MF Ghost Vol. 1

MFゴースト [MF Ghost] #1

by Shuichi Shigeno

The author of Initial D has roared back onto the track with another hit! In a near future where cars have mostly switched over to sustainable power, combustion engine racing is a rarity. The MFG is the last major race for this dying breed, and half-Japanese Kanata Rivington has come back to try his luck. But that's not all he's come to Japan to do...he's searching for his father, too. Can even the ambitious Kanata accomplish all he's set out to do?

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels

194 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 5, 2018

About the author

Shuichi Shigeno (Japanese author profile: しげの秀一) is a manga artist, best known for the manga series Initial D. Shigeno has also created Bari Bari Densetsu, Dopkan, and Tunnel Nuketara Sky Blue ("First Love in Summer") all prior to the manga that would make him famous in 1995. In 1985, he received the Kodansha Manga Award in shōnen for Bari Bari Densetsu.

Reviews

[Natalie H · Rating 4 out of 5]

November 2023
Kindle edition
KU manga

I vaguely remember this one. Not the best art people wise but the cars and the action is there, although the high schooler angel thing is a bit weird.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

a Ghost of a Chance

I'm not sure what to tell you about MF Ghost. From the cover, it's clearly a racing manga. I have no strong feelings one way or the other -- just give me a good story.

From the beinning, I wasn't sure what to think. I like to give books a while to see where it goes. Some are slow; some reach out and drag you in pretty quickly. This first volume starts out pretty slow. I reached 60% of the book, and I'm thinking of dropping it. It's tiny scenes of story (going somewhere -- but where?) followed by several pages of race qualifier segments, which to me are fairly homogenous other than the different cars being used.

Then our protagonist Kanata is up for his pre-qual run, and the story kicks into high gear. Now, I must know. This volume ends well before any questions raised in that last third (ok, 40% for you math purists) are answered.

The artwork is...scratchier than I'm used to, even for manga. There are stunning scenes scattered throughout and are a treat. Twice as many of these views would not at all cramp the book.

There is reportedly an anime coming, and I think I will enjoy that better, but I will continue to read the manga. It became quite intruiging!

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been streaming my way through the anime on Crunchyroll, and reading through the prequel series, Initial D. It’s only natural to want to dive into this manga then. Two unfortunate things tho… First, this sequel is only available in digital form. So, boomers like me have to struggle our way through on often tiny devices—I’m spoiled for those big, bulky, omnibus Kodansha new releases of Initial D. Second, the misogyny of the first series remains. The anime tries its best to excise some of the crassest bits, but it’s there.

With those caveats in mind, the car races are definitely more intense. The car art is every bit as impeccable as the preceding series. Character art is much improved too, but depictions of emotion can be quite comical with lips operating a lot like the claymation efforts in Mr Bill (Google it, you whipper snappers).

Oh, and a third negative… if you haven’t finished the first series, there will be spoilers. Both series can be read independent of each other, however. The parties founding, creating the rules, and managing MFG Racing will just remain more mysterious if you have not yet read Initial D.

[Sean Deleon Adriano · Rating 5 out of 5]

initial d comes back

I fell in love when initial d came out and was sad to see it end. I never got the chance to get into the manga, but the anime was great! I was excited to see an add about this new anime that reminded me of initial d and found the manga. I finished this volume real quick and can’t wait to read the next. I’m glad it’s here for prime readers or I might have put a hold on spending a couple bucks to read this. I love how the art style is still similar to the old. I also like how the story is similar with just enough of a twist to make it fresh for a new audience. I’m curious about how the girl will play into this story, because I was a little disappointed about how the other girls story played out. I actually felt bad. MF Ghost started off fresh and can’t wait to keep reading.

[Charley Schnuff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Die Reihe scheint ganz interessant zu sein - daher habe ich einfach mal den ersten Teil gelesen und fand ihn nicht schlecht. Kanata ist 19 Jahre alt, als er in die Heimat seines Vaters, Japan, fliegt, um diesen dort zu finden. Seine englische Mutter ist kurze Zeit vorher verstorben und er wohnt bei Freunden des Paares.
Dort lernt er Ren kennen.
Seine große Leidenschaft ist der Motorsport. Bereits in England war er damit sehr erfolgreich und daher möchte er auch in Japan mitspielen und meldet sich für das MFG-Rennen an.

Mir haben die Zeichnungen sehr gut gefallen, vor allem von den Landschaften. Auch spannende Szenen wurden sehr gut eingefangen.

[Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

More racing from the author of Initial D, including some cameos from Initial D characters. This one is set in the future but it's another story of an unknown racer surprising folks with their skills. Cars are not usually my thing but it's a classic underdog story, with a couple extra subplots and like Initial D, I'm not exactly sure what makes it compelling but so far it is. Conveniently also available to read for free via Amazon Prime.

[Rabid Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only watched Initial D as an anime series, so I was curious to see what was next by Shigeno-San. I loved this new new series taking the enigmatic Ryosuke Takahashi story further into the future in this sports manga. I finished volumes 1 to 19 in this series, but I'm only marking the first and last volumes I read in goodreads.

[Ldota · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the Motorsports Afficionado

It is a very interesting story so far. If you love cars and understand some of the nuances of Motorsports, then you will enjoy this series.

I find it easy and convenient to read this on the Kindle app on the iPad.

[Lea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can’t get over how ugly the art style is for this. The cars and backgrounds look great, but every human person looks like a middle schooler drew it. Also most of the adult men are super lecherous at an underage girl, it’s gross.

[Mehsi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too sure about this one. The racing was fun, but the art was not that good and the characters at times seemed to be all the same. XD

[z3r0 c00l]

01/01/22

[Cell · Rating 3 out of 5]

用照片當背景的頻率也太高了吧
另外，有江之島海蠟燭的其中一張照片用了3次了喔
--
畢竟半個月(2023/03)前才去過

[Jacob Rosario · Rating 3 out of 5]

whole manga:
not as boring as the boring parts of initial d but not as exciting as the exciting parts of initial d. lacks the character. but he does good with this current period of automobiles