Chapter 036

King of the Mountain (究極のダウンヒラー, Kyūkyoku no Daunhirā, "The Ultimate Downhiller") is the thirty-sixth chapter of Initial D.

Plot
The two cars race through the five hairpins, and Shingo is annoyed by how well Takumi is performing. Shingo is determined not to allow Takumi to pass, but is shocked when he performs a gutter run and overtakes.

Further up the mountain, Iketani tells Itsuki that he thinks Takumi drives on a purely instinctual level, with no knowledge of racing theory. He reasons that in only a few minutes on the road, he'd likely already have known how to beat Shingo.

With Takumi in the lead, Shingo realises he has no chance of winning and decides to end the race in a draw, by causing both cars to crash. Shingo pulls up alongside the Eight-Six and goes to collide with the car, but Takumi is able to dodge in time. Going at too fast a speed to stop, Shingo's Civic collides with the guardrail, the impact causing the car to spin and its rear wheels to leave the ground.

Japan

 * April 8th 1996 (Weekly Young Magazine, 1996 Volume 16)
 * August 6th 1996 (Tankōbon, Volume 04)

Chinese

 * April 1st 1998 (Tankōbon, Volume 04, Sharp Point Press)

English

 * October 22nd 2002 (Tankōbon, Volume 04, Tokyopop)
 * April 17th 2019 (Digital re-release, Volume 04, Kodansha USA)

French

 * August 27th 2009 (Tankōbon, Volume 04, Kazé)

Italian

 * March 28th 2023 (Tankōbon 2-in-1, Volume 02, J-Pop)

Polish

 * April 2023 (Tankōbon 2-in-1, Volume 02, J. P. Fantastica)

Characters (in order of appearance)

 * Shingo Shoji
 * Takumi Fujiwara
 * Koichiro Iketani
 * Itsuki Takeuchi
 * Kenji

Cars (in order of appearance)

 * Toyota Sprinter Trueno 3door GT-APEX (AE86)
 * Honda Civic SiR-II (EG6)
 * Nissan 180SX Type II (RPS13)
 * Nissan Silvia K's (S13)

Tokyopop/Kodansha USA version

 * In the Kodansha USA release, several sound effect text bubbles have placeholder text.