Initial D Fourth Stage

So, new season. What do you all think? Episode 4 was simply amazing! and I enjoy the animation and the music still rocks. And of course the car races!!!

 

I LOVED episode 4 of the new series.

It was more technical that a LOT of Initial D's previous races, with episode 2 being the ultimate in lameness.

Still, I'm very happy that the people that make Initial D finally got it into their heads that the character designs were horrible, and they cleaned up everything. Now the character animations are smoother and cleaner with less of those gritty lines (though they still use them), and most of them look MUCH better, with Ryousuke (the Red Suns White Comet RX-7) the only person who actually looks moderately the same.

And, jeez, the CAR animations have improved greatly. Instead of a blurred and nearly un-detailed cars you see for the first two stages, the cars are VERY detailed this time around. They took a "more comic is more realistic" approach this time, using cel-shading to highlight details, like the lines of the door and overall shadowing. It makes it appear MORE realistic than the "ultra-realism" that the first two stages used, since those little details are very easily lost in the overall graininess of the races.

Anyway, overall, it looks to be great. Takumi's finally LEARNING more about cars, instead of just racing them, and it looks like even GREATER challengers are on their way. And I can't WAIT to see the Takumi's 86 versus Bunta's WRX STi. =D

FYI, there's already talk about a Stage 5, which would be in the late 90's chapters of the manga. A prominent race (to my friend, since he owns one...) will be the Lord of Arms' Honda S2000 vs. Takumi's Hachiroku. Yeah, Lord of Arms. Stupid name, but he's supposedly the KING of shifting, thus his rather dumb name.

 

Lord of Arms, King of Braking.. they will all fall to Lord of the 86 Takumi (that's a cheesy name..not very creative with words). It was awesome when Takumi said he's always been underestimated and loves the feeling of the unknown. Right on Takumi!

 

Episode 5 and 6 were cool. I'm happy the race finished at the end of 6 too. Takumi just simply amazes me every time.