First Stage - Act 1

The Ultimate Tofu Store Drift (究極のとうふ屋ドリフト, Kyūkyoku no tōfuya dorifuto) is the first Act of Initial D: First Stage.

This episode features the impromptu battle between Takumi Fujiwara and Keisuke Takahashi.

Synopsis
High school kid Takumi Fujiwara works at a gas station with his buddy Itsuki Takeuchi. When the guys join their co-worker Iketani for a night of street racing action on Mt. Akina, Takumi’s life will never be the same.

Plot
The plot begins with a summer midnight scene on Mt. Akina, with Yuichi Tachibana driving on the mountain's roads. Suddenly, a mysterious, white Toyota AE86 drives past him, to which he acknowledges and commenting that "he hasn't changed a bit".

On the next day, Takumi and Itsuki were taking a break before their final exam. Itsuki was extremely passionate about buying an AE86 as Takumi remained spaced out. After the final, the two friends went off to work at the gas station, where Itsuki continued to ramble on about the AE86. Their coworker, Iketani, joins in on the conversation and invites them to come with him tonight to the Akina SpeedStars meeting. Itsuki agrees while Takumi reluctantly tags along.

Having overheard the conversation to meet up at Mt. Akina, Yuichi briefly mentions a mysterious AE86 owned by the local tofu shop remains indisputably the fastest car on Mt. Akina.

Later that night, Iketani picks up Itsuki and Takumi and drives them up to the top of Mt. Akina, with the latter screaming and panicking as Iketani drifts his way to the top of the mountain. Once there, Takumi was noted to be extremely exhausted and scared from the drifting, which he told Itsuki that he wouldn't understand how he feels. At the same time, a local racing team called the Akagi RedSuns has also reached Mt. Akina and challenged the SpeedStars to a race on the following Saturday. Not afraid to be challenged, Iketani, as the leader of the SpeedStars, agreed to the challenge and a practice run with the RedSuns team.

During the practice run, the SpeedStars team realized their skill could never reach the RedSuns, with the opposing team's leaders, Ryosuke Takahashi and Keisuke Takahashi, concluding how easy it will be to take down the Akina SpeedStars. As the brothers decided to not partake next Saturday's time attack match, Ryosuke told Keisuke to race instead. That way, they will have a permanent time record that will be unparalleled.

At the end of the practice run, the SpeedStars members went home, depressed with their results in the practice run. Meanwhile, some members of the RedSuns stayed on Mt. Akina, including Keisuke. Near early morning, the remaining RedSuns members agreed to head back to Akagi. Keisuke takes the lead, noting that he should slow down as his members have not reached his skill level just yet.

However, immediately after his comment, two headlights suddenly appeared on his rearview mirror. As the car approached, it was apparent that it wasn't a car from the RedSuns. Wondering if it was an MR2 or 180, Keisuke continued his drive down Mt. Akina, feeling increasingly challenged the longer the mysterious car stayed on his tail. During a drift, Keisuke saw that the car was an AE86. Ashamed and outraged that an 86 could catch up to his FD3S, he pressed harder against this new opponent.

As both cars reached a right turn, Keisuke braked as the 86 drove forward, as the former feared that having too much speed for the upcoming right turn would cause a crash in a tight left turn that comes immediately afterward. However, the 86 driver performed an inertia drift, recovered, and successfully passed a shocked Keisuke.

Airdates

 * Fuji TV: April 18, 1998

Characters (in order of appearance)

 * 1) Yuichi Tachibana
 * 2) Takumi Fujiwara
 * 3) Itsuki Takeuchi
 * 4) Natsuki Mogi
 * 5) Natsuki's Papa
 * 6) Koichiro Iketani
 * 7) Bunta Fujiwara
 * 8) Keisuke Takahashi
 * 9) Ryosuke Takahashi
 * 10) Hiroshi Fumihiro
 * 11) Kenji

Cars

 * 1) Sprinter AE86 Trueno GT Apex
 * 2) 1994 Toyota Camry (V40)
 * 3) Mercedes-Benz E-Class E300
 * 4) Nissan Silvia K's (S13)
 * 5) Mazda Efini RX-7 Type R (FD3S)
 * 6) Mazda Savanna RX-7 Infini III (FC3S)

Music

 * 1) around the world - m.o.v.e
 * 2) Space Boy - Dave Rodgers
 * 3) No One Sleep In Tokyo - Edo Boys
 * 4) Rage Your Dream - m.o.v.e

Notes & Trivia

 * This adapts Let's Buy an Eight-Six - chapter 1 up to the first 10 pages of chapter 3 of the manga.