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 with Takumi driving his father's Impreza while practicing the one-handed steering method while driving downhill after a delivery run, 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. While Itsuki makes fun of Kenji for just goofing around and not having any dates, 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, but Takumi denied ever going there. They all raise suspicion on what's going on. Itsuki then drives Takumi in his Eight-Five to Higashi Chichibu in Saitama to practicing heel-toe drifting. He brags that he will one day be a downhill ace with his car. Takumi meanwhile in contrast 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 him and her in his car after 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 the unknown pass at Saitama, Itsuki and Takumi were taking a drink at a vending machine when they hear the crowd around them getting excited for the arrival of Project D's Double Aces, confusing both of them. Then a pair of cars, an Eight-Six and an FD arrives at the scene, revealing two posers of Project D duo from their cars. Takumi stares in confusion and shock on how they are impersonated as Project D when Itsuki asks him if he should let this get on. Upon seeing posers getting girls to taking pictures with them, Itsuki's had enough of them and reveals to be frauds and tells the real Takumi Fujiwara is standing next to him, much to the embarrassment of the real Takumi. When asked by the imposters for proof, Itsuki asks Takumi for his driver's ID but he accidentally left it in his car. The fake Project D gets confidence that they may not even be the real ones and tells their Eight-Five which they brought is fake. When Itsuki tells them Takumi's Eight-Six got damaged in his last battle at Ibaraki, fake Takumi states to the crowd that the real Takumi Fujiwara never damages his car, getting cheers from the crowd. Then both of them leaves in their respective cars, humiliating Itsuki and Takumi. The next day Itsuki tells them the news during their work shift. Just then a woman arrives in the scene to see Takumi. When she goes to Takumi and asks if that was his name, she delivers a slap in the face, shocking everyone on the scene. She introduces herself as Mika Uehara who confronts Takumi for tricking on her friend Tomoko. Iketani tries to clear this misunderstanding and tells Takumi had nothing to do with it and Takumi honestly expresses his innocence. Itsuki tells her about the imposters that were lurking but Mika didn't believe him. Iketani then tells her to take a picture of Takumi to show her friend to confirm if he was the one who really done it. After she sends it to her by e-mail she tries to call her friend but doesn't pick up. She then leaves to catch a train. Iketani then tells Takumi this was exactly what he was worried about when he heard of the imposters and tells Takumi to inform about this to Ryosuke. Fumihiro was then phoned by Takumi about the imposters, which he is aware of but was surprised to learn about what Takumi had to face because of them. While Itsuki drives Takumi, he was triggered by what Mika said to him on the false accusations. Later that night as Takumi was at his home thinking of the incident and feeling uneasy, Tomoko phones Mika back and confirms that was the person she sent in the picture was not the same person who tricked her. Upon realising this, she panics as she slapped someone innocent. The next day, the rest of the SpeedStars predicts Takumi and Mika could be a couple as the incident could be the start of their first dramatic meeting. Meanwhile Fumihiro phones Ryosuke and tells him the Eight-Six is now fully repaired. Ryosuke had already found their license plates of the imposters and told him that he had already sent Keisuke to deal with the issue and orders him to watch over him in case he gets rough on them. Fumihiro then tells him that Kenta will be sent to scout the Kanagawa area for their upcoming expedition. After the call Ryosuke realizes his goal is getting closer to it's final stages and the meaning of "D" will be revealed soon. That night at the same place in Saitama, as Takumi and Itsuki speeds up to the pass in his now repaired Eight-Six, the imposters are seen again in the same place when Wataru approaches and introduces himself to them in a friendly chat. He then shows he is also another AE86 owner. He requests the imposter Takumi to show them a fast drift around the corner by using only accelerator work. Takumi's imposter gets desperate and tries to tell him no such person can do such thing. Hearing the screeching sound of Takumi's Eight-Six on the way, Wataru then tells everyone around him to pay attention to what's gonna happen next. Then just as Wataru snaps his finger, the real Fujiwara Takumi enters the scene with a flashy drift on the corner, shocking everyone, including Wataru who realized he's improved even better than before. Realizing they've been exposed, the imposters try to leave silently but Keisuke arrives on the scene to stop them. Keisuke and Wataru greet each other in delight and confronts the two of them on trying to ruin their reputations. Then the real Project D AE86 arrives at the scene revealing the real Takumi Fujiwara and Itsuki with him, further shocking the imposters on realizing he was the real Takumi all along. Keisuke then states he's angry not just about them ruining Project D's reputation, but also that his imposter is 'incredibly ugly'. The two posers cries and begs for mercy to Keisuke, but just then Fumihiro warns Keisuke from going any further, who tells he was just joking on beating them up. Fumihiro tells them to give up their act as they know their names from their license numbers they collected from their network. He then 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. At Yabitsu pass in Kanagawa, an orange NB8C Roadster RS is seen practicing on the course with the members of the different teams of Kanagawa prefecture spectating it. Go Hojo of the Sidewinders approves of his driving skills and states how far Project D will go in their prefecture.

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) Fumihiro
 * 11) Wataru Akiyama
 * 12) Keisuke Takahashi
 * 13) Ryuji Ikeda
 * 14) Hideo Minagawa
 * 15) Go Hojo
 * 16) Eiji Kubo

Cars

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

Music

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

Quotes

 * Wataru: This is real drifting! (snaps his fingers)
 * Fake Takumi: Shit, a Panda Trueno!
 * Wataru (upon Takumi drifting) So fast. He's much better than before.
 * Keisuke: The second problem is that my imposter is so incredibly ugly. That deserves a few broken bones.
 * Fake Keisuke (to Keisuke while on his knees) Sorry that I'm so ugly!
 * Hojo Go: We'll show them we are out of their league. The Kanagawa area is known as the holy ground of street racing.

Differences from the Manga

 * In the manga, Takumi and Itsuki are out driving in the Eight-Five when Mika arrives at the gas station, and are called back by Iketani.
 * Tomoko is unshown in the anime, merely being mentioned.
 * In the manga, Mika's apology to Takumi happened before the catching the imposters. While in the anime, Mika didn't apologise until after the imposters were caught.

Notes & Trivia

 * This episode marks Natsuki Mogi's final appearance in the anime.
 * Takumi's Eight-Six is still broken in this episode, whereas it was shown fixed at the end of Fourth Stage - Act 24.
 * This is the only episode of Fifth Stage to not have any battle in it.