Best episode of this season. Chris and Matt are getting along very well and this episode is proof.
The track battle between the Civic Type R and LC500 was good (but I did want to see Ninja Stig's response, since he lost). Not a fan of those animations but I appreciate them being creative and doing something new and fresh.
Rory's segment was pretty good too. I'm definitely not into the Bosozoku cars and neither the Christmas tree Lambos, but his part on the K-cars was worth watching and finally the Porsche 962 on Hakone Turnpike was one of his better films on Top Gear. Bucket list stuff for sure.
The road trip through Japan was very well done. I like their choice of cars, the RX-7 and Skyline GT-T. Usually when people talk about JDMs they always talk about the Supra, GT-R, Evos and Imprezas while these two take the back seat. Good to see them getting attention and they drove the cars pretty hard as well (too hard at the end, sadly). The non-car stuff was equally great, especially the Fukushima nuclear site. You could see both Matt and Chris were pretty moved and Chris almost wanted to breakdown upon seeing the abandoned 964 (so did I). It was heart touching. Apart from Fukushima, there were two other iconic locations as well - Ebisu and Gunsai Touge. Beside the cars and the locations, the banter was good too (there wasn't anything that felt forced). The most enjoyable film of "new" Top Gear by far.
My only disappointment with this episode (and its a tiny one) is that the ending seemed a bit rushed. I wish they talked a little more about their cars, Matt didn't say anything about his Skyline (whether its still in Japan or not, did he sell it or not) and they didn't discuss the road trip either. But all in all, this was a great episode which felt like it was made for true car enthusiasts, and one fans will remember fondly years from now.
Rating it 10 just because I enjoyed it so much.