Customer Reviews

Project X - Datsun Fairlady Z (Project X 240Z Challengers)

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This manga tells the story of the development of the Datsun 240Z. It depicts the challenges faced by the designers and proponents of the vehicle, both from within the company and from market forces. It depicts the businessmen involved properly, as heroic individuals, who overcome obstacle after obstacle in their pursuit of success. The manga demonstrates the virtues necessary for businesspeople to succeed.

I've said this before in my blog, but these Project X books are the kind of books I wished I'd studied in business school: As case studies in product design, as primers on the business culture differences between the US and Japan, as studies in how far people will go to succeed--the Project X books are simply fascinating.

While I'm not a Datsun fan myself, I am certainly more informed about the car now. But more importantly, what I found most appealing about this book, was how the creators manage to make the reader feel the importance of what's happening.

Put it this way: To the outside observer, watching some middle managers try to make a business venture work probably sounds as fun as reading a Powerpoint presentation--but Akira Yokoyama is able to make the reader feel like they're watching something epic and monumental, conveying exactly how the business people in this tale are feeling as they work hard to make their shared dream a reality.

I got this book not knowing what it was. A comic book read backwards, and right to left to boot. I thought I was getting a history book on Nissan and the Z car development.
It was a Great Book! It had a lot of early drawings of Datsun products and really told a great story and put all the Datsun characters and history into place. It was a light reading book and can be read in one evening. It will be in my Datsun book collection forever!