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 was broadcast in Japan from June 2007 to September 2008 on the anime satellite television network Animax, animated by A.C.G.T and produced by OB Planning.
In 1999, Wangan Midnight won the 23rd Kodansha Manga Award in the general category.
Story
The series revolves around street racing on Tokyo's Bayshore Route, as well as other roads on the Shuto Expressway network. The story begins with high school student Akio Asakura encountering a black Porsche 911 Turbo nicknamed "Blackbird" on the Wangan. Akio attempts to give chase, but is unable to keep up with the Blackbird, which is driven by a medical doctor named Tatsuya Shima.Determined to drive a faster car, Akio visits a junkyard and is drawn to an old blue Nissan Fairlady Z with a highly tuned L28 engine. He learns that the car is supposedly "cursed," being extremely difficult to drive and having a history of multiple accidents, earning it the name "The Devil Z". This does not dissuade him, and he restores the car back to its former glory. When racing with Blackbird, Akio tries to win, only to crash multiple times. He also gets to meet Eriko Asakura, the sister of the original driver who shares the same name as the current Akio, who previously died in a car accident while racing with Blackbird.
As he develops his career as the infamous owner of the Devil Z, Akio meets many other racers and tuners along the way, such as fashion model and TV host Reina Akikawa, who drives a grey Nissan Skyline GT-R, and Jun Kitami, the original creator of the infamous Devil Z and Blackbird. The central plot revolves around the rivalry between the Devil Z and Blackbird for Wangan superiority as Akio tries to maintain his loyalty with the car and control it from crashing, with other racers trying to compete against both of them who are also seeking to oust their record.
The new story arc, Wangan Midnight: C1 Runner, features the new adventures of a new main character, Shinji Ogishima, and his friend, Nobu Setoguchi. They are part of the GT Cars project, which is in dispute and conflict, and must drive Mazda RX-7's along Shuto Expressway to settle these problems along with meeting 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. Kodansha collected its chapters in 42 volumes, published from January 8, 1993, to December 26, 2008.A second series, titled Wangan Midnight: C1 Runner, was serialized in Weekly Young Magazine from August 4, 2008, to July 9, 2012. Kodansha collected its chapters in twelve volumes, published between November 6, 2009, and October 5, 2012.
A third series, titled Ginkai no Speed Star, was serialized in Weekly Big Comic Spirits from August 11, 2014, to April 13, 2015. Shogakukan collected its chapters in two volumes, published on November 28, 2014, and May 29, 2015.
A fourth series, titled Shutoko SPL – Ginkai no Speedster, started in Kodansha's Monthly Young Magazine on September 20, 2016. Kodansha has collected its chapters into individual volumes. The first volume was published on January 5, 2018. As of September 19, 2024, twelve volumes have been released.
Films
The series was adapted into a series of direct-to-video movies in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1998 and 2001, and a theatrical movie in 2009:- Wangan Midnight, 1991
- Wangan Midnight II, 1993
- Wangan Midnight III, 1993
- Wangan Midnight 4, 1993
- Wangan Midnight Special Director's Cut Complete Edition, 1994
- Wangan Midnight Final: GT-R Legend – Act 1, 1994
- Wangan Midnight Final: GT-R Legend – Act 2, 1994
- Devil GT-R Full Tuning, 1994
- Showdown! Devil GT-R, 1994
- Wangan Midnight S30 vs. Gold GT-R – Part I, 1998
- Wangan Midnight S30 vs. Gold GT-R – Part II, 1998
- Wangan Midnight Return, 2001
- Wangan Midnight The Movie, 2009
Anime
Video games
- Wangan Midnight – Developed by Genki and released on December 18, 2001, for arcade, and for the PlayStation 2 on March 21, 2002, by Genki.
- * Wangan Midnight R – Released for arcade in April 2002.
- Wangan Midnight – Released in 2007 for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable platforms. The games were re-released in 2008, under the "Genki The Best" label.
- Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune – Series of arcade games developed by Bandai Namco Amusement. The first entry was released on July 6, 2004.
- *Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 – April 25, 2005
- *Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 – July 18, 2007
- *Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 DX – December 16, 2008
- *Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 DX Plus – March 4, 2010
- *Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 4 – December 15, 2011
- *Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 5 – March 12, 2014
- *Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 5 DX – December 15, 2015
- *Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 5 DX Plus – December 15, 2016
- *Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 6 – July 12, 2018
- *Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 6R – January 21, 2020
- *Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 6RR – November 17, 2021
- * Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 6RR+ – April 17, 2024, in Japan only
- Wangan Midnight Speed Ignition – TBD
Reception