Initial D 3rd Stage

The movie has a considerable amount of material to deal with and it does an excellent job of covering it. It transitions smoothly and takes one thing at a time and it’s well paced. Unfortunately, characters such as Itsuki, Iketani, and Keisuke are mostly in the back seat for all the right reasons, but still have presence. You finally get to see Takumi develop as a true well rounded racer and his other qualities also begin to develop in this movie as well. Not much else to say, but I say viewing the first 2 installments are a necessity since the movie is a continuation and a progression of the franchise. Well, the art, resolution, and the cg continue to progress. The art is cleaner and more detailed, and the cg’s rendering also improves. The races as usual are exciting, but have more of a gimmick or twist behind them this time, which makes them fresh and original in addition of allowing the races to take place in a new environment. And you can never get bored of breath taking drifts. However, some problems I have in this movie are that the races this time tends to end more anti-climatically more than usual. Fortunately for some, the tech speak is virtually non-existent this time so it’ll be easy to follow and just simply enjoy the races. But I say the tech speak in the previous sagas are always a big help in getting a professional understanding of how the cars and techniques work. But that’s just me. Well, I can’t really add too much about the voice acting since anything I said in the previous reviews can be applied here too. However, the addition of Kai played by Canna Nobutoshi is a great one. He is very intimidating and hot blooded as Kai like other roles he has played such as Guts from Berserk, Tasuki from Fushigi Yuugi, and Knuckles from Sonic. The music is still the number one trait has always captivated me to Initial D, and is a great representative of the fast and fun nature of this anime. The opening theme Gamble Rumble by MOVE goes very well to the sequence and is always in tradition that MOVE is part of the soundtrack, and I love the insertion of Crazy for Love as well. The ending theme Jirenma adds a new kind of feel to this series as well that you have to watch to understand what I mean. Like I said, to get into this movie, and understand and enjoy it, you have to see the first 2 seasons to understand a lot of things such as Takumi’s developing acquainting with Ryosuke, why Takumi is avoiding Natsuki and what ended their relationship, and the score he has to settle with the Emperors. To me, this movie is an extension of season 2 and transitions very well into the 4th stage. This movie does an excellent job of standing on its own by further developing Takumi’s character, and balancing his issues and resolving them.

The upgraded animation makes every downhill battle more exciting, and the emotional moments give the story a stronger impact than earlier entries. By the end, it feels less like the conclusion of one chapter and more like the beginning of a new journey.

One of the things I love most about this movie is how it shows that every race impacts the characters lives. It isn't just about who is the fastest it is also about dreams, failures, and once in a lifetime opportunities.

When I started this movie, I was genuinely curious how they would wrap up Takumi's story and I think this handled that really well. What surprised me the most in this is how much time the movie dedicated onto Takumi's messy relationship with Natsuki. The pacing was just right to me, it moves between the races and the personal scenes smoothly and all of them didn't feel rushed or stalled. The racing scenes however, they were really clean, even cleaner than what I've remembered from the series. This was really a good watch for me, even though I'm not that much of a fan, I can say that this was a movie worth watching.

La película funciona impecable para cerrar todo lo pendiente de las temporadas anteriores. Se enfoca en las tres carreras clave de Takumi destacando el pique en la nieve y el duelo en Irohazaka y muestra su decisión final de unirse al Project D. Mantiene un ritmo tremendo, las escenas de drifting con el Eurobeat clásico no defraudan.