Perfect World Games’ new open-world anime-style RPG Neverness to Everness (NTE) is full of anime references and Easter eggs, ranging from nods to recent shows like Bocchi the Rock! to classics like Doraemon. One Easter egg that players will have no trouble spotting is the “Ghost Racer”/Drift Away Legend series of side missions in the Miguel District, which are chockful of references to Shuichi Shigeno’s street racing series, Initial D.
After completing Prologue 2, you can head over to the Natsunari Tofu Shop and talk to the owner, Sota. A quick conversation with some nearby fans reveals that ten years ago, Sota used to be known as the God Racer of Hethereau, an up-and-coming racer who quit just before he went pro. What follows is a series of missions where Sota takes you under his wing, all while being reminded of his love for racing.
Aside from the Sota’s Novus ST79 car looking exactly like Takumi Fujiwara’s panda-colored 86 (the Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86), his profession as a tofu shop owner is a nod to the Fujiwara Tofu store owned by Takumi’s father, Bunta. The house itself also heavily resembles the Fujiwara duo’s home. One of the earlier side missions even has you delivering tofu for Sota in his car, a reference to Takumi’s iconic tofu runs on mount Akina in Initial D. Succeeding races have you drifting up and down Hethereau’s mountainous regions, and you can even purchase the Novus for 600,000 Fons, one of the game’s earnable currencies.
Neverness to Everness is available on Android, iOS, PlayStation 5, as well as Windows and macOS (downloadable from the official website).
