Funny / Initial D

"Why don't you drink some of this high octane? Put some "car power" in your head!"

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• Sure, there's the method by which Takumi learned how to race uphill (driving carefully to avoid toppling the tofu bin, while still going as fast as he can), but as for why he's so good at the downhill too: after every tofu delivery, he only drives fast so he can go home and go back to sleep as soon as he can.
• Episode 1 has the impromptu race between Takumi and Keisuke. Keisuke sees a foreign car (i.e not belonging to the Akagi Redsuns) catching up to him, which he mistakes as a MR2 or a 180SX. When he turns the first corner, he looks behind him to see that it is an Eight-Six. His WTF reaction is priceless.
  Keisuke: An Eight-Six?! You gotta be kidding!
• Episode 6. Iketani wants to take the passenger seat in Takumi's car and wants him to drive down Akina downhill at night. However, Iketani, shocked of Takumi's skill, passes out.... after the third corner.
  • Not to mention his reaction in the first turn:
  Iketani: (Upon seeing a fast approaching turn, and noticing Takumi hasn't slowed down yet.) Hey.... Hey.... Takumi, the brakes! (Begins screaming.)
• Episode 8. Yuichi Tachibana goes up to the Akina pass to see Takumi and his AE86 race Takeshi and his R32 Nissan GT-R. Yuichi wearing Sunglasses at Night as a Paper-Thin Disguise is worth a chuckle in itself, but what's funnier is that he's in the midst of a gaggle of fangirls squeeing over the Takahashi brothers (who also just arrived to watch the race). Even he can't resist being a Dirty Old Man!
  Yuichi: What a nice place I'm in! I might make a habit of this!
  • He then pretends to be a Ryosuke fangirl (complete with faux-feminine tone) just to stay inside that crowd of fangirls.
• Episode 11: Takumi chases a bunch of street racers after they make fun of Itsuki's AE85. Apart from Itsuki's hilarious reactions to Takumi's driving, there's this Gilligan Cut:
  Random Racer: Darn, he is so fast!
  Takumi: This is so slow.
• Episode 17: Bunta finds out that he ran out of cigarettes to smoke and decides to take the AE86 Trueno for a spin... only to find out that Takumi already took the car, leaving Itsuki's AE85 Levin in the alley as a replacement. The result? Bunta's bewildered reaction, of course.
  • It gets even funnier in the Funimation dub with the courtesy of Kent Williams.
  Bunta: What in the holy hell?! My Eight-Six has been turned into an Eight-Five!
  (Cue a note from Takumi; "I borrowed the car. I left you a replacement.")
• Episode 18: When Takumi manages to keep up with them, Sayuki begins to doubt they can win. Mako's subsequent reply leads to this exchange:
  Mako: You're the worst! Just excess baggage on the passenger seat!
  Sayuki: Eh?! Bagagge?!
  Mako: Yes! Just an extra dead weight on the car!
  Sayuki: (Thinking) She always changes personalities when she's behind the wheel. (Out loud) How can you call me an extra weight on the car?! I have a nice body, I'm not fat!!
  Mako: You're giving me a 49 Kg handicap!
  Sayuki: 47 Kg!
• Episode 24: Bunta invites Takumi's boss Yuichi on an "easy drive" after tuning the vehicle a bit for Takumi's next race. Thus, we finally get to see Bunta's driving for the first time. In the middle of a high-speed drift that already has Yuichi panicking, Bunta takes both of his hands off the wheel to light up a smoke. Then he says he's going to get serious.
• Fourth Stage, Episode 7: The Tokyo guys in the silver S15 Silvia have just taunted the Speed Stars into an impromptu race down Mt. Akina, with Iketani and his S13 taking point. While it was clear that the two guys in the S15 would cream the S13, they did not expect Takumi, driving Itsuki's turbocharged AE85, getting past them on the curve. Cue double Jaw Drop, then a unguarded nudge to the right, causing the Silvia to hit the rough side of the road.
  • Extra funny points for the Silvia S15 driver and his epic way of announcing his braking skills.
    Silvia S15 driver: Here we go! Ultimate Technique: EXTREME-ULTRA-SUPER-LATE BRAKING!!!
• Fourth Stage, Episode 9: While slightly upset that she lost her race against Keisuke, Kyoko struggled to speak up to him, until she asks if he is seeing another girl, to which Keisuke answered in the negative. Kyoko gets all giddy and immediately thanks him for the answer, leaving Keisuke scratching his head, thinking she's weird. The funny bit: Kenta was apparently sitting behind one of Project D's vans, unable to pop out lest he ruin the Ship Tease.
• Fourth Stage Episode 19: During the hillclimb race between the Lancer Evo V and Keisuke (using Kyoko's Black RX-7), Fumihiro and Ryosuke discuss the reason for letting Keisuke do the run with the said car (something about having better knowledge of the car he's using, considering he raced against it before.) Cue this Suspiciously Specific Denial from Ryosuke, possibly hinting him to also be shipping his own brother with Kyoko:
  Ryosuke: There were no romantic concerns at all in my decision.
• Fifth Stage, Episode 1: Project D gets into a bit of a pickle (particularly Takumi) when news of a couple of posers riffing them off breaks out. Using the team's vast information network and a little assist from Wataru, they manage to weed out the impostors during a random gathering down the mountain pass, by inducing a Mass "Oh, Crap!" reaction from them and the crowd courtesy of Takumi doing a full-speed drift round the corner. As the "fake" Takumi motions to "fake" Keisuke to hightail it out of the parking lot before they get busted, in comes Keisuke causing another Oh, Crap! reaction from them. Then Takumi arrives, alongside Itsuki (sporting a smug "I told you so" look, to boot), completing the trifecta of Oh, Crap! moments for the posers.
  Impostors: (Upon seeing Takumi) HE WAS THE REAL ONE?!
  • The more amusing bit comes courtesy of Keisuke towards his fake counterpart:
    Keisuke: (Cracking his fists) The second problem... is that my impostor is so incredibly ugly. That deserves a few broken bones...
    Fake!Keisuke: I'm sorry that I'm so ugly!
• Fifth Stage, Episode 4: Taking advantage of the downtime in between Project D's expeditions that summer, Takumi goes out with Mika to the beach. Taking Bunta's Impreza with him.
  Bunta: (While looking at the Trueno) That brat took the Imp because the A/C works better.
• Extra Stage: Satake challenging Impact Blue on Usui, expecting to win because he's not a woman, forgetting that he's never raced on Usui before and that Impact Blue are keenly familiar with the course, including the infamously hard corner that he crashes on. Utterly humiliated, he begs his crew not to tell Kyouichi.
• A real-life example, but it deserves mention: the Tokyopop dub's Hilarious Outtakes included on every disc (except volume 2). Say what you will about the changes they made, but have a listen to some of 'em; Bunta's especially. Heck, there's quite a few out there who say these outtakes are the only saving grace of the original dub.

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