Initial D Third Stage

The movie has a considerable amount of material to deal with and it does an excellent job of covering it. It transitions smoothly and takes one thing at a time and it’s well paced. Unfortunately, characters such as Itsuki, Iketani, and Keisuke are mostly in the back seat for all the right reasons, but still have presence. You finally get to see Takumi develop as a true well rounded racer and his other qualities also begin to develop in this movie as well. Not much else to say, but I say viewing the first 2 installments are a necessity since the movie is a continuation ... and a progression of the franchise.

Well, the art, resolution, and the cg continue to progress. The art is cleaner and more detailed, and the cg’s rendering also improves. The races as usual are exciting, but have more of a gimmick or twist behind them this time, which makes them fresh and original in addition of allowing the races to take place in a new environment. And you can never get bored of breath taking drifts. However, some problems I have in this movie are that the races this time tends to end more anti-climatically more than usual.

Fortunately for some, the tech speak is virtually non-existent this time so it’ll be easy to follow and just simply enjoy the races. But I say the tech speak in the previous sagas are always a big help in getting a professional understanding of how the cars and techniques work. But that’s just me.

Well, I can’t really add too much about the voice acting since anything I said in the previous reviews can be applied here too. However, the addition of Kai played by Canna Nobutoshi is a great one. He is very intimidating and hot blooded as Kai like other roles he has played such as Guts from Berserk, Tasuki from Fushigi Yuugi, and Knuckles from Sonic. The music is still the number one trait has always captivated me to Initial D, and is a great representative of the fast and fun nature of this anime. The opening theme Gamble Rumble by MOVE goes very well to the sequence and is always in tradition that MOVE is part of the soundtrack, and I love the insertion of Crazy for Love as well. The ending theme Jirenma adds a new kind of feel to this series as well that you have to watch to understand what I mean.

Like I said, to get into this movie, and understand and enjoy it, you have to see the first 2 seasons to understand a lot of things such as Takumi’s developing acquainting with Ryosuke, why Takumi is avoiding Natsuki and what ended their relationship, and the score he has to settle with the Emperors. To me, this movie is an extension of season 2 and transitions very well into the 4th stage. This movie does an excellent job of standing on its own by further developing Takumi’s character, and balancing his issues and resolving them.

Not as good as the series, but it answers all the question left to be answered, which were carried on from seasons one and two.

The story told is about Takumi's effort to tie all the loose ends from the past two series. So, we've got races, development of his craving for becoming the best driver and an emotional part involving Mogi.

Most of the races are as good as always, but there is one which due to the nature of the rival becomes even more interesting. From this race we will also hear some more of Bunta's story which is a very good thing.

Although Christmas and ... snow fit love emotional story like nothing else, while watching that part of the movie I had the strange feeling that it was simply taking too long, especially that similarly to what we've seen before when it comes to emotions Takumi is definitely on the slow side.

The animation is better than in the second season. The races seem more realistic, the car models are more detailed and even the character animation stepped up a notch. It's a shame though that there is still such a wide gap between the quality of how the races and characters are animated.

When it comes to sound it is the same thing we have experienced before. So, once again will listen to good voice acting combined with eurobeat music. It seems that the Initial D style simply does not get old and sounds as good as always.

Most of the time we will be seeing characters, which Takumi has encoutered before. Two chracters are however worth pointing out.

First we have Takumi's greatest enemy in the movie, who all though plays a short part in the story is one of the most memorable characters from the movie.

Secondly, we have the guy who gets involved with Mogi. Since the Mogi part of the plot is way too long for my taste, the least would be to let the viewers know why the hell is he acting like that.

Concluding, it was a pleasent feeling to see the animation improve, but still as a whole the movie is not as good as the second season of the series, but mark my words when I say... 'You have to watch it!'.

Ryosuke has been putting together a racing team featuring the best racers of the Gunma prefecture, and would like Takumi to join. Takumi doesn't want to decide whether or not to accept the proposal until he settles his score with Team Emperor Leader Sudou Kyouichi, who had looked down on the AE86 because of the car's age and had seriously damaged Takumi's confidence in the AE86 after being defeated by him. Meanwhile, the drama between Natsuki and Takumi is at highs since he found out she was doing enjo kosai in order to make some extra money.

Now, on that latter subject, she did quit the ... business and got herself a fast-food job in order to move away from her past and at some times, Takumi can be kind of a dick. Yes, she never told him about what she did then but she did gave it up to pursue a relationship with him and yet, he keeps on phasing her out and not bother to listen to her.

As for the main story, well, it’s the usual story as like the past entries. Somebody challenges Takumi to a race, thinks his car can’t handle their car, they race and eventually he will either win by doing what others thought he couldn’t do.
Also, it really felt like 4 ½ episodes condensed into one movie with their usual basics of the series.


The animation studios switched from Pastel, who did the work on Extra Stage and the past stages to Studio Deen, who contributed to the 3rd Stage and the animation is superior to its successors, which I said before, will happen every time and everything from the movement of the characters and the racing scenes are gradually more enhanced and doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb. The music…….well, it’s there and that’s it. It’s okay but I really don’t have anything interesting to say about it because it isn’t interesting. Some people will like this and most of it is just not my taste but it’s there.


FINAL VERDICT: This is still passable at the least but I really don’t consider them as being entirely different than each other. They are more of a rental than actually owning them.

Quick take: Third Stage is a turning point in the series. It ends the story of Takumi journey to discover his joy of racing and starts the journey of ProjectD. There is a lot of material to “tie-up” and the movie does a really nice job doing so. There are several smaller plot lines within the movie and they all feel coherent and well scripted. I would say the manga and anime are similar in quality. Rewatch value: medium, much like the other two stages, the bigger plot points are very memorable but the details are a bit fuzzy.

Third Stage involves a few ... larger plot points and many of the smaller plot points from First and Second Stage that remain unfinished. We’re not treated to anything earth shattering, but it is a necessary part of the overall initial D storyline. Unfortunately even in the manga, you couldn’t get away from some of the plot points that were opened and yet unclosed, so Third Stage serves as that closure. Some may find it a bit more tedious when compared to the other stages, but I find it enjoyable as it delivers a lot of satisfaction from closed plot lines.

Both CGI and drawn art takes a big leap in the movie compared to any previous installment in the series. CGI especially is incredible compared to the previous stages. Drawn art is treated to an overhaul of rich colors and generally looks much better than First and Second Stage. There is a point in the beginning of the movie where I actually remarked to myself just how rich the blue was of the gas station uniforms. Sunsets are well drawn and play an integral part in the settings of this movie and in the metaphorical sense.

Sound quality is good, both acting languages (English, Japanese) are well done and comprehensible. The Eurobeat is great and really helps propel the excitement of the races. OST music outside of the Eurobeat is much better and the car sounds are equivalent to that of Second Stage.

Compared to the previous stages, characters shine in Third Stage. Much of the plot revolves around their growth and change. Mogi is featured, Itsuki continues to mature and Takumi undergoes a comparatively massive shift in development.

It’s hard to say how I feel overall about Initial D Third Stage. It gives you a ton of closed plot points, a few exciting races and tons of character development and interaction. Yet at the same time, it feels melancholic. Nonetheless, it is an important part of the Initial D storyline and a must watch.

IMO This anime had great potential, but imo it needs a graphics / art overhaul. Comparing this anime to some of the old animes like DBZ or Naruto which continued to improve their art overtime, you can see it. Whereas Initial D's art becomes stale as I felt the artist got lazy and decided not to improve on the overall graphic quality of the manga / anime. The original is a good standard to set, but comparing it to today's anime / art, it's just not appealing and won't cut it.

Story Telling: 7/10

The story telling is amazing. The plot pace moves along well when it ... comes the main character and his car racing days. The character develops very quickly when it comes to the art of racing with his innate talent for it. However when it comes to expressing how the the character feels, I feel like he's matured very slowly in learning how to express himself.

One of the biggest issues I have with this manga/anime and multiple mangas/anime are when romance is introduced. The story focuses more heavily on action, but drops the romance in very suddenly and left hanging from time to time. I feel like there is a lack of balance and development in that area. I feel like there are 2 options when it comes to the romance department and that's to either go in-depth and not half-ass it, or to entirely not even put it in there. It's basically like Naruto where Hinata tells Naruto she loves him out of nowhere, and then many chapters or episodes later, not even mention it.

I consider Initial D to have great potential to be a well known classic like Spirited Away, Totoro, or Kotachi no koe with balanced elements of storytelling, soundtracks, and animation.

TLDR: Romance department is seriously lacking, character development on how he expresses himself can immensely improve.

Soundtrack: 10/10

I really can't complain much about the soundtrack. I think it's amazing and fits the theme of the anime well, it compliments the story, but the art doesn't do it as much justice as it could have.

Art: 5/10

My issue is that the art becomes stale. There are no improvements and quality stream hasn't improved much despite being a huge fan of the manga. I feel like a movie or anime is like a puzzle. You need all the right pieces of the puzzle for it to fit together. If the art continued to improve overtime, I'd be very happy for it to do the soundtrack and storytelling justice. I just felt like the artist got lazy and did not bother while being stubborn with its style.

If you're selling this anime to the older generation, it's considered a classic. I understand where they're coming from as I was born in the 90's as well going for game design and CG programming. If I were to advertise this anime to the audiences of newer generations, it won't be as appealing compared to the likes of Sword Art Online (1st Half of Season 1) or Fate Stay: Unlimited Blade Works where the art, music, and storytelling is stunning.

If Initial D is looking to become a known classic, I really feel like a reboot would really do the anime justice if the romance is taken out or rewritten and also better character development. Art is outdated and won't appeal to newer audiences. It's been almost 2 decades. Even Detective Conan, which is a year older, looks a lot better visually.

Enjoyment: Good for a first time watch, but leaves you hanging wanting more because you can see the potential it has and that makes it a little depressing.

Initial D Stage 3 Review
There are no spoilers in this review

Story
The story is exactly what I expect from Initial D at this stage. Great action, great character development and some technical talk that helps keep me drawn into the whole show. There isn't anything that needed to be added to this to make it better. It ran smoothly and is well written. The technical talk is also solid and comes from a writer who has plenty of actual experience on the road and track himself.

Tech
The sound was to the same quality as previous series. There is room for improvement but ... it's good quality. The art on the other hand is improved more than sound was. It had a much more polished feel and they improved their ability in colouring of the animation.
This is exciting to see they are improving. The CGI scenes have also improved and it's moving into the direction it would take for the series to finally gain a 10/10 ranking it deserves, as art has always been the lowest factor of the show.
The animation was also smoother which is great

Characters
The characterization is much to the same quality, each of the characters does seem to be developing more and more slowly whilst Takumi himself has accelerated in this. It's very good to see. Surprisingly Bunta also is developing as a character and that's good.

Conclusion
In conclusion Initial D just gets better and better. I'll say my love of cars pushes the score up and my enjoyment.

Score: 9/10

Laohoam: This was a great add on to the series, the fact that they summarized then continued right were they left off was great. the story continued to develop tac as a racer and how he had to overcome all the challenges in his life to move on. Way to hit lvl 4 tac ... way to go.

Rasnaph: Fantastic, exciting, and this whole franchise has drifted its way into one of my favorites.

DrRDash: I jumped for joy when we drew this one out of the hat, so we all watched this and honestly we all didnt make a peep we just got ... lost in houw much we really love Initial D. The movie gave new excitement for the up and coming seasons STAGES... and I am so happy we watched the first episode because this is just amazing.

Tadgh: I felt just a good about this one as the other stages we've watched. Initial D works well as a whole; each season has a theme and follows it well. This one was about Tak understanding himself, and it was a good ride. It really set up the rest of the series and we can't wait to get to the next one.

Third stage is a decent addition to the series. It's presented as a movie, but it feels more a 4-5 episode season. Takumi gets a chance at redemption with his recently improved 86, and also gets a taste of talent that's still left for him to compete with. There's also quite a bit of focus on his relationship with Natsuki, which fell flat for me as usual.

Art style changed again, with the characters looking more like their first stage selves. The cgi continues to improve, but it's still pretty ugly overall. Soundtrack isn't as exiciting as usual, but it's still solid overall.

It's about as ... enjoyable as the previous two seasons have been. I'd enjoy it more if they'd just cut the romance out and give more time to develop the rest of the cast. Takumi's decent character, but he's not enough carry a bunch of underdeveloped characters and a half-baked romances.

*** Contains spoilers ***
To my surprise, this is the lowest rated Initial D Stage on MAL. I have previously written a review on the entirety of the series, but this will only focus on the Third Stage, my personal favorite.

STORY: 9.5/10
This movie could easily have been nothing but a small transition between the Second Stage and Fourth Stage, but it is so much more than that. Throughout the film Takumi tries to figure out his dream, what he wants to do with his life. He later finds the answer as the very thing that has been in front of him this whole time, driving. Simultaneously ... Takumi challenges himself through races to see if he is worthy of joining the team that Ryouske invited him to join in the beginning of the movie. There are multiple races that aren’t too short, but since they’re on a limited time they couldn’t make them much longer. There are quite a lot of plot points and events that take place but despite that the film doesn’t feel that fast paced.

My favorite part of the movie as well as my favorite in all of Initial D is when Takumi saves Natsuki from Miki. The built up is great, Takumi and Natsuki have some interactions before, and we get a clear understanding on how they feel about each other. When they cut to Takumi driving up Akina with the Eurobeat song “Strike on” I can’t help but get chills. This moment ties together so much that has happened, from the very first episode when we see a glimpse of a flashback to when Takumi confronts Miki aswell as Takumi and Natsukis relationship. This was also a great way to end their journey together and decide to pursue their own dreams even tough that means taking different paths.

The only thing that I believe could improve the story is if they had more time to explore some aspects, but they did the best they could with the runtime that they had.

ART: 9/10
This is my favorite art style that has been used in Initial D, the colors look vibrant which makes every scene look very interesting. I also really enjoy the character designs which are in my opinion the best in the series. This is an upside to it being a movie, meaning it had a movie-level production. There is a clear distinction between the art of the rest of the show compared to this movie. You can also tell that the animation regarding the races have improved a lot since the First Stage and Second Stage, but they are not yet at the level of the Fourth- and Fifth Stages.

SOUND: 10/10
The sound is absolutely incredible and it’s hard to put to words how perfect it is. Eurobeat fits so well in the races and the songs in this stage are all great choices. The car sounds such as engine noises are also extremely accurate and sound amazing which adds another layer of realism. The voice acting is also solid, and they all fit their characters nicely.

CHARACTER: 9.5/10
The characters are all realistic and third dimensional. The friendship between Takumi, Itsuki, Iketani and Kenji feel so real. I love to see how Takumi and Natsuki has changed how they act around each other. They both ignore one another until Natsuki has had enough and tries to rebuild their friendship and redeem her past mistakes. Takumi doesn’t immediately forgive her which fits his character of being stubborn and you fully understand his motives. He later admits to liking her, but by that time it’s almost too late and they are about to take different paths to follow their own dreams which I thought was a nice way to end their story.

ENJOYMENT: 10/10
I love this movie and have at the time writing this rewatched it 6 times. No matter how many times I watch it, it is still incredible. I don’t have an exact list on which show is my favorite of all time, but this movie is one of them.

OVERALL: 10/10
For me this is an obvious 10/10, but other people clearly don’t see this the same as I do. Initial D has influenced me so much with getting interested in cars, especially Japanese cars and car culture and racing. I do not expect others to share my feelings for this movie, but I do still highly recommend anyone to watch this movie and Initial D. It might not be for everyone but in my biased opinion it is truly a masterpiece.

Everything about this stage is so good....

Story, beautiful. I love how this stage was turned into a movie.

Art, one of the best and packs a large amount of aesthetic designs

Sound, outstanding as normally Initial D sounds will always be top notch

Character, all characters are enjoyable as usual. Bonds will be made normally between characters after watching a lot of the stages and going through re-watches

... Enjoyment, one of the most enjoyable stages so far. This movie adaption is such a good masterpiece and I just love every single stage of this anime in general

Overall, masterpiece 10/10

This is my personal favorite Christmas movie, I watch it every year as a tradition now! This is just more Initial D, if you like that, then definitely watch it! The races are great, and have the same Initial D flair as always! The art style and animation are obviously a bit outdated, but I personally like it. I think it makes it more charming. I personally feel that Initial Ds characters seem boring to a lot of people because they're realistic. Normally they just go about their usual lives, and Takumi occasionally gets involved with a new street racer that challenges him. You don't ... see the side characters as much in this movie, but they're still present.

This movie has the very hard job of tying everything in the series to allow it to move forward and does an absolutely wonderful job at it.

The visuals are completely overhauled, with much warmer colors and better cgi that add a lot to the experience. The races are much more enjoyable cause a lot of the angles and distances make more sense, and it all makes everything much tense. For such an old piece of anime, it really holds up to standard.

Despite being relatively short for a whole "season" it still manages to have many interesting story points as well as a good amount of ... races.
The character of Takumi is heavily developed here, where you can see him gain an actual enjoyment for racing, and as well as set a goal to his mind.
Natsuki also has great character changes are really moves forward in the story, Itsuki also gains a lot in maturity and is way less of an obnoxious kid that he used to be (which was honestly a character I really disliked.)

Of course, the anime still has an absolutely killer soundtrack, and the engine+drifting sounds of the races are still prime. The voice acting is just as good as before which is nothing bad.

I feel like so far, this is really the best installment in the whole franchise, and I can't wait to see how they decide to move forward with it.

Its a very good movie and also a good idea to make a movie for end with Takumi street racing by himself and make a new beginning in a other way of street racing.
Here we also talk about natsuki mogi and see how much she improve beside the fault she made before with her sugar daddy, its not a charac that i hate, she just never learn about sugar daddy and thought it was something normal and after got caught after understand that it was bad, instead of keeping a sugar daddy for money, she wanted to understand how the world really work and we ... see it here, and its well done, because we're not bored by moment where we see her, battle are good with always good strategy, we also see Bunta (father of takumi) helping with advice instead of changing something in the engine (anyway the engine doesn't really need to be changed) Also we have holiday in, so its give a nice cute touch of party ! (i do my best for not spoil) Just a thing, that is bad, since beginning, we never know who give the papers/letter to takumi about mogi sugar daddy and it will never be explained in the whole anime, i've search it and its Manga only (for the knowledges) If you're curious (its not a spoil and never will be explained in the anime, so i'll tell you here) Its Mogi sister that is in the same classroom, that snitch this situation.
Why ? Because she has a crush on takumi and isn't as beautifull as Mogi (flat chest with glasses) Sad that it was never explained in the anime, but beside this, it was a great 1h30 movie (doesn't need a whole season with 24 long episode for explain story of Mogi x Takumi) And that's what i've loved

So stage 3. It was ok. Probably shouldn't have been a film, maybe a smaller season like stage 2. Music was still great but quite a step down for me from stage 1 and 2. I'll expand.

Animation wise, as usual, is broken into two different parts; the driving, the non driving. I'll start with the driving as I believe this is the element that shines. Seemingly, with every season it gets better and better. It's now at a point where I'm not sure it can to be honest. Every race, with come thick and fast in this season, I'll touch on this later, is ... animated flawlessly. Sadly the investment and excitement for these races is lacking, again something I'll mention later. I cannot fault the animation on the driving at all however, which is not something I can say about the non driving animation.

I'm going to say it. It's poor. Really really poor. I'm watching this 20+ years after it was made so I don't know what happe ed studio wise, but it really is rubbish. From Stage 1 to 2 there was progress, progress I had to adjust too because I loved this animation in stage 1, but an adjustment that made me happy with the progress. Here in stage 3, you have to adjust quickly as otherwise, it will just be an annoyance throughout. Thank goodness for the driving quality. Without it, it would be very difficult to get through.

Another issue I had with this is the story. Stage 2 gets you really ready for this season for you to feel completely deflated by the end of Stage 3. It makes me think that Stage 3 is the real scene setter for the next (this what I thought stage 2 was to stage 3) Ultimately this season really under derlivers. It's rushed, poorly written and not a patch on 1 and 2. Races just happen, with no build up, the building up that allows you to get excited, that puts you on the edge of your seat before the racers are at the start line. They happen, then they're are done and that's it.

Maybe this season is about Takumi
'finding himself' or 'forgiving' so that he can truly move on. Sadly, I don't care. I just want to start Stage 4 knowing it doesn't get worse than this....I hope.