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Stars: Riki Takeuchi, Seiji Matano, Masanori Sera, Minako Tanaka, Chikako Aoyama, Ren Osugi, Rikaya Yasuoka, Sho Aikawa, Shiori Sakura, Joji Abe, James Fujiki, Masumi Harukawa, Yûzô Hayakawa, Minoru Ôki, Hideki Saijô, Kiyoshi Nakajoe, Natsumi Nanase, Tetsurô Tanba, Kimiko Yo, Makiko Kuno, Johnny Ôkura, Katsuo Tokashi, Kôji Shimizu, Maiko Kazama | Directed by Toshimichi Okawa, Banmei Takahashi, Kazuhiro Kiuchi, Teruo Ishii, Masaru Konuma

In the 1980s and 90s there were tons of direct-to-video releases, driven by the creation and popularity of the VHS tape. and Toei Company, Ltd., undoubtedly most known in the West for the myriad of Henshin and Sentai shows they produce, was at the forefront of the Japanese V-Cinema the direct-to-video industry.

Now, from Arrow Video comes a massive collection of 9 V-Cinema films on one Blu-ray set. Not only does this set include 9 films, but a nice stack of bonus features as well. Let’s take a look at...

– “So why did you become a yakuza?”

– “Do you need a reason to become a yakuza in this country?”

When Shoichi Yomi (Hiroyuki Watanabe) takes on a kamikaze mission to eradicate a rival crime faction single-handedly, it ends tragically with him in a coma, tied to a hospital bed.

10 years later, Yomi wakes up to everyone’s surprise, only to see that the power lines have shifted, and new alliances formed. He seeks out his old buddy Eto (Tatsuo Yamada), but it becomes clear soon that too many people would have preferred for him to stay comatose. Yomi is banished to Hiroshima on some false pretence, where he starts putting together a comeback and revenge plot to settle the debt once and for all.

“Shinjuku Outlaw” is an deceptively ordinary Miike film. It’s one of Miike’s numerous V-Cinema (straight to video) entries that deals its cards fast and dirty.

Climbing in the ranks of the yakuza has nothing to do with working hard or sticking to a certain code, but rather the opposite, as Reijiro Masaki (Kiyoshi Nakajo) sees it. When his original clan was disbanded, he was named the second-in-command of the Hattori family by their leader (Koji Shimizu). The path to this position has been defined by murder, but Masaki has tried his best to stick to principles like loyalty while doing so, which has resulted in Hattori respecting him. However, since he was a former enemy, the other lieutenants of the family, especially Hazama (Takeshi Caesar) are disgruntled by the decision as they see it as an insult.

Despite the heavy resistance within his new family, Masaki proves to be a valuable addition. Willing to stick to a certain code of honor and applying it to those men under him, Masaki quickly gains a large group...