Chapter 031

Tak vs. Shingo (拓海VS. 慎吾, Takumi VS. Shingo, "Takumi VS. Shingo") is the thirty-first chapter of Initial D.

Plot
Iketani spins into the corner, saving himself from crashing. Iketani realises Shingo had hit him on purpose, and decides to chase after him. Shingo is able to pull away quickly, rushing through the corners, and leaving Iketani confused about his technique.

The next day at the gas station, Iketani tells Yuichi about what he'd seen on Akina. Yuichi tells him that Shingo was using left-foot braking, a technique where an FF driver uses the brake to correct their cars balance while turning. Iketani is annoyed that Shingo had ruined his first drive after his Silvia had been repaired, and vows to race him if he ever sees him again. Iketani asks Takumi if he would be able to drive his Silvia, as he wants to see his technique up close again.

On Akina that evening, Takumi doubts he'll be able to drive the Silvia as well as the Eight-Six, which Iketani shrugs off because of how he handled Itsuki's Eight-Five. The two set off, and Iketani asks to see the braking drift, and is shocked when he performs the move on the first corner.

Elsewhere on Akina, Shingo hunts for the Eight-Six.

Japan

 * March 4th 1996 (Weekly Young Magazine, 1996 Volume 11)
 * May 8th 1996 (Tankōbon, Volume 03)

Chinese

 * March 1st 1998 (Tankōbon, Volume 03, Sharp Point Press)

English

 * October 22nd 2002 (Tankōbon, Volume 03, Tokyopop)
 * April 17th 2019 (Digital re-release, Volume 03, Kodansha USA)

French

 * May 28th 2009 (Tankōbon, Volume 03, 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)

 * Ryosuke Takahashi (Cover only)
 * Shingo Shoji
 * Koichiro Iketani
 * Takumi Fujiwara
 * Yuichi Tachibana
 * Itsuki Takeuchi

Cars (in order of appearance)

 * Nissan Silvia K's (S13)
 * Honda Civic SiR-II (EG6)
 * Toyota Sprinter Trueno 3door GT-APEX (AE86)
 * Toyota Corolla Levin SR (AE85)

Tokyopop/Kodansha USA version

 * All mentions of the chassis code of the Civic - EG6 - are changed to SiR2 for unknown reasons
 * In the Kodansha USA release the i in SiR2 is a different typeface from the rest of the text. This is possibly because the typeface doesn't support lowercase "i"s.