Initial D Extra Stage 2

Quick take: Extra Stage 2 is a great tie-up to the Iketani and Mako side love story. If you felt a little empty after the missed connection, you’ll find a nice little completion to that arc here. Extra Stage 2 revolve around Iketani and Mako having a second chance at love. The story is fairly simple but is actually very well written and helps clear up the empty feeling after the missed connection between them earlier in the series. Everything is well paced and moves logically. You will not find anything deep in relation to the main Initial D story. Togue racing is limited inthis series. Both CGI and drawn art are well done in this short side story. Drawn art is treated to an overhaul of rich colors and generally looks much better than First and Second Stage. Sound quality is good, acting is well done and comprehensible. OST music is better than in previous seasons as is the sound of the cars. Iketani and Mako are the main focus of ES2 and undergo decent development as both grow. You’re not going to find anything profound in Extra Stage 2, but it is a welcome conclusion to the Iketani and Mako subplot, so if you wanted more of that, you’ll really enjoy Extra Stage 2.

I really like the interpersonal parts in Initial D but Extra Stage 2 was really disappointing. I had the hope that they would finally confess their feelings to each other because there was enough drama and pain in the story of their relationship but nope. I'm happy that they were able to talk about the failed last meeting but then they just recycled the 'I'm moving to [a distant city]' line for the 3rd time and this is the disappointing end of this relationship which got built up over many episodes. This outcome has no value for the story and they could have put this ina maximum of one episode of the 4th stage but this is nothing for a 50 minutes special. This is really sad because until now I loved everything from Initial D :( I gave these Characters only a 7 because they didn't make anything with them in this Episode. But I like Mako and Iketani.

Would recommend watching for any die hard Initial D fan but is perfectly skip able in the long run. The car scenes were fun as always and it was cool to see the characters faults and internal conflicts manifest in their driving, a detail I’ve always enjoyed. However the overall plot, while entertaining enough, was very formulaic at certain points. The main romance was as unsatisfying as all ways, the writers can never seem to find a balance between “realistic” and tedious. They are clearly believe that people can be passionate about only one thing at a time, which is fine… if you want to bea Lonely Driver. All in all, It was less enjoyable than the last Extra Stage but overall all tied up loose ends nicely.