Initial D Battle Stage 3

INITIAL D BATTLE STAGE 3

7.55(4K votes)

Ranked #1935Popularity #7374

episodes

Type

OVA

Status

Finished Airing

Aired

Mar 5, 2021

Studios:SynergySP

Action

Synopsis

Initial D: Battle Stage 3 is the eleventh and final installment of the Initial D series. It features every race from Fifth Stage and Final Stage. Unlike the previous two battle stages, it does not feature any new battles, and doesn't feature any character dialogue. (Source: Initial D Wiki)

9,574 Members

Worth Watching? — Global Verdict

6.0/10

Average Review Score

50%

Recommend It

Reviews Worldwide

International Reviews

hackerkm

Mixed Feelings

What a disappointment, in previous battle stages characters had dialogue, but in this battle stage it reminds me of an AMV that would be uploaded on youtube, just cars driving and eurobeat playing. On the topic of eurobeat the music is top notch, my eurobeat playlist is pleased. The sounds are also good from what I've experienced. Back to the fact there is no voice acting, it really confuses alot of races and yes you are expected to have atleast watched fifth and final stage to watch battle stage 3 but it still leaves me confused on a few things that I have to now recap, luckilyI can use the Initial D wikipedia. Not worth watching unless you want to watch 1 hour and 33 minutes of pure racing (which if you do I don't blame you, that's why I did it in the first place) or find some new eurobeat. Initial D is now dead other than the arcade cab series, but it was since 2013.

18 found helpfulMar 13, 2021

takudoti

Recommended

Community Discussion

The song choices were fresh and new to listen to like the rest of what the previous battle stages offered us. Although, I will say that they weren't too exciting to listen to this time around, most of them sounded the same, dare I say even, that some of them didn't suit the races they were played on? personally I can only listen to three of them on repeat after watching. The only thing that really brought this down for everyone was the massive elephant in the room. No voice acting. But it wasn't really a massive deal in my opinion though, I still enjoyed it toit's fullest. Little rant btw: The people who are remaking races from this on youtube and are using songs that aren't used in the original piece are pretty shameful to watch, because by not using the original, new songs, it loses all meaning of the concept of battle stage.

clearmoon

Recommended

The lack of dialogue is an interesting stylistic choice for Battle Stage 3, but also perhaps a practical one. After all, there is a lot of background story to some of the final races that would otherwise detract from the point of the battle stage OVAs - which is to focus on the races themselves. So I think it was a necessary decision to cut the dialogue entirely and approach this stage from a different angle. In a way, it makes you feel more immersed in the race. You get to focus more on the spectacular animation of the cars and the soundtrack as the driversmentally and physically battle it out. It takes some getting used to but in the end, it almost has a hypnotising effect. Ultimately, this is worth watching if only for the final 2 races, which are considerably extended, and as a result it feels like you're watching them in their entirety, instead of dashing back and forth between the characters and story like in the anime. I thought these races were especially cool and thrilling and actually benefited from the dialogue-less approach. While watching you get a sense that this is what the producers wanted to create all along - a battle with the viewer purely in the spectator seat. It's a pretty glorious send-off to be honest.

1 found helpfulJun 9, 2022

CyanCheetah

Not Recommended

Battle Stage 3 was really really bad actually... I cannot believe such an atrocity ended the beloved Initial D series, though it is probably for the best. Any Initial D outside of the main Stages are quite bad in my opinion. Non-Canon events generally have no weightage to them. People waited 7 years from Final Stage to Battle Stage... and for them to get this is frankly disappointing. I am not even going to talk about the story, since some others talk about it. Why the story does not work? Well...it was just so goddamn boring. Usually when you have a race between two people, it has some emotional baggage or weightage. Here? Nothing. Doesnt help the fact that both of them are racing Corollas haha, so for the non-avid watcher it was hard to differentiate the cars. All in all not a good time and you can skip this one for sure 3/10 Thanks! -CyanCheetah

1 found helpfulSep 24, 2023