This feels like a very unusual omnibus of Initial D, mainly because the lead character Takumi does not do any racing.

The reason for this is at the end of the previous collection when Takumi lost a race in which the engine of his Eighty-Six blew up. As a result, his dad Bunta puts a new, more powerful engine into the car. However, when Takumi first drives it, he finds it to being slower than before, with the car not being able to use its full power.

Because of this, Takumi is mainly sidelined in this collection. The actual racing is mainly from Ryosuke Takahashi of the Red Suns, with this manga beginning with a race between him and Kyouchi Sudo from the Emperor group. He is not the only character getting more coverage. While Takumi has shunned his old girlfriend Natsuki after discovering she has been sleeping with older men for money, Takumi’s best friend Itsuki falls in love with a girl named Kazumi Akiyama who is originally from Saitama, and she too falls for him. She also works as a waitress opposite the petrol station Itsuki and Takumi work at. Her older brother, Wataru, is also another car lover, with an interest in Eighty-Sixes leading him to come into contact with Takumi, and working out what exactly is wrong with his car following the engine change. Wataru also causes problems for his sister however, threatening to take Kazumi back to Saitama after he learns she got into trouble at work, and spending a night away from home with Itsuki.

As I said at the beginning, this collection does feel different to the rest of Initial D, due to the fact that the central hero is not doing any proper racing. Arguably it is a good thing that this is released as a two-volume omnibus rather than as individual volumes, as you can imagine that dealing with a lack of Takumi racing would have been a greater problem when it was first published, with the spacing of releases being further apart.

However, we still get plenty of action from Ryosuke racing other people. Plus, we get to see Itsuki develop more as a character, forming a proper relationship with a girl. Given what has happened with Takumi and Natsuki, something which is still left unresolved at the end of this collection, it appears that for now at least, this is the main romance we will be following for at a while.

Regarding production, all appears to be well with Kevin Steinbach’s translation, the lettering from Scott O. Brown, and the editing from Julia Murphy and Maggie Le. Another great cover has been produced by Phil Balsman, this time focusing on Ryosuke’s car, which is fair enough given that he does most of the racing in this collection. Some of the chapter headings get rather sneaky in this collection, but this appears to be deliberate on the part of author Shuichi Shigeno. In Chapter 121, “The Unbeatable Eighty-Six Levin!”, there is a bit in the middle of what feels like a surprisingly short chapter, then cuts to “The Unbeatable Eighty-Six Levin! (Part Two)”. This however is actually just a continuation of this chapter as it is also Chapter 121, with Chapter 122 being called: “The Unbeatable Eighty-Six Levin! (Part Two for Real)”. It was slightly confusing when I first came across it, but eventually you process what is happening.

By the end of this collection, Takumi appears to realise how to improve his car’s performance, and Itsuki’s new relationship is under threat. It will be intriguing to see how this will develop in the next omnibus.

Our review copy from Kodansha was provided by Diamond Book Distributors.