Moé Moé Rabu

Opening Sequence:

OP: “lights and any more” by TRF

One night, Asakura Akio is driving his Nissan Fairlady (Z31) down the Wangan with his friend Maa and two girls. It is until he is approached from behind by a Porsche 911 (964) known as the “Blackbird”. Akio attempts to race with the Blackbird and is able to keep up, until the Blackbird pulls away. The next morning, Akio is talking with Kou, Maa’s brother, about the Blackbird. Though before Akio leaves, Kou mentions that there is a Z in the junkyard so he coul get spare parts. So skipping school he goes there and what he finds instead is a beautiful blue Nissan Fairlady Z S30.

Kou inspects the car and finds out that it is a twin turbo engine, an it even has upper pillows, calipers, rotors, coilovers, stabilizers, pretty much the works. He also finds out it also has passed emissions tests to get a number 3 plate, but are even more shocked to find out the previous owner had the same name as Akio. Akio wants to buy it, but they find out it has gone through three owners and the person who brang the car in asked it to be scrapped. Despite the warnings of it being a bad omen, Akio still wants to buy the car. Later that night, Kou finds Akio looking at the Z. Akio recalls seeing this exact car 3 years ago and has admired it. So Kou gives in and decides to help him fix it.

Some time later, the Z is now fixed and it still retains the same number plates. Whilst Akio is at school, a man is talking to the driver of the Blackbird saying that people have been seeing the Z driving through Wangan every night thinking its a ghost. He is sure that it is the car known as the “Devil Z”. That night as Akio is driving through the Wangan, the Blackbird is waiting on the side and once he sees Akio drive by, he gives chase. The Blackbird driver indicates he wants to race, and whilst doing so, he realises it’s the same car as everyone has talked about. As Akio and Blackbird race, Kou gets a call from a friend about Akio’s Z and finds out that the Z was famous in Wangan 2 years ago, but it’s owner died in a accident.

With the Devil Z and Blackbird neck and neck, they are coming up to a merge with Akio in the lead, he thinks that he can win but his front tyres lose grip and he begins to slide.

Ending Sequence:

ED: “Talkin’ bout good days” by Mother Ninja

Impressions

*start fanboying* OMFG THIS WAS AWESOME *end of fanboying*

Firstly lets just say that I greatly enjoyed this since I am a fan of the game and manga, but then I’m also a bit of a car enthusiast. This episode follows the first chapter exactly with added bits from chapter 2 and it was everything I expected it to be. With a 1/3 of the production staff who worked on Initial D, as well as having the CG animation by Pastel, we can begin to see the similarities showing up in terms of animation, screenplay, and music. But Initial D this is not. Some may think it’s all the same, but Wangan is not about mountain racing or drifting or technique. It’s all about high speed racing on a highway where speeds can get upto 300 km/h.

When I check the seiyuu list, I was surprised to see Oguri Shun as Akio. Shun played Rui in the Hana Yori Dango live drama and he was also driving a Fairlady Z if I recall correctly. Also the driver of the Blackbird is Miki Shinichiro, and he was the seiyuu for Takumi in Initial D. So far I don’t really expect much from the seiyuu’s as this series really isn’t about the characters, it’s all about the cars and racing. But there is some story behind it all, especially with the whole Devil Z and it’s troubling history.

The music is a wide variety which mixes well with the various types of scenes that we have been shown so far. So far with both the OP and ED, I’m liking them very much but leaning towards the ED so far. I was wondering what kind of BGM they would use and was hoping for some of the same BGM we hear in the Wangan arcade games. But they have done better than that and i want to hear more.

If there is anything that disappoints me about Wangan is simple. The character designs are just as bad as Initial D. However I find the Initial D character design to be much worse, but I prefer the manga style than the anime version of Wangan. One other thing is probably some of the mechanical terms where some are hard to pick up but that’s what I enjoy about this anime as well. I also found out recently that Wangan Midnight is only airing 2 episodes a month, much the same as Initial D Fourth Stage which makes me sad as I can’t wait for the next episode. A definite one to blog for me, despite what other people think.

Boring info about emissions: Ok, in Japan, any car that has a 2.0 L engine and below has to have a number greater than 3 for the number plate. The S30 is supposed to have a smaller engine but it passed emissions tests with the L28.