Snapshots: Wangan Midnight June 10
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I hope you like cars, because in the new show Wangan Midnight (湾岸Midnight), more than half the footage is made up of slick computer generated car models racing around with noisy roars. Ring any bells?
It’s based on a long-running manga by Kusunoki Michiharu that started back in 1992 and has piled up to be 37 volumes. The production team behind the anime boasts director Tominaga Tsuneo, script writer Kishima Nobuaki and 3D CG animation company Pastel, all of whom were involved in a certain show called, of course, Initial D. The difference this time is that Wangan Midnight focuses more on the mechanical side of racing, where Initial D was more about driving skills, and whether this is enough to set the two shows apart is a bit early to tell.
The plot revolves around a male high schooler protagonist who likes to drive around on the Tokyo highway stretch called the Wangan, because it runs by the bay coast. After a disappointing evening where he’s left in the dust by the infamous Porsche 964 “Blackbird”, a friendly mechanic tells him about a used car at the junkyard that may be of interest. He rushes off, skipping school, to set eyes on the beautiful blue Nissan Fairlady S30Z, nicknamed the “Devil Z”. Bewitched he instantly buys it, despite warnings that the car had initially been ordered destroyed by the previous owner, due to strange accidents that hint on a curse. Even weirder, the license plate used to be registered to a man with the same name as him: “Asakura Akio”.
Unfazed by this, and with a memory of having seen this particular car before, our hero still ends up rushing the car down the Wangan, where his ultimate rival “Blackbird” soon shows up to give him a fierce race. Simultaneously, his friend receives a phone call telling him that a previous owner died three years earlier, having crashed the “Devil Z” at high speed.
So far so good, I guess. While the racing part feels a bit dull so far (woohoo, let’s drive straight ahead and the guy with the fattest wallet to buy the biggest engine wins!), the ghost story background in combination with an interesting choice of music gives it a nicely creepy feel. Artwise, this is pretty much as ugly as it gets, I’m afraid, with the original manga pretty much being Initial D’s ugly duckling sister, and that’s sad considering just how hideous Initial D is to begin with. Luckily the team took pity on its viewers and smoothened the character design a bit, while the cars do look very fancy indeed. The two main characters’ voices are handled, unusually, by Oguri Shun and Suhou Reiko, both of whom are actually j-drama actors, with the former being familiar from shows like Hana yori Dango. As a result it sounds a bit flat, and I’d have preferred proper voice actors, but we get a fair share of that with veterans Miki Shinichirou and Kobayashi Sanae, so perhaps it will be alright. Mind you, Oguri and Suhou have had previous anime experience as well.
The show was previewed on Animax yesterday, but will only really start airing next Saturday on pay-per-view, where the plan is to show two episodes per month. I’ll give it a few more episodes at least.
Reminds me of: Initial D
final at 1:51 pm on June 10th, 2007
doenst seems intresting to me
GStrike- at 1:58 pm on June 10th, 2007
inital D?
Chiu^2 at 2:02 pm on June 10th, 2007
like Initial D, not interested. For some reason I never understood racing anime.
bong at 2:33 pm on June 10th, 2007
It’s funny how the anime reminds people of Initial D when this was created 2 years before Initial D, at least the manga was.
ShinSenshi at 2:47 pm on June 10th, 2007
New to the team? Or did you just write before and I never noticed XD
But yeah, this kind of anime appeals to a very specific audience…
lester at 3:08 pm on June 10th, 2007
very cool. can’t wait…
Rednights at 3:14 pm on June 10th, 2007
As long as it has Eurobeat its all good baby.
Patrik at 3:22 pm on June 10th, 2007
bong: Yeah, the manga started earlier, but Initial D has been animated far longer, and is more famous to people outside Japan, at least.
ShinSenshi: Not new, exactly, but I’ve only written one entry before this (Dennou Coil).
Shippoyasha at 3:25 pm on June 10th, 2007
This is just like any other sports anime really. Even if the subject doesn’t interest you, the drama and the action might. Hell, I do not really call myself a ‘cyclist fan’ but I love OverDrive.
I think I have another must-watch shows I’m adding to my two dozen anime I’m watching right now.
BROOKLYN otaku at 3:25 pm on June 10th, 2007
i tell ya, i’d rather just race around in my whip than watch racing animes ,probobly the same reason i hate nascar “at least those crashes are real!” it’s like “capeta” just cant get into it. but hey, maybe the story is good. . . pass
RandomDendohfanboy at 4:12 pm on June 10th, 2007
Umm, I’m pretty sure Wangan Midnight only got an anime because the arcade game is so damn successful. Have none of you guys played it before?!
Azbaby at 4:28 pm on June 10th, 2007
HEy wait a tick this is MAXIMUM TUNE 2 The game O___O!!! o what they are starting this now
Karurosu at 4:49 pm on June 10th, 2007
Initial D was/is great
So i’m looking forword to this new Show.
mikemil828 at 5:39 pm on June 10th, 2007
//It’s funny how the anime reminds people of Initial D when this was created 2 years before Initial D, at least the manga was.//
Seeing that it is made by the same company that did the Initial D shows, uses the same 3d animation studio that Initial D uses, has the same type of music as Initial D, that the opening and ending songs are sung by the same group that does the openings and endings for Initial D, and that the main character doesn’t look that many degrees off from Takumi, yeah, I would think that people would be reminded of Initial D.
Gil at 6:43 pm on June 10th, 2007
Holy ****!!!
I played the arcade game!!!
But I thought “Blackbird” drove a Fairlady Z(350Z), according to the game.
2 eps per month, just like Initial D Fourth Stage? Ugh, that hurts.
But these guys will be racing in the cities, not 100% Mountain passes.
Timoshi at 7:03 pm on June 10th, 2007
hate the character design*
neb at 7:34 pm on June 10th, 2007
ob planning’s adaptation for initial d 4th stage was pretty good. I’m looking forward to this
king at 7:43 pm on June 10th, 2007
i been waiting since i heard this was announced
Delirious Dragonfly at 9:21 pm on June 10th, 2007
That guy looks like Takumi
sivaraj at 9:46 pm on June 10th, 2007
IF UA RE NOT INTERESTED IN car racing anime Patrik the i advise you not to blog this…its better to be blogged by someone who are interested or a fan of initial D..thank you……