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Initial D is possibly the reason the Eurobeat genre is often associated with drifting and car racing in general. M.O.V.E, a Japanese duo, also earned this association due to their music being used for many of the openings in each Stage.


First Stage

  • Space Boy by Dave Rodgers, the very first Eurobeat track used in the franchise, setting off a pattern of Electronic Music heard throughout racing segments. Since Takumi Fujiwara has yet to race anyone, Space Boy is inserted as he goes full-speed downhill on Mount Akina's roads in the AE86, showcasing his prodigious drifting skills.
  • No One Sleep In Tokyo by Edo Boys, which plays when Keisuke Takahashi makes his first encounter with Takumi's AE86. The song reaches its climax in not only Takumi's Establishing Character Moment, but the most referenced (and Memetic) moment of the franchise: Takumi overtakes Keisuke into a right-left turn, then with the inertia of this, turn pulls off a kansei-drift, leaving the younger Takahashi brother dumbfounded as the song concludes. It may not be Tokyo, but it certainly fits Keisuke thinking the impromptu race is a nightmare - that he's racing against the ghost of a street racer who died on Mount Akina.
  • Dancing Around the World by Delta Queens rocks while Takumi is climbing Mount Akina towards his first official street race, and everybody is waiting for him. The scene is slow, and the animation is scarce, with static planes of characters thinking about the situation, yet this theme maintains the tension all by itself.
  • Vicky Vale's Dancing herald's Shingo's first appearance and is instantly recognizable by the deep-voiced man opening the song by stating "Cool vibrations," before laughing.
  • Get Me Power by Mega NRG Man, from the first official race of the series between Keisuke and Takumi: the song is perfectly timed to kick into high gear after Keisuke's RX-7 FD rounds the first corner, and Takumi begins showing all of Gunma Prefecture his drifting skills with an AE86 to an astonished audience.
  • Running in the 90's by Max Coveri, one of the most memetic songs of the series: Takumi finally catches up with Keisuke for the first time in their race, the AE86 Takumi drives may be from the '80s, but it can certainly do good when running in the '90s, something Keisuke is about to learn the hard way the moment the song plays.
  • Love & Money by Za-Za, where Takumi figures out the intricacies on how to drive Koichirou Iketani's Nissan Silvia S13 in just three corners from the top of Mount Akina's course and scares the ever-loving crap out of him when Takumi starts pushing the car far beyond his comprehension. Worth mentioning is Iketani doesn't faint, unlike the time when he sat next to Takumi in the AE86 after three corners.
  • Beat of the Rising Sun by Dave Rodgers, used at the climax of First Stage between Takumi and Ryosuke Takahashi's RX-7 FC: in the turn that determines the winner of the race (incidentally where Takeshi Nakazato and Shingo Shogi correctly predicts will happen), Ryosuke's FC, having become over-stressed from going downhill on Mount Akina at record time, slips on the outside, allowing Takumi to take the inside and assured victory.
  • Rage your Dream by M.O.V.E is the first credits theme, and also plays when Shingo fails in his attempt to cause a double crash and slams into the guardrail. Also known as "the song that plays when you crash into something or wreck your engine" in the fandom due to memes.

Second Stage

  • Deja Vu by Dave Rodgers, arguably the second most referenced song from Initial D, such that even non-fans of the series will know of due to Memetic Mutation: after five exhausting rotations of cat-and-mouse between Takumi's AE86 and Wataru Akiyama's AE86 at Shomaru Pass, Takumi finally gets the bead on Wataru by over-taking him just as the song's chorus starts playing. Dave later revisited the song in 2018 with improved instrumentation, and his own son KAIOH made a Japanese version of it in 2021.

Third Stage

  • If You Wanna Stay by Norma Sheffield plays when Takumi sees the opportunity to pass Kai's SW20 by driving into the gutter at the last bridge. Before, Kai was in front because of shortcuts he knew that Takumi didn't, and this song signifies Takumi getting the lead back. They also perfectly timed the part where both the AE86 and the MR2 jump into the air, only for the latter vehicle to land onto the leaves and spin out.
  • Max Power by Dr. Love and D.Essex is badass song that plays while Takumi in his Eight-Six overcomes the winter to catch up Miki's Celia GT-Four despite the latter's car being better for winter. It also manages to match the stakes at hand, with Natsuki needing to be saved from Miki who's shown to be physically and sexually abusive to her.
  • The Race Is Over by Dave Rogers plays during the credits, not only meaning the movie is over in a meta sense, but also describing Takumi's quest to tie up loose ends before he joins Project D and succeeding in that.

Fourth Stage

  • Go Beat Crazy by Fastway: Project D has started their goal of conquering other prefectures outside of Gunma, with the Nichien-Momiji Line in the Tochigi Prefecture one of their first targets. In a race between Toru Suetsugu's Mazda Roadster NA6C, Takumi over-takes Toru with his AE86 via a shortcut technique that goes over the course's deep gutters (by reducing pressure on the inner front tire). Toru is left wide-eyed and ridiculed upon seeing Takumi pull this off, an apt description of just how crazy this race has turned out.
  • Forever Young by Symbol, which starts to play during Takumi's Blind Attack against professional racer Tomoyuki Tachi. Even though the latter tries to use a PIT manuveur to throw him off, Takumi recovers in time to execute a second Blind Attack and win the race by a hair's breadth, all while this song keeps playing until the race is over.
  • Midnight Lover by Dusty: the Two Guys From Tokyo pair get a hard dose of reality when Takumi passes them on Mount Akina using Itsuki's AE85.
  • Power of Sound by Ace, played during the AE86 vs. Altezza race, where Takumi lets the Altezza keep up with him until the first hairpin. And then he leaves the Altezza in the dust.

Fifth Stage

  • Gas Gas Gas by Manuel, one of the most popular Eurobeat songs for Memetic Mutation, used during the shenanigans to oust the Imposter Project D duo, by having Takumi drift at high speeds in front of an audience.
  • Wheelpower and Go by Dejo & Bon, the Grand Finale of Eurobeat from Fifth Stage, fitting the second-to-last race of the series.
  • The Top by Ken Blast, produced by Odyssey Eurobeat, is a really pumping track with well-crafted vocals.

Final Stage

  • Crazy Little Love by Nuage, played when Takumi overtakes Shinji for the first time and gives him a good look at his "wings".
  • Adrenaline by Ace, the penultimate song in the entire series played when Takumi blind attacks Shinji one last time, complete with a slow motion shot of Takumi's engine as he pushes to overtake. The high BPM and energetic lyrics fitting for one last great race.

M.O.V.E

  • Outsoar The Rainbow, an unreleased song that graces the Final Stage as the opening. The whole song gives off an ominous yet epic feeling, foreshadowing The Hachi-roku's final race before the engine irreparably breaks.
  • While a few of their songs reference the series and the trio make a cameo apperance as roadside audience participants in an episode, Out of Kontrol has the trio participating in a street race with the guys taking control of a Mazda RX-7 FD being pursued by Takumi in his iconic AE 86 with Yuri riding shotgun.

Other

  • Galla's "Kiseki no Hana", the credits theme for the second half of First Stage, is a rare rock-influenced Initial D song, but it's just as awesome as the Eurobeat tracks.
  • The Vocal Battle albums, where the entire cast becomes The Cast Showoff. Basically, it's a series of three albums which include select songs from Initial D's soundtrack, which have been remixed and then covered by the show's Japanese voice actors.note  Gratuitous English and badass music all around.
  • Go-2's "SPITFIRE" isn't technically part of the Initial D soundtrack, but a lot of fans still associate it with the series, nowadays mostly because of the Blend-S meme (S stands for...)
  • Initial D Drift, a Flash game, features an instrumental remix of "Heartbeat", far more thumping than its original version.

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