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I was going to put in a poll with my own "top 10" races to see what would come out on top, but I figured since we all have our opinions on what's good in Initial D, I opted out of it.

Where, in your opinion, was the essence of Initial D on full display? Where was it at the absolute peak of quality?

For me, it's always been a battle between Takumi/Ryosuke and Takumi/Godhand. Ryosuke had a ton of buildup leading into an exciting, meaningful race that taught both racers key lessons in their craft. In the anime version, the music choices were perfect. It is a flawless race in all aspects.

For Godhand, the only big thing missing was buildup. There was very little in terms of building Godhand's image as some sort of impossible figure to defeat. He's a lot like Bunta in that respect. He let his skill do the talking. That he was as cordial and polite as Ryosuke both before and after the race was pretty awesome, too.

I've got to agree with you on the Takumi/Ryosuke race for the same reasons.

Though, I've got a few personal favorites to add for my own reasons.

Keisuke/Kyoko. I don't care what anyone says, this is an amazing race. First off, it's an FD battle. I love the synchronization shots. The music choice in-anime, and in BS2 was perfect. It sets up a lot of background and character development for Keisuke. And of course, the romance fan in me can't not like the whole set-up. In my opinion, that arc was the best written. (Though sadly forgotten right away.)

Takumi/Wataru. Two completely different types of drivers with two completely differently tuned AE86s. Bunta giving his son direct advice, and telling him "Don't you dare lose." Again, the soundtrack. "Make Up Your Mind" by Wain L. is my favorite track from the anime.

And of course, one I'm heavily biased about.

Ryosuke/Rin Hojo. I love this race. I love the FC, and Ryosuke's my favorite character. To finally give him real background, as deep as it is for the series, was great. To finally see the White Comet of Akagi, Gunma's Rotary Genius, in battle again was just amazing. The techniques, the back and forth between the two drivers, in voice and otherwise were perfect. The music, again, amazing. Still would have liked "Forever Sad" by Hely and "Back on the Rocks" though. And of course, that ending. Ryosuke and Ikeda braking to save Rin was just... I don't even have words.

All in all, though, I have to give it to Keisuke/Kyoko. No one else will agree with me, but it means a lot to me.

This post has been edited by Miura Seri on Sep 27 2014, 12:36 PM

Takumi/Ryosuke of course, Boom Boom Japan plays at the perfect time. Both racers giving everything the have to win. The final pass is epic.

Takumi/Wataru : the aura when Takumi unlocks the full potential of the new 86 gave me chills.

Takumi/Keisuke : I like this basically because of the birth of a new legend, Takumi and the 86.

Takumi/Nakazato : Ryosuke telling his brother of how good the 86 is, "Burning Up For You" syncs perfectly with the scenes.

Takumi/Kyouichi II : I like it because of the soundtrack "Speed Lover", and third stage animations were great.

Takumi/Tomoyuki : Street pro vs Circuit pro, the birth of the blind attack, soundtrack "Forever Young", the way Ryosuke explained why there are 2 Project D aces and the difference between them. The only thing i hate is the reason Tomoyuki lost. It's a bit of a bullshit imo.

Keisuke/Godfoot : i like how it came to be a battle of will in the end. Godfoot pass was awesome too. Riders of The Sky plays nicely with the cuts of the two cars drifting while making the race more thrilling as it coming to an end.

Ryosuke/Rin Hojo : same like Miura Seri, i love FC and seeing Ryosuke back in action is refreshing, no teleporting crap just pure emotion, skills and great words by Ryosuke. Ikeda and Ryosuke saving Rin is just..... Wow.

Takumi/Shinji : Takumi's comeback after being bumped is great, showed that he is freed from being confused by Shinji before. Takumi's pass is just epic, "Crazy Little Love" chorus as Shinji saw Takumi's "wings" is perfect, the final part where both cars bumped each other while going for the win is truly thrilling. I love the part where everyone went silent a bit after Takumi crossed the finish line, then they cheer while the intro of "Days" played, it's fitting so well for the end, showing that finally they did it.

I know it's a lot but overall i love most of the races in First, Third and Fourth Stage so choosing them is kinda hard.

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This post has been edited by MonkeyWrenchd on Sep 27 2014, 02:03 PM

I'll go with:

Takumi/Toru - very epic way to pass an opponent 'the lidless gutter shortcut'

Keisuke/Kobayakawa - the mad dash for the win is kick ass + bad ass visual effect

Ryosuke/Shinigami - just insanely perfect. Awesome display of driving prowess from both drivers. Just plain/undebateble perfectness.

for me, definately will be..

The White Comet VS The Grim Reaper.. best battle in all series..

I'll never forget the intensity that the entire race between Keisuke and Hoshino played out. Especially Keisuke giving it all he's got at the end; that feeling of hanging on by a thread, trembling as you, paranoid, do your best not to make even one mistake...I could feel it! And Looka Bomba was just freaking awesome for the moment. In fact, it was this race that got my friend into Initial D.

Rin Hojo VS Ryosuke, hands down is by far the best race in the series. I'd have to agree with @MonkeyWrenchd - no teleporting bullsh*t and everything was paced accordingly - and it's been a while since we had a 3-way (1-v-1+spectator) race since Takumi VS Nakazato.

Takumi VS Kai was a fine battle for me (the one at Irohazaka) especially the Battle Stage variant with the "Crazy for your love" BGM. When I first watched it, the jump on the bridge was intense and synchronized accordingly with the music.

Keisuke VS Hoshino because... R34 domination hahahaha-/shot4fanboying.

Rin Hojo VS Ikeda - although it was merely an introductory battle to both Ikeda and Rin's performance and no noteworthy BGM/Eurobeat other than the standard "A God of Death I and II", it was nothing short of a badass introduction and how well Ikeda controlled his hard tuned Z33 against that bulldozing R32 ramming his ass from behind. It gave you the sense of tension and gives you an idea how dangerous downhill touge races actually are.

This post has been edited by Gunma's 34 on Sep 29 2014, 11:28 AM

I forgot, Shinigami vs Ryosuke race has that one thing i dislike, when pinkish smoke comes out from Shinigami's GTR. I thought it ruined the dangerous look from his car. But everything else.... Oh. My. God.

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So as expected, Ryosuke vs Rin and Keisuke vs Hoshino have the most votes. Not that I'm complaining.

Keisuke vs Takumi rematch could probably have to most votes..... If Shigeno made it

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I'm surprised that First / Second Stage races aren't at the top. Most of the quality from Shigeno's pen was found in those volumes.

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I would rate the Battle in Third Stage Movie
Takuimi vs Kogashiwa AE86 vs Toyota MR2 G-Limited
The jumps in Irohazaka and the bridge with the dry leaves, it had not 1 but 2 key moments.

Eh, the two passes in the Ryosuke/Takumi race were much more dramatic.

On the aspects of first stage, Takumi VS Mako & Sayuki is quite iconic for me - the feeling of seeing a race happen by Takumi outside Akina/Haruna, not to mention the Shin Usui route they were on was the longest so far before Tsubaki.

I thought that race was rather boring, though. Nothing really crazy happened until the very end with the spinout. Takumi being able to get through C121 effortlessly was hardly a dramatic moment considering we knew it wouldn't be a huge problem for him. Mako wasn't really the most skilled driver out there, either. She can beat scrubs and a low end Emperor member on her home course, and that seems to be it. I never saw her as having a chance in hell at defeating Takumi. The best part of that whole arc was the dynamic between characters outside of the race.

I thought the real challenge for Takumi in Usui race is the Usui itself, it's the first time he raced against a local from another road outside Akina. I do agree with Tessou that the Usui race is boring, i kinda fell asleep everytime i watch those episodes. In fact, the whole Iketani/Mako story was really boring.

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Takumi mentioned something about the pace being different, but I don't think he ever considered it a real challenge. He was pretty calm the entire time.

+1 to this vote and...

The race between Takumi driving the Ae86 and Takumi driving the Impreza during his 4wd complex, I wish I would have seen that in the manga and the anime. It would have been one hell of a race against a ghost of your own making.

I guess I'm doing this straight from memory but the race that stood out to me the most was the Godfoot vs Keisuke. I think it was because of the cameo appearance from MOVE that made it so cool. Oh, and that double drift thing somewhere in the middle. Forgive me, its been a while since I rewatched the series and I don't remember everything.

Oh yeah! And the race where Takumi blew out his engine, what happened during the race wasn't that exciting but the events that occurred afterwards were absolutely crazy.

Which one? He blew that shit twice.

OH that is so true! Uh... shoot, the one where he was up against the Emperors in Second Stage? It was the one where Bunta came to pick him up and he cried a little. I cried a little too, we totally shared a moment.

Saw the Shinigami / Ryosuke race earlier today. I'm not really convinced that it's a good race. Shinigami is fast but he doesn't seem to have any skill when it comes to actually racing somebody that gives him a challenge.

I thought it was pretty boring up until the braking portion at the very end.

I think this is true because Shinigami isn't actually racing that time, he is aiming for the kill and I wonder what would it be if they were to have a real race, on the downhill.

He's all power. He would have to slow down considerably to have a race without shredding his brakes or tires on that heavy chassis. Nakazato's fuckup all over again.

Hahaha....

It just shows he wants to kill Ryosuke or die trying. Ryosuke won because Rin Hojo failed.

I like the Nakazato part of this ^^

With brains like Nakazato he won't have the right to be called the Ryosuke counter part of the Hojo brothers, + the fact that he is not so skilled as shown in the anime.

I don't know about the manga, but has anybody saw him actually race, I mean like Rin Hojo is racing not the Shinigami, or something like that?