Think of Japanese pop culture and you might picture gun-totting robots fighting some deep-sea monster while a J-rock anthem plays in the background. However, anime and manga go hand-in-hand with Japanese cars and that is proven with every petrolhead’s favourite tofu delivery boy terrorising mountain roads in a Toyota Corolla.

Okay, so it’s technically the Corolla’s more sports-oriented twin but unlike the action-packed Japanese comic series, Toyota’s own commemoration to its long-lasting and most popular model ever is a bit more on the lighter "slice of life" angle.

Unfortunately, the manga is written in Japanese so you’re forced to open up a translator app on your phone to get some garbled English translation to read it. Regardless, the essence of the Corolla-themed comic series is to tell a story for each decade of the model’s existence.

With over 50 million cars sold, spanning across 12 generations, the manga series, entitled “Everyday Good, Corolla” consists of 5 stories or episodes. Each story is inspired by a photo submitted by a Corolla owner and spans across 5 decades – the 1960s, the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s, and the 2020s.

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We begin with the 1960s which was also the decade that saw the first Corolla, the KE10, making its debut. It was a decade that saw many Japanese families purchasing their first car, first colour TV, and first air-conditioner.

Also read: Toyota Malaysia restores the iconic KE10 Corolla

In the comic, a husband shows up in a new KE10 but his wife fears that it is beyond their means. To convince his wife, the husband decides to take the family out for a drive which was a brand-new experience for most families at the time. The kids have so much fun throughout the journey that the wife completely forgets about the family’s budget.

In the 1970s episode, a father and his teenage son have a tense conversation about the young man’s life while being driven around in their KE20 Corolla. Being a teenager, the son barely talks much but as they stop by a scenic beach, father convinces son to pose for a photo.

Years later, the son, now all grown up, sees the photo from that trip and realizes that his dad took him to many places growing up. With father now surrendering his license, it becomes the son’s turn to drive them around.

For the 1980s episode, the manga features an AE86 Corolla Levin (of course) which is a subject of an argument between a young couple. The young girl, angry on her boyfriend who’s neglecting her and suspected of cheating, storms into a room to see him with another girl.

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Well, that “girl” turns out to be a black and white AE86 Levin hatchback which is being wrenched by the boyfriend who aspires to be the next top tofu delivery driver of Mount Akina racing driver in Japan. The girl finds it cute and even enjoys going on dates in the AE86 at least until some older gentleman in a Mercedes-Benz shows up.

Also read: This Toyota Corolla AE86 sold for RM 270k in UK auction and was nearly scrapped off

The remaining two episodes feature the AE100 Corolla representing the 1990s and the current 12th-gen representing the 2020s. Toyota has skipped on the 2000s and 2010s, perhaps thinking that it might be a little too soon to get nostalgic over those two decades.

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While the manga is a perfect celebration mixing in a familiar Japanese pop culture medium with the world’s most popular car, as mentioned in the title, it is missing one very important generation that is more familiar with Malaysians.

So, what is this legendary generation?

That generation is the venerable fourth-generation KE70 that took Malaysians by storm. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the national car project was just a dream in the head of the Minister of Trade and Industry of that period, the KE70 Corolla fought hard alongside the Datsun Sunny B310 in a bid to see which is the country’s most popular car.

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The Sunny won in sales but it’s the Corolla that stood the test of time to become favoured by young families looking for a cheap ride (the writer’s dad owned one before trading it for a Proton Iswara) as well as being the perfect car for those wanting to dabble in motorsports.

Also read: Batu Tiga was once Malaysia's motor racing playground, what the heck happened?

The KE70 with its rear-wheel-drive (RWD) layout and the ability to have the engine swapped with the venerable 4A-GE motor makes it a fun project car to compete in gymkhana and track races.

Also read: Toyota 4A-GE 16V/20V - legendary 'tofu delivery' engine, what makes them great?

More than that, the KE70 is one of the most desirable generations of the Corolla that fans still warm up to today. Even if did not make the cut in Toyota Japan’s commemorative manga, the KE70 will always be cherished by those who have owned it, be it as a racing project or a family ride.