Takumi Fujiwara vs Ryosuke Takahashi

"There are only two racers that will eventually be able to beat me. One of them is you Keisuke. And the other one is..."

- Ryosuke Takahashi

The battle between Takumi Fujiwara and Ryosuke Takahashi is the tenth battle of Initial D as well as the final battle of Initial D First Stage and the penultimate battle of the Legends trilogy.

Prior to the Battle
Takumi earlier received a bouquet with a letter from Ryosuke Takahashi saying he will be battling him at Akina on the next Saturday. Ryosuke had detuned his FC just for the battle, which shocked Keisuke upon hearing it, but Ryosuke explains on how sometimes less power results in more speed thanks to proper balancing of the car for the downhill battle. Keisuke few days prior to the race enters an impromptu battle with Takeshi Nakazato on Akina uphill, after which they discuss on the upcoming battle and wishes if they had a rematch with Takumi.

Finally the eve of the battle arrives and Akina is filled with many spectators waiting for the battle to start, which as noted by the SpeedStars was the biggest grouping of spectators in their course. The RedSuns arrive at the course with Ryosuke in his now detuned FC racing up to the top, being followed by Keisuke in his FD who notes that Ryosuke's speed isn't phased out by the decrease in horsepower in any way. Mako Sato and Sayuki from Impact Blue who came all the way from Usui visits the course, being noted by the spectators in surprise. During the time when the course was being prepared for the race by both teams, Ryosuke makes a statement to Keisuke that if he ever loses a battle, he will retire from racing, which catches Keisuke completely out of shock. When seeing Keisuke's response, Ryosuke responds to saying that he won't be retiring from the RedSuns, but he will play a rather different role in the team. He also states that there will be only two racers who is able to beat him, one of them being Keisuke himself, which surprises Keisuke. As Ryosuke was about to state the other driver, the Panda Trueno Eight-Six suddenly shows up in Akina, making spectators go wild and Ryosuke realizing the race is about to start.

Takumi arrives at the starting line just almost in time, and Ryosuke makes a small talk to Takumi about his skills before they they both head to start the battle in their respective cars. Keisuke then starts the countdown to the battle.

During the Battle
The Eight Six and the FC starts off together, with the former getting the lead towards the first corner. Keisuke realizes Ryosuke is using the same technique he had used to win his every other races, which was to chase the car in lead and overtake in the very end. The Eight-Six and the FC enters the first corner, with both cars drifting in tandem and exiting out, surprising the spectators around, as some of them realized Ryosuke is copying Takumi's techniques as Ryosuke never usually drifts this much around corners. Meanwhile Ryosuke while chasing realizes that Takumi has actually improved by a lot in cornering, with his counter-steer while exiting a corner being decreased, which was a weakness noted by Ryosuke during Takumi's battle against Nakazato, which had disappeared now.

Near the final corners of the downhill, Shingo parks his car next to Nakazato's and stands next to him. Shingo then claims to Nakazato that he's not standing with him because he saw him or his car but because he knows this is the spot where the race would be decided, and asks Nakazato go find some other spot, to which Nakazato also responds no way he's not leaving because he also knew this spot would be important for the battle unlike everyone else spectating at obvious spots like the five consecutive hairpins. Both Shingo and Nakazato are impressed by each other's reasonings, but they are irritated by the fact that no one else is around them because if there were they would think both of them are friends.

Meanwhile back at the battle Ryosuke continues to chase Takumi as they both drift across corners when one of the spectators asks why the Eight-Six is still in the lead when Ryosuke could have easily overtaken him, to which another responds to as while the Eight-Six is struggling to keep its lead, the FC behind can study everything from behind and plan its attack for later on. Besides the leading car will begin to feel the psychological pressure from behind, and will soon make a mistake. While all this was said, Takumi now actually begins to feel the pressure from Ryosuke chasing him, with him using the rear view mirrors every now and then checking on the FC following him. Takumi begins to feel that he's going to lose this battle, which he hates to think of, but feels like what will be soon. Ryosuke meanwhile realizes on Takumi's skills while chasing him. He states that a beginner is good at straightaways, and an intermediate is good at cornering, but an expert excels in between of this. That's the foundation of his "Fastest Racing Theory" and Takumi Fujiwara fits perfectly in that, as Ryosuke states that the only reason why he's able to keep up with him is because he's copying his techniques against him. Takumi decides to pull up one last trick up his sleeve. On a corner before the five consecutive hairpins, Takumi decides to use the gutter technique. This was immediately followed by Ryosuke copying the same. Takumi realizes he's being pinned down. Back at the starting point, Keisuke gets the word from a team member that if Takumi and Ryosuke keeps up the pace like this, the Eight-Six will beat the time record of its battle with Keisuke by 10 seconds, which shocked everyone hearing it. Keisuke realizes this is what happens if his brother gets serious in a battle. The two cars arrive at the five consecutive hairpins with the Eight-Six charging in at full speed. However Ryosuke brakes first, realizing that Takumi has charged in at higher speeds. The Eight-Six's tyres were worn out so much by this point that at this speed, it began to understeer, making Takumi struggle in turning around the hairpin. By this time Ryosuke had pulled into the corner smoothly with his FC, overtaking the Eight-Six. The spectators watching this unfold are shocked to see this, with some explaining that Ryosuke's technique of following the car in the lead had its effect on Takumi and caused Takumi to push beyond his limits, and stated that there's no way Takumi is gonna recover from this. Ryosuke, now in lead states that Takumi is indeed a strangely interesting driver. He's got all the skills, but when it comes to battle, he's got nothing. he planned to stay behind Takumi a bit longer, but now that he's got the lead, he will just pull away from Takumi before he can recover and win the battle. Ryosuke also states about the FC's supremacy of having its rotary engine placed just behind the front axle and near the middle part of the car's chassis, giving equal weight distribution to all its four wheels. Mako and Sayuki watching this battle unfold comments on their driving skills. Mako thinks that Ryosuke had already won the battle, but Sayuki states that the Eight-Six had not given up yet and its cornering lines are better than the FC's thanks to it daily running down the course for years. Takumi now chasing Ryosuke realizes that the gap between him Ryosuke has not widened after he has been overtaken, so he understood he's got one more chance. By this time, Keisuke and the SpeedStars got the message that Ryosuke had overtaken Takumi and his spilt time is 12 seconds more than when he raced against Keisuke. This truly shocked both members and Iketani only hoped for Takumi to safely reach the bottom, even if he loses the battle it doesn't matter as staying with Ryosuke for this long was more than enough to not damage any reputation. Ryosuke by this time however began to face his own tyre issues as he raced down the course. He realizes his tyres are now overheated from copying Takumi's moves all along and put too much stress on his front tyres. Ryosuke had miscalculated and now is beginning to face the consequences, but it didn't matter to him as he pushed down the course towards the bottom to reach the finish. Takumi's Eight-Six on the other hand faced less tyre wear than Ryosuke's due to the car being perfectly tuned for Akina downhill and Takumi's delicate steering and foot-work, due to which he is slowly closing the gap between him and Ryosuke.

Meanwhile near the final corner at the bottom, Nakazato and Shingo senses the two cars coming together towards the corner. They both talk about on how the straightaway just before the curve can build up the speed for braking for a drift into the corner and how its the only place in this course where it turns into three lanes and gives space to maneuver. And the finish line being right around the corner, whoever makes it ahead after this corner wins.

Suddenly the FC and Eight-Six appears on the straightaway, racing towards the corner. Both Nakazato and Shingo realizes the FC is on the lead and Takumi has to make a move to pass Ryosuke. They both wanted Takumi to take the inside of the road as it had the best line to take the upcoming corner. But to everyone's shock, Takumi suddenly moved to the outside. Nakazato and Shingo realized its because Ryosuke gave Takumi no space in the inside and Takumi had to take the outside. With both cars heading to the corner parallel to each other, they both brake and drift towards the turn, with the FC pulling ahead as it drifts. Nakazato and Shingo comments on how taking the inside was better, but then they both see out of shock that the FC is beginning to understeer out of the corner. They realize Ryosuke came in too fast for the corner and slipping outwards, but then the Eight-Six now begins to drift towards the inside, switching their positions totally while they are drifting. Shingo and Nakazato states out of shock their lines are gonna cross as the Eight-Six now takes the inside and pulls ahead, passing Ryosuke as they both exit the corner, giving Takumi the lead and winning the battle as Ryosuke gives up on the accelerator, realizing Takumi took the lead and he can't regain his position after this.

After the Battle
Shingo and Nakazato thinks about what they have witnessed in front of them and states it was a miracle what they had just experienced. They now think differently of FR cars after this battle. After this Shingo states that Takumi will be unstoppable in Akina and leaves. Meanwhile at the starting point the news gets to everyone that Takumi had defeated Ryosuke, leaving everyone stunned to speak. Keisuke was too stunned to hear that his brother had been defeated, while the SpeedStars couldn't believe that Takumi had indeed defeated Ryosuke. At the bottom of the course, Takumi and Ryosuke stop at a particular place nearby to talk about the battle. Takumi asks Ryosuke on why he waited for him after he had overtaken him and didn't pull away further, to which Ryosuke responds with that he didn't wait for him and he wasn't able to pull away due to his tyres being overheated, but he didn't consider that as an excuse as the conditions for both of them were the same, and he admitted that his defeat was a defeat after all. Before Ryosuke could leave, Takumi states to him that he doesn't consider himself the fastest on Akina, to which Ryosuke responds to as Takumi is the strangest person he has met. he then states that he mustn't stop at Akina only and explore the rest of the world. After this, Ryosuke drives away in his FC, leaving Takumi with his Eight-Six thinking about what Ryosuke said.

First Stage

 * World Of Move - M.o.v.e
 * Boom Boom Japan - Dave Rodgers
 * Black Out - Overload
 * Night & Day - Mr. Groove
 * Beat Of The Rising Sun - Dave Rodgers

Battle Stage

 * Jumping Up The Nations - Toby Ash

Ryosuke Takahashi's Fastest Typing-theory

 * Beat Of The Rising Sun - Dave Rodgers

Special Stage

 * Beat Of The Rising Sun - Dave Rodgers

Initial D Legend 3: Dream

 * September's 7th Day (D Version) - Backdraft Smiths
 * Crank it Up - Backdraft Smiths
 * Curious (D Mix) - Backdraft Smiths
 * The Dependence - Backdraft Smiths

New Initial D the Movie Battle Digest

 * People For People - Matt Land
 * Burn Me Up - Nick Mansell

Trivia

 * Takumi vs Ryosuke exit oriented gutter run Battle Stage.gif the First Stage (and Battle Stage) Takumi tries the corner exit oriented gutter run to catch up with Ryosuke. In the manga this technique was first used in the battle between Takumi Fujiwara and Seiji Iwaki.
 * In the Manga and Legend 3 when the news about Ryosuke being defeated by Takumi came, nobody said anything and people stood silently on top of Mt Akina. Whereas in First Stage, when the news came out, members of Akina SpeedStars and other spectators cried out and celebrated in joy.
 * Yuichi Tachibana and Natsuki Mogi spectate the battle exclusively in First Stage, with the latter watches Takumi cross the finish line.
 * The ending of chapter 6 in Initial D The Arcade features the climax of this battle as a cutscene, albeit the player's vehicle is in place of Ryosuke's. The cutscene always plays, regardless of whether the player defeats Takumi or not.