Initial D Fourth Stage

Takumi Fujiwara finally joins Ryousuke and Keisuke Takahashi to create "Project D." Their goal is twofold: Ryousuke wants to develop his "High-Speed Street Racing Theory," while Keisuke and Takumi aim at improving their driving skills by facing powerful opponents on dangerous roads. The idea of Project D is to challenge street racing teams from other prefectures to improve both their uphill and downhill records. In order to attract the attention of the best racing teams, Ryousuke creates a dedicated website to announce the future battles of Project D and post the team's results.

The fourth season of Initial D details the hardships and successes of the members of Project D as they try to become the best street racing team outside of Gunma Prefecture.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Fujiwara, Takumi Main

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Takahashi, Ryousuke Main

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Takahashi, Keisuke Main

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Fujiwara, Bunta Supporting

Ishizuka, Unshou Japanese

Takeuchi, Itsuki Supporting

Iwata, Mitsuo Japanese

Iketani, Kouichirou Supporting

Yao, Kazuki Japanese

Sudou, Kyouichi Supporting

Tanaka, Masahiko Japanese

Iwase, Kyouko Supporting

Toyoguchi, Megumi Japanese

Mogi, Natsuki Supporting

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

Akiyama, Wataru Supporting

Matsumoto, Yasunori Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Abe, Shoujirou Producer

Tominaga, Tsuneo Director

Mima, Masafumi Sound Director

Reviews

Mar 9, 2025

Chanrey

Recommended

Initial D Fourth Stage arguably has the weakest story out of any stage of Initial D, there feels to be a lacking of plot outside the races, and the racers don't have as much buildup and character as the previous stages have, the episodes are very formulaic and predictable.

However, on the other side, the races are still very entertaining, and introduce new techniques and moves to entertain the audiences. And there is still lots hype in the Eurobeat and racing, especially in the last 2 races in the stage, and there is a very exciting element added to this series that may or may ... not surprise you

this by no means a great season, but if you want to watch Initial D for some cool car races, this stage is sure to satisfy you

B

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Dec 3, 2021

Patrxaa

Mixed Feelings

Initial D Forth Stage marks a new low of the series with bad and random characters as well as uninteresting, dull and repetitive races.

I might be the only one when I say that but when looking back at the first three seasons I always felt like that the mountain passes and races had some sort of identity, something that made them special, unique and therefore entertaining to watch.

You surely remember Akina with it's 5 consecutive hairpins or Usui Pass with Takumi's extreme endurance race againt the Sil-Eighty Duo or the AE86 vs AE86 race on that very old and horrendously maintained pass. However here, I ... can barely recall any race because they were lacking in identity. Unlike in the first three seasons, none of the mountain passes were introduced properly and there wasn't anything special about them. This wouldn't even be a problem if you wouldn't be thrown at with totally random and partly pointless characters that ALSO get barely introduced and just serve as race fodder for Takumi and Keisuke.

But without interesting tracks and characters to race against, all the races just feel boring. Then it doesn't make it any better that you basically get no break between them. It's literally race after race after race after race. The amount of more chill filler episodes featuring older characters like Iketani or Itsuki has been greatly reduced. Some might say that is a good thing but if I am honest in this long season more screen time for these characters wouldn't have been a bad thing.

However, there are exceptions. The first and last race are actually good and don't have these faults. Another positive thing about this season is also how deep it goes into racing, driving style & technique etc. It's not hard to see that this season is focusing heavily more on that with Ryosuke acting as a mentor for both Takumi and Keisuke trying to give them tips for their upcoming races (even if he basically starts speaking in riddles which is something i don't really know if I should like).
Apart from that Initial D Forth Stage is also building up towards a fight between Takumi and Keisuke sometime in a later season, something I really can't wait to see (even if I think I already know the result :D)

In the End, the forth stage of Inital D is still enjoyable but very repetitive and therefore quite a letdown. It just doesn't have the magic the older seasons had and instead just tries to include as many races as possible in 24 episodes which just wasn't a wise choice.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Apr 10, 2023

Vyverm

Not Recommended

This season was a really downfall.

You could predict what was about to happen to the arc from the beggning of the first episode.
The suprise element from the previous seasons wasn't there anymore, and this one became just a bunch of repetive cliches. They could have changed something in the last arc, but decided to stick to the same development from beggning of the season. The last race result was pathetic beyond limit.

For an instance: the "top" points of the season was the romances developments. I laughted and got angry more in those occasions that the races.

I still have to watch the last season, but ... this one was so bad, that I'm really thinking about it. Should have ended last season .....

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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