MF Ghost Season 3 - Episode 1 discussion

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So, this is a preview epi. release as the official start release date is Jan. 4. Kudos to CR for being able to get this preview release. After Epi. 1, I do wonder if the regular release will be Th. or Sun.

[animenewsnetwork.com/news/2025-12-16/crunchyroll-announces-release-schedule-for-winter-2026-season/.232156](http://animenewsnetwork.com/news/2025-12-16/crunchyroll-announces-release-schedule-for-winter-2026-season/.232156) lists Jan. 4th for "MF Ghost 3".

A note on the show's Crunchyroll page notes the new season starts on Jan. 4. So, I don't exactly see the point of releasing the first epi. roughly 3 days early. We should find out this Sun. if the next epi. is Epi. 2 or we wait until the 11th for Epi. 2

I can't believe they already started with fanservice of a slightly chubby MF Angel lmao, this show really isn't going to stop with that.

Damn, seeing Kanata's background and his motivation for running is basically his way of escaping so much pain; shifting into second gear was more of a plot convenience.

That Supra dude really has talent, I want more of him on the show.

*These early previews are going to be the end of me, more so than most seasonal starts.*

Kanata's really feeling the adrenaline spirit now. I'm actually worried how this is going to worsen his injury for future races.

Got goosebumps when they played Rage your dream

First anime of the year! It's nice to see this back again, I forgot it ended in the middle of a race but the excitement is back especially with the end showing that Kanata's adrenaline has overtaken the pain in his elbow.

Ogata and Okuyama's conversation jinxed Kanata's revenge arc in the race, no way he'd let himself be last lol.

RAGE YOUR DREAM

Kanata's left elbow has entered The Zone, which means that even if he wins his arm might fall off later.

Decent resumption of the action from right where we left off, bonus fanservice of Takumi and "Rage Your Dream". Nice New Year's Day surprise.

Damn they really do be hitting the feels with Rage your Dream

Wataru: Racing in England, huh? That's a great *move to rage your dream*, Takumi.

Takumi: Say that again...

-End flashback-

ah yeah..... this episode will be biggest overshadow of whole series

sobbing when i hear the music 😭😭😭 my teen self reminiscing the nostalgia

Good episode, but I’m not liking the MFG Angels portions of it. Especially when they are talking about how one of them put on weight and stuff, just stick to the racing especially when Kanata is facing adversity. Stick to the action.

Kanata's elbow is gonna fall off once the adrenaline wears off after the race

Well, hello, everyone! It's been almost exactly a full year since the last iteration of the Eurobeat Corner... and what better way to start the new year than with some high-octane racing action?! MFG is back! And on Thursday this time to boot. The Sunday timeslot was fun, but this too is fine.

Anyway, the picks for the first episode of our Third Season! Our little remembrance of Takumi courtesy of Wataru gets the eternal classic [Rage your dream](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=6dVK8MFnjO4&si=Y1d8DGO7LvgAOekn) by m.o.v.e., which, hey, we all know and requires no part of me to tell you all about. Much later, Kanata's arm going back into place and his subsequent stunning of Sakamoto and the R8 is treated to [Crash Boom Burn Me Up](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SkqQKmAu0gA&si=4Ud3bKhNeA_qc3Z1) by Fastway, which I hope is not indicative of things to come. The third season playlist will be set up starting next week, so look forward to that! As usual, it'll be updated weekly, and it'll be primarily on YouTube Music in case they go with some ridiculously obscure shit that can only be found in some dude's crusty upload from 11 years ago.

• Well, we're finally here. This is a part of MF Ghost that I was both looking forward to and absolutely dreading. With the movie fever currently going on with a bunch of anime and the impending 30th anniversary of Initial D, the last thing I wanted was for this to be a theatrical release I can only watch a year or two from now, in the mold of what Third Stage was. Thankfully, they avoided going down this route, which is very good, because this happens to be a part of the manga I translated myself, as a favor to a friend who ran the whole thing before it had an official release. I have a stronger connection to it than any other part of this series as a result, but it's also a bit cringe to look back at because I was so inexperienced, lmao. I'm just glad I can watch this as it comes out.

• This is... the first time we get to see Wataru in the Initial D Legend style, isn't it? That trilogy was only First Stage as far as I remember, so getting the final battle of Second Stage in the updated style is pretty hype if you ask me (even if the road they're racing on is nothing like Shomaru, but whatever!). Also, good on Takumi for actually getting to keep his waifu. For those unaware or that don't remember - it was really forgettable, in all fairness -, the first thing Takumi does in Fifth Stage is get a girlfriend, Mika, a golfing prodigy voiced by Saori Hayami, whose first action upon ever laying eyes on him is whacking him across the face because a friend of hers was conned by an impostor of his. How romantic! At last, someone who managed to uphold a relationship in this series. Well, other than the Miata guy. May this serve as a reminder to never go beat crazy.

• It's kinda nuts how everyone at every end of the pack is thrown off by Kanata's massive loss of pace. Sawatari intended to use him as bait, but he's not there. Moroboshi intended to use him to clear the way, but he's fallen too far back to be useful, so he has to move up himself. Shun was probably wondering how he could take advantage of the situation, being tactically bound behind the Yajikita siblings. That's the impact one guy has.

• And here we go. Look, I really don't give a shit about supernatural stuff in this series, Shinji's ass was seeing flappy wings on cars 10 years ago and no one batted an eye. Why can't Kanata drive over a magic ball that heals him? While getting his life trajectory narrated by Takumi? If it works, it works. And it's clearly not only fixed his arm, but given him some extra teeth, too - before now, he's been quite rational when it comes to making the most of what he has gained as opposed to risk it all trying for more, but now he's committed to making back every place he lost, regardless of what may happen to him. This might be a charge for the ages...

And that's all! The wait is finally over! MFG is back, even if on a different day than usual. I'll be here next week too until the end! See ya then!

Here we go. I cannot wait to see the rest of this race animated. If you read the manga…iykyk

This felt like a filler episode at times, we are here to watch Kanata's story / racing.

Ruining your shoulder to aura farm a random race with no title on the line


DEMON!

damn peak is back

This is probably the only time I've seen the OP play after the end credits. New OP is pretty fire too!

Watching this episode of MF Ghost felt exactly like that one time I signed up for a boardgames competition, I was all hyped but then my favorite Starbucks coffee came out all wrong. My mood was totally wrecked which clearly tanked my performance; I was basically Kanata with a busted elbow out there, just fumbling. But you know how it is, the competitive spirit hits different once you’re actually in the zone. Kanata starts vibing mid-race, and suddenly I’m making aggressive Catan trades like my life depends on it. The comeback arc is real.

Rage your dream!!

Oh right the last season ended halfway through a race.

And so he's been overtaken.

I imagine this is all very nice for those people who actually watched the original series.

Yep. He's done a lot more than just once.

Damn that's certainly a corner.

And so he's been overtaken _again_. He's going to drop out of the top 10 at this rate.

Huh. Uh oh. Who is that in the hospital?

Meanwhile up ahead there's a battle for 5th.

So, who's going to make a move next?

Guess he managed to not get overtaken yet.

Huh. That's good.

And so he's going to go.

He married golf girl? WE WON [](#utahapraises)

Also is Aibas booth God Foot

Oh boy, another season of people whining about the Angel cutaway bits. I can hardly wait. /s

That was a very hype start of the season. Rage Your Dream, Shinichiro Miki narrating, the spirit of Kanata's mother (I guess?) healing Kanata's elbow, the new intro song, as an old Initial D fan I liked it so much.

I love Akiyama's description of why that section of the course is ok when driven at normal speeds but the designers did not plan for a group of wackos racing at 200 kph :-)

Damn, they don't need to put Rage Your Dream during that scene, but madlads actually did it. And to think that Mika would actually marry Takumi too, that's how I'd like to see their relationship tie up.


Also, who would've thought Fumihiro of all people likes chubby girls?

Oh Man, i watched mf ghost s1 and 2 before watching initial d so i couldnt recognize anything related to initial d in this anime. While waiting for mf ghost S3 ive watched all of inițial d and now the payoff îs great. I got goosebumps anytime i saw or heard an initial d reference in this episode. Thats so fcking awesome guys

Alright, finally can be in the discussion threads after watching both Initial D and the first two seasons of MF Ghost back in November.

* Had to be reminded about how Ren getting worked up over Kanata getting a charm from the pretty girl who drives the Alfa that it ended up injuring Hinata, thanks to the writer being so bad at writing women and romance. Had to go watch the "Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity" earlier than I planned to after binge watching Initial D and the last two seasons for a properly written romance show. Honestly, the writer for Initial D and Ghost is somehow worse at writing women and romance then Naruto's Kishimoto. Mogi and Mako/Sayuki being the only ones who are decently written. Even though I'm not a fan of how Mogi was handled.

* Oh right, the Angels, I'm fine with them for the most part, but not with Ren being one. Feels pretty exploitative to have a 17 year old high school student being used as official eye candy for these events, and lusted after by Aiba in the GTR and especially the Diddy driver in the Alpine.

* "I kind of like a rounder figure, though. What's wrong with having more to love?" Gross dude, you're like, twice her age. And she's not even that fat, maybe in the face a bit, but otherwise she looks average.

* I agree with Okuyama, they should have switched to a flappy paddle set up, or better yet, upgrade to a Supra, adding a turbo for an extra 100hp isn't enough, he's not just going up against other tuned JDM cars like Takumi was (hell, the engine swap the 86 had was a far bigger upgrade to the car overall then what Kanata chose to do), he's going up against some real European monsters, I'd take all the power I could get, he got lucky with the rain last race, which made it so the other cars weren't going 100% but you can't win races based purely on luck like that. He should have added at least 200 extra horsepower to the car.

* And the Supra passed him.

* Hello Keisuke. Found out I did get to see an FD at a car show a few years back, but I didn't know what it was. [Here's a photo I took of it.](https://i.imgur.com/0uSmIkx.jpeg)

* Hey, it the the three amigos from the gas station, including Iketani, the eternal loser.

* I recognize that song, usually used at the end of Initial D seasons. Think it was the ED for the first Stage.

* Still don't know why Takumi, a street racer, decided to do rally racing.

* THE 86.

* So Takumi married Mika, congrats.

* who was the girl there?

* As much as I like seeing an NSX, I wish it was the older bodystyle, the new one we see in the show looks so generic compared to [the older one.](https://i.imgur.com/nZ3xgOf.jpeg)

* Man, these guy's would lose their shit if they ever saw Takumi's races.

* Well, Kanata's bold declaration at the end of season 2 to pass up all the racers who passed him is going well, as the NSX passes him. Did Kanata even bother taking any painkillers? Like Tylenol or Advil? Surely they might have helped a bit with the pain and inflammation.

* Wonder why Ryosuke's keeping his identity such a secret.

* As big of a Lamborghini fan that I am, I don't know why would you would bring in a standard Hurracan over something more track oriented like the Hurracan Perfomante, I know he mentioned it earlier so I figured he'd be in one by now.

* So Kanata's in shock then, or he has an adrenaline rush right now.

Holy the OP is fire af 🔥 ... TIMELESS POWEEEERRRR

It's back! Happy New Year everyone!

We dive right in to the race that was still on during last season. I have no idea how many laps they are doing (3?) but it's been a long drawn out race.

Racing scenes and the cars looks great. More of that, and less of the Angels please (although that chunky one could be a good personality for the show). Honestly, if the Angels segment wasn't so cringe and they were there for humor, the show would be a lot better.

But anyways, first episode of season 3 gave us a throwback with a classic theme song, and also some more details about the most famous tofu delivery driver.

Ending of the episode was slightly reminiscent of Cyber Formula Zero, where Hayato was finally able to tap into his boost, with the aid of the "other hand" guiding him. We saw this with Kanata finally being able to use his 2nd gear and the "other hand" there.

How will he mount a comeback that is "realistic" enough from already being so far behind. He's got 7 more spots to gain back.

Glad this is back, even though this was a more detailed retelling of the last episode of season 2, it was still pretty good as we saw more of what the other racers are doing. Been said already but the less we see of the angels, the better.

We get to see an image of what he drove in the wrc which is the toyota yaris, so I guess the experimental car that he was driving where he got in an accident was the gr yaris.

Merry Driftmas and Happy New Gear I guess? Surprised we got an early drop for everyone’s favorite Eurobeat Car Porn.

Still wonder why not give Kanata something for his elbow. Like Icy Hot or a pain patch? Anything at all to help a little. But I guess the adrenaline finally kicked in at the end there. Now the comeback begins!

Am I nuts, or didn't his gloves used to say "Porsche"?

Anyway, so glad this is back hehehe

Too much Ren

We are so back, I had a huge grin when I heard Rage Your Dream

Can't help but see the parallels with *Hyakuemu* Zaitsu's "if one must sacrifice something for victory, then give up your body because it's just a collection of cells. Glory is forever" I am guessing the short interlude talking about Takumi and Kanata's "1 year in MFG" is foreshadowing what will happen to Kanata after pushing through the pain. Adrenaline is a dangerous drug. Great for short term gains in exchange for possible long term pain.

I was excited to see this return for a 3rd season, but then I remembered Kanata's injury and the fact that girl exists and my day was ruined.

I think this is the first time Takumi's face has shown up in the MFG anime.

Another season of me saying “muhfuckin GHOST!” in my head when I see the new release and not watching it.

So he lost his motivation when his mother died, then a mysterious orb comes down from the sky and he feels no more pain. His Mother must be supporting his racing from the afterlife.

It's kind of strange to see supernatural stuff, but at least we'll get to see him race properly now.

So… he just magically gets healed mid-race? At this rate by the 4th season he’s gonna summon car stands mid-race or some shit. I was enjoying seeing the other battles happening and fw the Takumi part but cmon bro…. It was actually going well after the super artificial nerf they implemented just to undo it mid-race.

Will probably make me cry again when the reason for Kanata's renewed vigor is revealed.

ah shit, I teared up a bit when they started playing Rage Your Dream. So nostalgic hearing that song in anime again. I love this franchise despite all its flaws, looking forward to this season for sure.

Oh my god... I feel like crying T\_T
I cannot live without racing cars anime

kanata has now entered The Zone. the moment when he took off with the music was so crisp, i love this show

Suddenly plot point conveniences - his arm suddenly feels warm and....he can use second gear with no issues.

I would like to meet the miracle Jesus now.

So being in Japan I have already seen the first episode but what I can say is the Middle or towards the end it gets good really good also we get some really good back story in thoughts and doubts kenta has had in the past

I wonder, is it adrenaline?

I know they are going also for the miracle angle, but it’s adrenaline kicking in making him ignore the pain right?

That can’t be good for his elbow

Nonetheless, it’s so fucking hype

So for context; I say MF Ghost is one of the all time greatest DIRECTED anime. As far as actual series goes, it probably does not even crack the top 150.

That includes things like recaps, timing the openings and endings as well as at what point in each episode is the conflict and solution introduced. All of that is very well managed, and it makes up for a generic storyline with 75% shallow characters.

Reminding us that Takahashi is a doctor surgeon a few few minutes before Kanata gets a rush of adrenaline was perfect. Lightly hinting that this is a temporary feeling that he’s going to pay for later.

The flashback to his mother’s death was perfectly timed. I think this series has too many generic characters and most of them we have figured out already. I would have liked to see this flashback in episode 13 or 14; but getting this now was also good because you’re starting to see other characters fill their roles as well. Akaba (Ferrari) is coming off as a “seasoned” young driver. Aiba is a senior to the rookies and the former champion is on his last legs essentially fodder and a chance to aura farm (had to say it) for the new generation. So introducing Kanata’s true personality, and feelings now makes a lot of sense because the characters around him are starting to feel a little more real as well.

Tldr; this episode shows exactly why this is one of the best directed series out there despite the overall quality of the story and characters falling on the lower side.

the main thing I miss from Initial D is i thought the characterization was way better. felt like many of the opponents were given some plot development. 

haven't really gotten that yet in this anime. 

I was surprised to hear that Fujiwara got married in England last year.
Katagiri was unable to shift into second gear due to an injury and fell to ninth place, but the way he forced himself into second gear at the end was reminiscent of the samurai spirit.

Holyyyyyy, Katagiri on a Runner's High🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️

What song was playing at the start of the 2nd part of this episode?