Anime: Initial D Fourth Stage

After the somewhat shaky Second Stage, it's great to see Initial D return to form with this series. Fourth Stage is the pure, distilled form of the series; as with Takumi's increasingly tuned car, all of the extra weight has been stripped away.

What's left is an astonishingly concentrated racing series. While there is one minor romantic sideline, this appears in maybe three episodes and dominates none of them. The rest of the time is pure driving, plain and simple.

By now, the animation is more than up to the task. Watching Initial D has at times been like a history of animé CGI, but in Fourth Stage we seem to have reached the pinnacle; not only are the cars realistically detailed, but the racing animation now blends seamlessly with the rest of the series. Of course it's always going to be possible to add more detail to the character designs, but they're more than good enough as they are, and daytime races would be a drastic break with tradition. Similarly, where the first two series' music was nostalgic, the opening and ending themes in Fourth Stage have almost caught up with modern styles (the rap present in a few of them is probably slightly dated, but not enough to harm it). All four are both good songs and appropriate to the series.

To offset the renewed focus on driving, the makers have sensibly diversified the characters: rather than watching Takumi the whole time, our attention is now split more or less evenly with his very first opponent, Keisuke, the two of them now part of the same expeditionary team. Keisuke is in many ways a more interesting personality, and we get some wonderful insights into his character over the course of the series; by contrast, Takumi seems more than ever to have no life at all outside racing. Thankfully the races themselves have a new sense of freshness about them, with ever more inventive challenges arising, and the series manages to sustain its tension. The expeditionary team concept helps a lot with this, as the wider area makes it much more plausible that our heroes could continue finding ever stronger opponents. There's also a firmer sense of progress as the series goes on, with the racers' techniques visibly improving and the prospect of turning professional becoming ever more concrete.

With a show with such a long history, it becomes ever harder to find a fair basis for comparison; by this stage, most viewers will know full well what Initial D is like, and be hoping for more of the same. To such a viewer, Fourth Stage's disadvantages will be irrelevant, being much the same as the first series' downsides. But they are there: characterization is thinner on the ground than ever before, and by focusing so solidly on the races, Fourth Stage loses that feeling of a realistic, slow-paced, mostly empty high school life that was so charming in the original series. The "Project D" team does give us something of a stable cast, and with the limited time available for character drama the show probably couldn't sustain any more leads. That said, the balance of one-shot rival characters against more developed recurring cast is still unhealthy; perhaps a necessary result of the format, but it would be nice to have a few people between "character who races once" and "character who's in every other race".

But while most of the first series' downsides are here (with only the presentation having really been improved), so too are the things that made it good. Every race is dramatic, and Fourth Stage crams them in at a relentless pace. While the above flaws are undeniably there, by now they're the kind of flaws that couldn't be solved without destroying the feel of the series. At the end of the day, if you're watching Initial D you're probably after exciting car racing more than anything else, and Fourth Stage has that in spades.

I'm not the best person to judge this, but I am certain - having watched the entire series and some of its OVAs more than once - that Initial D took a tremendous downfall from its very beginning. The CG looks better, but the action is significantly depleted. The characters develop very nicely, but the story just advances deeper and deeper into a maximum that peaked in Initial D Second Stage.

Takumi and Keisuke flourish...

With the onslaught of all the local prefectural teams, Takashi Ryousuke brilliantly combines the powers of Takumi and Keisuki for a street-racing team known as "Project D." With his guidance, the twos superior driving skills are guided throughout various prefectures for tougher opponents. In the end, the project should prove to challenge the unbelievable skills of Takumi and Keisuke, so that they may be true gods of the street.

I like the premise of the story, since it involves newer and newer challenges for Takumi and Keisuke. It gets even better, since some of the opponents they have now can easily match their skill level. The first 15 episodes or so are wonderful, capturing the best of the heat of this series.

Then, shortly after that, the story introduces powerful new concepts, but the development is extremely thin. Soon, every race becomes the same amazing thing after another, and all of the exciting nuances in the story shrivel up into the same street races.

I will say that towards the end, there is one part of a race that almost recovered my hopes for the series, but after that, everything just became boring again.

Amazing CG, as always.

This time around, the production surrenders nothing. Not a single frame of CG looked out of context, as the series meshes the CG almost perfectly with the anime. In the beginning, the series suffered from the humungous difference in quality of CG from the anime, and I am proud to say that it has taken a huge advancement with the release of this stage.

My only complaint would be the lack of excitement the drifting has compared to first stage. Perhaps the drifting now looks 10x more realistic, but sometimes I miss the exaggerated slides and movements that were in first stage. Alas, nothing can be done about it.

Characters: Good.

I always complained about the characters before, but I have to admit they have nicely developed since the first stage. In fact, they have proven to develop better than the story! Takumi has become a full-fledged street racer, Keisuke has developed some humility, Itsuki was always awesome, and I now humbly bow down before Takumi's dad, Bunta. The stories of women in the series are actually becoming cute, since the "LONELY DRIVER!!!" routine humors me so well. If there is more of Initial D in the future, I would be curious to see what starts here.

I'm going to have sex with the music.

Eurobeat is great stuff! It's exciting, and always makes me want to dance (or at least laugh at the hilarious lyrics chanted during the breakdown). I don't think it's the best thing ever, but I definitely have to thank a friend of mine for getting me into this sort of music. It makes the entire Initial D series all the better.

I won't comment on the voice acting, other than that Itsuki's voice actor (Mitsuo Iwata) is one of the best voice actors ever. I've never heard sounds like what he does ever before.

Buckle your seatbelt. Perhaps...be amazed.

I love the entirety of Initial D. It's not my favorite series, but I see the qualities in it that make it consuming for others. I give it all the credit I can, but Initial D Fourth Stage: Project D doesn't quite make my cut in comparison to its start. Thus, I don't intend on watching it again, unless a friend asks me.

Even then, my opinion could be tainted simply by the fact that my passion for the series burned out. I suggest to all fans of the series to watch this, since they probably will like it more than I do. Just don't be surprised if the same conclusions come to you, should your passion burn out as mine did.

Initial D Fourth Stage—obviously, this is the fourth part of Initial D's ongoing story, following Fujiwara Takumi and his acquaintances in the world of mountain pass racing. If you haven't seen the previous Initial D stages, I suggest viewing those or reading reviews for them before you read this review.

I don't even like cars, so why did I like this series so much? Seriously, what the truck!? It's just so addictive. The races aren't even that fast-paced, and there's a crapload of talking in them, and the outcome is almost always predictable. The way the outcome is reached is, at least, not so predictable, and the speculation and way they talk about it is probably what makes the racing so interesting. You can see Takumi and Keisuke, this series' main characters, grow in both driving skill and personal strength each time they get behind the wheel and take on another challenging race.

Here, I am rating this series based on the fact that it is an anime series about racing—it's not trying to be much more than that, and when it does it doesn't detract much from the overall series.

The categories:

Story: The story isn't particularly fascinating—it's about Project D, a team consisting of Takumi and Keisuke as the drivers, Ryosuke as the leader/manager, and some mechanics. Takumi is the downhill specialist, and Keisuke is the uphill specialist, and the team aims to be the best, while learning all the while. They travel to someone else's area, challenge their local racers to a downhill and an uphill battle, and then they try to beat their local time trial records for each as well. One of the most interesting parts of the story is the way that Ryosuke is apparently planning Project D's development—the guy is extremely intelligent, and he knows what he's doing. So it's no surprise that the order he chooses to go to different areas has a deeper meaning....
There are some other story elements, some of which surround some of the side characters, but they're mostly there to add to the overall fullness of the show so it isn't just about racing. However, it's mostly about racing, and I feel as though the racing was the definite highlight. As an anime series about racing, then, it does a great job at telling the story of young racers with bright futures.

Characters: The main characters, Takumi and Keisuke, are cool, and it's fun to see them race and grow under the guidance of Ryosuke (who's also cool). Takumi[/u], the main protagonist, is an exceptional driver. He's quiet and doesn't look spectacular, and some people underestimate him because of this. Takumi is constantly learning and growing, and he really starts stepping outside of the box he was stuck in. He learns more about the way cars work, cars other than the 86 that he drives, and he's constantly refining his techniques. Keisuke[/u], the other driver in Project D, also learns, and in this series we get to learn a bit more about him. He's a tough guy that gets mad easily, but he's very likeable nonetheless. Ryosuke[/u], Project D's leader, is a very interesting character. He manages from the sidelines and guides the characters to becoming even greater racers than they had been, and his role is very important to the series. I found it quite awesome how well he planned things out and how he was devoting so much into building up two awesome drivers.
The side characters aren't very noteworthy, really, except for Takumi's father. Takumi's father is cool and still helps Takumi grow as a driver, and I thought it would have been quite interesting if he had a bigger role in this series, but it didn't quite happen. Then there's Itsuki, who's somewhat charismatic in a clumsy/goofy sort of way, and some other folks whose names I can't even remember, so they weren't that important to the show as a whole.

Enjoyment: This is the most important part that comes into play when watching this series. It's just fun to watch. I don't know how I got into a series about car racing, but this series managed to do it. There's technical jargon for those interested—and if you're not interested, the show does a good job at getting you at least temporarily interested in the words of the world of street racing. Each race is fun to watch, and it's cool to see the characters learn more about their own racing each time Ryosuke guides them through another race, dropping them hints that they have to decipher while on the road in order to grow.

Animation: The animation in this series is a vast improvement upon the previous stages of Initial D, notably in terms of the races and the cars in general. The cars now blend in very well with the rest of the series, looking more "anime-animated" than before. The characters still have the classic Initial D look, which isn't too spiffy, though the quality is a bit improved here, too. The races are where the animation counts most in this series, though, and the races are animated exceptionally well.

Sound: I don't really like the background music in this series standalone, but it works here for the races and adds to the pacing, keeping the races from feeling "too" slow. The voice acting is acceptable.

Value: If I was into racing or cars at all, I'd probably like to purchase this series, as well as all of the other Initial D stages. The rewatch value seems pretty high, too, since you can basically jump to whatever race to want to watch again after you've seen it all. The suspense and tension won't be as high, but it'll still be fun. So if it's your sort of thing, I'm pretty sure that Initial D is the best purchase you can make when it comes to racing anime. And if you're interested at all, it's definitely worth watching. I only started watching the first Initial D because of how well it was praised, and I'm glad I kept watching all the way through to the fourth stage. I'm still not interested in cars, but this series excels and can reach beyond its specifically obvious audience of car and racing enthusiasts.

Overall: Addictive and appealing. I mean, it even caught my interest, and I've stressed throughout this review that I am not at all interested in cars or racing. So, I suggest starting with the First Stage, and if you like it, keep watching—it only gets better, and I find that the Fourth Stage is the best of all the stages. It's all part of the same ongoing story in the life of Takumi and friends, after all, and the fact that this series has two main characters (Keisuke being the other) makes it a lot more interesting and refreshing than it's ever been before.

Enter Initial D. As far as many fans are concerned, it's not just a very good cars/driving anime, it is _the_ driving anime, there is really nothing out there that even comes close in this category, at least I haven't found it yet.

This is the 4th "season" if you can call it that since this one lasted 2 years now (and the third "season" was just a 100-minute movie). Many newcomers to this anime will probably at first glance look at the fairly high episode count over the 4 installments and think the creators have just about squeezed the last drop of juice out of the lemon, but that is far from true. You realize by the end of ep. 24 that there is much more to be told, and the ending is VERY abrubt if you ask me. I've been told that it's due to the fact that the anime caught up with the manga that they need to put the project on a temporary hold until there is some elbowroom again. (Normally I'd think that "only" a double episode release every 2 months should be enough for the manga to stay ahead, but quality over quantity, eh?)

So what is the story about? Takumi Fujiwara is a 19 year old guy who lives in gunma. Following the events of the prequels he has now finished school and is now working at a moving company, while also helping his father do deliveries from his tofu-shop. Usually after having finished these deliveries he takes the aging '86 for a spin in the local area since his BIG passion is street racing. For the past year he has been a local hero since he hasn't lost one downhill battle yet, but now things have been taken to another level. He has now joined the 2 rich sons ryosuke and keisuke in a "racing team" that will challenge all racing teams from more remote areas.

Intense battles and realism!

The battles are very intense and you will always wonder what happens next. I got completely hooked and swallowed one episode after another. Also as in the prequels and there is alot of real life racing information to digest. What strengths and weaknesses do 4WD cars have compared to FF and FR cars? What is the difference between a twin turbo, a single turbine turbo, a super-charger and NA tuning? How do you efficiently use the weight-shifting of your car to cut corners? All of these questions and LOTS of more are asked and answered. For a semi car-freak as I am this was candy.

There is always a smart guy standing by the track

Obviously, for the anime to be this educational, all of the detailed information has to be explained at some point. This usually happens during the races where the team leader Ryosuke will explain this to the other team members. While this is good and all, I don't like the way he always knows exactly what is going on at a certain point of the race. The exact moment he explains a random racing theory by the roadside, the same thing happens in the race. It can also be mental things "keisuke is probably having a hard time in the race right now, doubting his skill. But now he will gain confidence again and overtake the other guy" voila guess what happens. OK OK you can explain this by saying Ryosuke is just such fantastic team leader and he knows his drivers as well as the opponents 100%, but this doesn't explain why the random guy at the roadside with no connection to the team or the drivers knows the same stuff! He can also dive into the current mental state of the drivers and explain the same stuff to the ignorant guy next to him. While this didn't bother me like no tomorrow and I don't have a superb suggestion as to how this should be done better, I still think it's worth mentioning. Maybe after the races after having talked to the drivers these in-depth analyzes would be more realistic?

This is a street racing anime, BUT...

...part of what makes ID such a likable anime, is that there is more than that. These are young guys afterall and they do have friends at home. Side characters such as the Gasoline station trio, who always hang out together help giving this anime another dimension of it's realistic feel. There are also some girls, and a little romance but this is a minor part of the show. Takumi's girlfriend moved to tokyo so she's gone, Itsuki's (the one with the funny face working at the gas station) girlfriend also moved away in the end of season 2, so to begin with there isn't alot to hope for. The girls will appear however and the way some of these relationships are played out has a very realistic feel. These are teenage relationships and the people behave that way; sometimes very immature and very unsure of themselves, these moments are short BUT golden. The only thing I can complain about here is that during all seasons, NOONE, not one of the anime's rather large collection of young males, have been capable of producing even a remotely stable relationship with a girl. Maybe these guys are nerds and for the biggest part have cars in their minds, but I could have wanted at least one reappearing female to work as a counterweight in this shounen show.

The animation is a huge improvement over the previous seasons to say the least. The cars and car battles are done entirely in CG, but unlike other shows where I have complained wholeheartedly over the awkwardness of this CG, it is implemented brilliantly this time around. The car battles don't look stupid at all, and you can see there has been attention to very small details, such as how the cars behave differently on the road, and how their tails skid differently in sharp corners.

Character designs have also been improved upon immensely. Where they felt very rough and sketchy before, they are much clearer and destinguishable now. I had a hard time to tell the characters apart before, especially with the girls, this is a little easier now, also since the colouring is much better now. If 2 people had pitch black hair in the movie, you can now tell that one of the guys in fact has dark brown hair not black. BUT the issue is not entirely gone. Although very cute and nicely animated, the girls still look very similar, and sometimes the only way to tell them apart is looking at who they hang out with. Who's that? Ah it's the one with the 86' driving brother.

The sound in ID4 is very good indeed, even more so than in the earlier seasons. All the car sounds, may it be the engine sounds, or the skid sound in a hair-pin corner, are very detailed and realistic. I'm almost positive that these sounds are recorded in real life, and not just generated on a computer.

The voice actors are thankfully the same as we know from before, I couldn't tell there was a new one at least. Takumi and his father Bunta are their usual stoic selves, where Itsuki is much more lively; the voice actors reflect these personalities very well. The girls mainly appear in emotional scenes, and their voice actors do a nice job here. The OP and ED songs are again some kind of alternative J-techo stuff with nice rythms, they are catchy for a while, but like most electronic music they get old sooner or later. The background music is excellent however. There are some very good "battle" songs, but there are also some tunes that are used to build up some kind of event or intensity, this really helps you get excited.

All in all I can recommend this anime to just about everyone. The intensity of the battles and and the realistic feel will even get the incarnated shoujo-fans excited, I can tell because I am one myself. I can honestly say this was one heck of a "ride" :)

Animation
All the cars are done in CG. They look better than ever, and you can definitely see the improvement made from the previous Initial D stages. The characters however, are drawn a bit weird. They seemed too stretched out and a bit out of proportion. The colors of the characters and the mouths are improved from the first stage where they seemed a bit awkward.

Sound
As with all previous Initial D stages, the car battles have that familiar eurobeat music again. It really makes the battles that much better. It adds to the emotion and excitement of the battles and gets you into a zone as if you're in the race experiencing everything both characters are. However, outside of the car battles, the music is pretty scarce, and some of the songs are just not very good. The mouths matched what the character were saying, and nothing seemed out of sync.

Story
Again, like the other Initial D stages, the story was average. With the story just helping you to get in the right mindset for the battles. There were a few parts where the story was rather sluggish, and not very interesting, but toughing it out to watch the next battle would make it worthwhile. The only shining parts of the story was when you were in the battles. And even then, it took a backseat to all the amazing action, the brilliant soundtrack, and the emotions the characters were experiencing. The story revolves around Takumi and Keisuke this time, with Ryosuke playing the role of a coach. You get to see them improve and grow a great amount throughout the show. But, the story itself, and the events that transpire, aren't that amazing or innovative or even that different from the other Initial D stages. Even though the story isn't amazing, that's not what Initial D is about. That's not what draws you to watch Initial D in the first place. It has been, and always will be the car battles.

Character
A couple of the characters show improvement during the couse of the show. Keisuke and Takumi are the two main stars this time, with Takumi still the main star as usual. You watch Ryosuke as he puts the two against many different opponents. Then, seeing whether or not the two are able to overcome that particular hurdle. Bunta also plays a small part in this one as well, albeit a very small role, it is still an important one. Itsuki also gets to be in a small part of the anime.

Value
Aside from rewatching the car battles, there is really nothing else worthing rewatching here. The story is nothing special, and the characters don't change a lot from their core personalities from the previous Initial D stages and in the fouth stage alone.

Enjoyment
Even though I ripped on the story and characters a bit, the battles more than make up for it. I found myself wanting to watch more and more of the anime as I kept watching all the battles. If you enjoyed the previous Initial D stages, you'll definitely get your worth out of this stage. The battles become more technically impressive, and you get to see higher-level techniques than the ones in the previous versions. They even use some of the older battles in the previous Initial D stages to help Keisuke and Takumi improve even further.