Initial D Fourth Stage is Literally Perfect!

Article at a glance:

• Fourth Stage is peak Initial D: it nails the perfect balance of hype races, strong writing, solid production, and nonstop Eurobeat bangers.
• The character work actually hits hard: Takumi’s confidence gets shattered, Keisuke shows real growth, and even the side cast feels thoughtfully written.
• It still holds up today: clean art, well-integrated CGI, legendary music, and some of the most hype races in the entire series.

After watching recent MFG episodes, I really just had the itch to watch Initial D again. So I returned to my favorite Initial D season, Fourth Stage. I really can’t put into words how much I love Fourth Stage. It really has the best balance of writing, hype races, good production, and Eurobeat among all seasons. Sure, First Stage is iconic as hell, but the animations feel pretty dated. Sure, Fifth Stage looks a lot better, but no Eurobeat. Fourth Stage really does have everything you could want and more from a racing anime.

So welcome back to another article. And today, I will be glazing the hell out of Initial D Fourth Stage. In fact, I would go as far as saying it is worth watching Initial D just for this one season alone. So let’s get started!

Why do I like Initial D Fourth Stage so much?

As I said earlier, this season has everything I want out of an Initial D season. Even the writing is pretty good. Sure, the plot is paper-thin, just a series of races and some connecting tissue here and there between them. But the character work is so on point. This is why I complain that MFG characters feel flat. In this season, Takumi gets his confidence completely obliterated when Bunta passes him on Akina. He spends the next few episodes recovering from that trauma, and yeah, he actually develops a 4WD complex for a while.

Keisuke has his own things going on. The whole matter with Kyoko brings out a different side of him. We get to see how dedicated he is to Project D. We also get to see how far he has come from “horsepower maniac” in Season 1. None of the MFG characters have this much thought put into them. Kanata never truly experiences losing his confidence completely like Takumi does. Even the side characters like Wataru, Fumihiro, Nobuhiko, and, of course, Ryosuke are pretty well done.

And then animations hold up pretty damn well even today. Sure, some angles may look janky, but for the most part, the art is clean, and the 3D CGI is integrated perfectly. It doesn’t look “out of place” like the Season 1 CGI did. And the music, oh man, the music is so damn good. Forever Together, Faster go Raising Hell, Fly Away, I could keep on going. Every single episode with a race has at least two banger songs. Both opening themes are amazing as well.

Also, can we talk about how insanely hype the Capuccino vs. AE86 race in the rain was? Yeah, I absolutely ADORE Fourth Stage.

That is all for now

Yeah, that’s enough glazing, I think. But PLEASE do yourself a favor and watch Initial D Fourth Stage. Easily the best season of the anime, by far. With that said, though, I will take my leave here. I am off to play more Hades II, see ya!

Also, check out my thoughts on The Villainess Is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor Kingdom here!