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Initial D Creator's MF Ghost Inspires Limited Edition Hachiroku

The glory of the Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno lives on in Shuuichi Shigeno's MF Ghost manga. The near future racing story has featured multiple call backs to Shigeno's earlier Initial D series, including character Takumi Fujiwara's favorite drift mobile. The new series focuses on Kanata Livington in the 2020s and his own red Hachiroku.

MF Ghost has garnered its own popularity and recently reached the one million published copies milestone. Car manufacturer Toyota is teaming up with the series to create a one-of-a-kind Hachiroku, the 86 MFG Concept 2019 model. The concept car was created under the supervision of real racecar drivers Juichi Wakisaka and Tetsuya Yamano. Toyota reached out to 11 automobile part manufacturers to make the futuristic car a reality.

Young Magazine's official website for the custom car is touting a 2 million yen (US$18,380) price tag for the customization alone.

The car will be on display at the Tokyo Auto Salon 2019 event at Makuhari Messe in Chiba from January 11-13. Staff will announce the newest member of the racing queen team based on the manga, the MFG Angels, at the event. Lucky fans can purchase one of the limited edition Initial D x MF Ghost clear files at the show, limited to just 1,000 sets.

The 86 MFG Concept 2019 is available via lottery. Applications opened on January 7 and will be accepted until February 28 just before midnight JT.

MF Ghost takes place in the 2020s, when self-driving cars are ubiquitous in Japan. The manga centers on Kanata Livington, a Japanese driver who goes back to Japan after graduating at the top of his class at a racing school in England. The series also focuses on the MFG, a racing circuit on public roads that has garnered attention worldwide.

Shigeno launched MF Ghost in Young Magazine on September 4. The manga has more than one million copies in print, and Kodansha published the manga's fourth volume on January 4.

Source: Young Magazine, Comic Natalie