Looks like Keisuke didn't see that coming.
Initial D spawned countless
Memetic Mutations; alongside the ones originating directly from it, the
Animated Adaptation single-handedly popularized
Eurobeat as a genre, and forever associated it with cars and street racing.
So, it shouldn't be any surprise this series features some noteworthy memes.
Due to the enormous amount of examples spawned from
Eurobeat tracks themselves, it was decided to give them a separate section.
- Running in the 90s
Explanation First sung by Max Coveri and appearing in the Animated Adaptation of First Stage, it was the first-ever Eurobeat song to massively blow up in popularity, to the point of becoming one of the internet's oldest memes. First made rounds on YTMND playing alongside this gif◊ of Ronald McDonald, it's the most well-known and well-used Eurobeat song. - DEJA VU, I'VE JUST BEEN IN THIS PLACE BEFORE!Explanation The chorus to Dave Rodgers' "Deja Vu", as featured in the Animated Adaptation of Second Stage; for some odd reason, it took off like "Running in the 90s" did in the New 10s, featured alongside clips of just about anything drifting or sliding.
- BACK ON THE ROCKS! BACK ON THE ROCKS, BABY! YOU GOTTA KEEP YOUR MIND TOGETHER!Explanation Minor, fandom-specific meme, wherein "Back On The Rocks" by Mega NRG Man is inevitably associated with Skyline GT-Rs, as the song was first used as the Leitmotif of Takeshi Nakazato and his R32 in First Stage; it was, surprisingly, later re-utilized for God Foot and his R34 in Fourth Stage, cementifying its' status in the process.
- DANCE TO THE HEARTBEAT! WOAH OH OH! YOU BETTER TAKE YOUR CHANCES RIGHT NOW! Explanation Nathalie's "Heartbeat", first used in First Stage as the song that plays when Takumi defeats Keisuke and Nakazato. As such, expect it to be played over footage of things being passed, often in the most bizarre of ways.
- "THE 86 DISAPPEARED?! HE COULDN'T BE...!" Explanation Related to the above, this is what Nakazato says upon seeing Takumi cutting from the outside to the inside of a turn, right before passing him with two wheels in the dirt. On top of being an incredibly memorable moment, Nakazato's reaction quickly went viral, being used in conjunction with "Heartbeat" in video edits of people being passed.
- GOLDEN AGE, GOLDEN CENTURY, IT'S YOUR TIME TO FLY AWAY! Explanation "Golden Age" by Max Coveri is used in Battle Stage instead of "Heartbeat". It immediately received the exact same treatment, with this bizarre edit of a 4Runner crashing into a fuel pump combining it with Nakazato's reaction.
- COOL VIBRATIONS Explanation The opening of "Dancing" by Vicki Vale, used as a Leitmotif for Shingo Shoji during his arc in First Stage. Because Shingo is a massive Fountain of Memes, "COOL VIBRATIONS" and the song as a whole became a catch-all for shitposting, especially if it features Civics, cars crashing into one another, reckless driving and duct tape.
- I'm BUUUUURNNNNING UP FOR YOU, I'm BUUUUURNNNNING UP FOR YOU!Explanation The opening lyrics to Sara's "Burning Up For You", a song first used in First Stage when Nakazato realizes he can't shake the Hachiroku off. It became a meme in The New '10s, when it was first edited into videos of, what else, things catching on fire.
- CRAZY FOR LOVE! (SHOW!) CRAZY FOR LOVE! (SHOW!) CRAZY FOR LOVE! (SHOW!) CRAZY... (SHOW!)Explanation The opening lyrics of Dusty's "Crazy for Love", used in Third Stage during Takumi's race against Kai Kogashiwa. More specifically, it begins playing right as Kai decides to take the plunge and perform the "Irohazaka Jump". First edited in videos of things, usually cars, performing big jumps, the scene's infamy gradually grew as more and more people begun to criticize how unrealistic and dangerous it was. This lead to a second wave of memes where it begun being juxtaposed onto videos featuring attempts to replicate the jump... with predictably poor results.
- FOREVER! TOGETHER! Explanation The opening words to "Forever Young" by Symbol, heard in Fourth Stage as Takumi utilizes his "blind attack" for the first time. It begun being edited into videos of ludicrous passes and dangerous maneuvers in car racing... sometimes with less-than-desired results.
- BABY, I'M A MIDNIGHT LOVER! BURNIN' OUT YOUR SECRET DESIRE!Explanation The chorus to Dusty's "Midnight Lover", used in Fourth Stage during the "race" against the Two Guys From Tokyo. It's mostly remembered for serving as the background music to the "Extreme Ultra Super Late Braking" scene, but it did manage to spawn some minor memes of its own.
- GAS GAS GAS! I'M GONNA STEP ON THE GAS!Explanation Chorus to Manuel's "Gas Gas Gas" from Fifth Stage, expect it to be juxtaposed with instances of cars accelerating. It's also a favorite Eurobeat song of Adolf Hitler; from the same track, due to its opening lyrics - "Do you like ... my car?" (or with added mishearing, "Mein Kampf?") This one became less funny, however, after the Christchurch massacre in 2019, where an anti-Muslim extremist played the song while live-streaming his mass murder spree at two mosques that claimed the lives of 51 people.
- MAX POWER! MAX POWER!Explanation The opening words to the titular song by Dr. Love, used in the climax of Third Stage; whilst most memes utilizing the track do so for the exact same reason as most other Eurobeat songs, it spawned a separate cross-fandom meme with The Simpsons, of all things: the song bears the exact same name that Homer gave himself in "Homer to the Max". Thus, it became popular to associate the two things.
- ENERGY AND HEART EXPLOSION, ALL I NEED ADRENALINE!Explanation The chorus of "Adrenaline" by Ace, which is associated with the last race between Takumi and Shinji in Final Stage as well the scene where the former's AE86 suffers from catastrophic failure after its engine got overpressured when a "blind attack" is performed while revving above 12K RPM.
- Drift FaceExplanation The series loves to emphasize the look of concentration on various racers' faces when they are focusing on controlling their cars during a race, particularly in the midst of a high-speed drift. This facial expression was quickly parodied in Fan Art and in various art-styles and references.
- Calling Natsuki Mogi a "thot".Explanation As "thot" is an abbreviated slang for "that ho over there", this is a disdainful reference to Natsuki having practiced Enjo Kosai.
- Ryosuke changed his hair color to emulate Takumi!Explanation As a result of the Animated Adaptation undergoing Art Evolution following First Stage, the characters' designs changed from one season to another, some more noticeably than others. In Second Stage Ryosuke's hair color changed from its normal jet black to a brown very similar to Takumi's: cue fans claiming that Ryosuke did it to better understand and copy him. The fact that it only went back to jet black once he successfully recruited Takumi to Project D did not help matters.
- N-NANI?! KANSEI DORIFTO?!Explanation Keisuke's exaggerated reaction at Takumi's pendulum drift in First Stage, possibly the most well-known meme to come from Initial D. It's been referenced to, mocked, and parodied countless times, to the point that it's this page's image.
- "FD Windshield◊"Explanation Image filter of the view from Keisuke's car at that very specific moment, ripped straight from the anime. Likewise, it was been used and abused in the most ridiculous of ways by the internet.
- Itsuki running◊Explanation Used from First Stage and surfacing from Reddit, it portrays Itsuki Takeuchi as a Memetic Badass who runs at tremendously high speed, resulting in several edits, including one that Crosses the Line Twice.
- Nakazato X Guardrail OTP/BakazatoExplanation A series of memes mocking Takeshi Nakazato's poor performances after being hyped up immensely in the first few episodes of First Stage, in particular his "tendency" to understeer and crash into something. Although that only happened twice, and he only hit a guardrail once, the fandom will never let him live that one down.
- "Gamu tapu... desumatchi?" "GAMU TAPU DESUMACHE."Explanation A brief interaction between Iketani and Shingo, where the former is introduced alongside the audience to the concept of the Duct Tape Deathmatch. Due to the Gratuitous English in use and Shingo's accent, however, it quickly became ripe pickings for memes.
- DABURU CRASHU IKOZE!Explanation The one scene that is synonymous with Shingo, where after being passed by Takumi and with no chance of recovering, he decides to end their battle by crashing into him to save face. Upon Initial D's rediscovery in The New '10s in the Western world, the scene exploded in popularity, immediately propelling Shingo to the status of Memetic Psychopath and causing him to become a symbol of dirty racers in both fiction and real life. The scene being reanimated every time that particular battle is brought up, even for a few seconds, did not help matters.
- I've got no impression... This town is made by imitation... Explanation A small excerpt from the monologue that serves as "Rage Your Dream"'s intro: the song not only serves as the first ending theme to First Stage, thus making it the best known one, but it also plays in the immediate aftermath of Shingo's failure to crash into Takumi. This caused it to be recycled as meme fuel by being slapped on "sad" automotive-related scenes, such as mechanical failures or crashes.
- We're the LONELY DRIVERS, my man!Explanation A term first brought up by the Akina Speed Stars in First Stage due to their horrid luck with romance in an attempt to justify it. It later returns with a vengeance after both Itsuki and Iketani blow their respective attempts at romance, where they repeat the term whilst comically crying. Naturally, fans of the series in situations similar to theirs picked this up and ran wildly with it.
- EXTREME ULTRA SUPER LATE BRAKING!!!Explanation A minor meme from Fourth Stage featuring the Two Guys From Tokyo, spawned as one of them [hammily announces his "special technique" to defeat Takumi and Itsuki in their impromptu race... only for their AE85 to pass the Two Guys' S15 mid-yell. The Two Guys' Silvia almost crashing into the side of Mount Akina right afterwards only put the cherry on top of things.
- “Get hydrated, God Arm.”Explanation A Reddit-spawned meme referencing to Dr. Toshiya Joushima, eponymous God Arm, constantly drinking water and wiping sweat away in the breaks during his battle against Takumi. Some extended the meme to his car, dubbing it "The Sweaty S2K".
- DORIYA! SORIYA!Explanation Kozo Hoshino's grunting mid-battle, which he apparently does to avoid "over-concentrating". The sheer absurdity of it immediately made it go viral amongst fans as soon as Fourth Stage aired the battle between him and Keisuke.
Others
- MULTI-TRACK DRIFTING! Explanation An infamous set of panels from the doujinshi Densha de D — an Affectionate Parody crossover between Initial D and Densha de Go! — which pokes fun at this scene, with the characters driving trains instead of cars. As he races through a corner at high speed, Takumi shifts his train to roll down two sets of tracks simultaneously and prevent the momentum from flipping the train sideways, prompting a shocked Keisuke to blurt out the infamous line in question. The panels inspired many parodies to the point of becoming its own meme, and has been humorously used as the quintessential sociopathic answer to the classic Trolley Problem. On This Very Wiki, they even served as the Trope Namer and illustration for Multi-Track Drifting, which covers examples of heavy vehicles being impossibly handled as if they mere cars.
- "Torpedobeats"Explanation Crossing with World of Warships, since its debut, videos of warships dodging torpedoes, with the same Eurobeat songs used in the Animated Adaptation, have been plentiful (the word is a portmanteau of "torpedo" and "Eurobeat").
- "Spitfire" is the Royal Air Force's anthemExplanation The Supermarine Spitfire was a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force during and after World War II. Also, while Spitfire is indeed a Eurobeat song, it was never used for Initial D, but became associated with it, regardless.
