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Wangan Midnight

Anime: Wangan Midnight

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Wangan Midnight
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Main Title Wangan Midnight (a5088)
Official Title ja
Official Title ko
Synonym Ванганская полночь, 海岸午夜
Short wangan
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main cast

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Suhou Reiko as Akikawa Reina
Oguri Shun as Asakura Akio
Miki Shin`ichirou as Shima Tatsuya
Suzumura Ken`ichi as Aizawa Keiichiro
Noto Mamiko as Asakura Eriko
Yonaga Tsubasa as Harada
Namikawa Daisuke as Hiramoto Koichi
Kawakami Tomoko as Hiramoto Megumi
Saizen Tadahisa as Inada Shige
Suwabe Jun`ichi as Ishida Yoshiaki

main staff

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Original Work: Kusunoki Michiharu
Direction: Tominaga Tsuneo
Series Composition: Kishima Nobuaki
Character Design: Kagawa Hisashi
Music: Umebori Atsushi
Animation Work: ACGT
* 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.

Statistics

Score/Rank by

5.84 (689)
#2511 (#93)
#3694 (#145)

Favourites/Rec.

#2901 (14)
6

Running Time

approx. 10h 50m

Completed

922 (41.7%)

Watching

381 (17.2%)

Plan to Watch

843 (38.2%)

Dropped

63 (2.9%)

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Explanation by antennen on Wednesday, 10.03.2010 01:02

Wangan doesn't feature drifting, but still catches one's manly spirit and love for cars.
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  • Recommendations
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recommendations

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recommended by 6 users - 5 recommended - 1 must see

recommended
by ornehx on 2017-09-16 07:33
I can't find a proper one liner for this one. Really.

Its a serious story about racers, tuners, cars, dreams and their desire to be the fastest in Wangan. There's lots of character (and even car) development. Plot focuses between many different characters tuners and drivers, each with their passion for ultimate machines and speed, each with their own background stories. But ultimately this is a story of a struggle for between a S30Z and a Porsche 964 and their drivers.

Plot revolves heavily around technical details of tuning and cars, and also emotional attachments with cars, and the Wangan highway. Art and animation is of another era and cannot be compared with today's. But it does boost some good music and especially the ED by Mother Ninja.

All in, cars, tuning, speed, race - if you checked all those then this is it! Feel the exhilaration of the world of Wangan racing. Damn, I wanna go hit the arcades for a round or two of Wangan after this. Recommended at 7/10
recommended
by skates on 2015-08-21 07:15
A serious anime about the pursuit of speed. A lot more character depth in their growth and understanding of what it means to devote themselves to this goal. You won't find shounen style battles where the winner is decided at the last minute due to some special effect, but instead a more sophisticated understanding of car and driver and what it means to be fast.

Recommended to driving enthusiasts, especially those who like Initial D.
recommended
by silvergoku on 2013-07-12 02:08
This shines from a different perspective than Initial D, focusing more on the car and some on the driver rather than completely on the driver. If your a fan of racing genre and liked Initial D watch this right now! Very recommended for all!! Watch first 2 episodes for trial run for unsure people.
recommended
by yaha200x on 2012-05-04 21:02
Initial D fans must also Watch this series. Its explains a different type of racing which is the straight line type. Here you will find cars with 400HP and up for straight lines. Again a good piece of knowledge.
recommended
by shaxid on 2010-07-19 20:54
Cars,engines,tuning,tires,mufflers,exhausts, good tips about cars and magnificent sound tracks.

Reviews

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Rating: 5
Approval: 79.5% (1 votes)
To describe Wangan Midnight in one sentence: A not so great Initial D clone.

Art & Animation:
The character design is a bit unusual, but so is the character design in Initial D.
The car races are 3D animations, which are done pretty nicely.
Overall pretty good. 7/10

Sound:
Did I mention that Wangan Midnight is a Initial D clone? Opening and Ending are pretty much the same style, heck, even the group is 1 girl and 2 guys (with 1 rapper).
Rest is also pretty much eurobeat.
The sound of the cars is sometimes disappointing tough. 6/10

Story:
The story is honestly pretty flat. They try to build something up, but it isn't really working that well.
It is nice though, that they also have a focus on tuning cars and not only racing.
A very generous 5/10.

Character:
The characters are my least favorite part of Wangan Midnight. I can't really remember anything outstanding (in a positive sense) of any of the characters.
The character build up (if you can call it that) is a big fail and makes you simply not care for them.
Even worse, even though all characters are pretty much adults, and they behave like spoiled children who are apparently living in a parallel universe, where no one gets mad when you steal and crash their property :brickwall: .
It might be on purpose though, maybe the creators wanted to show everyone that people who are into tuning and racing their cars are all idiots.

I don't think anyone can feel with any of the characters: 2/10

Value:
It is nice to see them tuning their cars for more power and actually explaining some stuff, but must of this should be common knowledge.
Normally the value of an anime like this would be 5, but the characters force me to remove at least 1 point: 4/10

Enjoyment:
If you like Initial D, then check it out, if you are OK with it after the first three episodes, then you might actually get some enjoyment out of this. 6/10

Overall:
This could have been a good anime, even with the story as it is, but the characters make it sometimes painful to watch. 5/10
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Clubs

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Auto Sports Club
Members: 24
Posts: 7
indirectly related clubs
Macross Metaseries Fanclub
Macross Metaseries Fanclub
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Posts: 48
Initial D
Initial D
Members: 31
Posts: 12
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· plot continuityConsistency of the characteristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events seen by the viewer. A single linear focused plot is highly continuous. A truly random plot is highly discontinuous. ***
· time skipThe plot features at least one skip or jump in time. Example: A skip from the present into the past, or time skips in increments, e.g. every hour there is a time skip by a day. weightless
· tragedyTragedy is a form of drama characterized by seriousness and dignity, usually involving a conflict between a character and some higher power, such as the law, the gods, fate, or society. +
· TO BE MOVED TO CHARACTERTags under this parent tag are going to be moved to character tags and removed from the anime they`re currently assigned to. They will be blocked from the anime system once that move is complete. Please help with that job if you know what characters they should be assigned to.
· · obsessive -- DO NOT USE -- TO BE SPLIT AND DELETEDThis tag is meant to be split and deleted. Please help by tagging all relevant characters with more specific tags and then deleting this tag from them or from their anime, as applicable. Depending on the context, such tags may include, among others: any of the complexes, otaku, passionate, persistent, psychopath, or yandere. weightless
· Japanese productionno description set weightless
· mangaManga is the lifeblood that drives the anime industry. Everything and its mother is based on manga. However! There are exceptions where the manga was not the basis for the anime. See also manhua and manhwa. weightless
· placeThe places the anime can take place in. Includes more specific places such as a country on Earth, as well as more general places such as a dystopia or a mirror world.
· · EarthThe Earth is the third planet from the Sun. It is a ball of hot mud, but on the surface it`s cold enough, so most of us live on it (or are supposed to). To its inhabitants, our planet is their home, so, as a species, we cherish it to the point many cultures even to this day deify it. The Earth is the main setting of most fiction, but many titles are set in other places, such as unrelated fantasy worlds, and in a considerable number of fictional titles the Earth is actually destroyed by invaders.
· · · AsiaAsia is Earth`s largest and most populous continent. Asia covers an area of 44,579,000 square kilometers. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the human population, was the site of many of the first civilizations. Asia is notable for not only its overall large size and population, but also dense and large settlements as well as vast barely populated regions within the continent of 4.4 billion people.
· · · · JapanJapan is a sovereign island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and China in the southwest. *+
· · · · · OsakaOsaka Prefecture is a prefecture located in the Kansai region on Honshu, the main island of Japan. The capital is the city of Osaka. It is the center of Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area. *
· seinenSeinen, literally "young man", is one of the main demographic classifications applied to manga, and, by extension, to anime, especially manga-based ones. As the name implies, seinen works are marketed primarily to an audience of young men; the age range commonly understood to be the target of such works goes roughly from 17 to somewhere in the 40s. weightless
· adapted into other mediaThis anime is a new original work, and it has been adapted into other media formats. In exceedingly rare instances, a specific episode of a new original work anime can also be adapted.
· · adapted into Japanese movieThis anime is a new original work, and it has been adapted into a Japanese movie. In exceedingly rare instances, a specific episode of a new original work anime can also be adapted. weightless
· daily lifeThe antics of the protagonists do not take place in some exotic setting or time, but in everyday life. Daily Life is basically a synonym for everything normal, repetitive, and trivial happening to your average person. *
· rivalryQuite broadly used term describing a conflict, contest, struggle, or opposition of some sort. Typical examples: The mostly comedic rivalry for the love of a protagonist in a harem anime (love polygon), the more "mindless" battles between wannabe delinquents in a school fighting anime, or the struggle between good & evil in an epic conflict for world domination. *+
· school lifeSince a large part of the anime audience still takes part in school life or is visiting college, it is only natural to choose a setting the audience can identify with, be it elementary, middle, or high school. For the older viewers a college setting with more mature real-life problems is appropriate. And since clubs take up so much time in the lives of students, these are obviously also important.
· · high schoolA secondary school that usually contains grades 10 through 12 in Japan, or 9 through 12 in America. +
· sportsSports anime revolves around a recreational physical activity or skill. In addition they often adhere to certain genre conventions, the emphasis on training and practice in preparation for competition, characters desire for self improvement, and pursuit of a specific goal. **
· · motorsportDriving involves driving in a competitive manner. Note that just driving to get groceries does not suffice, unless one does it like Takumi Fujiwara in Initial D. ***
· · · street racingSeen The Fast and The Furious or played Need for Speed Underground series? This is it: people racing in illegal races on the streets with their own modified cars and maybe seeing the police chasing them. **

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  • Cast
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Cast

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main character
Asakura Akio
male
voiced by:
secondary cast
Asakura Eriko
female
voiced by:
Harada
male
voiced by:
Inada Shige
male
voiced by:
Kijima Koichi
male
voiced by:
Kitami Jun
male
voiced by:
Machida
male
voiced by:
Motoki Yasuo
male
voiced by:
Murakami Mika
female
voiced by:
Sasaki Gen
male
voiced by:
Shimada Rumi
female
voiced by:
Tominaga Kou
male
voiced by:

discography

Girls Side
Girls Side
Album, 15 tracks, 13.03.2013
Aikawa Nanase, Enomoto Atsuko, Fairy Fore, Hal, Kosaka Riyu, [...]

Group status

show all add new release
Last Update Name State N Episodes HE SP Languages Source Rating Cmts
08.02.2025 Shiniori-Raws complete
26 0 ja DVD N/A (0) 0
09.03.2024 2ndfire complete
26 0 ja en DVD N/A (0) 0
01.09.2022 DarkDream complete
26 0 ja en DVD N/A (0) 0
29.06.2019 AB-RMX complete N
26 0 ja en DVD N/A (0) 0
16.09.2018 peachflavored complete N
26 0 ja en DVD N/A (0) 0
01.03.2011 Bakarayo complete
26 0 ja pt-BR DTV, DVD N/A (2) 0
19.07.2010 IDIF complete
26 0 ja it DTV, DVD, HDTV N/A (0) 0
02.01.2010 Kibo complete
26 0 ja fr DVD N/A (0) 0
12.09.2009 #NT complete
26 0 ja pl DTV, DVD N/A (5) 0
25.04.2009 Kyou finished
26 0 ja en DVD, HDTV 7.12 (11) 6
04.04.2009 WMA finished
26 0 ja en DTV N/A (2) 0
30.07.2013 NTFS stalled
13 0 ja de DTV, DVD, HDTV N/A (2) 0
17.11.2010 MuKouno-No-Fansub [MKNF] stalled
13 0 ja fr unknown N/A (0) 0
10.02.2013 Eden-PT stalled
9 0 ja pt DVD N/A (2) 2
13.11.2007 HG-F stalled
6 0 ja en DVD 6.69 (15) 3
21.10.2007 InvoxFS stalled
3 0 ja es DTV N/A (0) 0
06.09.2009 Shinsen-Subs stalled
2 0 ja en DVD 7.66 (7) 0
01.10.2007 -_-` stalled
2 0 ja en es nl sl DVD N/A (1) 0
05.07.2008 T_25 & SNH stalled
1 0 ja fr unknown N/A (0) 0
22.08.2007 Demonic-Fansubs [D-F] stalled
1 0 ja de DTV N/A (0) 0
14.11.2008 SHiN-gx dropped
14 0 ja en DVD 3.84 (6) 0
26.06.2008 darkzero dropped
13 0 ja en DVD 3.30 (6) 0
10.07.2008 SuperjakkoTM dropped
12 0 ja en DVD 3.31 (12) 5
09.09.2009 BF-HF dropped
11 0 ja pt-BR DVD N/A (0) 0
05.07.2008 TTF dropped
4 0 ja fr DVD N/A (0) 0
02.03.2009 SpeedStars & Millenium dropped
2 0 ja fr DVD N/A (0) 0
22.02.2008 Flomp-Gekkostate dropped
2 0 ja en DVD N/A (5) 0
04.11.2007 Slowsub [Slow] dropped
2 0 ja fr unknown N/A (0) 0
23.08.2007 Flomp-ASF dropped
2 0 ja en es nl sl DTV 2.82 (6) 0
19.06.2007 OMFG dropped
2 0 ja en DTV 4.01 (18) 6
no group complete finished ongoing stalled dropped specials only all

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