The official website for Kodansha’s Weekly Young Magazine announced on Friday that Shuuichi Shigeno will launch the Subaru and Subaru (Subaru to Subaru) manga series in the magazine in July. The new manga continues the shared storyline of Shigeno’s Initial D and MF Ghost manga, and it follows two characters named Subaru who inherited the spirit of the “fastest on the public roads.”
In the new manga, the fate of the young female driver Subaru Satō is set in motion when she meets the Initial D character Bunta. The story also follows Subaru Kudō, a young man who appears before MF Ghost characters Ogata and Aiba. (The names of the two Subarus have the same pronunciation, but are written with different kanji characters.) The announcement previews some panels from the new manga which tease a possible connection between Subaru Satō and the Initial D character Mako Satō.
Shigeno launched his Initial D manga in Young Magazine in 1995 and ended it in July 2013. Tokyopop published the beginning of that manga in North America, and Kodansha Comics and Comixology are offering the complete manga in English. The manga inspired several television anime series, a live-action film, several original video anime projects, and a successful game line. The manga inspired a 2001 anime film and a trilogy of anime films, the third of which opened in February 2016.
Shigeno launched the MF Ghost manga in Young Magazine in September 2017, and ended it this past February. The 23rd and final compiled book volume shipped in Japan on Friday. Kodansha USA Publishing is releasing the manga in English, and it describes the story:
The author of Initial D has roared back onto the track with another hit! In a near future where cars have mostly switched over to sustainable power, combustion engine racing is a rarity. The MFG is the last major race for this dying breed, and half-Japanese Kanata Rivington has come back to try his luck. But that’s not all he’s come to Japan to do…he’s searching for his father, too. Can even the ambitious Kanata accomplish all he’s set out to do?
The first season of MF Ghost’s anime adaptation premiered in October 2023. Crunchyroll streamed the season as it aired in Japan. The second season debuted on October 6, and Crunchyroll also streaming the season with English subtitles and an English dub. The third season will premiere next year.
Sources: Young Magazine’s website, PR Times, Mantan Web
