The 3 Initial D Races We SHOULD Have Gotten

It's been a good few years since I finished Initial D, but ever since I saw the ending I thought there were three distinct races we should have gotten, but unfortunately we didn't. Here are my 3 dream races, any of which can serve as final race in the series.

Takumi vs Bunta. This would technically be a bit of a rematch so you could call this Takumi vs Bunta round 2, considering they raced briefly. However, since it was more of a sudden encounter rather than an official race I'd love to see an actual all out battle between the greatest of all time vs the greatest of today (insert JJK meme). In that brief encounter they had, Bunta not only demonstrated his legendary skill by blowing his son outta the water, but also taught him a valuable lesson when it comes to the specs of different cars. No matter how good the AE86 was for downhill races, his Impreza was even better and the fact that every time Takumi made a slight improvement with the 86, he'd also make the same improvement with the Impreza.

This feeling of constantly running to a destination which can't be reached served as a raw reality check, which is the reason a proper father vs son race would have been so awesome to see. I'm not necessarily rooting for either one as there's value in both outcomes. If Takumi wins, he finally surpasses his legendary father and proves there's no car the 86 can't beat at a downhill race, while if Bunta wins, his legendary status is further solidified, showing that although having great potential, his son still has much to learn. What I'm most hoping for in this hypothetical race, is seeing Bunta sweat for the first time, showing how far Takumi has come.

The second race I wish we saw is an all-out battle between the Takahashi brothers. Throughout the series we see both Keisuke and Ryosuke only losing to Takumi and although Ryosuke is shown to be a clearly better racer in season 1, by the time Project D concludes I'm not so sure. My interpretation of Ryosuke choosing his younger brother as one of the 2 racers of Project D instead of himself was done in order to maximise the team's strengths rather than him outright admitting Keisuke is better. Putting it simply Ryosuke is the master strategist that is the brains of the operation, while Keisuke is the hothead who is the heart.

What's interesting here is we see plenty of evidence showing Keisuke improve as a raver throughout the series, gathering one win after another, but even though Ryosuke begins taking a more organizational role after his loss to Takumi, he was still able to handle the Grim Reaper in his final race. Although MF Ghost revealed Keisuke becomes a pro, while Ryosuke becomes a surgeon, it would have been super interesting to see which brother was the better racer by the end of Initial D. I'm not expecting there to be any beef, since they're both so tight, but maybe Keisuke defeating Ryosuke in a race would be a fitting passing of the torch from an older to a younger brother.

Last but not least and quite possibly the most fitting race to end the series with, I was really expecting a rematch between Takumi and Keisuke. Wouldn't it be poetic to have the race that started the series also be the one to end it? Especially considering the massive growth both racers have shown as the stars of Project D.

Similarly to Keisuke, we see that Takumi also became a pro in MF Ghost, so all the information we have points to both characters being of a very comparable level. I don't really care who wins this one considering no single outcome would greatly affect the story or events after it, but even something like a draw would have been pretty cool.

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