The Shocking New MFG Generation (衝撃のMFG新世代, Shōgeki no MFG shin sedai) is the second episode of the MF Ghost anime adaptation.
Synopsis
In the first race of the MFG, Kanata participates in the qualifying round at Odawara Pike's Peak. In Sector 1's hill climb, attention is already drawn to Kanata's driving in his Toyota 86. As Kanata enters Sector 3's downhill section, despite it being his first race, he displays astonishing performance, putting himself within reach of the 15th position needed to qualify. There are 26 cars left. Kanata responds to Ogata's words with silence and focuses. However, on his path lies Hakone's ghost town shrouded in mist— the Death Area awaits.
Plot
Kanata speeds off to his qualification round while an AI controlled drone chases him as narrated by Yoji Tanaka, the commentator of MFG. Back at Ren's house, Mr. Saionji and Mrs. Saionji watches the event unfolding anxiously through their TV when Mr. Saionji notes about Kanata's last name in the event to be titled 'Katagiri' instead of 'Rivington'. Mayuko guesses it was to send a message about his missing father so that he may hear about his son searching for him. Mr. Saionji finds it surprising that even after his father leaving his family behind, Kanata still wants to search for him. Mayuko gets tearful upon thinking about Kanata and his motives and leaves the room.
Meanwhile back at MFG's race terminals, Ogata and Aiba keeps a watch on Kanata when Aiba makes a statement about Kanata's car getting the '86' number and how Kanata may be at a disadvantage of using a H pattern manual car while almost all other cars comes with superior paddle shifters. However they both stopped to suddenly realize that the computer screen was showing that Kanata was in the 54th position, which Aiba tells its a system error as an old car like an 86GT cannot reach this high position. However they were soon bewildered even more when the system shows his position getting down to 53rd. They realize it was not a system error as the computer had stuck an attention flag on Kanata's 86GT. This was also noted by a shocked Tanaka, who commentates that the only person who got an attention flag on their debut was Michael Beckenbauer. At the terminal, Ogata tried to explain to a puzzled Aiba about how Kanata's better cornering techniques may have helped him get over the other 200 racers with more powerful cars. Aiba still doesn't take his words as he thinks the MFG's 'grip to weight ratio' regulations would still have hindered Kanata's car in the competition. Ogata then gets a flashback of the him explaining to Kanata about the grip to weight ratio regulation where heavier cars require bigger tyres to compensate for the grip lost, which results to increased weight. This resulted in the rule being mocked as the "rich man's regulation" as the more expensive European sports and supercars comes are almost perfectly balanced without the need for further modifications. Kanata however finds this rule very interesting. When Kanata asks who could have come up with such a rule, Ogata mentions about MFG's executive organizer Ryo Takahashi, who has been very discrete from the public and nobody really knows much about him. Kanata thinks Takahashi is a genius.
Soon Kanata finished Sector 1 of the course while gaining the 52nd position and Ogata informs Kanata about the downhill section being next, prompting Kanata to switch the brake balance from front to rear. When Aiba and Ogata hears Kanata saying he will pick up the pace more, they were surprised to hear him say so. Ogata mentions to Aiba that Kanata did come from a prestigious racing school in England. After Kanata aggressively cleared a corner, he notes how well the car's brakes and overall balance was setup by Ogata as he pushes forward to the 48th position. Watching all this unfold, a bewildered Fumihiro contacts Ryo Takahashi, who was preparing for surgery at a hospital. When Fumihiro mentions about Kanata Katagiri, Ryosuke tells him to keep a watch on him, and tells that Kanata has the potential to figure out and overcome the regulation he had set for MFG. Ryosuke then hangs up the call for his surgery shortly afterwards, leaving a befuddled Fumihiro to figure out what Ryosuke meant by 'figuring out the rules'. Soon Kanata finishes the downhill section and reaches an uphill section while gaining on to the 44th position. When Kanata reports to Ogata about picking up the pace even further, an anxious Aiba takes Ogata's headsets and communicates with Kanata about how a rookie who doesn't know the course very well may risk the chances of death. However Kanata tells him that a movie of the course is playing in his head and decides to go radio silent for attaining more concentration. As the commentator reports of Kanata's venture into the downhill section, Ren Saionji watches the events unfold anxiously.
Back at the terminals, Aiba is visibly frustrated at Kanata for not abiding by his advices and tells how the things you learnt in a circuit or school wont apply in the real world. However as this is being said, Kanata keeps on gaining positions, which is being simultaneously noted by them as well as Fumihiro with the same shocked reaction. Seeing this, Aiba realized that Kanata is indeed aiming to reach the 'Godly Fifteen', which Ogata finds impossible to achieve in an 86GT, but Aiba plans on letting Kanata pick up his pace however he wants to. Ogata following Aiba's advice, informs Kanata that 26 cars are ahead of him in terms of position. That was all Kanata needed to know as he picked up the pace even further. Yoji Tanka excitedly comments about Kanata now entering the death area of Hakone, while Ren feels stupid for Kanata because he only told her about his visit to Japan for finding his missing father and never told her about his participation in MFG. Tanaka meanwhile comments how the eruption of Mount Fuji led to that part of Hakone being abandoned and getting choked by gases from the eruption, leading to a thick fog covering the area. As Ogata and Aiba anxiously watches Kanata's 86GT tear through the fog, Aiba tells Ogata that Kanata's understanding of the course helps him navigate through an area where even veterans tends to play safe. However he knows that understanding a 2D map isn't the same as experiencing the same road in reality. He then wonders whether the 'movie' Kanata mentioned before was the demo run on the course published on the official site. He still thinks its insane to remember a 40km long course. Ogata who begins to feel nauseous to see Kanata get past the 32nd position in the fog, is controlled by Aiba and later, Ogata informs Kanata of just 16 cars remaining.
As Kanata paces up even further, Aiba and Ogata realizes he had reached the 30th position where the points are scored. Aiba tells its the dream of every MFG participants to be inside the 30th position as they get certain benefits such as getting their car numbers highlighted in gold and other luxuries. However Ogata is way too anxious to even think about scoring the 'Godly Fifteen' position and just wants Kanata to return safely even if it costs him the car. Kanata, despite the the thick fog blocking most of the view ahead, kept racing as he took tight corners and gained the 25th position, hyping up the commentator Yoji Tanaka.
Soon Kanata exited the death area at such a pace that nobody was ready for what they were about to witness next. Immediately after the death area was a hairpin and to everyone's absolute shock, Kanata brakes and proceeds to drift across the hairpin. Fumihiro who was watching this unfold suddenly got a flashback a Panda Trueno AE86 drifting. Becoming tearful, he instantly recognized that move; Takumi Fujiwara's signature four wheel drift. Now in the 24th position, Ogata reminds Kanata of 9 more cars remaining, as Kanata proceeds to rip through the course.
Official Screenshots
Screenshots come from the Official MF Ghost Anime website.[1]
Differences from the Manga
- The section where Kanata passes a Honda S2000 (Car No. #270) in Chapter 10 while qualifying was not adapted to the anime.
- Ryo Takahashi's appearance is an anime only addition.
- The cameo of a yellow Mazda FD3S RX-7 on the death area is Keisuke Takahashi's car, which was in Initial D. It is also an anime-only addition.
- The flashback showcasing Takumi Fujiwara's Toyota AE86 drifting is also an addition to the anime.
Trivia
- This was the first episode to feature the Opening of the show, Jungle Fire.
- At 14:34, during Kanata's qualifying round, the FPS of a shot suddenly drops out.
- At 20:14, the subtitles of the Japanese Dub read as "Hard on the brakes as the steep downhill slope leads into a 90 left" despite the fact that the turn Kanata goes through was at the right-side direction. This mistake is also carried over to the English dub.
Quotes
Kanata Rivington: (Talking about Ryo Takahahi to Aiba) I think he might be incredibly smart. In Japanese, you'd call him a "tensai". A genius.
Ryo Takahashi: (Talking about Kanata) Keep your eyes on that driver Fumihiro
Fumihiro Joyu: (To himself) Well the AI's already got an attention flag on him, so...
Ryo Takahashi: He's got the potential to figure out and overcome the rule I introduced as part of MFG's new generation.
Fumihiro Joyu: (Upon witnessing Kanata's drift) I'm getting flashbacks. For a second, I saw that black-and-white Panda Trueno. That's Fujiwara Takumi's super high-speed four wheel drift!
Stats
Characters (in order of appearance)
Cars (in order of appearance)
- Toyota 86 GT
- Mazda ɛ̃fini RX-7 Type R (FD3S) (Flashback)
- Nissan GT-R Nismo (R35) (Flashback)
- Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX (AE86) (Flashback)
Music
- Jungle Fire feat. MOTSU by Yu Serizawa
- Red Light And Sex by Mega NRG Man
- Break Out Fire by Mega NRG Man
- Stereo Sunset by Himika Akaneya (Prod. AmPm)