Initial D: Fourth Stage

initial D forth stage so far has been awesome...prior to that review above...the 3d animation is so clean in this stage...instead of ultra realistic cars...the animators have now gone with cel shading rendering (cel shading makes the 3d object look like a cartoon) i think it blends perfectly with the rest of the hand drawn animation...i like how each season cleans up the hand drawn animation...but this season looks exceptional...the story line is quite simple (as the whole story line in initial D is) a new squad of touge racers who drive miatas challenge Project D...but this time they are racing on new courses such as Akagi and Happogarahawa...so far I've only seen 2 episodes of the 4th seasons...but good things come to those who wait...any initial D fan will LOVE this brand new season =)

Everyone's worries that 4th stage was only going to be 13 episodes went by the wayside as they completely caught up with the manga in this last Stage (24 eps). My only gripe is that two of Keisuke's races are deleted. The rest of them are shown. So any that read the Initial D Manga won't see anything new here (unless you read that Tokyo Pop crap). The animation has become very stylish since the first and second stages, and the CGI for the racing scenes is on par with the Third Stage movie. Eurobeat music continues to be excellent during the races. There won't be any more Inital D until the manga pulls ahead again...(with 2 new stories every 2 months it'll be a while), so this is the last Stage for a good amount of time.

Well, giving it a 10 , because it has an unbelievably low average mark :P In the fourth stage, the animation is better, the plot is well, along the lines of the rest of the initial d series. I just loved the fourth stage, it looks very beautiful, the humor is great, and the races are top notch, and the tension is high, I loved it, I was so thrilled watching it. I don't know how great it would be if I hadn't seen the previous stages, but for me, the series improves, each stage is getting better :) Conclusion, great anime with great visuals and terrific sound (Both the cars and the music) and well, whats not to love here ;) waiting for stage 5 definitely.

Just bought and saw the 1st and 2nd episodes for the 4th stage today. I was expecting more than that. First of all, the visual wasn't much improved since 3rd stage. This time the faces of the previous characters had changed a bit. But you still can tell who they are if you had follow the series. The car chasing scene wasn't enhanced with any special CGI or staff. Second of all, the music. Almost the same trait like before but not as excited as before also. Another thing I noticed was that they had cut short of the story and altered it from the comic book, in a not so complete story. So, If you had the access to the comic book, read them. You'll see what I mean. The story still runs smoothly, but you'll feel it wasn't complete if you had seen the comic book. Overall rating I will give it 7/10. Anyhow, it is still worth your time to watch how Takumi improves his skills and knowledge by challenging all the other great down hill and even up hill drivers overtime.

With the quality displayed on previous stages this stage falls clearly behind. One of the most important differences is that the first stages were technically accurate and characters would say what someone that really knows about driving would say. In this stage, races are very different from what they would be in real life (according to specs) and the characters' dialogue is totally metaphoric and zero technical... This is becoming more of an Oliver and Benji thing where believing you are good is more relevant than being actually good.