Wangan Midnight


Wangan Midnight is a Japanese racing manga series written and illustrated by Michiharu Kusunoki. It was first serialized in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits in 1990, but was later serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Young Magazine from 1992 to 2008. The manga was compiled into 42 volumes published by Kodansha. A second manga series titled Wangan Midnight: C1 Runner was published from 2008 to 2012. A third manga series, Ginkai no Speed Star, was published from 2014 to 2015. A fourth manga series, Shutoko SPL - Ginkai no Speedster, started in 2016.
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.
In 1999, Wangan Midnight won the Kodansha Manga Award for the General category.

Story

The story primarily revolves around street racing that occurs on Tokyo's Shuto Expressway, Bayshore Route. Wangan is the endonym of the longest, straightest road in Japan. There is also road traffic to contend with, including a fair number of heavy trucks and buses. Because of this, the action is inherently hazardous, and wrecks are common. Blown engines are also a frequent hazard, especially cars with extremely high-powered engines.
One day, Akio Asakura, was passed by a black Porsche 911 Turbo, dubbed the "Blackbird". With his friend in the passenger seat and two girls in the back, Akio attempts to win, but, is defeated.
Determined to drive a faster car, Akio heads for the junkyard and finds an old blue Fairlady Z , discovering that it has been tuned from an old and outdated piece of junk, into a souped-up racing monster known as "The Devil Z".
Despite warnings about how the car is supposedly cursed, that all of its previous owners happen to share his full name, and that every one of those owners has died due to accidents, he takes the dealer up on the offer and gives the Devil Z a spin, and discovered that the Z not only has unparalleled power, but seems to have a mind of its own, as he soon wipes out spectacularly trying to control it.
Despite what happens when he's behind the wheel of the Devil Z, Akio is determined to take mastery of the Devil Z and get back at his new rival. As he develops his career as the infamous owner of the Devil Z, Akio meets many other racers and tuners along the way, though the central plot revolves around the constant battle with Blackbird, for Wangan superiority.
The new story arc, Wangan Midnight: C1 Runner, features the new adventures of the new main character, Shinji Ogishima, and his friend, Nobu Setoguchi, both are part of "GT Cars" project which is in dispute and conflict, and must settle these problems by driving Mazda RX-7s around Shuto Expressway, and meeting with Tatsuya Shima.

Characters

; Akio Asakura
;Tatsuya Shima
;Reina Akikawa

Media

Manga

Wangan Midnight is written and illustrated by Michiharu Kusunoki. The series was first briefly published in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits in 1990 and transferred to Kodansha's Weekly Young Magazine, where it ran from 1992 to 2008. The series was compiled into forty-two tankōbon volumes published from January 5, 1993 to December 26, 2008. A sequel titled Wangan Midnight: C1 Runner started in 2008 and finished in 2012. It was compiled into twelve tankōbon volumes published between November 6, 2009 and October 5, 2012. A third series titled Ginkai no Speed Star was serialized in Big Comic Spirits from August 11, 2014 to April 13, 2015. Shogakukan compiled the series into two tankōbon volumes published on November 28, 2014 and May 29, 2015. A fourth sequel titled Shutoko SPL - Ginkai no Speedster started in Kodansha's Monthly Young Magazine on September 20, 2016. The first tankōbon volume was published on January 5, 2018. The series has been compiled into four tankōbon volumes as of September 2019.

Films

The series was adapted into a series of direct-to-video movies in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2001, and 2009.
At the 2007 Tokyo Anime Fair, OB Planning announced the production of an animated series based on the manga, and aired on a pay-per-view channel of Animax in June 2007. The series was co-produced by OB Planning, A.C.G.T., and Pastel, under the direction of Tsuneo Tominaga. The anime consists of twenty-six episodes. The opening theme for the series is Lights and Anymore by TRF and the ending theme is Talkin' Bout Good Days by Mother Ninja.

Video games

In 1999, Wangan Midnight won the Kodansha Manga Award for the General category.