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#miik plays yakuza
rivaiin · 3 months
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ok i need to talk about y8 i cant keep quiet anymore i love these games so much. i just started chapter 9 so spoilers until then i guess
So. after a ridiculously slow start (which im not complaining about. i love having time to explore and do secondary content without urgency) i feel like the story has finally starting picking up the pace since around. chapter 7 i guess. like sure there was plot before but you honestly spend like 20 hours going from one point in hawaii to another looking for clues and getting absolutely nothing. you dont get any real info until wong tou. but yeah. i really like where things are going now. it really feels like ichis big massive story that cements him as the new protag and a real final goodbye for kiryu
and speaking of kiryu i was soso sure he was gonna end up dead but now after seeing some scenes from his bucket list thing im not so sure anymore. like it feels theyre at least going to make him want to stay alive. which if they end up killing him its going to make it a million times more devastating. im fully ready to cry by the end
the combat has been a lot of fun and a real palate cleanser after [redacted] all the little improvements really feel like they listened to players complaints on y7. i LOVE that qtes during action scenes are back. those are like one of my favourite things in the series and i really really missed it in y7. general attacks feel super fluid and quick with the new positioning system and being able to bounce enemies around the companions feels great
im really enjoying the music and the visuals. sunset hawaii feels like something out of a dream with that orange light and really reminds me of y3. i miss okinawa tbh
now for characters. i really like all the new companions. chitose feels like a really solid charater and i cant wait to see more of her. yamai has honestly surprised me during later chapters. i love when you fight the same dude over and over and get little bits of their story/personality each time. as for the rest of the villians i guess theyre still falling a little flat cause they havent appeared much. sawashiro still seems to be on the same bullshit hes always been and i dont really care about ebina that much yet. hes been a kinda generic yakuza villain so far but well see. ichi and kiryu are still wonderful characters and i really love theyre making kiryu open up and be more vulnerable. its been a while since weve seen him like that and i missed it
as for the secondary content what can i say. its yakuza. im not gonna say how many hours ive put into dondoko island cause its shameful but i enjoyed its storyline. the snow substory had me fucking sobbing and the new minigames are fun. ive also spent a lot more time with the sujimon thing than i was expecting
i cant wait to see where the rest of the story goes tbh i know im getting close to seeing my babygirl and i cant wait
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brother-emperors · 6 months
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if it's not too much of a bother, can you please recommend some yakuza/Asian gangster films that you like?
I'm going to go slightly to the left of this ask and rec some yakuza/gangster shows I've watched that I enjoyed because it's been a minute since I've watched a movie (generally, I tend to enjoy whatever Takeshi Miike is up to, the Outrage (アウトレイジ) trilogy dir. Kitano for sure)
I am. ehghrh. on all levels including physical, it's like I've been flattened into a pancake. so I will circle back to this later with some movie recs when I pull up a list I was working on modern AU adaption of the JC play. it's. in a folder, somewhere. HK gangster cinema is so essential to me, but fuck my memory I can't remember anything at the moment except for John Woo's filmography, which I would also recommend
Smoking (スモーキング)
Big Bet (카지노)
The Worst of Evil (최악의 악)
Informa (インフォーマ)
and if you want to see men fuck hot and heavy, then KinnPorsche la Forte is the way to go
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bonnieprincegnarly · 7 months
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4 Album Tag
Thank you very much to @iamdangerace for tagging me in this for album challenge. I must say they have impeccable taste.
I haven't picked up any new albums of late so I'll instead refer to the records in my most recent rotation.
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1. BAE - Yung Bae
While I was finishing up school I basically had this cued on repeat the entire time I was studying . The Future Funk tunes of everyone's favorite Flapjack impersonator kept laying down a stone-solid wave of chill as my crippling completion anxiety fleshed fully into gear every night. There's something about a dude in a lil baby sailor cap, sipping Modelo, and blasting anime tinged disco tracks that just calms the nerves.
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2. Bites - Skinny Puppy
Nivek Oghr blasts past the ear canal and shocks the brain out of whatever stupor I find myself in @ 2am most nights. The electro-goblin caterwaulings of Canada's Finest remind me of high school, steel my nerves, and satiate my inner terrorist. Stay 'noided folks.
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3. Urgh! A Music War
This is technically cheating. I don't have the album but I frequently put the concert film on while I'm working. Watching Sting play a full set is like watching a man stretch before a marathon and then set into a sprinter's pace with his eyebrows arched the whole time and nary a drop of sweat spilled . A lot of bassists put their ankles in it, and groove all out. Sting settles in for a rocking and just paces there with his baby elephant steps and stays that way for two hours. I wish the movie had the whole set. Also Lux Interior from The Cramps comes in later in the film and just murders a song in the most unhinged and sexual way possible. Perfect Film.
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4. Satori - Flower Travellin' Band
There's a little seen Takashi Miike yakuza flick called Deadly Outlaw Rekka. The entire soundtrack to that movie is this album, Satori by Flower Travellin' Band. The tracks are labeled Satori I-V. This album is like if Black Sabbath was on even more drugs and was also Japanese. It goes hard and it makes me think of the opening of that yakuza flick were Riki Takeuchi takes a gainer through a double-paned observation mirror while screaming for revenge and getting restrained by like four dudes. I see you, buddy.
Tagging @omarandjohnny @satrallite @snakeoilghost @mindsdying because they were the most recent blogs on my activity notes.
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highwayking · 1 month
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Watched the 2007 yakuza movie with a friend tonight!
It was just kinda meh, I think it would've worked better as an original piece and not trying to be an adaptation of something else
There were soooo many unnecessary extra subplots that added absolutely nothing to the story, while so much of the main story was removed, nothing about purgatory, nothing about reina or Shinji, nothing about Shimano(though I also don't really care about him), no crashing Sera's funeral, kazama just doesn't do anything, we don't get to see Nishiki AT ALL until the very end and they made him so ugly 😭 look how they massacred my boy,,,, shitty ass hair looks so greasy and the top was so full like a bad wig,doesn't even get to sacrifice himself in the whole "the responsibilities mine", Yumi is given even LESS agency somehow just shows up and dies, her and haruka don't even get to try to connect and she doesn't even get to apologize
Fight choreography was pretty solid, a lot of hits felt like they hurt, though I felt they drew out when someone was failing/missing their punches a bit too long
I think Kiryu could have been cast better, I don't expect movies to have a bunch of bodybuilders but he was so scrawny give him some sandwiches
The actress for Haruka was great, at the trashed Serena bar I thought she was going to cry about everyone leaving her
Also having to show kiryu how to use a cellphone 😭 old man doesn't understand technology,,,,
I did enjoy the actor who played Majima! Even though his facial hair sucked I thought he was perfectly goofy without being over the top
Fun movie to laugh at with friends but if you enjoyed Takashi Miike's Ace Attorney adaptation, it's nowhere near as good
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mygamingpage · 1 year
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I’m loving this game every time I play it. It’s just like an old-school Japanese film (a Tekashi Miike film). The characters are all great, even the side ones. It’s got great dialogue - a lot of the time it’s about food! and the story is great. This game might end up being a big favourite of mine.
This is the first Yakuza (Like a Dragon) game I've played - I've played little bits of the other games with friends - I'm going to jump on Zero along with the rest after I finish Like a Dragon.
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todayisafridaynight · 10 months
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No for real the Should've Adapted Yakuza 2 take is the only one that doesn't make even a little sense to me. I will say it. I feel like a lot of people still think it's a movie (even though I literally wrote it was a TV series...) and so they're mad they're "redoing the first movie instead of making a sequel" when that's not even what's happening.
Plus the show has no relation to the (at this point almost twenty-year-old) movie; completely different companies, completely different people working on it, completely different approach (RGGS actually having a say vs. Miike and co more or less just doing whatever).
Technically, it's even a different game--like, on top of it being Yakuza Kiwami rather than Yakuza, the series itself has changed drastically from what it was when the movie came out. I think the reason a number of people are disappointed by the movie is exactly that. Like IMO the movie is more or less (at least tonally) representative of what the appeal of the series was at the time, which is all it was trying to do. But most fans today haven't even played PS2 Y1 and Y2, let alone only played PS2 Y1 and Y2, so it can leave something to be desired.
With casting, my dream of a Tomoya Nagase Kiryu 'cause he's partly based on him was shattered so I'm biased lol, but I appreciate that Takeuchi's been bulking up for the role and changing his public image, and I'm excited to check out some of his previous work. I love Kaku already from Super Salaryman and other roles (DW AT ALL BTW GUESS WHO STILL HASN'T WATCHED EP 2 OF FIRST PENGUIN KLJSJKLFG) but I have yet to see him in a serious role so that'll be fun :)
But like. While I tried to pick images that were close to our images of Kiryu and Nishiki, these are promotional shots, not styled and costumed in-character. I think people are also kind of glossing over the timeskip. Like yeah, Takeuchi's only 30, but pre-timeskip Kiryu is 27 and he has to believably play him too. That's especially notable when the story of Y1 could easily be told in like 5 or 6 hours, so perhaps what we're doing for the other 2-3 hours is spending more time pre-timeskip. I'm kind of speculating even some 0 scenes may make it in, because they were described as being dressed in "flashy suits and patterned shirts" at the shoot.
Overall, I do personally regret starting the series with K1 and it's my least favorite starting point (out of 0, Y1/K1, 7, and Judgment), but at the same time it's the only story that can be properly told within one eight-hour season. So. Y'know. It makes the most sense. I'm of course hoping it turns out enjoyable regardless because I'm obligated to watch it either way for the wiki lmao (and hey, maybe if it does well enough to get renewed, my faves will get a turn). I do think it's got the most potential of any of the adaptations so far, at least, aside from the other upcoming Judgment one.
Anyways uhhhhhh I hope we see Kiwamine in the background of a shot just vibing
no like thats what i mean: it makes total sense as to why they'd start from Y1 it just makes the most sense for a brand new adaption independent of the past iterations 😩 in any case im interested to see what everyone brings to the table and how they handle adapting Y1 now with all of the games and content that have come out since the initial movie/stageplay releases ♪(´▽`)
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chronickey-luka · 11 months
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everytime the yakuza 0 title screen movie video plays I can't help but compare it to the opening montage from Takashi Miike's Dead or Alive movie. honestly i wanna do a side by side of them one day bc i feel like I'm onto something but i have absolutely no evidence for it.
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kiri-cuts · 1 year
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Dawson Leery’s middle horizon in “The Fabelmans”
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Over the years I’ve cultivated an obsession for speculating over whether particular teen TV shows have provided great inspiration and foresight toward the development of particular movies.  Did Kevin Feige feel moved to throw together the MCU after taking pity on Seth Cohen’s lonely comic book fancy in “The O.C.”? Has Takashi Miike ever made the connections between the glitzy bloodshed of his various Yakuza movies and the equally glitzy bloodshed exhibited among Manhattan's elite in “Gossip Girl”? And did Greta Gerwig seriously think she could sneak “Ladybird” out without anyone noting the obvious similarities between many of the films beats and those of “Gilmore Girls”?
Watching “The Fabelmans,” I likewise pondered whether Steven Spielberg had ever watched “Dawson’s Creek.” Did he, like most viewers, find himself utterly repelled by the show’s titular character? And did he, like many others, likely also see a lot of himself in Dawson Leery? Of course, Spielberg isn’t like other viewers -- and to him, Dawson isn’t just any other character. That’s because the pedantic teenager just so happens to be obsessed with the World’s Greatest Filmmaker© — Spielberg himself. 
During the course of “The Fabelmans,” the trajectory of the filmmaker’s life is played out under the keen guise of fictional characters and narratives. But it also is, for the most part, true. That trajectory also looks a whole lot similar to that of the young weeping virgin, Dawson. So much so that I’ve began to ponder just how much the show’s creator, Kevin Williamson, knew about the director’s life and how much he inserted into the teen show. Was this all just a coincidence?
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Williamson revealed that, like Sammy Fabelman for Spielberg, Dawson was something of a self-insert for who he was as a teenager. Like Dawson, Williamson also grew up obsessed with Spielberg. “I had an 8-mm camera because I heard Spielberg had an 8-mm camera,” he said. “And then I started filming horror movies in my backyard, and I’d have all of my friends star in them, and then I would splice it together in my grandmother’s bathroom.”
Interestingly, he also revealed that he wrote Spielberg a letter in order to obtain the rights with which to reference his work in the show. “He wrote back and he wrote the loveliest response. He was like, ‘You can use everything.' He gave one condition: No mention of his wife or children. ‘Just keep it to me, and you can do whatever you want.’”
And so he did. “Dawson’s Creek” is as much about the struggles of growing up as it is about the dangers of treating your virginity like some precious jewel that shouldn’t be plucked from the deep by any of the hot babes in your life. But it’s also about Spielberg and his influence on this teenage boy who got way more ass than he had any right to. 
Both “The Fabelmans” and “Dawson’s Creek” pivot around the idea that cinema offers a safe, snug shelter from the constant torments of life. But, whether you’re a voyeur or a creator, cinema is always best enjoyed with experience. None of us can simply sit in the dark all our lives. To make and appreciate art -- even something as asinine as “Dawson’s Creek” -- you have to endure life’s high and lows. Slap a Paula Cole track over the top of that line and it could almost be a piece of dialogue from the show! 
Those highs and lows tread similar jagged paths in both “The Fabelmans” and “Dawson’s Creek.” They each focus on a suburban film nerd with aspirations behind the camera. Both boys encounter a life altering epiphany that their respective moms are cheating on their dads after surveying footage that appears to indicate that mama is scooping some sugar outside of the household. 
Both also star Michelle Williams and feature scenes in which both Sammy and Dawson absolutely demolish her for using her vagina recreationally. The film and the show each share sequences in which the jocks who bully these filmmaking geniuses are cast as golden gods in their respective films. And both Dawson and Sammy learn the harshest lesson going -- that life ain’t no movie, kid.
In the cinema, I kept looking around for other Creek-heads who might understand my plight. “This also happened in ‘Dawson’s Creek’” we’d silently telegraph to each other with our eyes. “I’m so glad I’m not the only one.” But alas, the four elderly couples in the theater evidently did not share my keen knowledge of ‘90s teen melodrama.  Spielberg has stated that he’s always wanted to make this movie. That he had to wait until his parents were dead in order to tell their story fully, honestly, and painfully. And possibly also in ways they may not have recognised, such is the problem of memory. However, a part of me can’t help but want to believe that he was also confronted with having to watch “Dawson’s Creek” at some point in the past couple of decades and didn’t like what he saw. “Who the fuck is this Dawson kid?” he’d think, sneering at his television. “What’s his problem? And is he -- is he wearing one of my goddamn shirts? Nancy, get Kevin on the line.” 
For all intents and purposes, Dawson is about as middle of the road as heterosexual teenage white boys get (fun fact: his real life counterpart, Williamson, is actually openly gay in real life -- but the ‘90s evidently wasn’t ready for that kind of lead character yet). While everyone else he knows in Capeside is seemingly dealing with gargantuan problems — addiction, parental abuse, sexual assault, homophobia, borderline poverty, severe mental illness, and every now and then the dire problem of drunkenly falling into the creek and DYING — Dawson makes it clear that he suffers the most. In his middle class household, with his mid-life crisis parents, and his middle parted hair, nobody takes his filmmaking seriously. But worst of all, every last woman in his life isn’t as chaste as he wishes — including his long-suffering mom, his best friend, his girlfriend, his other girlfriend, her grandma, and probably even the women who serve his lunch to him every day. In the weeks following this screening, I’ve often thought about Spielberg watching “Dawsons Creek” and fuming about this little prick. How dare he even think he’s at the same level as The Spileberg! And so he made “The Fabelmans” to prove what true suffering looked like: The isolation, the heartache, the struggle, the violence ... the complications of dating a girl who wants to fuck Jesus. You know, real life stuff. That Spielberg has a secret grudge against this classic teen show is a fantasy you’ll just have to indulge me on. Which brings us to the curtain call of this piece. 
In the finale of “Dawson’s Creek,” Dawson eventually gets to meet his hero. Unfortunately for everyone, the meeting occurs off screen -- however, I’m sure they made an official inquiry to Spielberg and he told them to go fuck themselves. In “The Fabelmans,” Sammy likewise gets to meet his own hero — the worlds greatest filmmaker, John Ford, played by the worlds greatest filmmaker, David Lynch. In his rousing post-strip club speech to the boy, Ford points to three paintings and asks Sammy to tell him what he sees. After stupidly taking the question at face value, Ford corrects him, by asking, “No, where is the horizon?!” Sammy gets wise and realizes he’s basically Goldilocks testing the temperature of three cinematic bowls of very confusing oats. One painting has a high horizon, one painting has a low horizon, and the third has one in the middle — a point that Dawson would likely pronounce just right. “Now remember this,” Ford tells him. “When the horizon’s at the bottom, it’s interesting. When the horizon’s at the top, it’s interesting. When the horizon’s in the middle, it’s boring as shit.”
And with that, middle horizon Dawson Leery —who is probably a filmmaker in some horrific alternative timeline that I hope to fucking god I never get sucked into — got served his final insult. And by the man he loved most of all, no less. Because you know as well as I do that if Dawson were real and making actual movies that he would have just released an Oscar-bait semi-autobiographical film called “The Leerys” — and it would have been absolutely fucking full of middle horizons.
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usagirotten · 2 years
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Legendary Japanese director Takashi Miike revealed a teaser trailer for ‘Connect’ Series
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Connect, the new TV series directed by Takashi Miike is coming. Based on the webtoon of the same name, Connect depicts the mysterious story of a man who has been deprived of a part of his body by organ hunters and becomes “connected” with a person who has received an organ transplant.   Disney has revealed a teaser trailer for a new horror thriller series called Connect, made for Disney+ Korea. Premiering at the 2022 Busan Film Festival before it's streaming later this year. I can't even believe that Disney made this, and hired the legendary Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike (!!) to direct, but hell yes why not. In this series, adapted from the Manga, a man is kidnapped and one of his eyes is removed by a gang of organ hunters. The eye is then transplanted into the body of a serial killer… The unwilling donor now has terrible visions as he witnesses terrifying attacks on the residents of Seoul. The series stars Jung Hae-in, Go Kyung-pyo, and Kim Hye-jun. This has some gnarly footage in it for a teaser that is barely 60 seconds long. Does this supernatural eye help people heal, too? How does the story play out and who is trying to stop the bad guy(s)? Will this eye live on somehow? So many questions… Here's the first teaser trailer (+ Korean teaser poster) for Disney+'s series Connect    Based on a webtoon of the same name, series depicts a mysterious story that occurs when a man who has been deprived of a part of his body by organ hunters, connects with a person who has received an organ transplant. Connect, also known as 커넥트 or Keonekteu in Korean, is a series created by writers Heo-dam and Masaru Nakamura. Featuring episodes director by Japanese horror master Takashi Miike (Audition, Ichi the Killer, Gozu, One Missed Call, Dead or Alive trilogy, Graveyard of Honor, Hara-kiri, 13 Assassins, Sukiyaki Western Django, Yakuza Apocalypse, Blade of the Immortal, First Love). Based on a webtoon of the same name, Connect, by Shin Dae-sung. No producers are listed yet. This series will first premiere at the 2022 Busan Film Festival this fall. Disney will then debut the Connect series streaming on Disney+ starting in December 2022 later this year.
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jujutsukaiseninfo · 2 years
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Tokyo Revengers, One of the Best Live-Action Anime Films Out There, Is Getting a Sequel
According to Anime News Network, the sequel to the live-action Tokyo Revengers movie has been officially greenlighted. The film will see the return of Takumi Kitamura as the lead actor, Takemichi Hanagaki. Kitamura is currently playing the role of Yusuke Urameshi in Netflix's live-action series Yu Yu Hakusho. The film will also mark the return of Tsutomu Hanabusa as director and Shota Okada as producer. The rest of the cast hasn't been revealed yet, but it's definitely a good start for the sequel.
Tokyo Revengers is a Japanese action film that follows a group of friends who seek revenge on Yakuza. The film was released in 2020 and was directed by Takashi Miike. The film was a box office success, grossing over $100 million worldwide. The tokyo revengers poster is a great way to spread the word about the film.
What could the film be about?
When I originally reviewed the movie I said that it ends in a way that they can end things there, but if you watch the anime you know there is much more that can be done. Things end on a positive note when Takemichi reunites with Hina after going back in time to prevent tragic events during the fight against Moebius. Everyone who originally died is still alive at the end of the film (Draken, Akun and Hina), but Hina is killed again in the series, prompting Takemichi to go back in time once again. Is.
This leads to an event called the Valhalla Ark and Bloody Halloween. It's quite a brutal story in which we learn more about Toman's past than it is about Mickey and the rest of the founders. This is where you find out that Mickey's backstory is absolutely useless and filled with tragedy and misplaced anger directed at him for no reason. Plus, it's the arc that introduces you to some of the show's best characters... even if the end result makes you cry.
While we don't know what the next movie will be about, I doubt it will cover the Valhalla arc as it is the next part of the story. I really hope that's the direction we're headed, although I'm not sure if my heart is ready for the live action of Baji and Chifuyu. All of them did a great job in the first film. Are we really ready for a live-action version of this menace?
Will it be different from anime?
The Tokyo Avengers movie is probably one of my favorite live-action anime adaptations of all time. The cast is perfect and the film tells its story well while adding new material to make things unique to its adaptation. It's not easy to cram half an anime season into a two-hour film, but Tokyo Revengers knows how to keep the story at the center of its plot while turning things around to work within that limited time frame.
What will be interesting with the sequel is to see what changes were made, especially since the first film made changes that would affect the arc. For example, in the anime, Pah (one of Toman's original founders) goes to jail for stabbing Osanai. He gives himself up for what he did and we don't really see him for the rest of the season. In the movie, he doesn't kill Osanai at all, so he's probably in a fight against Moebius if he wasn't in the anime.
I'm excited to see what they do with the character in the next film because he's not usually in the story at all. Will he be able to attend Bloody Halloween (assuming there's next) or will they create a reason why he shouldn't be there? Since we're playing with time travel, they can come up with all kinds of things. I personally hope he stars in the movie as all the original Toman founders will be very important in that arc.
Date of release
There is currently no official release date, but we do know that the film is targeted to be ready by 2023. Unfortunately, the first movie isn't available anywhere, but you can watch the first season of the anime on Crunchyroll.
(displayed image: Warner Bros. Japan)
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rivaiin · 6 months
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not really a spoiler but. them putting tonight again in the karaoke in gaiden is like. vile at this point
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otakunoculture · 2 years
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Is The Mole Song FINAL Reiji Kikukawa's Swan Song at Fantasia 2022?
Takashi Miike's The Mole Song: FINAL is at @FantasiaFest #Fantasia2022! It's gonzo, it's crazy, and it's Miike! What more do you need? Oh yes, Toma Ikuta as that crazy undercover cop, Reiji going agains the Yakuza! #humour #crime #moviereview & date at:
Playing at Fantasia 2022, July 25 6:35 PM at the Auditorium des diplômés de la SGWU (Théâtre Hall) (Buy Tickets here) Anybody not familiar with Takashi Miike’s The Mole Song trilogy might want to get all caught up before seeing The Mole Song FINAL (土竜の唄 FINAL). That’s because the last movie was made in 2016. Trying to remember why Reiji Kikukawa (Toma Ikuta) is undercover won’t be tough. He was…
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fantasyinvader · 2 years
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I watched the first half of Miike’s  Hara-kiri; Death of a Samurai tonight (have to be up early tomorrow). It’s a remake of an old film from the 60′s. and it really shows. This doesn’t feel like any Miike flick I’ve seen before. Like, usually there’s an element of a guilty pleasure in watching one of his films. But this? This?
This is damn beautiful.
I know it feels like he’s more on a leash here (a leash I wish had prevented the stupid subplots in the Yakuza adaptation), being faithful to the original film, but it’s really highlighting his talent as a director. And watching someone try to kill themself with a bamboo sword? That made my stomach lurch a bit, something that doesn’t happen too often.
So I’m going to finish this tomorrow then watch Samurai Marathon, because it stars a former Kamen Rider...and I’ve been playing Ghost of Tsushima.
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asianhappinesss · 2 years
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Ichi the Killer (2001)
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Summary
Yakuza boss Anjo disappears with three hundred million yen. His loyal gang members, led by the masochist Kakihara, start a search, but their aggressive and gory methods worry the other yakuza gangs. Kakihara's most frightening counterpart is the mysterious Ichi, a psychopathic killer with a dark childhood secret, who is controlled by a retired cop
Review
Warning: this film contains over the top violent scenes, torture, dismemberment, rape, disfiguration and many other bloody things so if you dislike extreme gory films then you’re definitely in the wrong place and you should stay away from this as far as you can. Takashi Miike is one of my favorite directors. Being the lord of gore is one of the main reason why I like him and Ichi the Killer is absolutely the epitome symphony of violence Miike ever made. I am into bloody productions: mutilation, torturing, splatter-gore, cutting body parts to pieces, heads rolling and everything that belongs to the category; you can call me eccentric or a psycho but those are my personal references and a part of my real life job.
However, the reason why I liked Ichi the Killer and many of Miike’s films is not the gore for the sake of gore, it’s true that I like that element but it’s not enough to make me like a film, there has to be a message and a meaning behind it all. Ichi the Killer has a dark graphic storyline; it tells the story of Ichi, a psycho killer who split people to halves and sometimes to little pieces through razors in his shoes and Kagihara, the masochist who’s looking for the killer of his gang’s leader who happens to be Ichi. That’s the general plot but there’s much more behind the events and the characters’ development, the hidden meanings and the final reveal of the characters’ relationships was pretty amazing and let’s not forget the mind-boggling ending that keeps your imagination wild.
None of this would have been done without the fantastic performances of the charismatic brilliant actor Asano Tadanobu and Omori Nao, who had to play a childish character at one second and a sadist killer at the next moment. Now let’s talk about violence, the main lead in this film; it was creative and pretty well-made sadist type of violence. People call Miike a “cult” or a “sadist” director and he probably is, the way he shot the explicit gore scenes was truly brilliant with all of those cutting and blood’s splashing everywhere.
It makes this film one of the kind if we consider how far he went with bloody scenes, I haven’t seen that anywhere before. What also makes the violence special is that it was entertaining, I found myself laughing at few scenes and no, it’s not because of my sick personality; there were some amazing dark humor moments inserted in this film because Miike can mix gore and comedy so well (think Dead or Alive trilogy). Watch if: -You like gory films with a meaningful storyline. -You like Takashi Miike’s way of making films because this is probably his best work. -You like bizarre Japanese productions. Do not watch if: -This is absolutely NOT for the faint of heart. -You dislike anything that has to do with gore or you can only handle a little amount of it. -You dislike over-the-top violence. -You’re easily disturbed or grossed. Ichi the Killer is the highest level of cinematically shot violence. It’s without doubt not for everyone, it can be a hit or a miss, some would find it a masterpiece and others would run away from the first few scenes. It’s bloody as hell and I completely loved it.
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atwentywhore · 4 years
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Another day, another movie list!
Today I thought I’d share my top 10 list for one favorite genres: Yakuza films. I don’t know what it is, but I’ve always found them more entertaining than your traditional American gangster movies. The story telling, the acting, and the film-making itself have always been superior in my books. My list may be a little biased because Takashi Miike and Takeshi Kitano are two of my favorite directors, but I digress.
So, without any further ado, here are my top 10 favorite Yakuza movies of all time:
The Outrage Series by Takeshi Kitano
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Ichi the Killer by Takashi Miike
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Boiling Point by Takeshi Kitano
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13 Assassins by Takashi Miike
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Dead or Alive by Takashi Miike
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Why Don’t You Play In Hell? by Sion Sono
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Yakuza Graveyard by Kinji Fukasaku
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Sympathy for The Underdog by Kinji Fukasaku
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Pale Flower by Masahiro Shinoda
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Gozu by Takashi Miike
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cryingcow · 3 years
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as a tanimura aficionado... could you talk about any differences you noticed or thoughts you have about new vs og tanimura ? whats your opinion on them. -love majimemegoro
@majimemegoro *deep inhale as I frantically gather all my references*
With regards to Tanimura as a character, there's not much - if any - difference between the OG and the Remastered version. He is the same corrupt cop polyglot, defender of the undocumented and what we locally call as TNTs ("tago nang tago"), hooker baby sex shop orphan currently on his 3rd dad and possibly in the market for a 4th one if his name starts with “N” and ends with “-ishikiyama”, bestowed with the name "Masayoshi" by his 1st dad because Masayoshi is the name form of the word Justice. If we consider the parallels between Kiryu taking care of his love Yumi’s daughter that she had with another man, and Nagumo being asked to take care of his love Kiyomi’s daughter that she had with another man, then perhaps 2nd dad Taigi Tanimura might’ve had feeling for 1st dad too, and had he not died so early then there might be more similarities between Haruka and Ma-chan. (Idk, just something I’ve been thinking about since I finished Y6.) But there are differences visually between the two versions.
OG Tanimura
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Played by Hiroshige “Hiroki” Narimiya in 2010. You might know him from Gokusen, where a lot of other actors in the RGG franchise have also had a role in. More famously in the West, he played as Phoenix Wright in the live action film directed by Takashi Miike (same guy who directed the Yakuza 2007 film). He’s very famous for being a fashion icon, designing his own clothing line, and having that trademark hairstyle.
Is OG Tanimura a certifiable Pretty Boy? Hell yeah! Narimiya’s the textbook definition of one. Given that Akiyama was modeled with Koichi Yamadera in mind, there's a good chance that the same is true with Tanimura.
In December of 2016, he was accused of drug use when a tabloid published a photo of him supposedly snorting a powdered substance. Drug testing came out negative and his agency threatened legal action against the magazine, but despite all that he retired from the entertainment industry of his own will via fax a week later, saying that he “has been betrayed by a friend he trusted with all his heart”. Rumors vary on whether it was an ex or a jealous friend who set him up by suggesting they mix the powdered candy that day and then took that picture and sold it to the magazine, but based from Narimiya’s statement it was definitely someone he knew. He went abroad afterwards,  continuing his fashion brand and living his best life overseas, but he returned to Japan earlier this year to sell his clothing line at a pop-up store in Harajuku, with rumors that he might make a return to showbusiness.
There are rumors that the reason Tanimura never appears in the later games is because of the scandal, but given the timeline it wouldn’t make sense. Yakuza 5 was released on 2012 but Tanimura was only mentioned outright during the Amon fights. Yakuza 6 was released December 2016 without delay unlike with Judgment/Judge Eyes which was withdrawn from markets since they changed Pierre Taki Hamura into Digital Hamura after his own drug scandal, suggesting that Tanimura was never even planned to be in Y6 (or at least not as a main character). In fact, even after Narimiya’s false allegations, they didn’t remove him from the PS3 version of Y4 and even still has him displayed on Sega’s official website on the Y4 web page. In other words, I don't think RGG Studio changed their treatment towards Narimiya.
If you ask me, I’d say that Tanimura was really only meant for Y4. At the core of it, Y4 is Tanimura’s and Saejima’s story given that they’re the ones whose lives revolve around the Ueno Seiwa hit, with Akiyama and Kiryu only being incidental to the plot (as proven also by Tanimura getting the final fight and “For Faith” as his theme, versus Kiryu in Y5). RGG Studio replacing him in the remastered version of Y4 is probably out of (legal and/or moral) respect for Narimiya’s decision to not want anything to do with the entertainment industry ever again.
Remastered Tanimura
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Played by Toshiki Masuda in 2019. He’s a singer and a VA, lending his voice to Drama CDs and a bunch of anime characters such as Kirishima from BNHA and Ennoshita from Haikyuu!! (did I buy his album yes I did lol he has a nice voice <3)
Is Remastered Tanimura a certifiable Pretty Boy? If we're talking about Masuda himself, the answer is a definite yes (just look at him!). But Remastered Tanimura? . . . Maybe. Short answer is "probably Yes given the context of a 2019 remaster of a character who might've been modeled spiritually after another man". Long answer I'll put under a "Keep Reading" cut cuz I'm gonna be using a lot of pictures to defend my point lmao
Why is it relevant to establish whether or not he's a Pretty Boy? Because according to the JDrama I've been watching, criminals are statistically more likely to confess to Pretty Boy detectives. While I can't find any actual numbers to support this proclamation (and I doubt it's the kind of statistic that gets reported anyway sfdgfsgs), it is a common trope/stereotype in detective/detective-like JDramas and KDramas that Bishounens are more successful in catching criminals.
What is a Pretty Boy anyway? Not just a boy who happens to be pretty, no. The Pretty Boy or Bishounen/Bidanshi is in itself a trope, much like how in them Western high school movies there are always the Jock or the Nerd or whatever a Prep character is. The wiki article I linked is very detailed, but tldr Pretty Boys are effeminately handsome, slim, has long hair, probably smells really nice because they are very clean, ambiguously straight to appeal to the female demographic of both BL lovers and self-shippers. In anime they're usually found with a flock of women surrounding them. It's a subversion of the manliness and muscularity used to attract male audiences, which is why if you've seen the interview with Nagoshi, he says that he has no idea why the RGG/Yakuza franchise appeals to women when he aimed it towards men. By using that definition, we can say that while Nishiki may be pretty, he is very much not a Pretty Boy, given his very strong nose and him having as much muscle mass as Kiryu.
Examples of Bishounens:
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Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho and Duke Devlin/Otogi from Yu-Gi-Oh. Both depicted as having a female fan base within their schools.
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Takuya Kimura. Not to open the can of worms that is Sega vs Kimura's talent agency on a Tanimura post, but Johnny and Associates is known for recruiting talents with the bishounen look. They are very protective of their talents and their images to the point that Kimura supposedly gets grayed out in the Famitsu article on Judgment/Judge Eyes. (just mentioning this in case anyone's wondering at all the "grayed-out/redacted Kimura/Yagami" memes circulating on other social media sites).
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For something a bit closer to home, the hosts of Kamurocho excluding Yuya. They even mention in-game how Yuya is an unusual choice for a host, though he is popular among the unconventional clients like Granny White.
So what's my issue with Remastered Tanimura? Simple. He has hair on his chin.
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Yes it may seem like a minor thing, but it goes against what a conventional Pretty Boy looks like. OG Tanimura never had chin hair. Masuda presents himself as cleanshaven too. So why? Perhaps RGG Studio wanted to remake his face as far away from OG Tanimura’s appearance as possible, despite it not being as accurate to the OG Tanimura spirit. Then again, it’s possible that the definition of a Pretty Boy has shifted in the 2010s beyond. In the same JDrama I mentioned earlier that took place in 2015, the Pretty Boy they were referring to was this guy:
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And like . . . yeah I guess he’s handsome and cocky, but I wouldn’t have pegged that hairstyle as a Bishounen/Bidanshi hairstyle. In the KDrama Good Manager (2017), the very handsome yet also short-haired prosecutor with gelled hair is the Pretty Boy. But on the other hand, the OG Bishounen concept is still very prominent if you look at who’s hot on the KPop and JPop scene, so idunno. Maybe it’s a detective drama-exclusive look? I don’t watch dramas of other genre, so if anyone watches J/K/CDrama a lot I’d love to know your input on this!
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