
You knew it was coming. After last week’s QotW about the best Nihon car movie star, we now grill you about the Japanese art form known manga and its in-motion equivalent.
What Japanese car is the biggest manga/anime star?
Being the hachi-head that I am my personal (and the most obvious) choice would have been Initial D‘s Tofu Delivery Special, as it probably hooked more Americans on drifting, and by extension old RWD Japanese cars in general, than anything else. But I was outvoted by Kev and John, who formed their own zoku and crowned the Z10 Soarer from Shakotan Boogie as king.
Michiharu Kusunoki‘s coming-of-age tale about cars, girls, and getting into trouble with both of them predates his seminal 1999 work Wangan Midnight by 13 years. Protagonists Hajime and Koji’s misadventures in a white-and-blue first-gen Toyota Soarer drove the story, delving into the world of the low-level bosozoku. The manga was so popular that many cars from it have been replicated in real life, and not just for the subsequent live-action movie.
What say you, dear reader? As always, the most entertaining, well-written, or inspiring comment by next Monday will receive a random JDM toy. Click through to see the best comment from last week’s question, “Which Japanese car was the biggest movie star?” Continue reading →