Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Tag: kosuke fujishima

Manga Car Spotting: Honda Today police car – Nissan Skyline R30 – You’re Under Arrest part 5

Manga Cars

What do a Honda Today police car, Nissan Skyline R30 and Nissan Homy have in common? They are all driven by the police in You’re Under Arrest! And what do they use them for? To catch yakuza and young thugs walking waving their (paintball) guns around like it’s a featherduster! In this video I’ll spot all the cars and some motorcycles in the fifth part of this Dark Horse publication.

Manga Car Spotting - Honda Today Police car - You're Under Arrest part 5

You’re Under Arrest by Kosuke Fujishima

You’re Under Arrest was one of the first manga the young Kosuke Fujishima started to draw. As he was obsessed with cars and motorcycles this became the cornerstone of this manga series. The manga mainly involves the fictional Bokuto Police Station in Sumida, Tokyo. Two female police officers, Natsumi Tsujimoto and Miyuki Kobayakawa, are the main characters and both are clearly petrolheads. Miyuki is the more intelligent of the two girls and, next to her police officer job, she’s also a vivid (amateur) mechanic. She loves tinkering with cars, engines and motorcycles. Natsuki on the other hand is the brute of the duo and favors motorcycles over cars.

In this manga you can spot five cars and various motorcycles. The Honda Today police car is their daily patrol car and also received some love and attention from Miyuki. Yes it can keep up easily with a Lancia Delta Integrale. Another police car can be spotted: a Nissan Skyline R30. As this is supposed to be a high speed patrol car its origins were probably with the highway patrol units and later on this car trickled down to the local police station. Another interesting car to be spotted is a Nissan Violet T11 (also knowns as the Stanza or Auster).
Nissan Skyline R30 police special

The Ah! My Goddess manga may have made Kosuke Fujishima (world) famous, but it’s origins lie within the You’re Under Arrest manga. In one episode Natsuki and Miyuki encounter a goddess and this story inspired Kosuke Fujishima to create the Ah! My Goddess manga where the goddess Belldandy meets the student Keiichi Morrisato. I have also created a Manga Car Spotting episode for this series some time ago.
Toyota Liteace XL-7 AWD

You can find the video and the high resolution scans of the panels containing manga cars below:

Continue reading

Manga Car Spotting: Subaru R-2 SS – Nissan Skyline GT-R BNR32 – You’re Under Arrest part 1 to 4

Manga Cars

What do a Subaru R-2 SS, a Toyota Sports 800, a Honda Motocompo and a Honda Today have in common? They are all driven by the police in You’re Under Arrest! And what do they use them for? Naturally to chase down fast cars like Toyota Supra A70s and Nissan Skyline GT-Rs in the early 90s! In this video I’ll spot all the cars and some motorcycles in the first four parts of this Dark Horse publication.

Manga Car Spotting - You're Under Arrest - Subaru R-2 SS

You’re Under Arrest by Kosuke Fujishima

You’re Under Arrest was one of the original series the young Kosuke Fujishima started to draw. As he was obsesses with cars and motorcycles this naturally became part of the manga series. The series revolve around the fictional Bokuto Police Station in Sumida, Tokyo. The two protagonists are the female police officers Natsumi Tsujimoto and Miyuki Kobayakawa who share a healthy petrolhead mentality. Natsumi prefers motorbikes over cars and is the more physical of the duo. Miyuki on the other hand loves cars and loves to wrench on them whenever she can. She is also the brains of the duo.

In this manga various (in)famous cars and motorbikes can be spotted. The duo drives around in a Honda Today police special, which has been blessed by Miyuki’s wrenching skills and can easily keep up with Toyota Supras and Lancia Delta Integrales. Another frequent visitor is the foldable Honda Motocompo that resides in the trunk of the Honda Today for, whatever reason possible, Natsuki to chase some bad guys downtown Tokyo. Also the Subaru R-2 SS mentioned in the introduction plays a big role on one of the story: the owner of the Subaru R-2 SS gets this car nicked and Natsuki ends up buying it. That just screams for a motorcycle engine swap!
Subaru R-2 SS police special

The Ah! My Goddess manga may have made Kosuke Fujishima (world) famous, but it’s origins lie within the You’re Under Arrest manga. In one episode Natsuki and Miyuki encounter a goddess and this story inspired Kosuke Fujishima to create the Ah! My Goddess manga where the goddess Belldandy meets the student Keiichi Morrisato. I have also created a Manga Car Spotting episode for this series some time ago.
Toyota Liteace XL-7 AWD

You can find the video and the high resolution scans of the panels containing manga cars below: Continue reading

Manga Car Spotting: Shelby GT350 and Koenig Porsche 928 – Ah! My Goddess

Manga Cars

What do a Shelby GT350, a widebody Koenig Porsche 928 and a 3WD Mazda T2000 truck have in common? They are all featured in this fifth episode of reading spotting manga cars! I’ll read these two Japanese mangas of Ah! My Goddess and I found 13 different cars in it!
Mazda T2000 NIT CC special

Ah! My Goddess by Kosuke Fujishima

The story revolves around a student called Keiichi Morisato. He attends the Nekomi Institute of Technology (NIT) in the fictional Japanese town called Nekomi in the Chiba prefecture. Kosuke Fujishima modelled Nekomi after his own home town: Chiba.

Keiichi has to take calls for his fellow sempai in his dorm. He get’s hungry, so he decides to order a pizza and dials the wrong number. Instead of the pizza delivery he actually phones the Goddess Helpline who will help anyone in distress. After some wrong assumptions Keiichi decides his sempai are probably pulling a prank with him and he wishes that the Goddess in front of him stays with him for the remainder of his life. That’s basically the beginning of the Ah! My Goddess story.

So what’s the connection with cars and motorcycles then? Well, Kosuke Fujishima is a petrolhead who loves cars and motorcycles. Keiichi is probably his likeness and is into cars and motorcycles as well. He’s also member of the NIT CC: the Nekomi Institute of Technology Car Club and this obviously helps to increase the number of motorized vehicles in this manga!

You can find the video and the high resolution scans of the panels containing manga cars below:

Continue reading

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