Honestly, I thought it was horrible. Considering the fact that they mention Hot Version and go to Gunsai, and the whole segment with Rory, they must have at least a surface-level knowledge of Japanese car culture. So why then do they feel the need to still be reliant on ninjas, samurai, and sumo wrestlers? They had a Honda Civic Type R going up against a rear-wheel-drive Toyota in Japan, and instead of throwing some Dr. Love on for the soundtrack and doing some cool Initial D-esque editing, they get "Ninja Stig" and have CGI Samurai and Ninjas everywhere to the point where you can't even see the race. They go to Gunsai touge and instead of getting Tsuchiya, Orido, and/or Taniguchi on for what would have been a really sweet crossover, they get fucking sumo wrestlers to sit and do nothing. They go through Fukushima for no other reason than to depress you, then to add insult to injury two mint condition classic Japanese sports cars are ruined for the sake of some stupid gag. The drifting challenge could have been really fun, but it's just stupid.
There are glimpses of what could have been a top 10 of all-time episode here, and that's what really pisses me off about this episode in particular. The entire thing is just ruined by the constant use of what are essentially tropes of western media covering Japan. I got really excited during the touge race because I thought I heard the opening notes of the "Break In2 the Nite" by m.o.v.e. (Initial D's second opening), but it turned out just to be some stock dramatic music. I guess that represents my experience watching this pretty well. Uninteresting, uninspired, absolute drivel, that's only redeemed by the pretty awesome segment with Rory. I don't see what you guys are raving about here at all.
Low 4/10