Bro... this felt like it could've been a movie separate from the plot. This was a fire "race" if that's what we're gonna call it. Two more races to go and we actually might pull off getting this stage done in April. Most likely Mon & Tues will be the final uploads. Thank you for riding along with me thru this series, I'll do my best to get this done on time! 😁 Oh yea and the Like goal is 86. See yall at the finale
Jay I genuinely like the parts where you pause and express your thoughts and narratives about the scenes. It helps me relive the times when I watched Initial D for the first time and also gives me a new perspective about the series too. It's almost sad that we're nearing the end but I promise you I will be sticking by you for your other series reactions too. Last but not the least *Drum Rolls* you are now safe to watch the intro.
I'm so happy we finally got to this race, I've rewatched it countless times over the years and I still get goosebumps from it lol The last race ofthis stage gets a lot of hate apparently but to me it's really special and I really like it, I guess the "message" of the race is what struck me differently and honestly I think it's a very fitting theme for the last Keisuke race of the series
40:50 Yes, he was a racer before that. He and Ryosuke used to be friends. Rin had his old Mazda RX-7 FC, with which he taught Ryosuke how to race with his car. Ryosuke then also bought an FC and started racing on his own. So when Ryosuke called him "senpai", he likely meant it as an acknowledgement that Rin was his teacher. However, when Kaori died and Rin found out about her and Ryosuke, he felt betrayed (and not completely unjustly), sold his old car (likely because it reminded him of Ryosuke) and some of his other possessions, and bought the super tuned GTR R-32. Also, Rin was not the director of that company. His father was. His father and Kaori´s father arranged that marriage. And AFAIK originally neither Rin nor Kaori was against it. It was only after Kaori met Ryosuke that she started to dislike Rin.
It was like, Kaori saw a good guy in Rin and liked/tolerated his company, but lacked that "spark". When she met Ryosuke, she realized Rin wasn't really the guy she liked, rather the only guy that was around at that moment. It's like when you eat every day a certain food and think "Yeah, that's good and I like it" but someone passes you a dish and you go "OH MY GOD, THAT'S THE GREATEST HAMBURGER I'VE EVER ATE !!!!", right?
55:04 I get where you're coming from, but the AE86 was actually a pretty common car for street racing/drifting in the 90's because it was an affordable platform that was good enough for drifting. In the 80's it was very dominant in multiple forms of motorsport, and even rather successful use until the early 90's. It's just that by the 90's, tech from state-of-the-art japanese sports cars had rapidly advanced, outclassing the 86, but usually being out of reach for most people. Adjusted for inflation, a R32 GTR would cost over $100,000 when new.
It wasn't really because it was good for drifting. It was good, because it was light and it was a great platform to do anything that involved corners. It won 2 BTCC championships for a reason
Driving being a dream to Ryosuke is kinda deep. Cuz Ryosuke is forced or rather expected to become a doctor because of his parents running a hospital. So he wishes those who can drive to continue to drive, Keisuke and Takumi. So it’s deep when Kaori asks Ryosuke what he wants to do, because he’s not becoming a doctor because he wishes to.
This race got some 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥always here to drop the track names let's get it 18:14 The Race Of The Night by Dave Rodgers 33:59 A Perfect Hero by Chris Stanton (you fr gotta check this one out, goes hard) 39:33 On Your Wings by Rich Hard 52:50 Wait For You (Dancefloor Night Mix) by Ace
When you intruduce yourself in Japanese, you always put the last name first. Hojo Rin, Hojo Go. Takahashi Keisuke, Tsuchiya Keiichi, Fujiwara Takumi. And -Senpai just means that someone is your elder. It's a respect thing.
6:54 Yes, Shuichi Shigeno wrote this. The difference being that for the manga, the entirety of Fifth Stage's events were written from 2005 to 2012, with the pause between each volume release sometimes taking a little under a year. He took his sweet time coming up with these scenarios.
After these episodes, you can freely watch the opening now. Also, Keisuke’s race is all of the last 3 episodes. Takumi’s race is the entirety of Final Stage.
The reason why Ryosuke didn't use the braking tactic is because Hojo Rin was slamming on him while cornering. And the FC is an RWD car. RWD cars are literally "walking on thin ropes" While cornering. Any drastic moves such as hard braking, hard acceleration, quick steering, etc. will immediately cause the car to spin out. That's why when Hojo Rin pushed Ryosuke at the starting he didn't brake, cuz it was safer to take the hit and recover than to brake and spin out. The last slam he had no choice but to brake and he nearly spun out.
The show is almost coming to the end 😢 This race is truly the one that you can tell how good Ryosuke is , as a driver and also a leader of a team, he’s always so calm and focused. Make sure to have your tissue box ready for the last race , I cried like a baby watching that last race when I was a kid😂 I really enjoyed watching your reaction videos of Initial D, I watched every single one of them 🫡 Keep it up dude
Thank you for pulling through even when you dont feel like uploading and you still. It means a lot to all of us and your uploads put a smile to everyones face.
I feel like Ryosuke being obsessed with the mountain pass and not wanting to go pro is tied to him wanting to follow his "dream", and because it was a way for him to run from his past. Like a way of coping, all that adrenaline and what is actually very dangerous racing compared to on a circuit.
People don't like 5th as much because the battles with Fujiwara zone feel cheaty and unreal in comparison to the previous stage's techniques. As well as the lack of character story going on, but of course we're graced with this race for that. Surprisingly enough, there's a subset of the fandom that also hate 4th stage for the same reason (minus fujiwuji rootytootyzone), so I'm glad you're just enjoying everything as it comes rather than being overly critical. btw, that joke at the end of the race gave me a good laugh
The whole thing with the Fujiwara Zone is that it was simply poorly explained so people didn't understand the simplicity of it. Most of it was done for more "Anime/Manga" dramatic effect. Keisuke had a similar effect... but the whole point basically, was that they were simply attacking the corners in ways the other driver didn't think was possible. The "After image" effect was more for dramatic anime effects.... and they were simply braking later, or accelerating way sooner than they predicted. So the opponents were visualizing mentally where the car "Should" be vs where the car actually was in reality. The anime/manga just described it in a more "Dramatic" way to look cool. Not that the cars were actually teleporting or using "Super natural" abilities. Goes to show how when you have something well written and then have one moment of not explaining something fully, how it can effect people's perception to a story/written element.
I think you can open your eyes now for the intro now lololol. Great reaction as always, This is probably the only part of 5th stage I actually enjoyed.
I think we could pretty much all agree that Ryosuke Vs Hojo Rin is the best race in Initial D. It's special, the writing makes the race much more significant than the others, and the stakes is life or death. The exchange of racing tactics is not just plot armor and fujiwara zone, instead is Ryousuke's Defense dealing with Shinigami's Offense, plus the killer ending. Straight Fire 🔥
The moment I saw the First Stage episode 1 reaction, I was looking forward to you reacting to these three episodes. I waited 2 years and it was completely worth it. Also, The last three episodes are Keisuke's race, and Final Stage is basically Fifth Stage Pt.2, with the entirety of Final Stage being Takumi's race.
funny thing is, there's a bunch of plot worthy stuff in the manga that didn't make its way to the anime due to pacing, budget and deadlines. The creator can get into his bag when he wants. Also the first eurobeat track Race of the night with ryosuke against the grim reaper is from none other than eurobeat goat Dave Rodgers that did deja vu. His tracks always hit
Comment from doctor in command C. Powell: "the corpse is currently immobile, but there is still no signs of any post-mortemic phases. continuning to monitor until further notice"
where did u go go lil bro bro . i finna wanna watch the show show you know know? we only got 1 more race to go go............... LOL GOTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
Some people may not like this season because when the anime originally aired there were 2 episodes every 2 months, so the cliffhangers were terrible @_@. In all other aspects, this season is awesome and keeps the hype and intensity sky high (and you're about to find out with Keisuke's career ^^). By the way, as a curiosity, in terms of manga publication time (real time, I mean), the race between Ryosuke and Shinigami lasted 1 year. There is only one race that also lasted 1 year, which, as you would guess, is the last one... the Final Stage. Regards and enjoy the final races of the double aces.
I get the "anime moment" of them talking to eachother in the cars, but i kinda liked it, it was a good way to show the unspoken message being conveyed during this race
Jay's reaction of realizing that Shinji will be the final race is so satisfying and relatable. I agree to what you said, that we already have an 86 battle, where having another one removes takumi's unique aspect, he might aswell use the impreza if thats the case. As I keep telling my friends, this would have been the perfect time for them to whip out God Arm as the final boss, as God Arm would most likely represent Bunta as the final boss. Like fourth stage final bosses could have been pro racers, then for fifth stage could be God Arm and God Foot But anyways, im curious to find out on your reactions on future episodes.
Nah, the writer didn't have help, it's just things that got dropped to fit the series time limits. There's a whole ton of back story on Kai Kogoshiwa and his being in bike racing and in gangs etc.. granted this is a lot more detailed because it's a big back story to tie together some motivations, bit in the manga there's a lot more detail like this
The plot is simple, but good: Two men in love with the same woman, she commits suicide, and the blame is left between those two men. One manages to overcome the loss, and the other does not. In a normal case outside of racing, Ryosuke would have let Hojo beat him to a pulp, to release all of Hojo's tension and frustration. But since it's a racing series, the same conflict was resolved in a battle. The problem is not in the story, which is very good, but in the execution. And the resolution. On the one hand, they have that very anime moment, where they talk with the driving of their cars, which in my opinion, takes away too much realism and in my case, totally took me out of the moment. And the fact that the three of them ended up intact without consequences... As a writer I would have handled the denouement differently. I wouldn't have killed them, but I would have damaged their cars more. I would have even crashed them into the cabin. By the way, although Hojo was quite at fault, one of the bad things about Ryosuke is that he got over the woman he loved very quickly. Only two years after her death? That brings us almost to the beginning of the series. That is, while Takumi defeated Keisuke, Kaori, the girl in question, committed suicide.
i hope this comment gets read cause i've spent way too much typeing this. okay here why i think stage 5 was mid a youtube comment essay (Initial D fifth stage more like mid stage) FIRST the plot, no one gets it apart from takumi and ryosuke/grimreaper , and its carryed by the ryosuke grim reaper plot, the takumi plot line with his new hoe its fine but nothing interesting appens its kinda boring. all the other characters dont get nothing, keisuke just gets better at driving just like in stage 4 but still in stage fore he had more stuff going on like ryosuke still not fully trusting him and the rx7 love story. The gas station guys dont get shit either they just appear sometimes and say we're gonna be there for the last race, while in stage 4 there was the super laito breaking technic race where we see that iketani got better at driving, there was itsuki failing with a girl again and they where still there for some races. the opponents drivers dont get anything apart from the zero guy, grimreaper and last 2 guys at the end, in the stages prior evry opponent was getting something even if little, and they're plan on observing them and coming up with a plan has already been done in stage 4 with the cappuccino and yet the cappuccino guys got closer to actually make it work, the stage 5 guys just got lucky and found an insanely good ae86 driver. SECOND the races, omg wtf append in this stage, the only good one his the ryosuke/ grimreaper one and yet it still has some problems that ill touch on leater, the racesin this stage are sooo boring and mid, keisuke's are still fine but still nothing remarkable appens compared to his prior races nothing as exciting, lets be onest the only cool part was the one in the fog but still not really exciting he wasnt in danger passing him thanks to the phonecall. Takumi's races in this stage are all tied for worst in the serie (save for the last one) NOTHING appens in this races they just get smoked and see the "fujiwara zone" and this technique SUCKS it may be caused by the way they decided to show it but it sucks sooo much and it's just boring to watch it in every one of his races. then this i cant really explane but the camera angles are different and they don hit like before the same with the cuts they use. for last the eurobeat it's so misused it's insane, they put it but soo in the background and it dosnt lasts enoght and sometimes its not even used at the right time it's so strange, but to be fair in the races of this stage there arent a lot of cool moments so its kinda hard to place the eurobeat but i would have just used it has the main song during the race in place of the continous silence or generic background music, just chose 2 eurobeat songs with the beat drop that fits the cool parts and keep them for the whole race like an amv. so i said that i would have touch on the ryosuke/grimreaper deathrace, the race is the only cool race in stage 5, but has music and cuts problem, this race gets interrupted every damn corner, it just doesnt flow well, it kinda does the first time u watch it cause this race it's so exciting but rewatching it is paintfull, and for the music it's not the worst in this stage, it kinda feel like the other stages just cause there is actually somethig appening in this race but yet it doesnt it like before, but there is a part in paricular that makes me angry and it's when ryosuke gets hit and wallrides the grass, its probably the coolest part in the stage and yet it dosnt have eurobeat and than they cut away from the race again to show people getting worried and another flashback to kaori to than come back and in this moment they decide to put the eurobeat song A PERFECT HERO that is one of the hardest song in the serie, it sucks, i would have started the song with Ryosuke getting hit so the beatdrop would start with the grassride, let the song continue in the cack ground with the explanation of what appened cut to his friends getting worried keep a perfect hero in the backgroud to keep up the hype (the contrast with the crazy stuff that ryosuke did and people getting worried with this song in the back would have been sooooo hype) dont cut to another flashback save it for later, cut back to the race and show ryosuke regetting hit and hitting the guardrail to not lose control with the song regaining main focus with the chorus screaming a perfect hero and than explanation again with the song fading away and than cut to a flashback. aight essay over, sorry for the spelling mistakes but english is not my main language and dont get me wrong for what i've typed it feels like i hated this stage but thats not true, i've still liked it, even if less than the rest of the serie, and i'm really happy u're enjoying it more than me.
I so agreed for the eurobeat being poorly edited/cutted, personally i dont think fifth stage plot matter alot, i just want them to make a fifth stage a grand finale of project d racing history with cool race and cool music. But (Spoiler) I REALLY hate when the eurobeat "drops" but they FADE it to background and the character start talking, Bro just make the eurobeat drops in the right time like first to fourth stage, its not that hard (good example : all first stage, kai kogashiwa crazy for love irohazaka jump, tomoyuki vs takumi blind attack forever young) and i really hate the last hojo race, just end it when the (wheelpower and go) songs end , dont add more scene with non eurobeat ost smh
1:01:30 I believe shin is around 18 at this time maybe abit younger, think about when they used to mention takumi starting driving when he was like 13 and how natural of a driver he was even in highschool, I feel like the writers are kind of showing that the next generation of racers are beginning to sprout wich makes sense due to the time period and the popularity of car culture in Japan at the time. Oh and 86’s used to be a very common budget “sports car” with a bit of tuning, similar to modded civics nowadays, not the fastest car around but on a track with corners you’d be surprised
Senpai is like a mentor or below sensei(in martial arts). I hope you’ll make a reaction videos of mf ghost and remember that toll gate where ryosuke,rin&ryuji. Great reaction 🤙🏽
Hey JayK. I hope you could understand why Ryosuke got a long hair. For me is the symbol of stress from medical school being elder brother, being leader of project D and the fact that he still missed Kaori. Ryosuke must have a day where he could not sleep well(Remember when he did not sleep for 3 days before the race against pro and he slept only for 3 hours in order to analyse zero theory)
I think the purpose of the more pinkish aura surrounding rin's GTR is to show that kaori's spirit is just there, not that shes on a specific side but that she is just present.
Also, i think they way you feel about shinji racing is the way shigeno intended for you to feel, the way you sound talking about him is exactly how everyone felt at the beginning of first stage, with everyone thinking takumi shouldnt even have been driving
@@masone___ The one thing about Shinji is he's a stark contrast to everything Takumi was. While they have some similarities in terms of situations of how they became talented drivers. Shinji's attitude is what differentiates the two. Takumi grew to love racing the ore he did it... but no matter what he was always HUMBLE and clean with how he raced others and never once figured himself superior. Where Shinji didn't want to race... but when he did he was arrogant feeling he was superior. Not only toying with his opponent and provoking them in the most insulting ways. But also someone who has no care about his car, and no fear of shoving someone out of the way to make a pass if he has too. As was pointed out by the other older drivers about the apparently hidden "Rough" condition the car was in. Takumi took pride in his car and his driving as well as respecting others... While Shinji couldn't care less about the condition of his car, respecting his opponents or things like pride. They are essentially "Mirror" images of each other.
Hojo is basically their surname, liek Son Gohan and Son Goku Vegeta San but could also mean their position in family tree. Also Senpai means teacher or master
In my opinion the writer could've used a Mitsubishi GTO/3000GT VR4 as Grim Reaper's car instead of another Skyline GT-R, to showcase more of the JDM cars of the 90s - 2000s. But I probably understand why the writer didn't used that car (Reliability Issues).
I don't hate this stage. This is my favorite stage. Also, in case it wasn't noticed, Hojo was trying to kill Ryosuke not just because he was mad at him, but because he knew that Kaori loved Ryosuke, and so he meant to send him to her. Some of his frustration was also in not understanding why he didn't want to go to her, or why she wasn't claiming Ryosuke in that race. Looking forward to the last of your reactions to "Initial Dream" Edit: I'm at the end now. You should not apologize for pausing. I don't know why people have a huge problem with that. The right way to do a reaction is to react to it and give your thoughts. As long as you pause to give your thoughts, back up a bit and play, you're not missing anything and you're commenting. So many people talk over what they're watching and don't notice things because of that, or don't talk at all and so it might as well just be the episode playing. Some people just can't be pleased and don't recognize the right way to do something when they see it.
Fun fact: Did you know NASCAR runs what are technically Camries? You said no one would think to race that kind of car, but they are raced in NASCAR, one of the most popular motorsports in America (Mind you, the race car bares next to no resemblance to the road car, I just thought it was funny)
I get the ae86 is inferior thing stuff but you're underestimating ae86 too much since ae86 did have a huge history in motorsports. Civics and corollas were a mortal enemies like evo and Impreza rivalry. I guess I'll just say keep watching and youll understand since i remember the show explaining what makes ae86 special
For me this was my least favorite stage because the races felt shorter, I think a Keisuke race or 2 felt too short/easy to me, and I disliked how that one race against the miata ended with the broken wing, I enjoyed the race a lot more before that happened. the eurobeat didn't have the same hype/feeling as previous stages even though they still hit great. And I didn't like the visual effect of the fujiwara zone. and the stage just felt short with a lot of stuff happening and I wish it was stretched out a bit more. I also lump together final stage with 5th stage as final stage is only 4 episodes/1 race and I have a few nit picks about it. My first time watching Initial D I was absolutely hyped and loved 5th stage as much as you have and watching your reacts brings back that same feeling. But when I re watch the series I seem to have more fun with stages 1-4 than 5 for whatever reasons. Despite it being my least favorite stage (not counting the ova garbage/battle stages) it's still initial D and a lot of fun to watch.
