Wangan Midnight

Wangan Midnight (湾岸ミッドナイト) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Michiharu Kusunoki. It was first serialized in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits since 1990, but was later serialized in Kodansha's Young Magazine, in which Initial D is also serialized. In 1999, it won the Kodansha Manga Award for general manga. Years before Wangan Midnight was created, Michiharu Kusunoki worked on a similar series known as Shakotan Boogie.

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.

The Wangan Midnight manga ended with volume 42 but has since been followed with a new arc called Wangan Midnight: C1 Runner (湾岸ミッドナイト C1ランナー) with another 12 volumes. It ended in July 2012.

The third arc started in 2014, but due to the change of publisher it was renamed to Ginkai no Speed Star (銀灰のスピードスター).

Plot
The story gets its roots from the street racing that occurs on Tokyo's Shuto Expressway    Bayshore Route. 'Wangan' (literally bayshore in Japanese) is the endonym of this longest, straightest road in the entire country. There is also road 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 extremely high power engines.

One day, Akio Asakura, a high school student in his last year of study, is driving his Nissan Fairlady Z (Z31) on the Shuto Expressway when he challenges Tatsuya Shima, a doctor, in his black Porsche 964, 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, he goes to the junkyard because his mechanic friend tells him he saw the scrapped body of a S30 with good parts on it. When he sees the scrapped body of a 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 to scrap the car because it is cursed. He soon finds that the car is unnaturally fast due to its tuned L28 engine, bored and stroked to 3.1 L, fitted with triple carburetors and twin turbos. He also finds that one of the car's previous owners shares his first and last name, and had been killed in a horrible crash on the Wangan few years ago. Every person who takes possession of the Z ends up spinning out of control and crashing, as if the car is rebelling against its driver. This gives the blue Z the nickname "The Devil Z".

The manga follows Akio's various encounters with people who are obsessed to race The Devil Z on the Wangan, and his maniacal attempts to control the car, though the central plot revolves around his constant battle with the BlackBird for Wangan superiority.

The new story arc, Wangan Midnight C1 Runner, features the new adventures of the new main character, Shinji Ogishima (which debuted in the last chapters of the original story), 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.

Official

 * Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune arcade game series.