Wangan Midnight

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Wangan Midnight
Manga vol. 1
湾岸ミッドナイト (Wangan Middonaito)
Genre	Action, Racing, Drama
Manga
Author	Michiharu Kusunoki
Publisher	Kodansha
Demographic	Seinen
Serialized in	Young Magazine
Original run	1992 – present
Volumes	38
TV anime
Studio	OB Planning
Network	Animax
Original run	June 8, 2007 – ongoing
Episodes	26

Wangan Midnight (湾岸ミッドナイト, Wangan Middonaito^?) is an ongoing seinen racing manga series created by Michiharu Kusunoki that has been serialized in Kodansha's Young Magazine since 1992. In 1999, it won the Kodansha Manga Award for general manga. ^[1]

The series has been adapted into several live action feature films, video games, and an anime television series. The anime began airing in Japan on June 8, 2007 on the anime satellite television network Animax, produced by OB Planning.^[2]

1 Story
2 Characters
3 V-Cinema
4 Video games
5 Anime
6 References
7 External links
8 See also

[edit] Story

The story gets its roots from the actual street racing that occurs on Tokyo's Shuto Expressway, one stretch of which is known as the "Wangan", literally meaning "bay side" (although it is generally used to refer to the freeway), the longest, straightest road in the entire country ^[3]. Of course, there's also lots of traffic to contend with, including a fair number of heavy trucks. Because of this, the action is inherently hazardous, and wrecks are common. Blown engines are also a frequent hazard, especially with the extreme-high power engines.

One day, Akio Asakura, a high school student who is at his last year, is driving his friend's Fairlady Z (Z31) and is challenged by Tatsuya Shima, a doctor, in his black Porsche 911 (964), nicknamed the "BlackBird". With his friend who owns the Z31 in the passenger seat and two girls in the back, Akio pitifully tries to win, but is defeated. Determined to become faster, he goes to the junkyard because his mechanic friend who owns a Mazda RX7 FC3S tells him he saw a wrecked Fairlady S30 just like Akio wanted. When he sees the damaged midnight blue Fairlady Z (S30) in the junkyard he remembers seeing this car a few years ago with a nice girl in the passenger seat. Intrigued as to why such a classic Japanese performance vehicle is about to be junked, he convinces the junkyard owner to sell it to him, the junkyard owner was told by the previous owner's sister to scrap the car because it is cursed. He soon finds that the car is unnaturally fast due to a tuned L28 engine, bored and stroked to 3.1L and fitted with twin turbos, that produces unmeasurable amounts of horsepower (620hp). He also finds that the car's previous owner had the same first AND last name as Akio (Asakura Akio) and had died in a horrible crash on the Wangan. Every person who takes possession of the Z ends up spinning out of control and crashing, as if the car is rebelling against it's driver. This gives the blue Z the nickname "The Devil Z". The manga follows Akio's various encounters with people on the Wangan, though the central plot revolves around his constant battle with the BlackBird for Wangan superiority.

[edit] Characters

See also: List of recurring Wangan Midnight characters

Akio Asakura (朝倉アキオ, Asakura Akio^?) is the main protagonist of Wangan Midnight.

An ambitious racer who started when he was very young, Akio is in his final year of high school as the story begins. Drove his friend's red Nissan 300ZX (Z31) until, after a humiliating loss to Tatsuya Shima, he discovered "the Devil Z", a Nissan Fairlady Z S30Z (known as the Datsun 240Z in certain markets) which is supernaturally fast and extremely hard to drive. Regarded as a legend on the Wangan, though he is actually a humble young man. Still, despite his gentle demeanor, he's dead serious about racing. In fact, he is so serious that he skips school (to the point of repeating a grade) to drive the Devil's Z. Like virtually everyone else in the manga, he has trouble forming intimate relationships, although he has made some slight inroads with Reina Akikawa. His day job is a waiter for a fancy restaurant, but then got fired for showing up late too often due to late night racing. He's regularly exposed to the active social scene at the heart of Tokyo. He was already a pretty accomplished racer with his old car, but behind the Devil Z, he's nearly invincible. He also has tremendous adaptive ability and can learn to drive virtually anything.

Voice actor: Shun Oguri

Reina Akikawa (秋川零奈, Akikawa Reina^?) is the primary love interest of Akio Asakura besides the Devil Z

Reina is a very attractive model who also co-hosts a driving television show named "Drive Go Go!" where the latests automotive trends are discussed. She finds Akio on the Wangan and becomes obsessed with him and the Devil's Z, driving her to tune her car and even steal the Devil's Z one night. After getting her Nissan Skyline GT-R R32 modified, she discovers a previously unknown aptitude for street battling, something that does not sit very well with her manager. She's very sociable, and has lots of acquaintances, but has no real boyfriend. While she is an idol, she is quite modestly dressed. Like most of the women in the series, she's very sensitive and bursts into tears easily, although she calms down considerably in later volumes.

Voice actor: Reiko Suhou

Tatsuya Shima (島達也, Shima Tatsuya^?).

He is the main rival of Akio Asakura, as Akio is the only one who regularly gives him a challenge. He drives an almost stock 1987 Porsche 911 Yellowbird (painted black, thus the name Blackbird. The car has 470HP stock. Tatsuya becomes annoyed with Akio beating him all the time so he hires Kitami Jun to tune the Porsche. Kitami tunes the suspension and adds a second turbo to make it a Twin Turbo Porsche and boosts the car to 500HP and beyond to try and keep up with the Devil Z.(depicted as a Nissan 350Z in the English version of the arcade racing games). He's an extraordinarily skilled driver and has only been in one wreck during the course of the manga. He knows the limits of his vehicle and will never risk disaster by pushing it beyond its safe limits. This actually cost him a couple of battles, but he always learns from his failures and comes back even tougher. He's a very skilled surgeon and uses his large salary to fund his Blackbird racing efforts.

Voice actor: Shinichiro Miki

[edit] V-Cinema

The series was adapted into a series of direct-to-video movies following in 1994, 1997 and again in 2000. They accurately depict the manga, with the exception of Akio being in his thirties. Many Japanese viewers hold the films in high regard for their realistic portrayal of the racing with the cars having the speed they have in the manga.

Wangan Midnight (湾岸MidNight), 1991
Wangan Midnight II (湾岸ミッドナイトII), 1993
Wangan Midnight III (湾岸ミッドナイトIII), 1993
Wangan Midnight 4 (湾岸ミッドナイト4), 1993
Wangan Midnight Special Director's Cut Complete Edition (湾岸ミッドナイトスペシャルディレクターズカット完全版), 1994
Wangan Midnight Final: GT-R Legend - Act 1 (湾岸ミッドナイト FINAL ~GT-R伝説 ACT1~), 1994
Wangan Midnight Final: GT-R Legend - Act 2 (湾岸ミッドナイト FINAL ~GT-R伝説 ACT2~), 1994
Devil GT-R Full Tuning (魔王GT-R チューニングのすべて), 1994
Showdown! Devil GT-R (対決！魔王GT-R), 1994
Wangan Midnight S30 vs. Gold GT-R - Part I (新湾岸ミッドナイト S30vsゴールドGT-R Part I), 1998
Wangan Midnight S30 vs. Gold GT-R - Part II (新湾岸ミッドナイト S30vsゴールドGT-R Part II), 1998
Wangan Midnight Return (湾岸ミッドナイト　リターン), 2001

[edit] Video games

Main articles: Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune and Wangan Midnight (PlayStation 3 game)

The series has been adapted into a series of video games, developed by Namco, first released in 2001. A PS2 version of Wangan Midnight was released later in 2002. A complete re-imagining of the game series, Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune, was released in 2004 to arcades only, followed by another sequel, Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2, in 2005. Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 was released in 2007 in the arcade, with a sequel to the original game following on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable platforms.

The original Wangan Midnight game was also the inspiration for many of the later titles in Genki's Shutokou Battle series, since the original WM game was co-developed by Genki and Namco.

[edit] Anime

The series has been adapted into an anime series, which premièred in Japan on the anime satellite television network Animax. The series is produced by OB Planning, the same studio behind the production of the Initial D anime series.^[2] Keiichi Tsuchiya (土屋圭市) is responsible for editorial supervision on this series as well.