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> Wangan Midnight's Common Denominator, A Pattern Discovered for most story arcs
Gunma's 34
  Posted: Aug 4 2011, 12:24 AM
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a.k.a. MyogiWarrior34
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I've been watching the Wangan Midnight Anime Series and read through up to Chapter 47 and I can definitely conclude that there's a pattern for each story arc; much like the traditional Initial D's AE86 pattern.

To give you an idea of what I mean, the AE86 pattern is (from first to fourth stage; and this often occurs with Takumi with his race with bunta as an exception to this rule):

QUOTE
1. Hero/Winner starts off slow, outran.
2. Hero/Winner catches up to the opponent.
3. Hero/Winner gets into a pinch
4. Hero/Winner shows his IMBA skill/rages/blind attacks
5. Hero/Winner's string of luck gets to an over 9000 level and hits rival
6. Hero/Winner... well, wins.



With Wangan Midnight though, there's more like a plot summary pattern for each. I'll be listing down the following Characters Based on the Manga (up to ch 47) and the Anime. It'll take up this pattern:

QUOTE
Story Arc
Main Character - the main character of the Arc
Supporting Character - secondary main character that played a big role in the arc
Series Character involved - either of the 4: Akio, Tatsuya, Reina or Kitami; whoever influenced them the most to get to racing at first
Car - before and at the end of the story arc
Conflict Situation involving racing - what non-racing thing was involved with their decision to race the Devil Z/Blackbird/both (best example is the Perfect GT-R arc)
Sacrifice - what was lost in their decision
Compensation - what was gained at the end of the series
Aftermath - what happened at the end of the arc; be it concrete or abstract; involving the main character only.


A. The Return of the Devil Z

Main Character involved: Akio Asakura
Supporting Character: Eriko Asakura, Kochan Takahashi
Series character involved: Tatsuya Shima
Car (at first) : Nissan Fairlady Z31 300ZX, switched to S30 'Devil Z' Fairlady Z
Conflict/Situation involving racing: Lost to Blackbird and wants revenge; an uncooperative Devil Z
Sacrifice: Sold Z31 and rebuilt S30
Compensation - the Devil Z accepted Akio and it's where the story begins
Aftermath - Met Reina and developed a long-term grudge match with Tatsuya

A. Ishida Storyline

Main Character Involved: Ishida Yoshiaki
Supporting Character: Reina Akikawa, Kitami Jun & Rumi Shimada
Series Character involved: Reina Akikawa
Car: Ferrari Testarosa
Conflict: Struggling with Lung Cancer
Sacrifice: His *sick* life
Compensation: Had the race of his life/ the Z saved him.
Aftermath: Retired from racing after operation

Perfect GT-R

Main Character Involved: Koichi Hiramoto
Supporting Character: Harada/Haruda & Matsu
Series Character Involved: Kitami Jun
Car: None, bought a BNR32 GT-R Skyline
Conflict: Pregnancy Period of Megumi Hiramoto (his wife) and going against his oath to abstain from racing
Sacrifice: The birth of his son
Compensation: Built the greatest GT-R 'the best engine & the best muffler'
Aftermath: Sold the GT-R and went back to Miyazaki to reunite with Megumi, who accepted him back.

Monster Supra

Main Character Involved: Keiichiro Aizawa
Supporting Character: Koichiro Aizawa (Father) & Maki
Series Character Involved: Reina Akikawa
Car: Toyota Supra JZA80
Conflict: Being told that Kei should retire from racing and build his future
Sacrifice: Friendship with Maki & Kohta
Compensation: The Perfect Supra was built, with 800HP tuned by Yamamoto, Ohta, Takagi, Tominaga, etc.
Aftermath: Went back regularly to college, quit his host club job & took up a job as a waiter in a family restaurant; received his Detuned & repainted Supra.

R200 Club

Main Character Involved: Takayuki Kuroki
Supporting Character: Yasuhiko Miki, R200 Club team leader Motoki
Series Character Involved: Reina Akikawa
Car: Nissan Skyline GT-R R33
Conflict: The discussions of the R200 club and Mika's return
Sacrifice: Releasing all his workers and temporarily closing down FLAT racing Co.
Compensation: Completed his 800HP R33, won against Blackbird (which he didn't know)
Aftermath: His R33 engine's 'still alive' and reunited with Mika.

Osaka Midnight

Main Character Involved: Eiji Kamiya
Supporting Character: Maki Kamiya, Eriko Kamiya, Kazuo Ohta
Series Character Involved: Kitami Jun
Car: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 5 GSR
Conflict: Reluctant to go to Tokyo; Still can't accept Maki as a 'legitimate' brother and is overly responsible for him
Sacrifice: Leaving his job as the family business' head
Compensation: Had his Evo rebuilt and upgraded by RGO's Rikako, developed a *hint of a* relationship with Rikako.
Aftermath: Went home to Osaka and tells Maki his true feelings

Legendary FC

Main Character Involved: Koichi Kijima
Supporting Character: Reina Akikawa, Machida, Gatchan Sasaki, Kazuhiko Yamamoto, Ko Tominaga
Series Character Involved: Reina Akikawa & Akio Asakura
Car: (first) Used a Porsche 911/Mazda RX-8 as a demo car, ZERO Mazda FC3S RX-7 GT-X
Conflict: Retired from Racing and now wishes to go back after being reminded of the FC.
Sacrifice: His reputation as the host of Drive Go Go (didn't lose his job but puts it on the line, not to mention losing interest in it as well)
Compensation: Finds his FC3S at the hands of Hayashi
Aftermath: ???? (this is where the anime ends and I can't tell the aftermath with Kijima whether he remade ZERO, went back to his normal life, etc.)

If anyone could fill the gaps with the one above; any corrections with regards to the content/details... we'd be able to understand the entire Wangan midnight Series better.

Here are some other Story Arcs that left us dumbfounded; except for those who have the Manga and can understand Kanji well enough *coughRITNinjacough*

The Asakasa Straight (Masaki story arc)
Garage ACE (Tomoya story arc)
Legendary F1 Turbine (Makoto Morishita Arc) <- although we heard in the Monster supra arc; this was mentioned by Yamamoto on one of the episodes.
FD Master (Ogishima story arc)

All information that can be discussed is well appreciated. I've yet to understand these other arcs' involvement with the Devil Z if their content either repeats the ones above or is very different altogether.
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RIT_ninja
Posted: Aug 4 2011, 10:08 AM
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here's the formula in a nutshell lol:

1. Akio meets new character
2. Character gets new car/tunes car
3. Character meets Blackbird
4. They race
5. More tuning
6. Final race, usually the Story arc character gives up, then the Blackbird
7. Devil Z wins
8. Aftermath of the character and move onto next arc

What I thought would've been a perfect ending for Wangan Midnight would be to finish off where Shima and Akio started:
Eriko comes back from England after studying abroad and realize Shima and Akio are still racing and tries to stop them. Reina tries to get laid with Akio but failed with rejection from him...something like "I'm sorry Reina, but my virginity belongs to the Devil Z" or something. Blackbird and Devil Z goes off for a final race (like in Midnight R) Eriko sits in Shima's car as they race and realize Blackbird and Devil Z can never stop running...the series can end with Blackbird and Devil Z side by side, letting the reader decide who's the victor

a better idea is to show the original barricade, closing off the lane, ending the series with Akio struggling to maintain 1st place while the Devil Z slides to avoid the cones...either way, Wangan Midnight deserved an open ending
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Gunma's 34
Posted: Aug 4 2011, 03:37 PM
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Maybe that's where Maxi tune comes into play?

RIT, do you have any idea for the 'missing-manga-only-arcs' for their pattern?
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RIT_ninja
Posted: Aug 4 2011, 05:49 PM
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Maximum Tune isn't missing any story arcs, they're missing the proper cars...minor cars that can cost them expensive license such as the Porsches, Ferraris, and license they can't obtain...Honda

this shows the list of cars appeared in WM so far:
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B9%BE%E5%....81.9F.E8.BB.8A

This post has been edited by RIT_ninja on Aug 4 2011, 05:52 PM
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Gunma's 34
Posted: Aug 5 2011, 04:22 AM
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What I was actually referring to was the content of the arcs like, what is the current life of these Characters (Tomoya, Makoto, Ogishima) Rather than read it from WMMT, a sample of it like a manga screenshot or something. (Example is Koichi Kijima hosting Drive Go Go, doing the trademark Check-mark-finger at the end of the show, or featuring Kuroki & Yasuhiko's tuning shops) and who are the other characters involved with their arcs (example is Koyama who was missing in WMMT even as a side character but was on the Manga and Anime with Kuroki)
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RIT_ninja
Posted: Aug 5 2011, 07:44 PM
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QUOTE (Gunma's 34 @ Today, 4:22 AM)
What I was actually referring to was the content of the arcs like, what is the current life of these Characters (Tomoya, Makoto, Ogishima) Rather than read it from WMMT, a sample of it like a manga screenshot or something. (Example is Koichi Kijima hosting Drive Go Go, doing the trademark Check-mark-finger at the end of the show, or featuring Kuroki & Yasuhiko's tuning shops) and who are the other characters involved with their arcs (example is Koyama who was missing in WMMT even as a side character but was on the Manga and Anime with Kuroki)

actually quite a handful, but I can't remember...
but if those characters are somewhat significant, it should be on the Japanese wiki page
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