Manga / MF Ghost

Due to the nature of being a sequel, all spoilers for Initial D are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

In the year 202X, traditional combustion engine based cars have been almost completely replaced by electric self-driving cars in the Western world and are becoming a rare sight even in developing countries. In this time of change in automotive industry, a Japanese racing series known as MFG, created by a mysterious figure known only as Ryo Takahashi, is gaining popularity worldwide. The series is mainly dominated by foreign made AWD sports cars utilizing sequential transmissions and various high tech devices. The only domestic car making it into the top 10 is the Nissan GT-R NISMO driven by Shun Aiba. Shun is in love with one of the MFG cheerleaders called Number 7 (real name: Ren Saionji) and tries to impress her by winning a race, but completely fails in his attempts.

During this time, a 19 year old Japanese-British racer called Kanata Livington comes to Japan for the first time in his life to look for his missing father. Kanata moves over to Ren's house for his stay and she quickly falls for him. To help find his father, Kanata decides to go race in the MFG under his father's surname. To do so, he uses an old Toyota GT86 belonging to a friend of Ren's father called Ogata and becomes fast friends with Shun. To everyone's surprise, Kanata proves to be a phenomenally skilled racer and rises to 15th place in his first race, despite his antiquated car and it soon turns out that Kanata is the pupil of none other than the famous Japanese rally driver, Takumi Fujiwara.

MF Ghost is the official sequel for the long running racing manga, Initial D, created by Shuuichi Shigeno. The first chapter of the manga was released in September 4th, 2017 on the Young Magazine.

At the end of December 2021, an anime adaptation by Felix Film was announced. It began airing in October 2023. Following the airing of the final episode in mid-December the same year, a second season was confirmed for an indeterminate date in 2024.

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MF Ghost provides examples of:

• Call-Back: The interaction between Kanata and Ren after his first race in the MFG mirrors the first meeting between Takumi and Mika.
• Car Porn: Much more varied this time around. Besides of all the JDM cars, we also get to see plenty of foreign produced super cars making an appearance.

• End of an Age: One of the main themes of the manga is the relevance of racing in a time when the age of combustion engine based cars has come to an end, drivers themselves are no longer needed because of autonomous cars and the popularity of motorsports is decreasing rapidly.
• No OSHA Compliance: While it was understandable in Initial D where all the races were illegal Blood Sport, everyone in the MFG League is suspiciously lacking standard safety equipment like helmets, racing suits and roll cages that you'd expect to see in an organized motorsports event.
• Nostalgia Filter: Many characters look back to the age of combustion engine cars nostalgically and consider racing done with electric cars to be boring.
• Technology Porn: Just like Initial D, the elaborate details of the cars and their minute technical quirks are discussed extensively, with lovingly detailed interior and component close-ups.
• 20 Minutes into the Future: Technology in the year 202X mostly seems to be on par with our current world, with the exception of the wide scale adoption of autonomous cars.
• What a Piece of Junk: Just like how nobody at first took Takumi's old, beaten AE86 seriously in Initial D, nobody at first takes Kanata's old, beaten GT86, which is the first-gen variant from before the facelift and engine upgrade, any more seriously. What makes it perform well in Kanata's hands is the inherent well-balanced design of the car's lightweight frame, which allows it to perform with a nimble, stable profile during the downhill mountain pass course sections in a manner that brings out Kanata's skills as trained by Takumi.