What exactly can you expect in Initial D 5th Stage?

If you’re like me and love Initial D but totally can’t wait for 5th Stage’s horrifically slow air schedule to find out what happens, here’s a summary of what you can expect in the anime. Contains spoilers!

As seen in the first 2 episodes of the anime which have already aired, Project D head to Kanagawa, which is their final stop in their tour. The four local teams, Sidewinder, Racing Team Katagiri, Team Spiral and Team 246 ally together in bid to put an end to Project D’s so far undefeated record.

The first team they come up against is Team 246. The first bout is Keisuke against Kobayakawa in his Evo VIII. This was covered already covered in Episode 2 of the anime so I won’t go into it. Takumi though, races against Satoshi Omiya who drives a Roadster. The battle is more eventful than the uphill – Omiya sandbags at first, then unleashes his superior braking technique midway through the race, which depresses Takumi a bit. Sidewinder’s lead mechanic and tactician, Kubo, who is watching the race, notes that the result of the battle may come down to aerodynamics, with the spoiler on the Roadster making a difference.

Takumi also tries to find ways to improve his aerodynamics, and starts driving without his headlights on (aka the “Blind Attack”). This doesn’t work on Omiya though, since he had turned away his mirrors and decided not to look behind him earlier on. This backfires on him later, as Takumi turns his headlights on for a crucial corner – this makes Omiya think that there’s an incoming car and he swerves to avoid, giving Takumi the space needed to pull up beside him. Despite the road thinning out, Omiya decides not to budge, as a result, a road sign damages the spoiler on his Roadster, imbalancing his car, and causing him to spin out as he tries to overtake Takumi.

The second team is Racing Team Katagiri. Takumi faces off against Kai Kogashiwa again (the MR2 guy from 3rd Stage), who again loses via spin out on the downhill. Keisuke races against a Supra driven by Hideo Minagawa. During the uphill Hideo goes all out in an attempt to pressure Keisuke into making a mistake, however this backfires as his tires wear out and he rear ends Keisuke, albeit only lightly, he decides to concede defeat.

Next is Ryuji Ikeda and Hiroya Okuyama of Team Spiral, who drive a Z33 and a S15 respectively. Prior to the planned battle, Ikeda’s Z33 is tailed by a mysterious R32 during a practice run. The R32 starts driving dangerously, and scared, Ikeda backs off.

The driver of the R32 is revealed to be Hojo Rin, who happens to be the brother of Sidewinder team’s Hojo Go. Nicknamed “Shinigami” (aka Grim Reaper), it turns out that he has some personal vendetta against Takahashi Ryosuke due to an incident in the past surrounding a girl named Kaori who commited suicide. Anticipating that Shinigami would eventually appear during their Kanagawa battles and challenge him, Ryosuke had his FC tuned up beforehand, adding a carbon fibre bonnet and a new spoiler.

Project D’s 3rd battle begins against Team Spiral on an unusually foggy night. Keisuke races uphill against Ikeda’s Z33. Ikeda leads until they enter a foggy section of the track – this causes Ikeda to lose confidence and Keisuke manages to pass him for the win. The downhill driver, Okuyama, is easily defeated by Takumi, who sandbags until the first hairpin, then leaves him for dead.

During one of the races, Ryosuke makes a comment about the “Fujiwara Zone”. It’s hard to explain, so here’s a tidbit:

Ryosuke: They will enter the Fujiwara Zone soon…

Fumihiro: I heard you mention this before… the Fujiwara Zone. What exactly is this??

Ryosuke: It’s difficult to explain completely… This is not something new. It’s been happening for a long time. I have noticed it since my first battle with Fujiwara in Akina… But it became more refined after the battle with the “Purple Shadow”… Maybe it’s something that will only exist between Fujiwara and his AE86. When we were observing Fujiwara’s driving, we realized he has already gone to a different level… This is purely from his own practice technique…

Fumihiro: I wonder. How much does he practice everyday?

Ryosuke: In racing, people often refer to it as “one with the car”. But in reality, you can’t use a 1 ton machine as your arms and feet. Only with Fujiwara will you will see this rare situation. When he’s at the edge of losing grip, he can control the car to it’s best position. He can also freely drift the car to the best line possible… When he drives the car like that… He makes the AE86 behave like a 4WD…!!

Fumihiro: That’s too exaggerating. How is that possible?

Ryosuke: Of course it’s not. It doesn’t matter how powerful the AE86 is, it’s still a 2WD. But the AE86 has already given the spectators that false feeling… As well as the opponents who follow him. A skillful driver would understand… Because the opponents can copy the same line and still not be able to achieve this result. The best explaination is that when someone quickly points the front to the exit corner, and gas at the last moment… Which should give the fastest exiting speed. But this technique will also cause the car to be unstable… Which is why I cannot explan it clearly.

Fumihiro: I can’t believe there are actually things that Ryosuke can’t explain…

Ryosuke: Of course there are, especially with Fujiwara and his AE86… I cannot use any logic to explain this phenomenon!!

-kyonpalm of idforums

This also causes a set of angel wings to appear (like an aura) around the 86. I’m totally not making this up.

Rin finally challenges Ryosuke after Team Spiral is defeated. It’s seriously alluded to that Ryosuke might die during the battle; he says this will be his last race, he will no longer give advice to Takumi etc. This of course, turns out to be a total load of crap. During the battle, Rin goes all out in an attempt to actually kill Ryosuke, by driving dangerously and trying to ram him etc. Ryosuke manages to deflect all his attacks, and eventually Rin’s tires and brakes are totally worn out as a result of his dangerous driving. On a collision course for a toll booth at the bottom of the course, Ryosuke and Ikeda (who was tailing the two in his Z33 during the race to spectate) manage to get in front of Rin’s R32 and save him by using both their cars to slow him down.

Fortunately, the whole race managed to bring closure of Kaori’s death to Rin: he knew Ryosuke felt his pain.

Sidewinder is the final team to stand up against Project D. The two drivers are Hojo Go, who drives an NSX (!) and Shinji, a young prodigy driver similar to Takumi, who had started driving at the age of 6. He shares many similarities to Takumi back in 1st stage – he is totally unmotivated by driving and would rather be watching TV. He knows his home course intimately, having sat in the passenger seat of his mother’s car while going up and down the mountain. Furthermore, he also drives an AE86 (DUN DUN DUN), but the coupe version.

Of course, Bunta knows all of this, and knowing Takumi needs help, grants him “one last favour”. It’s not revealed what it is at this point, whether it’s some new technique, or an upgrade to the 86. No, he doesn’t let him drive the Impreza to battle.

Keisuke first races Go on the uphill. The race is hyped by the peanut gallery as nigh-impossible for Keisuke to win, with the NSX estimated as having a 15-second advantage on Keisuke’s FD. Somehow or rather, Keisuke eventually shortens the gap to 1 second, and Go starts to panic. Eventually the NSX’s tires wears down and he spins out, giving Keisuke the win.

The final race (which is still ongoing at the time of this article), is Shinji against Takumi. Many of Takumi and Project D’s previous opponents show up in the gallery. At first it seems that Shinji won’t race…until he meets Mako and Sayuri in the gallery. This finally motivates Shinji to race, seemingly wanting to impress the girls by defeating Takumi.

Shinji decides to lead first. Takumi has trouble keeping up with him at first…then suddenly Shinji brakes and drops behind Takumi – Shinji previously saw the 86’s “wings” during one of the practice runs, and wants to see it again. Takumi is spooked at being dominated so hard, and so the “wings” don’t show. Disappointed, Shinji easily overtakes Takumi again.

Somewhere down the road, cue the magic “ZOMG this next corner is so dangerous, no one can possibly keep up with me mwahahaha!” type event. Shinji is confident he can lose Takumi, but Takumi pulls out of the corner bumper to bumper to Shinji’s 86. This shocks the hell out of Shinji, and Takumi starts to regain his confidence.

…and this race is still going in the manga. At this point we don’t know if Takumi vs Shinji will be the final race in the anime, or even how the manga will pan out at this point. Will the story continue after this battle? Will we see Takumi race Bunta again? Or Kyosuke vs Takumi? Who knows?