Bunta Fujiwara (藤原 文太 Fujiwara Bunta) is the owner of a tofu shop in Gunma, and the father of Takumi. He used to be the fastest downhill racer on Akina years ago, but he no longer races, preferring to guide Takumi's racing development.
Biography[]
Bunta was the original driver of the mysterious "white ghost of Akina" AE86 Sprinter Trueno that holds the record of the fastest downhill time at Akina. Bunta has a unique way of training his son to drive - every morning when Takumi delivers tofu. Bunta gives Takumi a cup of water which is placed in the drink holder; Takumi must not spill even a drop of it while he is driving. This is ostensibly to prevent breaking the tofu in the boot, but it forces Takumi to drive very smoothly. As for Bunta, he is still considered the best downhill racer in Akina, which is shown early in the series when he pushes the Trueno with Yuichi Tachibana in the passenger seat, lighting a cigarette while drifting around a corner.
Later in the series, Takumi used the Trueno more than Bunta, so he gave the car to Takumi. While test-driving his new Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type R Version V on Akina, he defeated his son, inducing a 4WD complex in Takumi. Bunta decided to buy the car but hid this fact from Takumi for some time. After revealing that he was the driver, he then told Takumi to alternate between the Impreza and his Eight-Six for deliveries - another strategy to improve Takumi as a driver, showing him the potential of modern cars and the characteristics of 4WD. While this shows his training strategy, it is seen that Bunta is, once again, proven to be the most formidable opponent in Akina.
Bunta is thought to have been undefeated during his time as a street racer. There is some dialog between Tachibana and Koichiro Iketani that could possibly dispute this, but the vague description of events leaves the actual results up to speculation. Specifically, this dialog occurs during the Tochigi campaign (Volume 15 of the manga, or the Third Stage movie) when Tachibana explains the rivalry between Bunta and Ken Kogashiwa. According to Tachibana, Bunta and Ken completed multiple races on the Irohazaka road to determine who was truly the fastest street racer, and "on the last race that counted", Bunta won. This could mean that Bunta possibly lost one or more rounds, could also mean they had unofficial races similar to Takumi vs the EVO but this idea is never discussed further as the dialog was written solely to provide a racing pedigree for Ken's son, who had recently challenged Takumi to a race on the same road.
Bunta also knows Keiichi Tsuchiya personally, as shown in Act 23 of the First Stage, where we can hear a phone conversation between the two where Keiichi talks about how Bunta "scared him for life" with his drifting. He also asks Bunta about whether Takumi will win the race against Ryosuke Takahashi.
Information[]
Bunta's Profile
Height: 172cm
Weight: 62kg
Convinced he could beat Michael Schumacher if they raced on Mount Akina. Once a rallyist; now a tofu-ist.
Likes: Carburetor bark, cigarettes
Dislikes: Tofu, big cars
Special Skill: Can catch a few zzz's while drifting.
Vehicles[]
Bunta owned a High-Tech Two-Tone Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX AE86 before handing it down to Takumi.
- Main article: Takumi Fujiwara's Toyota AE86
After Bunta handed his Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX AE86 down to his son, he bought a Subaru Impreza WRX STi Coupe Type R Version V GC8.
- Main article: Bunta Fujiwara's Subaru Impreza
Trivia[]
- In Initial D Arcade Stage Ver. 3 and the later installments, Bunta is never seen smoking at any point. This is probably to keep the age rating low. The games preceding that, he smokes in the original Japanese release.
- In Initial D Arcade Stage 4 and the later installments, Bunta will often recreate his famous gutter run technique when racing the player like Takumi did.
- In Fourth Stage, he has a portable astray since he is heavy smoker.
Gallery[]
Appearance[]
Manga[]
Anime[]
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Films[]
| Legend Trilogy | ||||||||||||
| Legend 1: Awakening: | Appears | |||||||||||
| Legend 2: Racer: | Appears | |||||||||||
| Legend 3: Dream: | Appears | |||||||||||
Games[]
| Initial D Games | ||||||||||||
| Gaiden: | Introduced | Street Stage: | Appears | |||||||||
| Fastest Public Road Legend: | Appears | Arcade Stage 4: | Appears | |||||||||
| Initial D: | Appears | Extreme Stage: | Appears | |||||||||
| Arcade Stage: | Appears | Arcade Stage 5: | Appears | |||||||||
| Another Stage: | Appears | Arcade Stage 6 AA: | Appears | |||||||||
| Arcade Stage Ver. 2: | Appears | Arcade Stage 7 AAX: | Appears | |||||||||
| Special Stage: | Appears | Arcade Stage 8 Infinity: | Appears | |||||||||
| Mountain Vengeance: | Absent | Perfect Shift Online: | Absent | |||||||||
| Arcade Stage Ver. 3: | Appears | Arcade Stage Zero: | Appears | |||||||||
| The Arcade: | Appears | |||||||||||
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| Initial D Characters | |
|---|---|
| Project D | Takumi Fujiwara • Keisuke Takahashi • Ryosuke Takahashi |
| Akina SpeedStars | Koichiro Iketani • Kenji • Itsuki Takeuchi |
| Akagi RedSuns | Kenta Nakamura • Keisuke Takahashi • Ryosuke Takahashi |
| Myogi NightKids | Miyahara • Takeshi Nakazato • Shingo Shoji |
| Impact Blue | Mako Sato • Sayuki |
| Emperor | Seiji Iwaki • Ren Nogami • Satake • Kyoichi Sudo |
| Seven Star Leaf | Atsuro Kawai • Shinichi • Toru Suetsugu |
| The Todo School | Daiki Ninomiya • Smiley Sakai • Tomoyuki Tachi • Todo |
| Northern Saitama Alliance | Nobuhiko Akiyama • Wataru Akiyama • Kyoko Iwase • Sakamoto |
| Tsuchisaka Lancer Evolution Team/ Men in Evos |
Aikawa/Man in Lan Evo V/Kuro Waru • Ichijo/Man in Lan Evo VI/Shiro Waru |
| Purple Shadow | Kozo Hoshino • Toshiya Joshima |
| Team 246 | Satoshi Omiya • Kobayakawa |
| R.T. Katagiri S.V. | Kai Kogashiwa • Hideo Minagawa |
| Team Spiral | Ryuji Ikeda • Junichi Sakamoto • Hiroya Okuyama |
| Sidewinder | Go Hojo • Rin Hojo • Shinji Inui |
| Other Characters | Kazumi Akiyama • Kazumi's Ex-Boyfriend • The Altezza Guys • Fake Project D • Former Bosozoku Leader • Bunta Fujiwara • Fumihiro • Mrs. Iketani • Itsuki's Parents • Mrs. Inui • Kaori • Kaori's Father • Ken Kogashiwa • Eiji Kubo • Kyoko's Friend • Shuichi Matsumoto • Miki • Natsuki Mogi • Nao • Old Man • Papa • Shiraishi • Masashi Suzuki • Yuichi Tachibana • Tomiguchi • Tomoko • Tsugumi • Tsukamoto • Two Guys From Tokyo • Mika Uehara |
| Non-Manga | Mamoru • Katsuragi Mika • Saori • Shigeru • Eikichi Shimamura • Legend 3 86 GT Driver |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Chapter 8 - Bunta's Information Page - Rallyist is changed to "Freelancer" in the Tokyopop/Kodansha USA (2019) release.
- ↑ Seen in a Legend 3 Height Chart
- ↑ Initial D Extra Edition - Drift King Youth Graffiti
- ↑ Listed on the Portuguese Dubbing Wiki and in a Podcast interview with the actor
