Fifth Stage - Act 5

Fujiwara Zone (藤原ゾーン, Fujiwara zōn) is the fifth Act of Initial D: Fifth Stage.

This episode features the second half of the rematch between Takumi Fujiwara and Kai Kogashiwa.

This episode also features the first half of the battle between Keisuke Takahashi and Hideo Minagawa.

Synopsis
As the battle heats up, both Takumi and Kai both use all of their ability, and then some, to battle for the win. In the next battle, Keisuke puts his new accelerator techniques to the test against Minagawa's Supra. But as Ryosuke explains, there is another purpose of this training that would allow him to beat the "super-orthodox" pro racer.

Plot
Kai Kogashiwa notes down the pace of the battle increasing and he questions himself as Takumi slowly gaps him. He decides to ditch his tactic of conserving his tyres and switches to going all out to close the gap. While Takumi remains cautious to maintain his pace, Kai drives recklessly, even tackling guardrails to close the gap. Some baffled spectator wonder why a pro racer is going all out against an amateur. As they both approach a sharp corner, Takumi and Kai engages on a braking attack, with the latter miraculously closing down the gap on the former by using his advanced braking skills. Takumi notes in surprise and frustration as that was his limit on entering such corners. Meanwhile, Fumihiro gets the call on the events of the battle and informs Ryosuke that Takumi is being pushed hard. Fumihiro worries that Takumi may have lost all his concentration, but Ryosuke thinks otherwise. Meanwhile at the Tofu Store, Ken talks to Bunta on how Takumi is wasting his talents by just racing on the mountain passes and he should insist him to race on circuits as well. However Bunta says there's nothing like 'growing out of mountain passes'. He then tells that there's no certainty in any competition to a confident Ken who is fully sure his son will win this time. Meanwhile Takumi who's being pushed hard realized he should focus more. Ryosuke states to Fumihiro that during the Fujiwara zone, Takumi is known for pushing his car beyond limits, even reaching the limits of a professional racer, but he is sure that Kai is already aware of it. However this doesn't mean that their plan will fail because as someone full of pride like Kai would never back away from a head on battle. As they both reach nearer to the goal, Takumi and Kai decides to battle out an full on brake attack on the upcoming corner. Ryosuke tells Fumihiro that during his zone, Takumi with his Eight-Six can surpass the limits of professional racers. As Takumi corners at high speeds, he proceeds to gap Kai with incredible cornering speeds, leaving Kai at disbelief. Desperate to catch up, he pushes his car beyond the limits, suddenly snap oversteering. Kai manages to recover a full 360 spin and drives on, but the gap was too big, resulting in Takumi successfully gapping Kai and winning the battle. After the battle Kai and Takumi meets up where he states his loss. He explains how he purposefully spun out as he was afraid of crashing when cornering at high speeds to catch up. kai then tells he was about to invite Takumi to the world of circuit racing, but changed his mind after he got defeated. He tells Takumi's skills won't make any use in circuits and he should keep doing what he is best at. At the Fujiwara Tofu shop, Ken while calling Bunta informs him of the 'victory results' being out, only to be taken aback and in disbelief to hear Kai lost yet again. Bunta tries to comfort him by saying it's just a game of tag in mountain passes, but Ken wasn't in any mood to hear from Bunta. Keisuke meets with Hideo Minagawa and they both have a tense moment where they doubt on each other's skills. Minagawa asks Keisuke to be on the lead to see if he can shake him off in his sprint. Keisuke then tells Kenta that this battle has a special meaning to him and he's going to win no matter what. At Esso Gas Station, the SpeedStars ponders about Takumi and his race. Kenji tells them that its not just Takumi, but Keisuke also who's going racing against a pro racer. Hearing this, Itsuki gets pumped up. As the battle starts off, Minagawa chasing the FD feels 'irritated' and wants a complete victory over Keisuke. He is confident that with his tyre management skills, he can keep up with Keisuke in his sprint even with his heavy RWD car, the JZA80 Supra. Meanwhile Fumihiro tells Ryosuke the time when he chose Takumi for battling Tomoyuki instead of Keisuke. He tells his explanation for choosing Takumi was that Takumi was a natural genius in mountain passes, hence he chose him for battling a professional racer. But today he chose Keisuke, who is more known for his adaptation of pro racing skills to the streets against another pro. So he wonders what happens in this battle. Somewhere up front, Eiji and Go discusses on the hill climb. Go tells that while Minagawa is a prideful person who thinks he won't lose to an amateur, Keisuke is better than he would expect. His accelerator made him undefeated, and he is backed by Ryosuke's strategies, hence he predicts this won't be an easy win for Minagawa. Hearing this, Eiji laughs and asks if Go really has some conflicted connection with Ryosuke, to which Go responds that its not him, but his elder brother who has connections with Ryosuke. Eiji asks if its the same person known as the 'Grim Reaper'. Just as then, Keisuke and Minagawa passes both of them. Seeing Minagawa chasing, Go states the outcome of this race will be decided on the position of the first round. Keisuke notes Minagawa indeed has more horsepower, but that doesn't matter. Meanwhile, Ryosuke explains to Fumihiro that while Minagawa won't show any weakness and is very skilled thanks to him being a professional racer, he is confident with Keisuke as he has grown. A flashback sequence shows him and Keisuke some months ago, where he gives Keisuke an assignment to do 5 runs everyday on the course in the given specific time given in the data. The objective being to improve Keisuke's tyre management to fight against future opponents with AWD cars. When asked upon by Keisuke on why the given timings are less than the best time records of Akagi, he tells the goal is not to be slower or faster than the given timings, and he will be certainly mistaken if he thnks this is going to be easy. After the flashback, Fumihiro asks what was the meaning behind that training. Ryosuke tells its the similar training of how he trained himself when he was younger but the modified version. Siply flooring on the gas won't work as it only puts more stress in the car. One has to train an internal clock to close the timings when in a race. Its only possible due to prolonged training. He tells that Keisuke is the type of person to complete his goal once he set his mind into it, and because of it, he is aware of what causes his timings to be slower or faster, and even the side effects caused by the training, which is speed. Ryosuke compares it with Keisuke's first battle at Kanagawa and how he managed his tyres for the acceleration he needed for the sprint. Fumihiro by now realized that Keisuke will now do a head on sprint battle with a pro racer. As the battle reaches its first half of the course, Minagawa realizes Keisuke's strategy of controlling throttle variably on every exit to catch him off guard, and tells he's better than he had expected. Takumi gives his opinions to Matsumoto that while he had a tough time on his sprint and got pressured, Keisuke is not like that. He has a 'dangerous aura' and he is glad that Keisuke is on his side because defeating Keisuke will be really tough. As Keisuke and Minagawa exits a particular corner, Keisuke feints his brakes suddenly, which catches Minagawa off-guard, and brakes. As Keisuke then speeds away from a frustrated Minagawa, Ryosuke senses the real battle had started and states without these two genius drivers, Project D won't be complete.

Airdates

 * Animax: January 11, 2013

Characters (in order of appearance)

 * 1) Kai Kogashiwa
 * 2) Takumi Fujiwara
 * 3) Hiroshi Fumihiro
 * 4) Ryosuke Takahashi
 * 5) Eiji Kubo
 * 6) Go Hojo
 * 7) Bunta Fujiwara
 * 8) Ken Kogashiwa (Voice only)
 * 9) Keisuke Takahashi
 * 10) Hideo Minagawa
 * 11) Kenta Nakamura
 * 12) Kenji
 * 13) Itsuki Takeuchi
 * 14) Koichiro Iketani
 * 15) Shuichi Matsumoto

Cars

 * 1) Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX (AE86)
 * 2) Toyota MR-S S-Edition (ZZW30)
 * 3) Mazda efini RX-7 Type R (FD3S)
 * 4) Mazda Bongo
 * 5) Toyota Supra RZ (JZA80)

Music

 * 1) Raise Up - M.o.v.e
 * 2) Code:D - Igoda
 * 3) Limousine - Manuel
 * 4) Rockin' Hardcore - Fastway
 * 5) Flyleaf - Clutcho

Quotes
Takumi Fujiwara: Keisuke has an aura.... which makes me glad that he's on my side, because I don't want to race against him. There are many fast drivers, but I'd believe it'd tough to fight Keisuke.

Notes & Trivia

 * Tomiguchi, a Project D mechanic shown in the chapters was cut from this episode.
 * Go and Eiji's discussion on Takumi's battle was also cut out.
 * Mika was also cut out from this episode