
Wangan Midnight
Based on a seinen manga by Kusunoki Michiharu serialised in Young Magazine.
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. 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 third year high school student, is driving his Fairlady Z (Z31) and is challenged by Tatsuya Shima, a doctor, in his black Porsche 964 Turbo (nicknamed the "BlackBird"). With a friend 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 to buy parts for his car, when he sees a pristine, unscratched midnight blue Fairlady Z (S30) in the junkyard. Intrigued as to why such a machine is about to be junked, he buys it. He soon finds that the car is unnaturally fast due to a tuned L28 engine, bored and stroked to 3.1 liters combined with twin turbos, which produces 620bhp. He also finds that all of the car's previous owners had unfortunate accidents in it, starting with the first owner's death. The manga follows Akio's various encounters, though the central plot revolves around his constant battle with the BlackBird for superiority.
(Source: AniDB)
Rankings
#36 highest rated of 2007
#54 most popular of 2007
#17 highest rated of SPRING 2007
#23 most popular of SPRING 2007
Data
Format
TV
Episodes
26
Episode Duration
25 minutes
Status
FINISHED
Start Date
Sun Jul 15 2007
End Date
Mon Oct 13 2008
Season
SUMMER 2007
Average Score
71%
Mean Score
71%
Popularity
10810
Favourites
289
Studios
Producers
OB Planning
Source
MANGA
Genres
Action, SportsRomaji
Wangan Midnight
Native
湾岸ミッドナイト
Relations
SOURCE
Wangan Midnight
MANGA · FINISHED
Characters
Tatsuya Shima
MAIN
Shinichirou Miki
JAPANESE
Akio Asakura
MAIN
Shun Oguri
JAPANESE
Reina Akikawa
MAIN
Reiko Suhou
JAPANESE
Eriko Asakura
SUPPORTING
Mamiko Noto
JAPANESE
Rikako Oota
SUPPORTING
Rie Tanaka
JAPANESE
Kou Tominaga
SUPPORTING
Susumu Chiba
JAPANESE
Jun Kitami
SUPPORTING
Kenta Miyake
JAPANESE
Kouta Takahashi
SUPPORTING
Anri Katsu
JAPANESE
Staff
Tsuneo Tominaga
Director
TRF
Theme Song Performance (OP)
Keiichi Tsuchiya
Supervisor
Masafumi Mima
Sound Director
Kimio Nagatani
Editing (eps 11-14, 17-20, 23, 24)
Hisashi Kagawa
Character Design
Michiharu Kusunoki
Original Creator
Nobuaki Kishima
Series Composition
Michiko Morokuma
Art Director
Satoru Kuwahara
Art Design
Status Distribution
- CURRENT
1069 Users
- PLANNING
4784 Users
- COMPLETED
3787 Users
- DROPPED
567 Users
- PAUSED
603 Users