a student of Takahashi, would dawn the title of drift king because he was actually really good at it, unlike Tyler, who lost his Game Boy Advance for being so [ __ ] at it. Sushia had this brilliant idea to teach kids that drifting was epic. So, he partnered with Japanese racing magazines to produce the PlusB videos, which were so cool and successful, the Japanese government suspended his license. But the damage was done. You can't suspend the future. And the teenagers of Japan decided not to masturbate themselves to death playing Puckman like they had planned. Instead, they would drift. You ever get just kind of sad thinking about how it's too late? You'll never be part of the golden age of drifting. Meanwhile, in the 1980s, a young upandcomer named Shagro Miiamoto would conceptualize a future gaming console based on drifting. Turns out people wouldn't like it very much. Back in 1983, a young upandcomer named Shajino Shiuchi had been writing a manga series called Bari Bari Legend, which featured street racing with motorcycles. But that's not important, and neither was any of the other [ __ ] he wrote because in 1996, he said, "Fuck me in my ass, bro. I got to make Initial D now." So he called up Kchi Sushia and said, "It's time to make Initial D. Please tell me how cars work." And the two would write Initial D together. So, now that we have the complex lore out of the way, I wanted to take a deep look at each stage of Initial D, discuss what I liked, what I didn't, why I think the series fell off towards the end, and just have a good old longass time cracking jokes with my boys about this dumbass street racing show that changed my life. Initial. Initial D is broken up into stages, much like the process for grieving after the loss of a loved one or Super Mario. And just like the stages of grief, Initial D's first stage is also about denial. You see, our boy Takami may be able to drive like, but he ain't a street racer. All right, look, I don't drive like that because I like to. I drive like that because that's what I have to do to help out at home. Takami is much more of a kind of guy. He spends his day working at the gas station and only this hot wait hot Japanese sexy school girl with a fat ass can really get his attention. But how did a guy who doesn't care about driving get so good? Allow me to explain his father's master plan. Step one, open a tofu restaurant. Make my son deliver the tofu at 4 in the morning every day. Why would you want your son to be good at street racing? What a stupid [ __ ] question. I assume you want your son to be good at color guard, right? See, Takami was just like you and me once. He loved, he lost, he had fears instead of being this vengeful Sheba of the road he would someday become. But all that changed when he crossed Queske Takahashi and changed the game forever. His quiet life is turned upside down by challenges from this strange and new world of underground street racing. He starts hitting the drug known as sick ass drifts and he's addicted for life. And I mean that's basically the whole plot. Takami realizes he likes driving and goes on awesome street races as he comes to terms with what his life is now. It seeks to answer the big questions like, "Am I faster than this guy? What if there's an even more inside line called the grass next to the inside line? Can a street racer and some [ __ ] really fall in love? This show is like eating a peanut butter jelly sandwich. It's simple, but it can still go toe-to-toe with the best of them. Initial D, First Stage is a very special moment in a young man's life. It's like putting on an old baseball glove or asking your seventh grade crush out on a date to see the newest Drain Johnson movie, Snitch. And I've seen that entire movie. 1 hour and 52 minutes of my life were spent in that film and I forgot 100% of it. But I'll never forget Initial D First Stage. Initial D First Stage is one of those lightning in a bottle moments in history. It's so cozy and relaxing while also being The animation has that signature '90s anime look with big expressive eyes, cartoony expressions, city pop background music. It it creates this inviting and familiar atmosphere that feels like you're hanging out with the guys force-feeding your best friend gasoline so he becomes Megatron. I think the characters are really what make First Stage so enjoyable. They feel like real people who could actually exist. The interactions feel like a couple of real ass dudes work at a gas station and talk [ __ ] about each other in cars. Eatsky Takami's best friend. He's a fat [ __ ] with a heart of [ __ ] and he provides much of the comic relief to the show. He claims to be a car enthusiast but did not know the obvious difference between 86 Torino and 8511 which is of course uh pop-up headlights I guess but he wears this outfit and that outfit goes hard as hell so I like him. You just you can't hate the little guy. Iski also serves as a way to bully the audience as I just kind of sits on the sideline of every race screaming about how cool Takami is and how the 86 is so cool and it's impossible for them to lose. You're supposed to be uncomfortable during these scenes so you remember it when you two go off to accidentally buy an 85 cuz you thought it was an 86 and want to be talking. Also, if anyone is selling an 85 in South Dakota, please let me know. Kenji, why are you always at the gas station? You don't work here. Iani is one of the most tragic characters in anime history. Imagine Yamcha, but he was never cool. Ikatani is the leader of the Akina Speed Stars racing team and works at the gas station with Takami and Izzki. Ikatani isn't particularly good at racing, nor is he that great of a mechanic or smart. He likes cars and while he is definitely a better driver than I am, his skills are basically non-existent when contrasted to nearly anyone else in the series. There's a weird arc where he finds out this girl he went on a date with is actually the fastest street racer in her town and he gets inexplicably pissed at her, but then she offers to [ __ ] him if Takami gives her a good race. Takami, get in the 86 or Kenji will have to do it again. After he [ __ ] up having sex with her because he's the dumbest boy there ever was, him and Isizki become the lonely drivers. You and me, we're the lonely drivers. Ikotani is a passionate guy. Not passionate enough to train and get better, but passionate enough to crash his car and then beg Takami's dad to race the Red Suns. He cares about his hometown of Aina a lot. And before Takami came along, Iani held the entire pride of his city on his shoulders. And there's nothing a street racer loves more than their hometown and holding the fastest lap times and winning the races held there. You got to win the races for all the AA speed stars like Kenji and him and that guy. The boys Bonta Takami's dad with an unknown power level. He can drift a car with no hands while lighting a cigarette. Takami's mother is never shown or mentioned once in the entire extended franchise, so we can only assume she died from an extreme case of [ __ ] It's my personal head cannon that Takami's mother was just some groupy [ __ ] that Bonta knocked up. So, he gave up racing to open up a tofu restaurant that he kotically hates just so Taki could have a good life. This is the most logical answer. Despite being designed by a Japanese man, his caliber of squinty eyes still feels incredibly uncomfortable to me. But Ponta is cool as [ __ ] He actively encourages his son to street race and is a very chill drunk. He spends his evenings reading the newspaper and hanging out with his best friend, Yuichi, who he hates. But it's not just the main speed star boys we see in every episode that spice it up. It's the side characters, too. The drama of the street racing scene as Taki rips and tears through them is so much fun. Unlike most anime where the stakes are like the fate of the universe or demonic invasions and [ __ ] Initial D is like, "Who's going to be the fastest driver on this random mountain road, but they treat it with the same level of hype and energy as any other shownen would, so it's still just as entertaining. Like, yeah, they might get hurt and die, but honestly, the consequences for their dangerous passions are nearly non-existent and barely acknowledged more than a handful of times throughout the whole series. And the police just don't exist. Everyone treats street racing so seriously. There's power structures, legendary drivers, egos, and pride. Like, Rioski is wearing a suit in this scene. Like, his hobby couldn't very easily get innocent normal drivers killed. The arc about the night kids, Nakazado and Shingo, and their shifting power dynamics early on is treated like rival brothers battling for their father's kingdom or some insane epic [ __ ] And in reality, it's just two [ __ ] who want to be the fastest driver on their team. Oh. Oh, and I got to talk about the Takahashi brothers. They're the leaders of the Akagi Red Suns, and they're the fuckest group of street racers you ever did saw. What do you say, guys? We can exchange some ideas and maybe even make some friends. [ __ ] [ __ ] Kesuke is basically Vegeta. He's Takami's biggest enemy, but only he knows it. Takami doesn't really give a [Music] [ __ ] Rioske is the cool, quiet, and scary one. Rioske is a quiet computer using [ __ ] who has never lost a single race ever. He may be quieter, but just like high school, it's the quiet ones you want to look out for. The most dangerous person in the room isn't the one with the gun, it's the one with the book. Let's read his manga bio real quick. Likes his beloved FC. Dislikes. Stupid big breasted women. His life's work is developing a theory for ultimate speed on public roads. His one weakness is his affection for his younger female cousin. Yeah, I suppose when you put it like that, maybe he is a little bit unhinged and insane. First stage culminates in a big battle between Takami and Rioke Takahashi. Rioske is a fantastic final boss to the season because although he's always been there, he's kind of just been in the background. This terrifying, incredible driver who's been watching Takami stack up wins, doesn't feel the same disdain his colleagues feel. Rioski never lost a race before, so most racers bore him with their shitty cool cars and expensive mods because he still wins in an 80s RX7 FC anyway. They're all style, no skills. So, this high school kid drifting in his dad's Torino 86, pissing off the entire street racing world is very exciting to him. He sees a bit of himself in Takami. All of Takami's challengers in the past have doubted him, not taken it seriously, been [ __ ] and overall just underestimated the [ __ ] out of him despite their better judgment. But Rioke is different because he takes it very seriously for a good reason. He wants Takami to take it seriously. He wants to see what he can do. Rioke loves racing. He loves the mountains and he loves this sport. And to him, Takami is the one who embodies everything he loves about it. So he and Takami engage in one last balls to the walls race. And if Rioske loses, he'll retire forever. What follows is easily one of, if not the best race in the series. If you've seen it, you've seen it. If not, why the [ __ ] are you still watching? I'm literally going to spoil the entire series. Anyway, what I'm getting at here is I really loved First Stage. It works as its own little self-contained story about finding your passions, changing the world, learning who you are, while also being this really quaint and comfy story about one summer in a small town in Japan where you and your friends casually risk death all the time because it's fun. A time before cell phones and Angry Birds. In the 90s, we had illegal toge racing. What do we have now? SJWs. Uh but yeah, Initial D, First Stage, [ __ ] 10 out of 10 right up there. [ __ ] Yuyu Haka Show. Goddamn uh uh goddamn the um [ __ ] I don't watch that much [Music] anime. This looks like the [ __ ] nutshack. Stage two decided to animate with computers, and boy does it make me wish Y2K actually happened and they had to animate this the traditional way that costs more and takes longer. That doesn't even make sense. Second stage is undoubtedly the second part of Initial D. There's nowhere else it fits on the timeline, taking place pretty much immediately after the events of the first stage. The second stage sees Takami enter his rage phase. Everything is looking up for Takami at the beginning. He's got a good old-fashioned Japanese girlfriend who totally doesn't have a secret sugar daddy. He's an undefeated racer. His engine works. Andy survived the art style change relatively well. But then she actually does have a sugar daddy. And he gets defeated because his engine explodes. But like I was telling you earlier, man, I never considered this thing a real race. Oh, never mind. You didn't get defeated. This season is all about how sometimes, [ __ ] man, sometimes your car explodes. Sometimes your dad puts a group A 20 valve cylinder top 4A-ge engine in your car as a prank and you can't figure out how to drive it because he doesn't install a proper tachometer as a prank. This season is like boom and then oomph and then ow and then yikes and then [ __ ] dude. Second stage sees more intense and wild races. This time pushing Takami mentally and making him question how good he really is and whether or not his 86 can handle the challenges. Second stage sees the GMA Prefecture face off against the threatening emperors with their four-wheel drive Mitsubishi Lancer Evos and advanced driving techniques ravaging every team in their path until only Takami and Rioke stand between the emperors and total domination. painting a beautiful final stand, seeing enemy teams who feuded in the past put aside their differences to show these out of town rich kids that good driving can't be bought. Well, sort of. It sort of does that for the first like four episodes before Takami beats them fairly easily and then they just race because they want to. Second Sage really builds the emperors up as these threatening, imposing figures only to kind of squander their potential immediately. Defending the pride of your hometown has been a theme since the beginning of the series, starting with the Speed Stars versus the Red Sons. With that in mind, imagine if the Emperors were the antagonist the whole season, slowly working their way through racers as Takami begins to struggle with the 86. As his opponents get newer cars, he can still blow up his engine in a rage after finding out that Natsky was a hoe. But this time, because he hasn't raced the emperors yet, the tension is tuned all the way up as the big final stand race that decides if the emperors have conquered the prefecture hasn't happened yet. Build it up to a climactic showdown between Takami and Rioke versus the two best drivers in the emperors. Make this stage about community. Instead, the emperors basically stop being a threat by episode 8. It's not bad. It's just the emperors are such a cool idea. Nothing is really done with them. The next five episodes are just about Takami learning his engine, Iski trying to [ __ ] this girl. He doesn't. And Takami racing her brother Wateroo who also drives an 86. It's not bad though. There's still a lot to appreciate here. Second Stage is a very human and brutal story about how rage, pride, and passion can create a deadly and destructive world for ourselves, but it can also drive us to achieve our dreams. Spite is a powerful weapon to conquer the depressive spiral that comes in the wake of defeat. But if you can't control that energy, it will control you. Natsky gets a job at a restaurant called Fast Hamburger. Second Stage is a shorter offering coming in at only 13 episodes, so not too much happens. I'm not here to recap every episode, but the point is the races are still top-notch. The Euro beat is still here and still great. The plot has plenty of twists and turns, of which I have spoiled all of them. In the end, Takami learns an important lesson. Put a race car engine in the 86, it'll be [ __ ] hilarious. [Music] Oh, never mind. might have to talk about the Mako and Saiyuki OVA [Music] first. They exist. In episode one, Mako races against the emperors. I don't remember if she wins. In episode two, she goes on a date with some guy who wants her to quit street racing. She doesn't. [Music] All I remember from this OVA and all anyone else remembers is that we get to see Mako and Saiuki naked because Shuchi is a very horny man and Mako and Syuki just happen to be drawings who can't say no. Was it necessary? No. Was it drawing to see titties in this show? Very much. Initial. Initial D. Third stage is a Christmas movie. [Music] I just want to save my baby. Taki must learn an even more important message. Sometimes you have to sacrifice the things you love. This time is your car suspension. Third Stage is a movie rather than a season. Why' they do this? I don't know. I wasn't there. I was an infant. But because it's a movie, the animation went from really good-looking Newgrounds animation to godamn Studio Ghibli. Crisp smooth as hell. If you've been watching on Hulu, they did a sneaky little prank and they didn't put this one on the platform because we were born to suffer. It's on Funimation's website for free, I think. But, uh, Funimation's website. If the first stage was denial and the second stage was rage, then third stage is bargaining because Takami goes to the store. Third stage is all about what Takami is going to do with his life. Should he join Rioke's fastest Encanto project and help Rioke and Kesuke invade neighboring towns and conquer all their mountains? Wait, wasn't that the emperor's goal? Don't we hate them? Wait, wasn't that also the Red Sun's goal? Don't we hate them? Or should Takami get back together with his stupid girlfriend, Natsky? I don't know. Anyway, this movie rocks. It's got three races in it. A rematch with the leader of the emperors. I don't remember his name. If I had to call this one, I'd say it's a tie. No, you won. Godamn it. A race against the son of Bonta's arch nemesis. [Music] Nothing ever really prepares you for how much that race rocks. And finally, a race against a guy who kidnapped Nazki to her. Wait, what the [ __ ] So, remember back in first stage when there were flashbacks to talk me punching that guy for talking [ __ ] about Nazki? This is the guy. He's back and quite frankly, I can't say I think he's a very good guy. Third stage concludes with a dramatic highstakes chase up and down Mount Aina as Takami must save Natsky before it's too late. Impossible. How could a relic like that tailgate a four-wheel drive? He said to a competitive rally car. Besides the races, it's mostly just about Taki wrapping up his big character arcs that have been in play since the beginning. Does he want to race for the rest of his life? Does he want to date Natsky? Can these two aspects possibly coexist? Will he accept Keske's offer to train with him and Rioske's new team so they can have a dramatic final rematch afterwards? God, I can't wait to see that rematch. Third Stage is good for what it is, and what it is is a simple little movie about jumping your Corolla off a cliff. It's got plenty of heart and soul, and the races are fun and unique to this movie while also looking beautiful the whole way through. I don't really feel like there were any missed opportunities here. It wraps up everything real nicely. Takami decides to join Rioke's secret racing team project and Nazki goes to college in Tokyo, which obviously means they can't date anymore and they go their separate ways forever. Yeah, I'm glad we spent all that time on that. At the end of the day, Initial D Third Stage didn't need to be a movie, but neither did Steve Irwin's Funeral. Yet, I own both on DVD. Just kidding. [Music] I've never watched these. I've never watched these, but that's because they're just reanimations of earlier races in the newer CGI and also a never-before-seen race with Kesuke and some guy. I don't care. Whatever. [ __ ] it. Does this make me a fraud? Fourth stage is where everything gets [ __ ] The initial timeline gets [ __ ] The character motivations get [ __ ] The themes of defending one's home turf gets [ __ ] The side characters get [ __ ] Eat gets [ __ ] No, just kidding. Maybe in fifth stage [Music] though. Fourth stage is all about that local community menace/ psychopath Rioke's fastest encanto project. Now officially dubbed project D. What D stands for is a secret. For some reason, Project D's goal is simple. Invade and conquer every mountain in the Kanto region, destroying each team along the way without being defeated even one time. Little did Shui know this would take 12 years to make, just like Boyhood. There's a few problems I have with Project D. I thought invading teams were bad. Pretty much since the first episode, we've been taught that invading teams trying to swoop in and disrespect the locals were [ __ ] who are bad. Half of Second Stage was about that. Now, sure, at its core, Initial D is a sports drama series, and in sports, you either have a defending team or an invading team. And the first three stages were already about defending your home course with a few exceptions. But I don't know. This still feels weird to me for our boys to be on the other side of it coming into their homes and rough and tumbling these dudes. Project D is ridiculous. I mean, not only do they have dedicated mechanics for each car, but also multiple vans full of tires, parts, advanced computer simulations. I mean, godamn. They're basically Dragnov from Rocky 4. But for some reason, they're the ones we're supposed to be rooting for. The original three stages worked so well for me and most people because Takami and the 86 were the underdogs, showing up to races with nothing but raw skill in the faces of devastating odds. Now he is the devastating odds and it's less fun. [Music] Because of all these things, Fourth Stage is categorized as depression. It's kind of just sad. Nazski is gone. Takami doesn't understand how to drive all-wheel drive cars. He has no time for the boys anymore. He's lonely. All these teams are sad because they totally dumpstered it. I'm sad because I'm out of Cheetos. I think for the most part the races in four stage still rock tits and most have some pretty iconic and unforgettable moments in them like this one that I frequently find myself wondering how the [ __ ] they do that. No stop. What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing with your life? Me. Welcome to Dark Souls, [ __ ] And this one. This is crap. That 86 can do it, then I can do it, [Music] too. Comparing a race in first to fourth, however, I absolutely prefer first stage races. This one corner in the Uzi Pass race is more exciting than probably anything from Third Stage onward. See, the way the show portrays the races subtly starts to change over time to be simpler and less exciting. And really, it all comes down to the music, pacing, and editing in the races. These things used to go apeshit. Characters would talk over the Euro beat. People's faces would cut in like a comic book. The drivers would be super emotive and expressive. It it was pretty much edited like a music video, really. And now it's sort of like that, but it's more toned down for the most part. Races in four stage are mostly chill and tame until the end and then they go apehit and it's cool. I mean, look, it's not all boring. Obviously, they try to keep their best up, but I I don't know. I can't explain. It just feels off. It feels wrong. If nothing else, the biggest detriment to the races in four stage overall is just that Takami's story ended in third stage. The whole point of the series has been to push him to the point where he can finally admit to himself and others that he wanted to race for the rest of his life. And each race contributed to that revelation. Now that he's past that point, he has like one inner conflict to deal with. Should I stop driving the 86 for a more powerful car? Nah. Kes becomes a main character this season, and we learn a lot about his backstory and who he really is. And who he really is is godamn hysterical. In first stage, we watched Ikotani blow his chances with a really cool and beautiful street racing girl who would have been perfect for him. It was very frustrating. Then in the second stage, we watched Takami leave Natsky because of her destitute lifestyle. And it's very frustrating because Saiyuki totally would have [ __ ] him and god damn. Oh, and ski of course several times. So, when this cool street racer girl Kiyoko with her black RX7 FD single turbo engine shows up to race KSK and develops a very obvious crush on him, we're already battleh hardened soldiers ready for the typical initial D romance side plot beats. Great chemistry followed by them not dating for no reason. But Kesuke and Kiyoko are unlike anything I've ever seen in the story before. Keske is a sociopath. In one scene, he'll give her a nice, warm, classic case smile, and in the next, he'll call her a [ __ ] I'm sorry to hear you try to beat me in a car that isn't maintained. That's just sloppy. And there's not one exciting thing about battling a driver who doesn't give a crap about their own car. And then she'll cry and he'll be like, "Just kidding. Let's fix your car." So, she's like, "Oh, I can make him love me by starting in front so that way he has to watch me drive and respect me." And it's actually a pretty cool gimmick for a race, and it seems to have worked pretty well. So, she goes to visit him at his home course and he tells her to [ __ ] off. I want to see you. I want to keep seeing you. If it's here or out or wherever, I don't care. You don't get it. I told you I didn't want you here. But here you are pushing yourself on me. Okay, so he doesn't like her. Whatever. Guess she's just going to drive around and oh [ __ ] it's his car. Better go touch it. Nah, that's what he should have done. Instead, they go get lunch and sleep in her car. I guess they're friends now. She loans her car out to him after his is destroyed by a Mario Kart oil slick. And they spend an entire day together, seeing beautiful vistas, going to fancy restaurants, learning about each other's lives. And case even tells her that he has no interest in dating her cuz driving is more important to him. Wait, what? But I just can't date anyone right now. Please don't come see me anymore. [Music] Are you serious? Good show. Waffle copter. Bro, you still have to drive her home. She lives in a different town. You took her here. That's probably like a halfhour drive. Why did you do all this? Let alone, why did you do all this here? Kiyoko is heartbroken, obviously, but she has just one request. Drive as hard as you can. Go all out. [Music] [Applause] [Music] She's lamenting that she'll never be with him and crying while he's just like I'm driving. Well, besides all that, what else does Fourth Stage have that I haven't talked about yet? Those scenes. That one. Am I missing something? [Music] Where are you forever? Are you kidding me? That scene is Initial D's version of when Goku goes Super Saiyan for the first time. Although it rocked less when Takami only won because an animal ran in front of the other guy and scared him. Which is also kind of like that episode where Takami only wins because the guy threw up. I think these [ __ ] DSX Machina wins signal a pretty big problem that the rest of Initial D is going to suffer from. Takami can't lose. Second stage touched on this very briefly. Bonta openly wanted Takami to lose so the taste of defeat will humble him. And while it sort of happens, it doesn't really. Takami and by aligning himself with Takami. Now Keskate become a bit boring to watch. Before when they were independent racers more or less anything could happen. No race was ever decided before it started. But now that the entire conceit of the series is centered around this massive goal of conquering every mountain in the Kanto region, it becomes pretty obvious that they are going to do that. It's too big to fail. I don't envy the position that Shagino had put himself into. You can't leave Project D and do something more interesting, at least not for a long time, because most people really liked Project D. What helped early races feel more intense was that we had time to know the opponents to at least a certain degree. They had conflicts and relationships with the main characters personally that met during the races. But here, it's just we're racing because that's what we're going to do. The 86 became a pop cultural icon thanks to Initial D. So, making Takami switch to a more powerful car is out of the question. man is also kind of antithetical to the whole point of the show, driver, not car. But once he adapted a sliding timeline to allow more modern cars and technology instead of staying in 1996 the whole time, he only makes the 86 win streak more and more ridiculous. I'll say this though, four stage is still pretty good. It's just got a lot of warning lights for the rest of the series. And for some reason I talked about them now instead of where it's actually relevant. Which brings me to in initial D fifth stage uh they uh drive the cars and race. What the [ __ ] happens in Fifth Stage? Fifth Stage is weird because I've watched it almost three times in under a year and I really couldn't tell you what happens besides like two things. Takami gets a new girlfriend who plays golf and lives 30 minutes from Tokyo, aka too far to keep dating Nazki. And Rioske has a genuine death match with a guy named the Grim Reaper, to send one of their souls to be with Caori, a girl who killed herself in college that they were both in love with. Things got weird. They even learned the vanishing technique from Dragon Ball. The show became Initial Z. Anyway, the cool thing about fifth and final stage is this. Funimation doesn't have them because they were never dubbed. And they were never dubbed because they were never popular because they were never released because they were never popular because nothing [ __ ] happens in fifth and final stage. Fifth stage is just the last four battles of Project D, which makes Case's excuse for not dating Kiyoko even funnier. They had like two weeks to being done. The main arc happening here is team Sidewinder and their Kanagawa's four lines of defense strategy, which is basically send out whoever. [ __ ] it. Okay, fine. I'll talk about Rioske's death match. It's really dark and the buildup to it is really sick. For the first time since Shingo, we have high stakes in a race and it's pretty rare that this series really addresses the dangers of street racing at all. The Kiori deathmatch arc is cool, although the happy ending where nobody dies is kind of antilimactic, but it's also totally understandable for a show about fast cars and techno music. That being said though, the entirety of this arc is already about a girl killing herself because her abusive father put her in an abusive arranged marriage. So why not just let this dude's GTR explode and send him off the cliff in a cleansing fire? I mean, he's trying to kill Rioke the whole time. It's not like I like this guy. Fifth stage begins setting up a new younger racer, Shinji Akari. Sorry, I mean Newui Shinji Anoui. Shinji is Sidewinder's final weapon against Project D. a young kid who doesn't give a [ __ ] about cars or street racing. Wait. Oh, [ __ ] That might work. We don't see too much of him except for this 86 with wing scene, which I [ __ ] love, and a bit of him reluctantly going to a race in the last few episodes. Oh [ __ ] I think really though, the important thing to keep in mind about fifth stage is that I forgot to talk about Extra Stage 2. Extra stage 2 is again about Mako. We don't see her or Saiyuki's tits in this one. So, it's pretty pointless, which is really saying something. In Extra Stage 2, we get to see Takami attempting to train Ikotani and Isizi to be good drifters. We see Ikotani's mom. Whoa. Say hi, Mrs. Iatani. Okay, bye, Mrs. Ekatani. And Mako is back, so she decides to give Ikotani one more chance to smash. Will he do it? [ __ ] no. What show you think this was? Porn. [ __ ] out of here. He can't. It won't happen. Yeah. So, all in all, I really just don't like Fifth Stage. It's very slow paced. It goes on forever, yet nothing happens. The races are just a slog. The people on the sidelines went from screaming in excitement about like the high energy battles going on to like sitting down and talking like Greek philosophers about tire management. But remember the good old days when when everyone's like, "Whoa, he has jumped his car off the cliff." Like that shit's gone. Every race is just a cat and mouse style chase. It always ends with them spinning out. Stage sucks. Let's finish this. Shinji getting in the 86 or Kenji will have to do it again. In the final epic conclusion to this nearly two decade long franchise, Takami Fujiwara, the unsuspecting tofu delivery boy who changed everything, will have to battle an all-around shittier version of himself for way too long. Final Sage is just four episodes chronicling the final race of Project D. Takami has battled professional circuit drivers, street legends, insane people, abductionists, people with cars that are better in every possible way. I mean, the series had been going for 18 years at this point. What hasn't Takami had the race by the end? An avalanche, a light photon. So, after the writers hammer in that he's just like young Takami, the two racers start racing. Final stage reminds me of Takami versus Rioke from the end of the first stage. You got a new hot shot racer in an 86 going up against an undefeated legend. They definitely wanted you to see the connection and that just makes Shinji's defeat feel more sad than anything else. Makes you think, ah, what if Takami had lost too? Obviously, Takami shouldn't have thrown the race or anything, but thinking back on how much of a teacher and encouraging figure Rioske was to Takami, it feels odd for Takami to be in the same position and not be defeated or at least take Shinji under his wing. like from a narrative standpoint, but whatever. There are bigger problems with Final Stage. If nothing else, Final Stage suffers from the race just being really boring. I mean, it's four episodes long. How the [ __ ] are you going to stretch that to four episodes? It's fun when Shinji lets Takami overtake him, but the next episode is all about people talking about it. Like, we we you need one person to say if he lets you pass, that means he thinks he can take the lead again. You don't got to dedicate a whole episode to having every character in the series repeat that idea. Takami uses the blind attack, but that's basically it. He doesn't do a gutter run. He hasn't really tested on anything. He's learned throughout the series. He has no growth moments, no introspection, final new technique. It It's all in all a pretty average to terrible race stretched to an hour and 50 minutes. It doesn't feel like a finale at all. But it all comes to a head in episode 4. The two racers have traded blows, hitting each other's cars, trading the lead. But now the finish line is just past these last few hairpin corners. Talk me ghost for the final blind [Music] attack. How truly magnificent. I think this battle is about to come to a rousing finale. [Music] [ __ ] your dreams, kid. Retired. Your legend is [ __ ] And with that, initial D ends. Project D was successful. KK and Mako go pro. Maybe Takami, too. Kenji dies and nothing was forgotten about at all. Still have [Music] faithful music. Let it take you away and be hopeful. Hopeful. And he'll make a way. I know it ain't easy, but that's okay. Cuz I'm hopeful. Yes, I am hopeful for today. Take this music and use it. Let it take you away. And be hopeful. Hopeful. And he'll make a way. I know it ain't easy, but that's okay. I'm hopeful. Yes, I am. So, is that it? Video over? [ __ ] no. There's still the sequel series, the three legend movies, the liveaction movie, all the video games, the audio only dramas, the train racing dojan, the shoes, the hot wheels, eBay motors, RC cars, Battle Stage 2 and three. God damn it. You know damn well I haven't watched these. Right after Final Stage ended, like like the same year, a new line of Initial D animated movies came out titled The Initial D New Legend Films. Think Avongelian rebuilds but less insane. They only cover the first stage and are just the same thing but with a faster pace and no Euro beat and no city pop and less emphasis on side characters and a faster pace. So I guess they're overall worse. The animation is absolutely beautiful and the rock music soundtrack that replaced the Euro beat. It works, [Music] but it works like a substitute teacher who doesn't know what the class is, but he brought a bag full of baby carrots, so whatever. These films are fine retellings, but I think the slower pace and build up a first stage still edges out. They rework and rearrange many key moments and omit many others, such as the entire Mako arc, but she and Saiyuki still appear in the third movie. But what if Initial D was a Hong Kong movie? That's the question that Andrew Laauo and Alan Max set out to answer with 2005's Initial D. This movie is just weird. They have a strong dedication to details, going so far as to use the real life locations and mountains in Japan that the manga was based off of and even giving Takami the same New Balance sneakers and including the Nazki panty shot. But then they make Bonta an abusive alcoholic who can barely function and fuse Rioke and Queske into one character and also try to squeeze all of the events of first, second, and third stage into one movie. Overall, it's far from the worst adaptation I've ever seen. Seeing the real cars drifting in real life is cool. I'll give him that. But the soundtrack sucks. I like the scene where I tries to race in a Honda CRV. Hey, Ekkatani wasn't in this movie. The best Initial D liveaction movie is actually 1997's High Voltage because there's an American 86 on the street around the 20 minute mark in the movie. [ __ ] I love that movie. [ __ ] it. High Voltage review. Imagine Reservoir Dogs if it was directed by John Woo. A bunch of smalltime heisters accidentally hit a bank owned by the Vietnamese mob and have to fight for their lives in an over-the-top gunfu story full of love, betrayal, tragedy, and wacky high jinks. This movie is a perfect [ __ ] 10. There's a [ __ ] ton of Initial D games like Rioske's Perfect Typing Theory, Type the Letters to Drift the Car. The best ones are the arcade series. They're mostly just in Japan, though there are some American ones. These games look fun as [ __ ] Just watching Championships on Sega Japan's channel is exhilarating. I wish these would get a home console release that didn't involve emulation cuz I'm stupid. I guess you could say any racing game with an 86 in it is an initial D game. Yeah. So, here we are at the end of the journey. What have we learned here? I really like Initial D and I have wasted way too much time on this video. I don't even know what the point of this video was anymore. I just like this show and wanted to talk about it. Initial D is one of those special series where it may not have been the most influential to the industry around it, but it was for those who watched it. Sure, the draw is cars drifting around techno music, and at the end of the day, that is the main point of the series, but it's also a great cross-section of cultures, bringing together greasy anime freaks and greasy car guys. Who could have imagined there could possibly be peace here? And if it weren't for Initial D, I never would have installed my own brakes with some friends instead of paying a mechanic to do it. Unless we [ __ ] up and I die, in which case, [ __ ] you, Initial D. [Music] [Music] Rise. Start your engines. Drive with a vengeance. Gasoline dreams with a true kingdom of tension. Not to mention suspens.