Wangan Midnight is a 2007 Japanese anime television series based on Michiharu Kusunoki's award winning manga series of the same name.^[1] OB Planning (Initial D) announced the production of the animated series during the Tokyo Anime Fair in March 2007.^[2] Aired on a pay-per-view channel of Animax in June 2007,^[2] the series was co-produced by OB Planning, A.C.G.T., and Pastel under the direction of Tsuneo Tominaga and consists of twenty-six episodes. The series was released on DVD with the thirteenth volume reaching 29th on the Oricon sales chart for Japanese animation DVDs in November 2008.^[3]

With 26 episodes, the series is split into four arcs. The first arc is the "Return of the Devil Z" arc, which focuses on Akio Asakura as he gets a rusty blue Nissan Fairlady Z (S30) after losing a race to a mysterious Porsche 911 driven by Tatsuya Shima, and dubbed "Blackbird". Nicknamed the "Devil Z" due to suffering from numerous accidents, Akio starts a rivalry with Blackbird for Wangan superiority, but tries to keep the car from crashing and also must deal with a young woman who is revealed to be the sister of the original owner of the Devil Z, who died in a crash while racing with Blackbird. Meanwhile, other racers are seeking to start a rivalry with the resurrected Devil Z and Blackbird such as Reina Akikawa, a fashion model and television host who drives a Nissan Skyline GT-R R32 and Yoshiaki Ishida, a photographer who drives a white Ferrari Testarossa. It also introduces Jun Kitami, the creator of the Devil Z and Blackbird who is now a bike shop owner. The "Perfect GT-R" arc focuses on Koichi Hiramoto, a young man who gave up on street racing to focus on his family, but comes out of retirement to face the Devil Z and Blackbird. Meanwhile, the Devil Z is destroyed after it crashes into a truck, but gets rebuilt and races again afterward. The "Monster Machine" arc focuses on Kei Aizawa, a host club worker and driver of the Toyota Supra who also seeks to defeat the Devil Z and Blackbird. The "R200 Club" arc focuses on a group of tuners who drive Nissan Skyline GT-R R33 cars that seek to outrun the Devil Z and Blackbird, alongside Reina's R32. Following this, Takayuki Kuroki, owner of FLAT racing and a former R200 Club before their disbandment, is also seeking to outrun the Devil Z and Blackbird as well. "The Hanshin Circular Line" arc focuses on Eiji and Maki Kamiya, two half-brothers from Osaka who both drive Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions, while the final arc "The Legendary FC" arc focuses on Koichi Kijima, a writer, car enthusiast, and TV show host who drives a Mazda RX7 FC3S and also seeks to oust the Devil Z and Blackbird. The arc missing from the series is the "Akasaka Straight" arc, that focused on Masaki.