Act 5

Tuner From Hell (地獄のチューナー Jigoku no Chūnā) is the fifth Act of the Wangan Midnight anime adaptation.

Story[]

Akio and Ishida begin battling it out on the Wangan Line, with Reina noticing the Red GT-R approaching them. The GT-R drivers attempt to overtake both the Testarossa and the Devil Z. However, after the GT-R overtakes the Devil Z, the GT-R crashes in an attempt to avoid the merging truck, thus leaving Rumi (who was riding alongside Akio) shocked. Thankfully, Akio and Ishida manage to avoid the GT-R. Soon, the police arrive to instruct drivers about the wrecked car. The Devil Z and the Testarossa continue down towards the Wangan Line, with Ishida telling Reina that they'll need to get onto the Tohmei Expressway, as due to the accident, they'll have to stay off the Wangan for the time being.

The Testarossa soon begins slowing down, thus leaving the Devil Z victorious. As it turned out, the drive belt on the Testarossa snapped, thus Ishida needs a replacement. Ishida then notes that due to Reina wearing pants, there's a low chance she could be wearing pantyhose, Ishida then walks over to a Sprinter Trueno parked nearby, and asks the couple if he can buy the pantyhose that the woman is wearing, due to the highly durable nature pantyhose has. Meanwhile, Akio tells Rumi that he's going on a ride on the Hakone mountains, despite Akio saying that he's not that big of a fan due to the abundance of corners. Rumi is shocked at the speed Akio is going at, like its something out of a movie.

The Testarossa is then seen driving on the C1 loop, and Ishida notices that the Devil Z has retruned, Akio then speeds up as the Devil Z overtakes the Testarossa on the narrow road. Akio then tells Rumi that he feels like the Devil Z is trying to kill herself, with Akio telling Rumi that he'll attempt to stop that, as the Devil Z outruns the Testarossa.

The next day, Yamamoto phones Reina after her shift is over, telling her that he found the owner of the Devil Z. Yamamoto then tells Reina that he use to know the Devil Z's tuner years ago, and then promises that Reina won't ask him to tune her GT-R, as Yamamoto doesn't want her GT-R to become dangerous to drive. Reina and Yamamoto then walk over to a cycling shop, with Jun Kitami appearing behind them. Meanwhile, Akio is back in-class, with Rumi being relieved that he's attending school again. Yamamoto then asks Kitami about his history with the Devil Z, with Kitami denying such a car being made by him, as he's put together over 1000 engines.

Yamamoto then tells Reina and Ishida that he first met Ishida 20 years ago on the Fuji Speedway. Back then, Yamamoto was a private tuner, tuning up cars to beat the Rotary Engined machines. However one day, a private S30Z driven by Kitami took the pole position, but that immense power backfired, causing the car to crash out early. A month later, Kitami got into an accident with the Z on the Tohmei expressway, but returned 2 years later. During the time of the Tohmei races, drivers who were racing in Kitami-tuned cars sustained serious injuries one-after-another, as no one was able to control the powerful cars tuned by him, thus giving him the nickname, "The Tune from Hell". Despite the injuries, people were obsessed with Kitami's cars, noting that he was able to tune any car. Due to the frequent accidents, people stopped getting there cars tuned up by Kitami, seeking more lighter tuners. Kitami then tuned up one last car, that being the Devil Z itself. However, Kitami's shop went into bankruptcy, and no one heard from him afterwards.

Meanwhile, Akio tells Ko-chan that the Devil Z's power dips around 5,000rpm, with Ko-chan noting that it'll be good to match its pace with him. Akio then says that he feels like the Z doesn't want to run anymore. Kou-chan then tells Akio that cars are just machines, with Akio agreeing on that. Akio then tells Kou-chan that he'll be needing to overhaul the Z's engine, with Ko-chan doubting that he can do it.

Later that night, Reina and Yamamoto stop by Kitami's cycle shop, telling Kitami that the Z is alive once again. Kitami tells Reina that he's not interested seeing it once again, but Kitami soon joins then in order to check and see if the rumours are true or not.

Reina, Kitami and Ishida then begin looping around the Tokyo Expressway, with Kitami compilating the tune-up Yamamoto is known for. The Devil Z soon approaches the GT-R, and easily catches up to it. Kitami is shocked that the Z is alive once again, as the Devil Z begins outrunning the GT-R. Kitami then notes that the Devil Z will eventually die in its current state.

Differences from the Manga[]

Trivia[]

This is the first episode to not feature either Tatsuya Shima or his Porsche.
This is the first time in the series where the police are shown.
This is the first episode to feature the Hakone route in.

Errors[]

At the 5:10 mark, the Devil Z is shown with silver mirrors instead of blue ones

Quotes[]

Characters (in order of appearance)[]

Cars (in order of appearance)[]

Nissan Fairlady Z (S30)
Ferrari Testarossa (F110)
Nissan Skyline GT-R (BNR32) (The Feeling Team's)
Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX (AE86)
Nissan Skyline GT-R (BNR32) (Reina's)

Music[]

Knock Down - Kurubusi