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*** 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.

*** This is a review of all the stages of Initial D (contains spoilers) ***

Initial D is one of my favorite animes of all time. Whilst it arguably doesn’t have the best story and certainty not the best animation/art it has influenced me so much. I happened to find the song “Déjà vu” on YouTube and thought it was kinda good, so I looked into it and found that it was from Initial D. I started watching it not expecting too much but wow, it is just great. This later got me into getting into cars which has now become a huge part of my ... life. My favorite stage is stage 3 closely followed by stage 1.

STORY: 8/10
Like I mentioned the story is nowhere revolutionary but, in my opinion, it is still great. The fact that Takumi is winning every race could easily get boring however the races are incredible intense, and it constantly feels impossible that he could win. One thing I also really enjoyed was the relationship between Takumi and Natsuki and I thought it was a little disappointing when she left in stage 3, and nothing replaced her until stage 5 with the golf girl (I don’t remember her name) which they didn’t give her nearly as much screentime. The races are overall good paced and even though some of them are quite long they don’t feel like they are dragged out.

ART: 8/10
The art in the earlier stages is not the best, but it has a charm to it. My favorite art style is probably from stage 3, the character designs are great, and this is the point where the cars and races start looking a lot better. You can still see that it’s not perfect yet, but it’s getting there. Stages 4 – final look fantastic, the cars are realistic, and they have improved a lot. The character designs however are in my opinion a little worse than before, its hard to explain why but I just don’t think they look as good.

SOUND: 10/10
The sound is absolutely phenomenal, the engine sounds are extremely accurate, and the voice acting is really solid. Then there is the Eurobeat, wow. It fits so good with the races and if it weren’t for the music the races wouldn’t be nearly as exiting. It has gotten to the point where I listen to Eurobeat in my everyday life just because I like it that much. The ops and eds are also great with both visuals and music.

CHARACTER: 9/10
The characters are also a highlight. The interactions between Takumi and his friend group are realistic and feels like people I could be friends with. Natsuki is one of the most interesting characters in the series and when Takumi finds out that she is dating a middle-aged man as well as how they interact afterwards are some of my favorite parts. The scene where Takumi races up Akina in the snow to save Natsuki is probably the best in the whole show, and I get chills every time I watch it. The minor antagonists are well established and are not one dimensional.

ENJOYMENT: 10/10
Initial D is a blast to watch especially stages 1 – 3 (and maybe 4). While I enjoyed stage 4 and the races were amazing, I felt as there were too many with no breaks in between. The statement stands for stage 5 and final as well, but they are worse (but nowhere bad) in my opinion. In combination with the great, fleshed out characters, amazing races and fantastic music my enjoyment is through the roof.

OVERALL: 10/10
This is in my opinion one of the best animes I’ve ever watched and YES, I am biased. From an objective point of view this surely is not a 10/10 but I just can’t rate it any lower, Initial D will always be one of my favorite and most impactful shows of all time.

Just wow, it's amazing how much Araki has improved over the years. Steel Ball Run is such a good story and is now my favourite JoJo part.

The setting is great, of course Arakis art is always beautiful and 1880s America is a really interesting place to explore. The added urgency due to the race truly improves the story and adds another aspect and challenge for the characters.

The story itself was great, although it was quite slow paced in the beginning and it took a while to even get introduced to stands. Not that it was bad by any means, but it definitely got ... better when stands were introduced and shifted the focus to the corpse parts.

The characters are some of the best written in the entirety of JoJo. Johnny and Gyro create an amazing duo and even though there are fewer main characters than previous parts they carry the story just as well as for example the Morhio warriors. They have become some of my favourite characters due to being deep and complex. I also adore how Johnny is not necessarily good or evil and that he is in a gray-zone. That is one of the reasons that he has become my favourite JoJo. Tusk is somewhat of a weird ability if you think about it (but then again what JoJo stand isn't?), however it is used in many creative ways and I ended up really enjoying it. As the stand evolved it had logical evolutions and it was amusing to see the parallels to Johnny as a character developing along with his stand. Gyros spin technique was fascinating as it also helped Johnny to evolve his stand and together they managed to create an infinite spin with the help of a horse.

The fights feel more natural rather than forced compared to previous parts. There are also really creative uses of the abilities and the stands themselves are also great. I'm genuinely impressed by the minor villain Ringo Roadagain (a fan favourite) due to his complexity and character for only being a minor villain. His stand Mandom with the ability of rewinding time for a few seconds is also very interesting and reminds me of previous JoJo antagonists. Other fights I really enjoyed was Blackmore and Wekapipo for their interesting abilities and setting of the fight.

You cannot talk about SBR and not mention Funny Valentine, like Kira Yoshikage he is an amazing villain and one of the best in JoJo. He is comparable to Johnny because he is also in a gray-zone, Funny wants the best for his country but some of the lengths he has to go to get there are questionable to say the least. His stand Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (D4C) is also a really interesting and powerful stand with a lot of opportunities. The first time reading the D4C arc was so confusing but later when an explanation was given to the reader it all made sense despite how odd it was. The stand is also utilized well and it was really interesting to see that Funny was basically the same person throughout all of the different dimensions which shows his determination.

In conclusion Steel Ball Run is my favourite JoJo part followed by Diamond is Unbreakable because of the complexity of the characters, the amazing fights, the phenomenal villain and so on. It is definitely worth the read!

Story: 9/10
Art: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Overall: 10/10