NEWS: After 18 years of touge battles, this is how Initial D ends

Initial D final chapter

The final chapter of the long running manga Initial D was released yesterday in Japan. After 18 years of publication the hugely influential story that introduced touge battles and the glory of RWD Japanese cars to a whole generation of enthusiasts has come to a close. Here’s how it ends (Warning: Spoilers ahead). 

Initial D final race

In the pages leading up to the grand finale, our hero AE86 driver Takumi Fujiwara is locked neck and neck in his last race. His opponent, a young racing prodigy in an AE86 coupe, reminds everyone of Takumi in his early days.

Initial D final chapter ae86

On the last curve Takumi, committing a rare mistake, blows his Formula Atlantic 4AG. His wheels lock up, sending both cars into a skid. But Takumi recovers quicker and uses his momentum to carry his AE86 hatch across the finish line, tail first. And with that, Takumi’s team has conquered all its rivals on their respective home turfs, various mountains of the Kanto region.

The timeline then jumps forward two weeks, to Takumi, the RX-7 driving Takahashi brothers and the rest of the team having a barbecue. There is mention of them receiving several offers from professional race teams.

Initial D final chapter Subaru Impreza

As for the tofu delivery car that launched a million fanboys and created a worldwide increase on the price of AE86s? It was never seen again. Takumi said he was not interested in getting a new engine to repair it. The last scene of the nearly two-decade story is of Takumi driving through the hills in his father’s Subaru Impreza.

Fans have criticized the ending for being too abrupt. Compared to races interspersed with endless dialogue and exposition about driving technique, it does seem to lack resolution for the main characters, and the end of the AE86 seems ignoble at best. There does not appear to be enough material to fill a movie and another stage of anime, as has been reported, so perhaps readers will get more closure when those arrive.

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42 Responses to NEWS: After 18 years of touge battles, this is how Initial D ends

  1. Expulsion says:

    Could be worse.

    Takumi wakes up. There is sun flooding through his bedroom window. He rubs his eyes as the sound of a high-pitched engine passes noisily outside.

    “What a strange dream that was!”, Takumi says. “An A-E-Eight-What?”

    *fin*

    • stephen ryan says:

      man i did have thr silvertop 20v but it throw a rod on the highway going 140kmh so my friend put a supercharged 20v in it which i race with man i had so many fun time in my 86 my friend is trying to get the levin and put the 20v in it

  2. Sean says:

    I like that dream ending better it almost as if it is a premonition as to whats going to happen.

  3. Zach says:

    Not a bad ending. Its like Monopoly, when the games over everything goes back in the box.

  4. acbpanda says:

    NOOO! Repair the thing Takumi, don’t sit there and be lazy, FIX THE DANG HACHI!

  5. cesariojpn says:

    ” And with that, Takumi’s team has conquered all its rivals on their respective home turfs, various mountains of the Kanto region.”

    Um, he forgot Red and Ash Ketchum.

  6. jivecom says:

    I get it. Sometimes when you’ve had a thing forever and it breaks, you go to the ends of the earth to fix it, and sometimes you just let go and move on

  7. Charlie says:

    Now its like every other AE86, an unfinished project…

  8. Kev says:

    I’m surprised (and impressed) that it lasted as long as it did…it almost a historical document now, in the way that it captured a snapshot of Japan car culture as it existed in the 90s

  9. CelicArt says:

    I guess into Japanese odd fashion something like that could’ve been expected. I guess a very glorious triumphant end isn’t something they cherish…we do, but it’s done alredy )=

  10. godsmacked says:

    Anyone knows where I can read the full episode of the battle? 🙁

  11. Oswald Zelaya says:

    i guess even Takumi got tired of fixing the damn thing…. But this is no way to end this, its too simple.

    I would have ended it something like this, hopofully the cartoon guys read this:
    The timeline jumps forward some years in the future, and there is grand prix F1 race in a japanese racetrack perhaps suzuka , you just see 2 cars battling for the lead. Finally in the last corner (senna/prost corner) you see one of the cars drift a bit, and only then you discover who is the driver as he steps out of the car, a german accent voice. We then move to the interview were Takumi thanks his team and talks a bit about the race and how hard it was, blah blah blah. He then meets his team where there are the 2 takahashi brothers, Bunta who still gives him some critizim about his driving being slower than him and he can still improve, Takumi just laughs a bit and invites his dad to lunch. They walk to the parking lot of the circuit and there it is a sparkling nice white tofu car, they drive away into a japanese flag looking sunset as Rage your dream plays out, fade to black….They they just pass scenes of all the races in the credits background. The end.

    • takumi says:

      its been 7 years since ur comment, i waited 7 years for this comment to turn real but it dint.. im gonna go cry now

      • stephen ryan says:

        man i rac with my 86 and i always race with my lights off even with my 20v i know which rpm’s to stay at when i turn off my lights and get this i have races another 86 it was my panda 3door and the guys black 3door i won and i had a bad rear axle so ya i give toyota a 10/10

    • Felo says:

      I want to see Hachis wings again please

      Just one more time

      …please

  12. Geoff says:

    I think it just seemed like an early ending. If I could, I would make a new 6th series, so the ending doesn’t seem so abrupt.

  13. veketto says:

    The creator even said if he did a sequel it would be called initial r bc it would be bout rally bc d series is over

  14. veketto says:

    The creator said if he did a sequel it would be bout rally an be called initial R bc d is over

    • ludicrous says:

      that wouldn’t work because the “D” in initial D doesn’t mean drift it stood for dream.

      • Jerald says:

        I have a question. Maybe initial d release a new story that mako and iketani will be husband and wife or boyfriend and girlfriend? Hahahhahahahha…….. Why iketani did not go or meet after the last date? Why?

        • Occamsrzr says:

          Very late reply (and it’s been MANY years since I saw the anime); But I got the impression that Iketani wanted to move on. He couldn’t data Mako because they’d entice each other to dive further into their mutual addiction and he wanted to leave that behind. I could be projecting though. I once broke it off with a girl for that very reason.

        • Eduardo Silva says:

          Even later reply but in initial D extra stage 2 it says mako goes to Tokyo for a race after meeting up with Iketani
          And they catch up, Iketani was going to profess his love for mako but decided not to as he didn’t want to affect her choice to go race in Tokyo, in the end credits it says that after that mako and Iketani never meet again

  15. Jean says:

    Think they should have ended it with Takumi and keisuke having a race as they said they would do after project d ended.

  16. Yume says:

    It would be nice to see Past/Future for the Initial D series.
    A young Bunta on Akina and a ‘future Takumi’ on the GT86, just like the way he appeard at the very end of Legend 3.

  17. Edwin Roos says:

    did they scrap the ae86 ? 🙁

  18. Rafael says:

    This always break my heart, the unfinished love storys and now this end… I think the creators have no feelings at all xD

  19. Ben says:

    I am definitely late to this thread, but come to think of it, the last scene should have been Takumi in the Impreza, being overtaken by a strange AE85 Levin.

    Itsuki’s dreams of being one of the downhill specialists in the Akina Speed Stars team would have become true in the very end lmao

  20. David says:

    Damn, they should’ve haven’t scrapped it. (if they did)

    They should’ve fixed it. I’m very much of a fan of Initial D, Takumi and his Eight-Six.
    The Eight-Six should have been brought back.

    Forever rest in peace, the legendary Eight-Six of Gunma. ;-;

  21. Branco says:

    Takumi should have had a girlfriend atleast

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