Second Stage - Act 3

The Feeling of Defeat (敗北の予感, Haiboku no yokan) is the third Act of Initial D: Second Stage.

This episode features the first half of the battle between Takumi Fujiwara and Seiji Iwaki.

Synopsis
Going against Kyoichi’s instructions, Emperor’s Seiji launches his Evo IV into full power while racing against the Eight-Six. Though his car is out-classed by the highly-advanced Evo IV, Takumi takes every necessary risk to prove his worth.

Plot
The race begins with Takumi leading and Seiji following. Both cars display incredible cornering, shocking the spectators. Seiji states no matter how fast Takumi's cornering speed is, its still an Eight-Six he is racing in. Takumi recalls the encounter between the Emperor aces and their goal. He then states nobody knows whom the true victor of the battle unless it's over. The real battle begins. Other Emperor members believes Seiji doesn't need to hold back on the Eight-Six and Simulation 3 is an overkill and Simulation 1 was enough. Kyoichi in his mind there maybe potential in Seiji in his past races but he's not smart enough. The past races he's been were easy for him which stabilizes his confidence but Simulation 3 is to tighten his mind of his and won't tolerate his disobedience nor defeat by the hands of the Eight-Six, especially before their battle with Ryosuke Takahashi. The SpeedStars are in doubt of Takumi's race against Seiji as the Evo is a light car with turbo installation and AWD system and has WRC rally car settings. Itsuki tells them to not be too pessimistic of him but they were trying to be true to the facts only for Itsuki to believe him, but Itsuki was sure Takumi can always make something happen in his battles. Meanwhile Seiji starts to lose patience with tailgating him. At this time Natsuki was in the papa's car when she tells him that she wants to withdraw her secretive dating from him. When asked why, she tells she loves someone else. She apologizes to him for being selfish. Meanwhile back in the battle Seiji feels embarrassed and impatient with tailgating Takumi at slow speed. Kyoichi in his mind tells him don't let impatience get the better of him. Near the bottom of Akina, Keisuke, Fumihiro and Kenta were standing at one of the final corners of the course where Keisuke tells them that Ryosuke specifically told him to spectate the battle from there. Kenta doubts that Takumi could beat the Lan Evo IV due to his car being inferior in comparison, only for Keisuke to remind him how he lost to him. Fumihiro tells Keisuke to cut him slack as it was good learning experience for him, but pays little regard of his opinion. As Keisuke states that jumping ahead early in a battle with Fujiwara can mean loss, Seiji loses his patience and overtakes him, being noted by Takumi on how fast his car is. Keisuke then tells to Kenta that if you pass him too early then he will lose not knowing what surprises he will have to face in Takumi's potential, which is how many others, including his brother lost the race against him. Seiji says he races the way he should, instead of always following Simulation 3. Back at the traffic lights the Mercedes driver tries to persuade Natsuki to reconsider her choice and asks if maybe she can have relation while staying with him, even offering her more gifts, but she didn't want any of that. Now that she thinks of it, she just wants to have a proper relationship with someone of her age rather than dating someone who is much older than her. Back in the battle, upon hearing the news other Emperor members cheer Seiji for overtaking Takumi and believe victory is certain for them, while Speedstars sulks on hearing the news. However Kyoichi is infuriated on hearing it and Seiji doesn't realise that cornering is slower for him and requires him to corner at high speed in order to pull it off. He somewhat trusts him but still uneasy with his indecision. Seiji has full confidence in himself. However Takumi still is keeping up with him much to Seiji's surprise. He underestimated him and didn't think it would be impossible for him to keep up but is getting the real thrills in the race and prepares to unleash his car's potential. Seiji realised the mistake he made, he not only realised why he's slow tailgating Takumi but the main reason the Eight-Six is faster on the corners but he's slower. Takumi is amazed with Seiji's speed and is barely able to keep up with him. Meanwhile Yuichi and Masashi was waiting at the five consecutive hairpins when Seiji enters the corner shocking everyone with his cornering ability and the fact that Takumi is far behind. Takumi then results to using a gutter run. He enters the corner with such incredible speed much to everyone's shock especially Masashi. He was even more shocked when Yuichi tells him that it was Bunta's son who was driving it. He notices how similar his skill is to that of Bunta. However Masashi also fears Takumi could wreck his engine pushing it hard like that. Seiji can't keep up with the slow cornering but brushes off the Eight-Six's capabilities believing he can pull away anytime. However Takumi came back on track surprising Seiji. Underestimating Takumi he loses patience and pushes his Evo IV pedal to the metal with little success to shake him off. Keisuke recalls the amount of opponents who loses patience and become impatient while racing Takumi the race would be finished for them. The Evo IV's tires are starting to lose pressure during it's struggle to pull away from Takumi. He still brushes off Simulation 3 and believes he made the right move to overtake him.

Airdates

 * Fuji TV: October 28, 1999

Characters (in order of appearance)

 * 1) Takumi Fujiwara
 * 2) Seiji Iwaki
 * 3) Kyoichi Sudo
 * 4) Koichiro Iketani
 * 5) Kenji
 * 6) Itsuki Takeuchi
 * 7) Natsuki Mogi
 * 8) Papa
 * 9) Keisuke Takahashi
 * 10) Kenta Nakamura
 * 11) Fumihiro
 * 12) Yuichi Tachibana
 * 13) Masashi Suzuki

Cars

 * 1) Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX (AE86)
 * 2) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV RS (CN9A)
 * 3) Mercedes-Benz W210
 * 4) Mazda ɛ̃fini RX-7 Type R (FD3S)
 * 5) Nissan Silvia Q's (S14)
 * 6) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III GSR (CE9A)

Music

 * 1) Blazin' Beat - M.o.v.e
 * 2) Mikado - Dave McLoud
 * 3) 100 - Dave Rodgers
 * 4) I Love You Like Are - Valentina
 * 5) キミがいる (Kimi Ga Iru) - Galla

Quotes
Takumi: Nobody can determine who the real winner is until it's over.

Seiji: Now I get it. I get why I was irritated back there but didn't realise it. I hate to say it, but it's true. I'm not as fast in the corners as him!

Notes & Trivia

 * Yuichi's and Masashi's appearance in this episode was an anime-only adaptation.