The ‘Shuto Kousoko Trial‘ street racing films from Japan influenced properties like Initial D and Tokyo Drift while helping popularize Japan’s underground racing culture worldwide through movies, magazines and video games. Yet with the same heavy handed ‘moral of the story‘ in every episode, and low production quality of ‘Shuto Kousoko Trial 5‘ the series just ran out of gas.
This time the story follows illegal street racer Yusuke and his white FC Mazda RX-7. He’s been tearing up the expressways every night, and puts victory decals on his car door every time he wins a street race, like the ‘kills’ WWII pilots painted on their planes after a dogfight. Yasuke is wild and aggressive; wanting to win at all costs, and shows blatant disregard for safety. Mechanic buddy Kurio implores Yasuke to take it to the track. Yasuke’s nurse girlfriend Junko worries that the next street racing casualty they’ll wheel into her hospital will be him! But Yasuke wants to be king of the streets, a champion on the Shuto Expressway.
Yasuke and Kurio drive to Tokyo to challenges the reigning Expressway racing champion Miyajima and his yellow R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R. The champ initially refuses to race Yasuke because there’s nothing in it for him. What does Miyajima gain by beating a nobody like Yasuke in an old FC RX-7? Yasuke goads him into a race, but dirty Miyajima gets the last laugh.
While racing at breakneck speed on the Shuto Expressway, Miyajima speeds towards a slow moving transport truck then quickly veers out of the way, causing Yasuke to crash and flip his car upside down.
In the hospital, Junko begs her boyfriend to stop the madness and give up street racing. She tells him that the only safe place to race is on the race track and invites him to meet legendary Japanese racer Keiichi Tsuchiya, the hero of the film series. He also happens to be the producer of the film series, and despite being a former street racer, became one of Japans greatest living drivers.
Yasuke refuses to stop street racing. To replace his wrecked FC Mazda RX-7, Yasuke takes out a massive car loan and buys a brand new, fire-engine red FD Mazda RX-7, like the one Dom Toretto would drive in the first F&F race, some nine years later.
In their rematch, Miyajima is the one who wrecks, and ends up in a fatal accident. But the real victim is Yasuke who has lost all humanity. He celebrates his accomplishment of defeating his rival by going after the dead dude’s girlfriend!
This woman defines herself as a racer’s girlfriend, latches on to Yasuke instead, and doesn’t spare a moment for her old boyfriend… kind of like Ricky Bobby’s wife in ‘Talladega Nights‘
Inexplicably, Yasuke starts feeling remorse for inadvertently killing Miyajima, and seeks to redeem himself and ease his conscience by… racing against Keiichi Tsuchiya! The criticism of these films is that they glamourize street racing. And there’s nothing more exciting than watching an FC RX-7 racing against an R32 GT-R except maybe an FD RX-7 racing in the rematch.
The character arc that protagonist Yasuke goes through is totally unexpected and seems quite hollow. From one moment to the next he switches from hardcore street racer who will gladly face death in the pursuit of glory, the next moment he just… repents.
Seems like the film makers just duct-taped it to the end of a movie that glorifies street racing. And there is no way they had permits to film the racing on the Shuto Expressway!
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