Takumi Fujiwara vs Shinji Inui

The battle between Takumi Fujiwara and Shinji Inui is the only battle in Initial D: Final Stage, as well as last battle of Initial D as a series.

Prior to the Battle
Following the defeat of Go Hojo, Shinji reveals to Mako and Sayuki that he is the final opponent of Takumi and drives off to the starting line. Notable characters such as Mako and Sayuki, Takeshi Nakazato, Shingo Shoji, members of the Todo School, Sidewinder, Project D, Akina Speed Stars, Shinji's mother, and various racing teams from Kanagawa show up and later provide commentary during the race.

During the Battle
At the start of the battle, Shinji is in the lead position, followed by Takumi. They begin the race and Takumi is barely able to keep up with Shinji's pace. Eiji Kubo, Go Hojo, Shinji's mother and various other characters provide commentary regarding Shinji's technique and characteristics of his car. After a long while, Takumi notes that Shinji has a technique similar to his own. While the race is going on, commentary puts a heavy emphasis on Shinji's driving technique which is mainly explained by Shinjis mother and Eiji Kubo. During the later stages of the race, Shinji turns on his hazard lights and purposely slows down, allowing Takumi to overtake him. This is done in preparation for an attack which he uses in an attempt to impress Mako. He begins to drive rather aggressively, going as far as to bump Takumi's car out of the way during a hairpin turn in order to overtake him in front of Mako. Later, Shinji begins to feel pressured with Takumi behind him and gets distracted because of this. This allows Takumi to overtake him with a Blind Attack. After this, Shinji notes the white wings that he imagines on Takumi's car. After a while, Shinji is able to overtake Takumi again by bumping his car out of the way during another hairpin turn. Nearing the end of the course, Takumi begins to feel pressured and begins to enter a flashback of Fumihiro and Ryosuke explaining that Takumi can use the engine's full potential as a last resort. Takumi barely manages to get side by side with Shinji using another Blind Attack. Although Shinji attempts to push him out of the way multiple times, Takumi is able to keep next to Shinji until the final corner. Takumi is able to pass Shinji and turns his headlights back on. Takumi quickly notices that he was pushing his engine's RPM to it's limits, which then promptly leads to the engine blowing. Takumi's car is forced into a spin and Shinji also spins out after attempting to avoid colliding with Takumi. Takumi instinctively engaged the clutch to regain traction, and spins 180 degrees before crossing the finish line backwards. Shinji, however, spins a full 360 degrees and isn't able to catch up to Takumi in time.

After the Battle
After the battle, Takumi and Shinji receive praise from their respective teams, and Takumi laments over his blown engine. Takumi realizes that every team in Kanagawa and multiple teams from other areas have come to spectate the final battle. Project D celebrate together to commemorate their victory and the ending of the project. Before the credits, Ryosuke is shown explaining to Kaori the true meaning of his project, including the "D" in Project D, stating that it stands for "Dream". Takumi is shown driving Bunta's Impreza on a delivery run. During the credits, Mako Sato and Keisuke are shown at Twin Ring Motegi as professional drivers. Mika Uehara is shown as a professional golfer. Takumi is shown spectating a D1GP event, who is greeted by a cameo of Keichii Tsuchiya. Ryosuke becomes a silent spectator at races, hoping to find more natural talents like Takumi and Keisuke to train. After the credits, Takumi is shown again on his delivery run. He crosses paths with a Toyota GT86 (ZN6) during his run. At the very end of the episode, the following text is displayed on-screen:

"Even today, young drivers keep on racing. Wrestling to realize their dream."