Fifth Stage - Act 1

Encounter of Destiny (運命の出会い, Unmei no Deai) is the first Act of Initial D: Fifth Stage.

Synopsis
Following their narrow victory against Purple Shadow, Project D's reputation is at stake after a pair of impostors parade around Saitama. Initially Takumi seems oblivious to the incident, but takes notice after he is mistakenly blamed for taking advantage of a girl. Meanwhile, the final stage of Project D's expeditions is upon them, and is to be the hardest yet.

Plot
Starts off when Takumi drives his father's Impreza practicing one-handed steer during a delivery run in which he finds uncomfortable. He then recalls Ryosuke's words shortly after their narrow victory against Purple Shadow how he can overcome it once he has full confidence in his driving, he will have good anticipation in precision of one-hand steer. After his run, he returns home to take a nap before going to work. He confirms to Bunta there is no race while his Eight-Six is still undergoing repairs. Project D's next course is revealed to be Kanagawa. Bunta predicts Takumi will encounter more difficulties as progression goes. Takumi arrives at the gas station where he sees his friends during their work shift. Iketani asks when his Eight-Six will be finished repairs. Takumi responds while he doesn't know when, it's the chassis that needs repairs after broken suspension. Itsuki gets excited to know what mods the Eight-Six will have once it's finished. Kenji then asks if he ever encountered Keisuke in any of their race-free days in which Takumi denies. Curious Itsuki wonders how it's possible. Kenji heard the double aces were spotted together in Saitama recently and Takumi denied ever going there. They all raise suspicion on what's going on.

Itsuki then drives Takumi while practicing heel-toe drifting. He brags that he will one day be a downhill ace with his car but Takumi tells Itsuki the harshness of reality seeing the contrast between school students having fun while he drives doing deliveries without having any fun. Itsuki recalls how fun it used to be having all the free time back in their high school days but fades away drastically and will never experience that kind of experience again. Itsuki then asks if he still misses Natsuki. A flashback shows how he has to let her go into the world without getting distracted by emotions or she will regret pursuing her dream. While he wishes her luck in pursuing her dreams, he now has the closure and moves on. At an unknown pass, Itsuki and Takumi hears exciting news from a crowd of the arrival of Project D's Double Aces. Then a pair of cars arrive in the scene. An Eight-Six and an FD arrive to please a crowd which Itsuki reveals to be frauds but none believe him. He tried to prove it by telling Takumi to show his driver's license in which he left inside his car. Takumi's impersonator then mocks him and brags about his fame. Both cars leave the scene humiliating Itsuki.

Itsuki tells them the news during their work shift. A female arrives in the scene to see Takumi. When she asked of Takumi, she delivers Takumi a slap in the face. She introduces her as Mika Uehara whom confronts Takumi for hitting on her friend Tomoko. Iketani tries to clear this misunderstanding and tells Takumi had nothing to do with it and Takumi honestly expressed his innocence. Itsuki tells her about the imposters that were lurking but Mika didn't believe him. Iketani tells her to take a picture of Takumi to show her friend to confirm if he was the one who really done it. She tries to call her friend but didn't pick up and leaves to catch a train. Fumihiro was then phoned about the posers in which he is fully aware of. While Itsuki drives Takumi, he was triggered by what Mika said to him on the false accusations. Tomoko phones Mika back that night and confirms the real Takumi didn't do it. Upon realising this, she panics as she slapped someone innocent. The next day, the rest of the SpeedStars predicts possible love between the two. Fumihiro phones Ryosuke about the posers in which he is also aware of after reading their license plates. The Eight-Six is now fully repaired and he sends Keisuke to deal with the imposters and orders him to watch over him incase he gets rough on them. Ryosuke also reveals his goal is getting closer to it's finishing stages and the meaning of "D" will be revealed soon.

The posers are seen again in a mountain pass and Wataru approaches them in a friendly chat while Takumi drives his way there. He requests the imposter Takumi to show them a fast drift around a corner. Takumi's imposter tries to tell him no such person can do such thing. Wataru then shows the real Takumi's drifting skiils which caused their eyes to widen seeing such spectacle. Wataru saw how much Takumi improved. However, the imposters try to leave but Keisuke stops them. Keisuke and Wataru greet each other in delight and confronts the two of them on trying to ruin their reputations. He then tries to land blows on them but Fumihiro stops him and deals with them on his own. Fumihiro tells them to give up their act as they know their names from their license numbers they collected from their website and passes the imposters to Takumi after he finishes lecturing them. Takumi tells his impersonator he was blamed for a misunderstanding caused by his actions and tells him to phone Tomoko an apology for the trouble he caused. Itsuki then shoos them off and they leave the vicinity in humiliation. Back in Kanagawa, Satoshi Omiya practices driving in his Miata and Go Hojo awaits Project D's challenge.

Airdates

 * Animax: November 9, 2012

Characters (in order of appearance)

 * 1) Takumi Fujiwara
 * 2) Ryosuke Takahashi
 * 3) Bunta Fujiwara
 * 4) Itsuki Takeuchi
 * 5) Kenji
 * 6) Koichiro Iketani
 * 7) Natsuki Mogi (Flashback)
 * 8) Fake Project D
 * 9) Mika Uehara
 * 10) Hiroshi Fumihiro
 * 11) Wataru Akiyama
 * 12) Keisuke Takahashi
 * 13) Go Hojo
 * 14) Eiji Kubo

Cars

 * 1) Subaru Impreza WRX STi Coupe Type R Version V (GC8D)
 * 2) Nissan 180SX Type II (RPS13)
 * 3) Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX (AE86)
 * 4) Toyota Corolla Levin SR (AE85)
 * 5) Mazda efini RX-7 Type R (FD3S)
 * 6) Nissan Silvia (S13)
 * 7) Toyota Corolla Levin GT-APEX (AE86)
 * 8) Mazda Roadster RS (NB8C)

Music

 * 1) Raise Up - M.o.v.e
 * 2) Gas Gas Gas - Manuel
 * 3) Flyleaf - Clutcho

Quotes

 * Itsuki: Hey you come back here! I'm not done with you!
 * Mika: Oh crap I slapped the wrong guy!
 * Wataru: Now this is real drifting! (clicks his fingers)
 * Fake Takumi: Oh its a Panda Trueno! (the real Takumi drifts by)
 * Wataru (after Takumi drifts by the crowd): Damn! His drifting gotten alot better than before!
 * Keisuke: What makes my blood boil even more is that my imposter self made me look incredibly ugly!
 * Fake Keisuke (to Keisuke while on his knees): I'm sorry for being that ugly!

Notes & Trivia

 * Tomoko was mentioned but not seen in the anime itself.
 * Gas Gas Gas later became an internet meme which featured cars and non vehicles drifting and going out of control.
 * This episode is Natsuki Mogi' s last appearance in the series