Cruel Story of Youth 1960

Makoto Shinjo [Miyuki Kuwano] hitches a ride, only to endure an attempted molestation by the driver. The ordeal is interrupted by Kiyoshi [Yūsuke Kawazu], who steps in and soon accompanies her on a date. Their first stop is a glimpse at the Anpo Protests against the US-Japan Security Treaty, setting a charged backdrop for a relationship that will bend rules and ethics. Later, on a riverboat ride, the tension erupts again and Makoto is raped, a betrayal that will haunt their bond.

One day, after waiting for him at a bar he frequents, Makoto finds herself targeted by gangsters who traffic women. Kiyoshi [Yūsuke Kawazu] fights them off, and they retreat in exchange for payment. Yet the cycle continues, and Makoto endures another assault by Kiyoshi, leading her to confront him. She declares her love and insists she does not want their relationship to carry on this way.

Over time, the two drift into a fragile romance, and Makoto Shinjo [Miyuki Kuwano] spends more time with him, a shift that earns stern rebukes from her older sister Yuki [Yoshiko Kuga] and pushes Makoto to choose a new path, even if it means living with Kiyoshi. To sustain themselves, the pair engages in further criminal schemes: Makoto seduces male car drivers, and when they come on to her, Kiyoshi [Yūsuke Kawazu] steps in to extort them.

In one encounter, a middle-aged, wealthy businessman named Horio [Hiroshi Nihon’yanagi] picks up Makoto and, for a moment, makes her feel valued, leading her not to pursue him further. When Makoto learns she is pregnant, Kiyoshi urges abortion, and he also tries to press her into exploiting another driver, a demand she rejects. The abortion is performed illegally at the clinic of Akimoto, Yuki’s former lover [Fumio Watanabe].

Money changes hands as Horio lends support, and Makoto admits to having slept with him. Enraged, Kiyoshi confronts Horio and takes back money, reminding Horio that he was just another mark in Makoto’s web. After the abortion, the two are arrested for extortion; they confess, and with help from Kiyoshi’s older lover, they are released while Akimoto [Fumio Watanabe] is arrested.

Kiyoshi ultimately breaks off the relationship to spare Makoto and himself further pain. The gangsters close in on Kiyoshi after a borrowed motorbike used for extortion is found and two of them are arrested; they demand Makoto, but Kiyoshi refuses, paying the ultimate price with his life. In a parallel moment, Makoto is offered a ride by a passerby, and when she is denied an exit, she jumps from the car to her death.