Wangan Midnight

From dusk until dawn, street racers gather on a Tokyo highway—the Wangan Route—in search of only one thing: speed. Among them, a newcomer attracts the attention of the route's veterans after he purchases a Nissan Fairlady Z, a car infamously nicknamed The Devil Z. The newcomer ignores the warnings of Eriko Asakura, who lost her brother, Akio, in an accident involving the same vehicle. The Devil Z's new owner, who coincidentally shares the exact same name as Eriko's brother, becomes bewitched by the car's mysterious power—even after crashing twice.

Now a high school dropout who works to pay for his car repairs, Akio befriends regular street racers of the area: the legendary owner of the Porsche 911 Turbo, a car known on the streets as "Blackbird;" the genius surgeon Tatsuya Shima; and Reina Akikawa, who works as a model by day and displays unparalleled skill in her Nissan Skyline GT-R by night. Thanks to these connections, Akio manages to find the retired designer of The Devil Z's engine, a solitary man named Jun Kitami. Following his meeting with Akio, Jun resumes building overpowered yet dangerous engines. Meanwhile, the racers of the Wangan Route are caught in a desperate race against The Devil Z with no clear end in sight.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Asakura, Akio Main

Oguri, Shun Japanese

Shima, Tatsuya Main

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Akikawa, Reina Main

Suhou, Reiko Japanese

Kitami, Jun Supporting

Miyake, Kenta Japanese

Ota, Rikako Supporting

Tanaka, Rie Japanese

Kuroki, Takayuki Supporting

Takase, Akimitsu Japanese

Asakura, Eriko Supporting

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Kijima, Kouichi Supporting

Horikawa, Jin Japanese

Hiramoto, Koichi Supporting

Namikawa, Daisuke Japanese

Ishida, Yoshiaki Supporting

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Tominaga, Tsuneo Director

Mima, Masafumi Sound Director

Tokumoto, Yoshinobu Episode Director

Kimura, Hiroshi Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Oct 11, 2008

jmoriarty84

Recommended

Obviously, your 1st reaction so far will be you’re thinking Initial D. I don’t blame anybody for doing so, but if you’re going to watch this with expectations based on Initial D, then you’re going to watch it for all the wrong reasons. The 1st portion of this series will be repetitive and slow, but it’s done for the purpose to build suspense, motivate development, and establish the story. I felt that things got exciting way too much at the end and it leaves you wanting for more, but I guess there’s the manga to make you satisfied which I’m now getting into. Depending on ... how you get into it, it will be either hard or easy to accept, but I feel this presentation was done for the right reasons even though it will take awhile to get into this anime. Yes, consequences of that kind of story telling makes the pace slow, but it gives chances to focus and introduce other characters and their relationships which the anime is truly about.

The anime has great character exploration. I really like how the racing lifestyle and car obsession results in consequences to the normal lives of the characters and in relation to those around them. In the case of Akio, he has to repeat a year of high school because he ditches to make money for his car.

However, I felt there were some characters that had no use or contribution to the progression or establishment of the story, though they had an interesting origin and develop individually. But in the end, they seemed more like filler or side story characters, and felt the anime could have focused on other things instead. But regardless, these characters were likeable and engaging. As for the main characters, I felt their personalities were too strong and established to make any significant development throughout the course of this anime, but I think it was mostly about the relationships and interactions that were more of the central focus.

There is heavy duty tech speak, but I felt it was really easy to understand because it demonstrates the explanations hand in hand very effectively. But because the series is seriously technical, chances are you may be turned off by it because it gets really deep and I know a lot of people were turned off by this in Initial D because it was used as a riddle for foreshadowing thus made it very confusing to those not familiar with cars, but with Wangan Midnight, I felt it’s presentation made it like an auto class. But the drama thanks to the back-story of the Devil Z, is odd but engagingly driven in its own right. It does create a sense of curiosity of whether or not there is something possessing the Z, but its history and its tuning has a certain aura to it that attracts the characters, thus moves the story.

Well, the character designs share an obvious resemblance of Initial D’s, but simpler looking. The art design will of course look more dated since the original manga came out in 1992 and is sticking true to the original designs. Yeah, it’s really nothing cutting edge, nor is it really over the top. So the awkward designs will probably turn off people, but I don’t think it should really overall negate the anime as a whole. I like how Akio tends to be a white shirt and jeans kind of guy, and the way he’s drawn, it’s like he’s an anime version of James Dean himself. Hell, he’ll even wear the red jacket like he does on the cover of Rebel Without a Cause.

The races are also in CG, though it doesn’t really look as cel shaded as 4th Stage, but the style accurately portrays the features of the cars, and the corresponding engine sounds. The buildings and the Wangan are also rendered in CG as if it were the PS3 or arcade game. The cars presented are also a nice flavor (I get the notion that the original manga-ka is a Nissan fan and loves the GT-R), and the racing brings a different kind of suspense such as a danger risk and the portrayal of the consequences of reckless driving. Such consequences are wrecks and even engine blowouts, which gives it a sense of limitation to the cars. Initial D has that risk factor, but I don’t feel it, but I do feel it with Wangan Midnight, which makes the races more edge at your seat. Plus, I felt Initial D’s world despite praising it for it’s realism, in comparison to Wangan Midnight, it way too idealistic. But the races are more one-dimensional because it mostly takes place on the Wangan, and the style of racing itself to some people doesn’t feel as exciting as drifts or as innovating as gutter gripping on hairpins. But outside of the risk factor of driving at 300km/h on a public highway, the only other contributing factor to excitement is that races can be at 4 cars at once while it’s not exclusive to two cars. But the fact they push it to the limit should be exciting enough for some people. Now that I think about it, why aren’t their cops out there after them? I wonder if it’s true according to Tokyo Drift that cops in Japan can’t catch you if you’re exceeding 180 km/h.

The voice cast is excellent though there is one big name that stands out to me that took some adjusting, and that was Miki Shin’ichiro the voice of Takumi in Initial D, as the voice of Shima. I’m so used to hearing him as Takumi to a point that I really couldn’t imagine him in this role. By the time I got to the end, I finally accepted him as Shima and started to appreciate his performance And I felt it was unique that they casted J-Drama actor, Oguri Shun, who was in the live action versions of GTO, Gokusen, and Hana Yori Dango as Akio. I thought he captured Akio’s characteristics in a typical fashion where you’re convinced he’s a unique kind of teenager and shows great variety to Oguri’s acting abilities in this approach. I also liked Suhou Reiko as Reina. I thought she did great as a seiyuu by being a down to earth idol. And I was most impressed with Miyake Kenta’s performance as Kitami Jun, the tuner from hell. You probably know him as Tsume from Wolf’s Rain, Vetor in Sonic, and is also casted as Zangief in SFIV. Anyway, I think he brings a unique charisma and intimidation to the character where he can freak you out to a point that yeah, he tunes crazy cars, but hey it’s probably worth the risk. So he swept me off my feet.

Unfortunately, there is no Eurobeat. Music isn’t really that emphasized in this anime. The track you’ll tend to hear is a more techno driven Eastern Indian song that sounds similar to what you hear in Ghost in the Shell. It suits that risk factor that this anime has, but gets overused and we also have extreme techno rock every now and then. The opening and the ending themes do sound like MOVE’s songs, but they are more upbeat and up lifting, and not as emphatically hip hop driven, nor do they comes across as extreme as MOVE, but likable.

Like Initial D and some other anime I review, Wangan Midnight is for people who want to try something different, but it’s still an anime that isn’t for everyone whether you’re new to anime or hardcore. Granted you can say that about DBZ, Lucky Star, and EVA, but Wangan Midnight is just a different tune to truly apply that because its racing, people will jump to conclusions that it’s stupid just because of what it’s about. In some aspects, I think Wangan Midnight has distinguishing qualities that keeps me interested, such as the character exploration and the realism, and I love the arcade game. But hey, growing up with a father who loves cars and going to school with people who love to drag race, I could get into this anime and I had familiarity with the arcade game, Maximum Tune which should be at your local arcade. Give it a try, it’s a lot of fun.

I doubt this anime is getting licensed, so you can go to your usual torrent sources to get it. And remember: this review is a review of a work of fiction and I encourage you to please drive safely and obey traffic laws at all times, and stick to racing at your local arcade, gaming console or public circuit track.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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May 14, 2019

_GX_

Mixed Feelings

TLDR Review - one point is removed for each negative aspect.

Story (-1) : even though street racing genre is self-explainatory, the same formula of tune/fix and race again becomes boring when it occurs for the 3rd time (and more to come)

Side characters (-1) : every 5 or so episodes, 2-3 supporting characters get replaced with new ones, with almost nothing but personal background being different.

Races (-1) : police is nowhere to be seen, other traffic drivers act like props, neither road nor weather conditions don't change. Races end within seconds with one driver letting go of the throttle when facing personal contradiction for a moment ... - or if something breaks. Winning the race seems neither rewarding nor interesting.

Plot holes (-1) : Devil Z (the cover cars) "curse" on the main protagonist (with which the whole story is based upon) is negated by supporting characters, descriptions of crashes don't make sense when the show is trying to be realistic and relationship between main protagonist and his love interest (actually its the other way around) remain unresolved.

Ending (-1) : show ends with no conclusion after the final race, with it being nearly identical with other ones on the show.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Nov 6, 2023

_Lazaroth_

Not Recommended

A 3/10 anime that occasionally reaches 6/10 with it's amazing soundtrack and CGI. But is a boring slog outwith that.

Wangan Midnight offers a different and unique spin on Racing anime. Set primarily on the Wangan route of highways but dabbles in others. As such, straight lines are the name of the game, and the need for speed is more necessary than the drifting techniques of Initial D, the anime this is most compared to. I will also be making this comparison.

The CGI is amazing, and holds up well today. The cars are very well detailed and the backgrounds provide a beautiful backdrop as ... the speed intensifies. Great lighting and weighty physics make the cars feel satisfying.

Characters:

Characters are extremely boring. Practically everyone has the same personality, that being none at all. THEY ARE ALL SO MIND-NUMBINGLY BORING OMG. There are no varied personalities to clash with other's individual ideals and experiences. There are only: Racers, Tuners, and spectators. There exists no other roles for characters to fill. Everyone is a brick wall, and they only ever talk about racing. Leading to absolutely zero engagement from the watcher. You do not care about these characters, and you shouldn't. Not much character development at all, which is a shame compared to Initial D's exceptional handling of characters where defeat would shape them and their worlds. In the grand narrative of WN, there is not a clear goal unlike Initial D's prefecture touring. People just sort of float around until they hit the next plot point. Literally, characters will drive hours on the highways just to bump into another character randomly rather than asking them to be at the place at a specific time. The "opponents" of the main Character also lack foreshadowing, so new ones just show up out of nowhere jarringly. Character designs are trash, a lot of people look the exact same facial wise, leading to confusing sometimes. With forgettable outfits. There are some infuriating characters, but Racing is likened to drugs in this anime, so some of the decisions make sense. Nonetheless, the characters are their cars, and nothing else. EVERYONE seems bored, despite risking their (and others') lives to feed their addiction. But literally not a single person jumps for joy, even after winning despite this being so important to them. Vice versa is also true, Characters don't shake in rage, yell in frustration or fall into a depression after losing. It's insanely asanine and it's as if it's actively attempting to be boring to watch. Villains, or rather Opponents, are terrible. It's more of a friendly rivalry between friends in the craft of street racing than anything like retaining honour of your prefecture by racing other people from different prefectures or famous individuals within said Prefecture, or making a name for yourself as the Main character doesn't wish to be famous, he just wants to drive. There's nothing at stake and everyone is so friendly they literally drive each others' cars, pointing out weaknesses and tuning each other's vehicles like it's nothing.

Animation:
Overall 2D animation is insanely bad, no character acting and stiff facial animation can leave people looking like talking ken dolls. I don't even think a single character blinked once. Lip flap animations are usually awful and not synced most of the time. Which can be very distracting. This is all made worse by the 480p release that didn't get a HD remaster. Halfway through, I switched over to a fan remaster with 1080p. Some episodes looked off at certain points but it was a MUCH better experience overall, especially the driving scenes. I recommend watching the series with this remaster by JDM restoration. Even the AI's touch makes the anime look less plastic, but does blur things somewhat in some places.

Voice acting is decent across the board, but nothing special. Sometimes you can hear echo from the voice acting studio. There is also an issue of weird direction here and there, with some laughably directed moments that take you out of the experience. There are some cast members who would later go on to do big roles, Like All Might from MHA.

Driving/Action:

Driving wise. It's not very interesting, there's only so much you can do on a straight road. There's barely any interesting techniques, yet just watching these beautiful machines glide across the asphalt is enamouring and satisfying. The CGI feels weighty and crunchy. Alas, there is not much hype moments in this anime. It is more of a smooth drive than a racetrack rumble, especially with all the mechanic tuning and whatnot slowing the pace down dramatically. Some car nuts may get value from these scenes though. There isn't much drama, in all honesty the drama just seems to be there just to further the plot than as an actual consequence to anything the characters have done, but it's still effective with the underlying messages of Racing addiction. Still, the utter lack of distinctive Racer Driving styles or racer specific techniques like the "Zero theory" or "Fujiwara zone" from Initial D, practically every single character is, to borrow a quote from sonic the hedgehog, "Gotta go fast". This all ties into the Addiction theme, but it gets old fast. The characters themselves are not memorable in the slightest due to these compounding issues, the lack of unique songs for each racer like in Initial D further reduces differentiation, and the Highways of Wangan Midnight, despite being beautiful, get stale the longer you watch compared to the varied environments of Initial D's multiple mountain passes and prefectures. Especially because each individual area in Initial D offered not just new racers and ideas, but environmental hazards or opportunities for the characters to experience. Overall, Wangan midnight might best be experienced by just watching a compilation of the races (similar to Initial D's Battle stages). You will miss out on the theme of addiction, however your not missing anything really. Rather than the main character attempting to beat others, it's the opposite with WN. Others are attempting to beat *him* because he has the OP car. Which is a fairly unique prospect. The main character is practically overpowered and has no growth from defeat, but rather it's his opponents that grow from defeat. As such, most of the anime is spent on all of the opponents point of views, leading to quite an admittedly novel watching experience. It's similar to watching a player die over and over to the final boss before accepting defeat and moving on, defeating their addiction by realising that this can't go on, no matter how badly they want to win. It isn't worth it. The thing about the races is that they are all absolutely inconsequential. It doesn't matter if characters win or lose. There's nothing at stake, because the characters have already thrown their life away (Quit school, left their family, etc.) *before* the races even begin, so there's no drama or tension. The races also have no structure, I think only a SINGLE race had a "starting" and "finishing" line. So those white knuckle, heart pounding last second overtakes at the finish line don't happen. Races seem more like a "who can lose motivation the fastest" thing more than anything. The Great CGI and music is the only thing keeping the races somewhat engaging. It's unfortunate, as the sense of speed at 200MPH could have made for some insane high stakes action and picture finishes. Traffic, weather and track hazards are also non-existent which further adds to the staleness of it all. They are fun to watch individually, but they cannot support this anime, so everything crumbles underneath the poor 2D animation and horrible trope-filled story. Ending isn't satisfying and leaves much unresolved, but since it only adapted a fraction of a huge manga, this is expected. Still, this is one of the most boring stories I've ever seen.

Soundtrack is amazing, not quite On initial D level but still very great! If anything the soundtrack itself is worth checking out if your not interested in the anime!!

Overall:

Wangan midnight is a 3/10 show, bumped up 3 points to a 6/10 for its great soundtrack and CGI, and it's interesting unconventional story telling. But keep in mind that this is a BASE 3/10 show that's SOMETIMES a 6/10 show. So in the end, if you don't wish to experience the themes of racing addiction told in an unorthodox structure, at least watch the Racing scenes and listen to the soundtrack. It's always telling when I have no zero desire to read the manga after an anime that doesn't fully adapt the manga. If you want more Initial D, watch MF Ghost, ID's sequel.

Stay away from this anime, unless you *just* can't get enough of cars.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Wangan Midnight Episode 10 Discussion Static - May 16, 2008	11 replies	by dhell26 »» Nov 14, 6:04 PM
	Poll: Wangan Midnight Episode 26 Discussion Stark700 - Dec 2, 2013	15 replies	by ItzInvision »» Nov 4, 5:37 PM
	Poll: Wangan Midnight Episode 3 Discussion Static - Nov 21, 2007	14 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Sep 12, 2:13 PM
	Poll: Wangan Midnight Episode 2 Discussion Blazingluke - Jun 27, 2007	19 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Sep 12, 2:01 PM
	Poll: Wangan Midnight Episode 1 Discussion Blazingluke - Jun 12, 2007	28 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Sep 12, 1:48 PM