Chapter 046

At the Brink of Desperation (絶体絶命, Zettaizetsumei, "Desperate situation") is the forty-sixth chapter of Initial D.

Plot
Takumi and Ryosuke speed through the corners one after the other, with Takumi being unable to shake him off. Ryosuke thinks about his fastest racing theory, and its foundation: being able to follow another driver and learn their techniques, eventually being able to use their weaknesses against them. He admits he's having a hard time even keeping up with the Eight-Six. Takumi attempts a gutter run in order to lose Ryosuke, but he does the same thing, and follows him through the corner.

One of the lookouts calls up to Keisuke at the start line, and tells him that the Eight-Six is going ten seconds faster than when it raced him.

With the gutter run having failed, Takumi is unsure what he can do against Ryosuke.

Japan

 * June 24th 1996 (Weekly Young Magazine, 1996 Volume 27)
 * December 6th 1996 (Tankōbon, Volume 05)

Chinese

 * May 1st 1998 (Tankōbon, Volume 05, Sharp Point Press)

English

 * April 15th 2003 (Tankōbon, Volume 05, Tokyopop)
 * April 17th 2019 (Digital re-release, Volume 05, Kodansha USA)

French

 * October 8th 2009 (Tankōbon, Volume 05, Kazé)

Italian

 * June 27th 2023 (Tankōbon 2-in-1, Volume 03, J-Pop)

Polish

 * July 2023 (Tankōbon 2-in-1, Volume 03, J. P. Fantastica)

Characters (in order of appearance)

 * Takumi Fujiwara
 * Ryosuke Takahashi
 * Keisuke Takahashi

Cars (in order of appearance)

 * Mazda SAVANNA RX-7 Infini III (FC3S)
 * Toyota Sprinter Trueno 3door GT-APEX (AE86)

Notes & Trivia

 * Manuscript copies of pages from this chapter were sold as merchandise during the Shuichi Shigeno Art Exhibit