First Stage - Act 23

The Rainy Downhill (雨のダウンヒルバトル!, Ame no daunhirubatoru!) is the twenty-third Act of Initial D First Stage.

This episode features the battle between Takumi Fujiwara and Kenta Nakamura.

Synopsis
Kenta, a member of the RedSuns, challenges Takumi to a downhill race in the pouring rain. With the increasingly wet course conditions, neither driver is guaranteed victory.

Airdates

 * Fuji TV: November 7, 1998

Characters

 * 1) Takumi Fujiwara
 * 2) Itsuki Takeuchi
 * 3) Keisuke Takahashi
 * 4) Takeshi Nakazato
 * 5) Kenta Nakamura
 * 6) Koichiro Iketani
 * 7) Kenji
 * 8) Ryosuke Takahashi
 * 9) Yuichi Tachibana
 * 10) Natsuki Mogi
 * 11) Bunta Fujiwara
 * 12) Keiichi Tsuchiya (voice)

Cars

 * 1) Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX (AE86)
 * 2) Nissan Silvia Q's (S14)
 * 3) Toyota Corolla Levin SR (AE85)

Music

 * 1) Break In2 The Nite - m.o.v.e
 * 2) Night Of Fire - Niko
 * 3) Rock It Down - m.o.v.e
 * 4) Past Days ~追憶 (Past Days ~Tsuioku) - m.o.v.e
 * 5) World Of Move - m.o.v.e
 * 6) 奇跡の薔薇 (Kiseki No Hana) - Galla

Differences from the Manga

 * Takumi and Kenta's battle is interrupted by Seiji Iwaki of Emperor in the manga

Notes & Trivia

 * Professional racing driver and series technical director Keiichi Tsuchiya makes a voice-only cameo in this episode as the person that called Bunta.
 * During the conversation on the phone between Bunta and Tsuchiya, some R32 racing Skylines appear, including a FALKEN ALTIA R32 N1 that participated in the Super Taikyu championship (then the N1 Endurance) in 1992.