This film, based on a Manga, is centred on Takumi Fujiwara and eighteen year old who delivers tofu for his father, a drunken ex-racer. This involves driving along the roads on Mount Akina that are popular with street racers. He has been driving the route since he was thirteen and can drive as fast as the racers. He also works at a local garage, which is owned by the father of his friend Itsuki. Itsuki aspires to be a racer but doesn't have Takumi's natural abilities. As the racers see Takumi's skills they naturally want to race him. Away from the cars Takumi is smitten with Natsuki, a girl in his class.
I must admit that I haven't read the manga or watched the anime version so viewed this film as a stand-alone work. The story is relatively simple but none the worse for that; it delivers where it counts and that is the thrilling races down a winding mountain road. These are filmed in a way that makes them feel real and thus exciting. As well as excitement there are plenty of laughs; mostly provided by Itsuki. Not too much of a problem but in many ways this feels like an origins story as we learn how Takumi is drawn into the world of racing; when it was over it felt like there was more to come. The subplot involving Natsuki was a bit of a distraction but not too much of one. I rather liked the fact that there was no obvious antagonist beyond a racer who is a bit rude to Takumi and Itsuki. The cast does a solid job making their characters believable and fun to watch; it was easy to forget that they were mostly Chinese actors playing Japanese... of course not speaking either language may have helped there! Overall well worth a watch if you enjoy exciting car based action set in an impressive location.
These comments are based on watching the film in Cantonese with English subtitles and the original music soundtrack.
I must admit that I haven't read the manga or watched the anime version so viewed this film as a stand-alone work. The story is relatively simple but none the worse for that; it delivers where it counts and that is the thrilling races down a winding mountain road. These are filmed in a way that makes them feel real and thus exciting. As well as excitement there are plenty of laughs; mostly provided by Itsuki. Not too much of a problem but in many ways this feels like an origins story as we learn how Takumi is drawn into the world of racing; when it was over it felt like there was more to come. The subplot involving Natsuki was a bit of a distraction but not too much of one. I rather liked the fact that there was no obvious antagonist beyond a racer who is a bit rude to Takumi and Itsuki. The cast does a solid job making their characters believable and fun to watch; it was easy to forget that they were mostly Chinese actors playing Japanese... of course not speaking either language may have helped there! Overall well worth a watch if you enjoy exciting car based action set in an impressive location.
These comments are based on watching the film in Cantonese with English subtitles and the original music soundtrack.