MF Ghost

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Story:
Pretty boring overall
Very slow progression through each chapter
The interaction between each of the characters is repetitive. In one scene, two characters are doing something and in the next scene, another set of characters are doing the exact same thing. Things that should only take up couple pages end up taking multiple chapters
Each chapter's events are easy to guess just by reading couple of the beginning pages

Art:
The cars and the environment look great.
The characters look pretty bad, they do not look natural. It's the kind of style that may have passed in the 80s and the 90s, but would not pass today.
The disconnect between ... the drawing levels of the cars and the characters make the art a bit weird

Character:
MC has the personality of wet cardboard. Typical underdog character who magically has godlike skills. Appears out of nowhere with the abilities to beat everyone in his way

Overall:
Just read Initial D again, it's better

We follow Kanata Rivington. A half-British, half-Japanese racing prodigy who doesn't seem to be trying all that hard to look for his dad.
He's invited to participate in MFG. He does well because before the story even starts, he completed his entire training arc with retired protagonist turned pro-driving instructor, Takumi Fujiwara.


Story:
This is not Initial D.
Kanata does not go on a journey to be the fastest. He does not want to establish himself as a legend. He does not want to win the championship.
So what's the story here?
Unsure, but what it feels like is like a tour around Kanagawa. A love letter to Japanese food and ... culture and Initial D disguised as a sequel. And it doesn't even do that well.


Art:
The character design is fine...for the first few chapters.
After 160+ chapters, they all look more or less the same. At times, I can't tell them apart.
The background environments are photographs with filters, and I'm inclined to suggest that the cars are too.


Character:
You're in luck if you want to know what some Initial D characters have gotten up to in the last 20 years. They talk almost exclusively about themselves or give exposition when they appear as guest race commentators.
Other drivers are mostly absent outside of races, making it hard for the recurring cast to be memorable. Especially when they pose no threat and don't develop between races.
They are so disposable that two of them were written off when they went out drinking the night before a race and were hungover.
There's a romance side plot. The heroine doesn't believe in love at first sight until the moment she meets our protagonist in chapter 1. From there, she's obsessed and nothing goes wrong except her self-confidence.


Enjoyment:
More than half of these chapters are throwaways. There's a lot of cars racing at once, but the vast majority of the time, battles finish within 5 pages and aren't really that crazy. Races last about 40 chapters.
The stakes can't be low when they don't exist. Characters are one-dimensional, uninteresting, and lack polishing, development and motivation.
The protagonist has nothing to learn, nothing to gain, and nothing to lose.

2/10

I love initial d. In 2017, Shuichi Shigeno realized that the only way for himself to get money was to write manga about cars like he did 30 years ago. reading MF Ghost has been nothing but downright horrible ever since its debut. From seriously creepy character choices, straight up making stuff up about car functions, and the basic concept of a stock toyota beating out 911's and 488s is insane. I dont know how this man is even allowed to continue, let alone get his own anime (again.) I hope he puts down the pen and realizes that he peaked in the 90s and ... that he shouldve left it that way.

this is my first review, and I must say that I am mostly disappointed with this manga. first of all, there are too many characters, and keeping track of them are hard. most are cliched and stock character and the story, even after twelve volume is going nowhere. it really alarming when the true highlight moments are the reappearance of Initial D characters. the ML is simply a watered down version of Takumi Fujiwara, and as this is a futurefic, it really does not seem to have the integrated feeling like it's predecessor. the races, thanks to large number of participants, spans through long chapters, ... and becomes irksome despite great artwork.