Initial D Fourth Stage

[llamagles]

Initial D Fourth Stage

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This is a modified version of my Initial D Fourth Stage review found on anidb here. The review was edited from my original to fit the requirements of Anime-Planet reviews as well as to improve clarity and readability.


Story: 6.5
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 said stages or reading reviews for them before you read this review (unless you simply cannot resist reading on)!

I don’t even like cars, so why did I like Initial D Fourth Stage so much? The humble answer: addiction. The races aren’t even that fast-paced, there’s a ton 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 the characters talk about the races is what makes the show 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. This character development is what the story is all about.

Here, I am rating this anime series based on the fact that it is about racing—the series doesn't try to be much more than that, and when it does, it only insignificantly detracts from the overall experience. Most of the instances that detract from the series are, as one may guess, when drama arises between some of the characters, which I won't spoil even though it wasn't interesting. The drama within the show is mostly there simply to add to the overall fullness of the show so there's a bit more to it than "just" racing. Nonetheless, Initial D is mostly about racing, and I feel as though the racing scenes were always the definite highlight. Thus, as an anime series about racing, this show does a great job at telling the story of young racers with bright futures.


Animation: 7.5
The animation in Initial D Fourth Stage is a vast improvement upon the previous stages of Initial D, notably in terms of the races and the cars in general (which are the core of the show). The cars now blend in very well with the rest of the series, looking more "anime" than "CG," as they used to appear. The characters still have the classic Initial D look, which is definitely not entirely spiffy, though the quality is a bit improved here than in previous stages. Of course, the races are where the animation counts most in this series, and thankfully the races are animated exceptionally well.

Sound: I don’t like the background music in this series standalone (I tried the OSTs and couldn't stand them), but the music works amazingly well here for the races by keeping both the pace going strong and the races from feeling "too" slow in between all the talking. The voice acting is acceptable. There is nothing noteworthy from the actors, though nobody stood out as just plain bad either (unless you count Itsuki, which I try very, very hard not to ;)).


Characters: 7.5
The main characters, Takumi and Keisuke, are cool. They have personalities that viewers of the previous stages will be familiar with, and if you're watching this far into the show, you are likely to be attached to the way they are from previous experiences. Seeing them race and grow under the guidance of Ryosuke makes the show fun and adds depth to Ryosuke.

Takumi, 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, 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, Project D’s leader, is an interesting and unique character in the world of Initial D. 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 because of this. I found it intriguing how well he planned things out and how he was devoting so much of his life into building up two stellar drivers.

The side characters aren’t very noteworthy besides Takumi’s father. Takumi’s father helps Takumi grow as a driver, and I thought it would have been interesting and beneficial to the show if he had a bigger role in this series. Then we have the character that is Itsuki, who’s somewhat charismatic in a clumsy/goofy sort of way (and also particularly annoying for most viewers because of his pointless comic relief), and some other folks whose names I can’t even remember, which of course means they weren't interesting in the least bit. The only thing that the side characters add to Initial D in any positive way is that they make the main characters seem considerably more interesting and intriguing in comparison. Itsuki as well as the other side characters (and notably, the fact that they actually sometimes had significant amounts of screen time) are why the character rating is a 7.5 instead of considerably higher).


Overall: 8
One may wonder why the overall score is noticeably higher than the average of the previous individual scores—and the answer is found in the simple enjoyment that this anime series provides the viewer. Enjoyment is by far the most important part that comes into play when watching this series. Initial D is just fun to watch. I don’t know how I got into a series about car racing, but this series managed to make it happen. 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.

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 re-watch 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 of the races won’t be as high, but watching will still be fun. So if racing is 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, this series is 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 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.

In the end, I suggest starting with the First Stage, and if you like it, keep watching—Initial D only gets better, and I find that the Fourth Stage is the best of all the stages. Initial D is 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 ever before.

[ParaParaJMo]

This is my season finale for anime reviews. Look forward to new anime reviews again in 2009.

YouTube - GrapplerJMo Anime Review Initial D Fourth Stage Project.D

Story and Characters
Shortly taking off from the end of 3rd stage, Takumi has accepted Ryosuke’s offer to join Project D, consisting of Takumi as the downhill ace, and Ryosuke’s brother Keisuke as the uphill ace. Ryosuke decided to start this team to fulfill his goals in the street-racing world before he officially retires to enter medical school, and is also using this opportunity to help develop and improve Keisuke and Takumi to become well-rounded racers being fully aware of the potential they both have, and both share goals in becoming professional racers. Their overall goal is to conquer the Kanto region and whatever results they produce, they post onto their website in order to antagonize their opponents.

Well the series has a certain pattern or formula which may seem repetitive, but the series is willing to somewhat break the 4th wall in an indirect sense to explain that and help you understand better. This will be explained between Takumi’s races with Tomoyuki and Sakamoto on the subject of “oh this opponent will be your toughest yet, etc.” For the formula, mostly one episode is that they introduce Project D’s opponents and the following episode they will race. At times the pace will change a bit, but I think it brings a more definitive balance to keep you hooked. It is very character development driven which is what I loved best. Every race Takumi and Keisuke have is a new kind of challenge in multiple angles and it’s Ryosuke’s purpose to use that factor to help develop them. The development is obvious and predictable, but Ryosuke keeps things at a certain ambiguity where it does make you curious to how they get to that goal. But it’s not about development as racers, but development as characters as well. Especially with Keisuke since you get to learn about him more and sympathize with him.

Itsuki, Iketani, and Kenji are of course present. Itsuki will also have his time to somewhat shine again. I think they are useful but not impacting. I think the purpose of their presence is to demonstrate that Takumi is developing and can talk about racing and cars, and Takumi won’t explain things all spaced out like in 1st stage. Other characters from previous season will be making a return and they also have their own contributions. The newer characters are interesting in their own right and you’re getting characters from all kinds of backgrounds and skill levels. Granted it’s been the same with previous installments, but this takes it to a whole new level in ways you can never have expected. By the end, you get characters that are not traditionally found in Initial D, but you would tend to find in Wangan Midnight, another racing anime and manga. Some teams go as far as getting professional racers to challenge Project D. A flaw that will stand out to those familiar with the manga is that Keisuke’s races such as that with the Integra and the R34 are mentioned, but are never shown, but afterwards they show his races. I don’t know why. But I heard they were animated for Battle Stage 2, which I have yet to see. I also recall that Kyoko, the black FD driver being spunkier in the manga while in this one, she’s more of a likeable and sweet girl, but with a unique passion for cars and racing. Over looking these flaws, the pacing felt as fast as the races, which will be my next topic of discussion, so I say the story and characters get a 9.25/10.

Art and Animation
Well, you’ll notice a lot of changes in this series in style. What I liked is that it brings a style more manga-like. The art was sketchier and it used a lot more cross-hatching to show the shadowing. I’m personally more of a manga person, so I felt appreciated as a manga fan. I also loved how the coloring and resolution complimented this approach as well. But one thing in particular that really stood out to me was that the characters wore different clothes in every episode. Usually in cartoons, video games, and anime, characters will always wear one set of clothes just to make them “iconic.” I know it may sound stupid those who are listening to this review, but this quality just stood out to me and I just happened to enjoy it. But one thing I didn’t like personally is that Shigeno-sensei at this point is sort of getting lazy with his female designs. How come Kyoko and Nao have to look like Natsuki? Why can’t he draw women in the fashion of Impact Blue? I don’t know where he went wrong there.

The rendering of the cars this time has more of a cel-shaded style, though not really in the same nature of that as in Jet Set Radio or Okami. It still has a CG kind of look, and I thought the rendering blended excellently with the style of this season. The races in this one are of course more exciting than ever, but I think they relied on the chase race more. You know the races like what Takumi had with Impact Blue in first stage, and with Wataru in second. But I heard in mountain races in Japan, that kind of racing is most common. I prefer the time attack races and I think in addition to realism they used the chase race just to drag the races a little bit more, but I feel the conclusions and finishes are more dramatic as a result, though sometimes anti-climatic, but there are legitimate reasons and purposes. But like other installments as the series progresses, new courses will of course mean new features and factors to how the races will turn out which is another contribution to motivating development. And sorry to bring up a spoiler, but I couldn’t help but mention that by the end, it will feature Mt. Tsukuba, also known as the Purple Mountain, a course I used to live not too far from and have hiked. And the home team is appropriately named the Purple Shadow. And I haven’t played the newer games enough to give the judgment of the accuracy of the course’s portrayal So I give the art and animation of 4th stage, a 9.5/10.

Music and Voice Acting
Even though I skim through this section in the last two reviews of Initial D, I need to really extend this particular section more in relation to the voice acting. First I will briefly talk about the music. My favorite song is the 2005 remix of Wild Reputation by Dave Rodgers, and it’s featured in episode 13. I just think the song really reflected the bad boy images of Wataru and Keisuke. And to conclude with the music, MOVE’s style has gone more radical where it was more reliant on rap in previous seasons, while they added more rock elements to come across as more extreme and it works out really well. So that’s it for music.

The voice acting in this season starting with Takahashi Ryosuke played by Koyasu Takehito, is taken to a new level of appreciation in my book. It’s not just his unique charisma and intimidation, but I just love how he makes the character. His acting abilities truly bring those qualities to Ryosuke. It makes him sound like a Bruce Lee of street racing though that’s really Bunta’s role, but Koyasu’s acting just steals that spotlight. Miki Shin’ichiro also brings out Takumi’s development in relation to his ability to articulate his abilities racing and doesn’t sound as spaced out. He just really pulls you into the character and you can’t call him an empty shell. And as usual, I love Seki Tomokazu’s hot tempered portrayal as Keisuke. And Toyoguchi Megumi, who you may know as the voice of Elena in Advent Children, Millaria in Gundam SEED, and Sei in Maria-san ga Miteru did an excellent performance with the anime’s portrayal of Kyoko who is passionate, but yet mellow and focused. Even though my perfect scores in previous installments was out of fanboyism on my part, I just feel that for the first time I felt moved and more educated by the performances and the use of the music to give it another 10/10, but for the right reasons this time.

Overall
Despite how highly I rate this, I still acknowledge Initial D isn’t an anime for everyone whether new, casual, or hardcore. I’m just saying this as a guy who’ll try everything, and I didn’t expect to like Initial D. I like what’s fresh and original, which Initial D has always offered me and is free from most anime stereotypes, and it’s very educational to me as someone who has friends who like to race and I have been going to car shows and drag races since I was in high school, though I don’t participate in them. But the concept of racing isn’t something everyone is going to embrace and I know that eurobeat isn’t universally appealing. And the tech speak is something that can turn off people and I’ve seen that a lot. But if you want character and story development that is well motivated, maybe these qualities will make up for the surface ones that make you uninterested, I don’t know.

Now I will conclude this on a note that people will call me stupid and crazy, and for all the right reasons by fans and non-fans alike. It’s just that when I watched this, I felt the execution and presentation made me start to think that touge racing is a legitimate sport in its own way and requires a unique set of skills and customization of your car. After all, some famous racers started out on the street and Tsuchiya Keiichi, the drift king and supervisor of this anime was no different. Outside of public traffic risk and legality factors, other conditions that are explained and portrayed truly demonstrate this distinction to make you come to that assumption and I do have a new sense of respect for touge racing as a sport thanks to watching this anime. As for a fifth stage, the manga is still going on, so you can look forward to it at some point, or read the manga. And for my overall score of Fourth Stage, it gets a 9.5/10.