is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series written and illustrated by Michiharu Kusunoki. It was serialized in

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''

Weekly Young Magazine is a Japanese weekly anthology magazine published in Tokyo each Monday by Kodansha. The magazine started on June 16, 1980, and is targeted at the adult male () demographic. It was published bimonthly (under the title ), on the second and fourth ...

'' from 1986 to 1996, with its chapters collected in 32 ''

tankōbon A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...

'' volumes. It follows the adventures of two friends interested in ''shakotan'', the Japanese term for

lowrider A lowrider or low rider is a customized car with a lowered body that emerged among Mexican American youth in the 1940s. ''Lowrider'' also refers to the driver of the car and their participation in lowrider car clubs, which remain a part of Chi ...

s. While getting into trouble, picking up girls, and street racing, these two guys have a blast in the world of Shakotan.

Characters

; :The main characters of the story and classmates, who cruise around in their Soarer getting into all sorts of trouble. They like to pick up girls, deal with bosozoku and chinpira, and run from police. Their Soarer has number "67" decals on bonnet and doors, and is white with blue and pink accentuations. They drive a

Toyota Soarer The is a Personal luxury car, personal luxury Grand tourer, GT coupé produced from 1981 to 2005 by Toyota and sold in Japan. It was available at both Japanese Toyota dealerships called ''Toyota Store'' and ''Toyopet Store'', and it debuted wit ...

2800GT (MZ11). Hajime also owns a Toyota Celsior (UCF10). ; :A driver of a dump truck, whose Nissan Fairlady Z (S30) is always driving very fast (akin to Akio Asakura's Devil Z). Akira's S30Z had a bored and stroked version of the original engine and was also bodykitted with "G-nose" package with "Yanky Mate!" label on its golden-colored chassis, thus called "Akira Z". He had a

drag racing Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, mos ...

battle with Hajime's Soarer. ; :A man who owns a repairing shop (a reference to

Ruf Automobile Ruf Automobile GmbH (stylized as RUF) is a German car manufacturer. Formerly using Porsche body in white, bodies in white to build cars, today they build vehicles on their own bodies and chassis. They also manufacture performance parts for vari ...

). He is also tuning people's cars (including his Skyline). His

Nissan Skyline The is a brand of automobile originally produced by the Prince Motor Company starting in 1957, and then by Nissan after the two companies merged in 1967. After the merger, the Skyline and its larger counterpart, the Nissan Gloria, were sold in ...

2000 GT-R (KPGC10) (known as Hakosuka, or Boxy Skyline) has a tuned L28 engine and some useful performance enhancements such as an external oil cooler and later turbocharging. However, during a battle with Mayumi the 7th, his Skyline quickly got wiped out, and crashed into barriers, but he managed to repair it. He had dreamt of driving his Skyline in

Fuji Speedway is a motorsport race track standing in the foothills of Mount Fuji, in Oyama, Shizuoka, Oyama, Suntō District, Shizuoka, Suntō District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It was built in the early 1960s. In the 1980s, Fuji Speedway was used for the ...

, and was interested in cars and women. ; :A mysterious woman which was often called "The Legendary Street Racer", and works at

snack bar A snack bar usually refers to an inexpensive food counter that is part of a permanent structure where snack foods and light meals are sold. Description A beach snack bar is often a small building situated high on the sand. Besides soft drink ...

, she drives a rotary engined

Mazda RX-7 The Mazda RX-7 is a front mid engine, Rear-wheel drive, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car, manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 through 2002 across three generations, all of which incorporated the use of a compact, light ...

, and is very fast in the touge racing even in corners. She defeated Junichi's C10 Skyline on

Hakone is a List of towns in Japan, town in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had a population of 10,965, and total area of . Hakone is a notable spa town and a popular tourist destination due to its many onsen, hot springs being within view of ...

, and also races with Akira and Hajime. Her RX-7 has two tone colorings, which was popular color design among 1980s with the introduction of AE86 and S13, and with red-colored bumpers. In the third episode of OVA anime, she appears to use a manual boost controller.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Michiharu Kusunoki, ''Shakotan Boogie'' was first published as a one-shot for the

's ''

''s competition project, ''Kayō Manga Daizenshū'', which ran from 1984 to 1985. It started its serialization in ''Weekly Young Magazine'' in 1986 and finished in 1996. Kodansha collected its chapters in 32 ''

'' volumes, released from March 14, 1986, to August 3, 1996.

Live-action film

live-action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games or ...

film adaptation produced by

Toei Company , simply known as Toei Company or Toei, is a Japanese entertainment company. Headquartered in Ginza, Chūō, Tokyo, it is involved in film and television production, distribution, video game development, publishing, and ownership of 34 movi ...

was released in 1987.

Original video animation

A four-episode

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...

(OVA), animated by

Pierrot Pierrot ( , ; ), a stock character of pantomime and commedia dell'arte, has his origins in the late 17th-century Italian troupe of players performing in Paris and known as the Comédie-Italienne. The name is a hypocorism, diminutive of ''Pierr ...

, was released from February 6, 1991, to July 17, 1992.

References

External links

* {{Pierrot films 1986 manga 1991 anime OVAs Japanese auto racing films Kodansha manga Motorsports in anime and manga Pierrot (company) Seinen manga Toei Company films Yankī anime and manga