Initial D x MF Ghost x Subaru & Subaru

The Initial D Gunma Expedition Tour is officially back this Spring for 2026 (May 26–27). After the 2025 runs, we realized one thing. You can’t just visit these roads. You have to drive them. We will navigate the iconic mountain passes featured in the Initial D series including: - Mount Haruna (Akina): Home of Takumi, Bunta, and Speedstars - Mount Akagi: Home of the RedSuns - Usui Pass: Home of Mako & Sayuki - Mount Myogi: Home of the Nightkid guardrail kings I can’t promise you’ll become the next Takumi overnight, and please, try not to blow an engine on Akagi’s downhill. But I can promise exclusive local spots and the kind of touge runs that will make you Rage Your Dream. Our tour offers more than just driving. We provide an insider’s look at Japanese car culture, visiting exclusive local landmarks and hidden spots known only to true enthusiasts. Whether you’re a fan of the anime or the original manga, this is the ultimate pilgrimage. For more details, follow @driversloungejp or visit the tour page in my bio. /services/gunma-two-days-initial-d See you in Gunma 🇯🇵

Subaru and Subaru is the newest manga which started in 2025 by Shuichi Shigeno and is the direct sequel to Initial D and MF Ghost, continuing the same street-racing universe with a new generation of drivers.  It follows two young racers named Subaru, Subaru Sato and Subaru Kudo, who begin their journey in the next stage of the MFG world while inheriting the legacy of Gunma and Kanagawa’s “fastest on public roads.”  Think of it as the Freshman Series era of the MFG timeline, where new drivers make mistakes, grow, and learn the fundamentals that Takumi and Kanata had mostly already mastered before their stories began. It’s the start of a new street-racing legend. And yes Bunta is actually involved in this one. Are you guys feeling optimistic after the first chapter? 🤔 If you want to catch up on the series, check the “Subaru” story highlight on my page. All my summaries and reviews are there. Official English translations available on K Manga app/site. *I used translation software for this summary, so some details might not be fully accurate. We’ll know more once the official English version drops on August 22. You can read Chapter 1 for free now at yanmaga.jp. Keep in mind that this is a summary and there are details and information that are not included. Official Initial D Manga (English) available in the link in my bio 📚Officially support Initial D creator, Shuichi Shigeno, and this page by using my affiliate link 🙏🏼 - Share this post with Initial D / MF Ghost fans 🫡 #initiald #takumifujiwara #fujiwaratofushop #touge #buntafujiwara #initialdmemes #mfghost #jdm #mfゴースト #頭文字D #Subaru and Subaru

[UPDATE] We’re bringing back the tour for May 2026! Here is your chance to experience real life Initial D touge in real life Initial D cars! For a limited time, @driversloungejp is offering a 2 day Initial D Tour through real life touge roads in proper JDM sports cars including Haruna (Akina), Akagi, Usui and Myogi. DM me after you sign up for a small free Initial D gift🙏🏼🎁 Please visit LINK HERE for full tour details (Or check link in the bio) /services/gunma-two-days-initial-d #initiald #takumifujiwara #fujiwaratofushop #touge #buntafujiwara #initialdmemes #mfghost #jdm #mfゴースト #頭文字D

Which overtake did you like better? Sato’s or Rikuto’s? 🤔 If you want to catch up on the series, check the “Subaru” story highlight on my page. All my summaries and reviews are there. 📕Official Initial D Manga (English) available in the link in my bio 📚 Officially support Initial D creator, Shuichi Shigeno, and this page by using my affiliate link 🙏🏼

Which driver besides the two Subarus is your favorite so far? 🤔 If you want to catch up on the series, check the “Subaru” story highlight on my page. All my summaries and reviews are there. 📕Official Initial D Manga (English) available in the link in my bio 📚 Officially support Initial D creator, Shuichi Shigeno, and this page by using my affiliate link 🙏🏼

In 1999 Initial D released an official CD drama called Initial D Extra Edition Drift King Youth Graffiti. In this story, Keiichi Tsuchiya tells Takumi and Itsuki about his early days as a street racer and how he earned the name Drift King. This is a very short summary of a 50 minute audio file. You can easily find it on YouTube. Beware of spoilers. The story starts with Itsuki begging Bunta to tell him stories about Tsuchiya since they knew each other. Instead of explaining anything, Bunta quietly gives them Tsuchiya’s home address in Nagano so him and Takumi can ask him themselves. At his home, the Tsuchiya shares stories of his youth, from racing pigs as a child to rebuilding a Super Cub with his tuner friend Hiroshi and later buying a Hakosuka Skyline after working multiple jobs. Snow drifting in Nagano helped shape his style, and during this time he began chasing a mysterious Toyota Carina driver known as Senpai, whose speed and drifting skill amazed him. As Tsuchiya raced across mountain passes, his reputation spread quickly. Magazine writers began organizing battles for him, and after one major win in the rain he was given the name Drift King. However, the fame changed him. He became overconfident and started acting like the leader of a bad crowd that followed him everywhere. Senpai confronted him about this and made it clear that Tsuchiya was wasting his talent. That forced Tsuchiya to reflect. He stepped away from that lifestyle and began focusing seriously on preparing for professional racing. Determined to prove himself, Tsuchiya prepared his new AE86 and arranged a final showdown with Senpai at Usui Pass. The battle pushed the drivers to their limits through the course, including the C121 where both demonstrated nearly identical skill. In the end there was no clear winner, but both acknowledged each other’s strength before parting with mutual respect. In the present, Itsuki asks what Senpai is doing now, and Tsuchiya explains that he’s simply running his family business. As Takumi and Itsuki leave, Tsuchiya casually tells Takumi to say hello to his dad for him, suggesting that the legendary Senpai he raced long ago was Bunta Fujiwara.

How do you think the first battle between the 2 Subarus will go? 🤔 If you want to catch up on the series, check the “Subaru” story highlight on my page. All my summaries and reviews are there. 📕Official Initial D Manga (English) available in the link in my bio 📚 Officially support Initial D creator, Shuichi Shigeno, and this page by using my affiliate link 🙏🏼 Share this post with Initial D / MF Ghost fans 🫡

The Seven Star Leaf gives us two completely different touge philosophies in the same team. Toru is all about corner speed, momentum, and making peace with lower power if it means carrying more speed through the turns. Atsuro is the opposite. He trusts engine power on the straights to erase mistakes from the corners. And that’s exactly why Keisuke beat him so easily. On the touge you can’t live off straight line recovery alone. After the battle, Atsuro questions how Keisuke was able to overtake him on a straight. He assumes Keisuke’s FD must have more power, and he doesn’t believe him when Keisuke says his FD is actually down on power. The manga specifically points out that Atsuro’s Skyline has 400 PS, while Keisuke’s FD has 340 PS. Keisuke then tells Atsuro the key was corner exit. He explains it a little awkwardly, even admitting he barely understands it himself, but it is something Ryosuke taught him. That says a lot about where Keisuke is at in Fourth Stage. He is already applying advanced theory well enough to beat people with it, even before he can fully explain it in words. Funny thing the manga mentions during this race is that Ryosuke literally made Keisuke sit down at a desk over the past winter and study racing theory. It really explains why Keisuke already feels more advanced as a driver in Fourth Stage compared to the earlier seasons. Official Initial D Manga (English) available in the link in my bio 📚Officially support Initial D creator, Shuichi Shigeno, and this page by using my affiliate link 🙏🏼 - - Share this post with Initial D / MF Ghost fans 🫡

If you’re a car guy, you know that feeling. Even something as basic as going to grab groceries feels exciting when it means you get a little extra seat time in the car you love. That’s why seeing Bunta lowkey happy that he got a reason to take the AE86 out to get cigarettes is so relatable. It’s such a simple moment, but it feels real. Then Shigeno takes it one step further with Bunta’s expression and dialogue, and it turns into pure comedy. Scenes like this are a big part of why Initial D 1st Stage still feels so special. It wasn’t just about touge battles. It was the everyday humor and the quiet character moments. It’s such a small moment but that mix of subtle humor and car culture relatability is the kind of charm that made so many of us fall in love with Initial D in the first place. Official Initial D Manga (English) available in the link in my bio 📚Officially support Initial D creator, Shuichi Shigeno, and this page by using my affiliate link 🙏🏼 - Share this post with Initial D / MF Ghost fans 🫡

When the earlier Forza promotional video first used wording like “inspired by mountain passes like Haruna,” I thought maybe they would just give us some cool touge roads with that same Initial D vibe, without ever fully committing to a real Haruna style location. So seeing a version of Haruna on the northeast side of the Japan map reveal made me happy. And what also caught my attention is that they even seem to have a small lake near it, which makes it feel even more like their own version of Haruna Lake. But southwestern portion of this map also seem to have roads that match touge routes in Kanagawa, around Hakone. It looks a lot like the road that runs right through the middle of MF Ghost’s Odawara Pikes Peak, and to the west of it there is even a lake that could be Forza’s own version of Lake Ashi. The only unfortunate part is that based on the map image, it does not look like we will be able to drive around that lake and have our own Ashinoko GT moment. It would of been cool if they let us loop Lake Ashi properly, that would have been such a perfect nod. Still, I know Forza maps are not supposed to be perfect 1:1 recreations. They are usually built around what the developers believe are some of the most important places, roads, and landmarks to bring into an open world driving map. And honestly, I’m glad they believe Haruna is important enough to be included. Official Initial D Manga (English) available in the link in my bio 📚Officially support Initial D creator, Shuichi Shigeno, and this page by using my affiliate link 🙏🏼 - Share this post with Initial D / MF Ghost fans 🫡

4th Stage opens by showing Keisuke vs a pink S15 and Takumi vs a black 180SX while explaining what Project D is, but those are anime-only scenes. Toru’s race is the first time we really sit with what Project D means in a full battle. Toru sees Takumi do the lidless gutter run and thinks he can copy it. You can literally see the moment on his face when he realizes he effed up. Toru forced it, dropped into the gutter, and flipped the Roadster. The first time I watched Toru crash, I genuinely thought we were about to get our first death in Initial D. That flip was crazier than any other crash we saw in Initial D. However, Toru is more than just the guy who flipped his Roadster. In an interview, Shigeno specifically points to Toru as the kind of street racer who loves cars so much that it spills into his personal life, even mentioning the moment he borrowed money for tires from his girlfriend, Nao. Honestly, I think the money problems are really relatable for a lot of us because car guys know how expensive this hobby can get. It is already hard enough just to afford gas right now, and it’s way too easy to go broke because of your car. Toru is also relatable in the way he thinks about driving. The anime leaves out this detail, but he actually goes all in just for the Takumi race and builds his engine up to 1800cc with high-compression pistons, a lightened flywheel, and 4-port sport injection. After having his engine upgrades put in, he tells his friend that he wants to sell the engine after the race. His friend is confused, but Toru makes a great point. Toru says he needs the money but also for him, the fun of driving isn’t just having a highly tuned engine. It’s mainly about how it feels to hit a corner perfectly. I think that’s how a lot of Initial D fans feel too. The power is cool, but the real fun is in the corners. I think Toru’s battle was a great opener for Project D. It had real stakes with Toru thinking he would have to quit racing, it introduced the lidless gutter move, and it ended with one of the craziest crashes in Initial D. That is a strong way to kick off Project D. Source: Initial D Character Guide 2025

The anime leaves out key details from this battle. Ryosuke actually puts a old-school camcorder in Kenta’s car to record runs, and after Takumi pulls away, the manga shows Seiji’s Lan Evo IV overtaking Kenta too. Seiji is there to scout Gunma locations for Team Emperor’s future expedition that we would later see in Second Stage. Takumi later tells Itsuki that he noticed the Lan Evo catch him, and that he felt like the it could have passed him, but chose to stay right on his bumper instead. If these details were included, it would’ve made the race feel less like a side battle and more like and important step for the future of the series. But I do think this battle is one of the most underrated races in Initial D. Looking back now, we know Kenta was never really anything to worry about, but this race still feels important because it previews what Project D would eventually become. You can already feel the format taking shape. Keisuke runs the uphill against Nakazato, Takumi handles the downhill against Kenta, and both of them are racing away from home. That away battle structure would later become the identity of Project D. Then there’s the first rain battle. Shigeno builds Kenta up like the wet conditions might finally give Takumi a real problem, but that only works because nobody around Takumi fully understands his training yet. He has already been driving Akina every day in every condition, so the rain is not some surprise obstacle. It is just another part of his routine. One detail I still think about is Takumi asking Itsuki to sit in the back seat. Did he fully understand the theory, or was it just instinct? First Stage Takumi is not supposed to have a great understanding of racing theory, but maybe he already understood from experience that extra rear weight could help, especially from feeling how the car behaves with tofu in the back. What I also loved in the anime was the production. Hearing Night of Fire for the first time made this race feel unforgettable, and the amount of hand drawn animation here was great to see since we’re use to mainly seeing that 90s Initial D CGI in First Stage. Share this post with Initial D / MF Ghost fans 🫡