Wangan Midnight is a long time published manga series created by Michiharu Kusunoki that focuses on the street racing scene in Japan. The Wangan Midnight manga has been featured since 1992 in Young Magazine, which is published by Kodansha Limited – the largest publisher in Japan. The Wangan Midnight series has been adapted into several live action films, video games, and an anime television series supervised by Keiichi Tsuchiya. In Japanese, the word “wangan” means “bay shore” and refers to a stretch of highway along Tokyo’s Shuto Expressway that is infamous for street racing.

The Wangan Midnight story focuses on the life of high school student and street racer Akio Asakura. Akio’s first encounter with street racing is driving his friend’s Nissan Fairlady Z31 when rival Tatsuya Shima, a doctor driving a black Porsche 911 known as the “BlackBird,” challenges him to a race. With two girls in the back and the owner of the Z31 in the passenger seat, Akio looses his first race. With defeat fresh on his mind, Akio is determined to outrun the BlackBird. Under direction of his friend, a mechanic, Akio visits a junkyard where he discovers a wrecked Fairlady S30 – “The Devil Z.”

Although damaged, the Devil Z is unnaturally powerful and caries a deadly curse that has claimed the lives of all its former owners. The Devil Z’s supernatural power comes from a tuned L28 engine bored and stroked to 3.1 liters with twin turbochargers that combine to produce 620 horsepower (460 kW).

The Wangan Midnight franchise has been hugely successful in Japan and the arcade game Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 is currently my personal favorite video game. Wangan Midnight captures the excitement of street racing and the story speaks to young racers. Wangan Midnight is sure to continue inspiring racing culture and quality racing media.