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With the popularity of video games being turned into TV shows, like Fallout and The Last of Us, Prime Video is introducing another video game adaptation, but for the long-running franchise Like a Dragon: Yakuza.

And starting on Thursday, Oct. 24, the first three episodes are streamable with a subscription to Prime Video. Below, find out when to stream Like a Dragon: Yakuza online and the episode release schedule for season one.

At a Glance: How to Watch Like a Dragon: Yakuza Online

When: Oct. 24; series finale on Nov. 1 Stream online: Prime Video Watch 'Like a Dragon: Yakuza' on Prime Video How to Watch Like a Dragon: Yakuza Without Cable: Premiere Date and Time, Episode Release Schedule

The first three episodes of Like a Dragon: Yakuza six-episode season one drops Thursday, Oct. 24, at 8 a.m. Pt/11 a.m. Et on Prime Video. The following three episodes drop at the...

Prime Video has revealed the trailer and key art for the upcoming Japanese Original series Like a Dragon: Yakuza, the action-packed TV adaptation of Sega’s iconic video game series.

The first three episodes of Like a Dragon: Yakuza will be available to stream exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories starting on Thursday, October 24, with the next three episodes available on Thursday, October 31.

In addition to previously announced series leads Ryoma Takeuchi (Kazuma Kiryu), Kento Kaku (Akira Nishikiyama), and Munetaka Aoki (Goro Majima), newly revealed actors portraying key characters include:

Yumi Kawai as Yumi Sawamura, a childhood friend who grew up alongside Kiryu and Nishiki.

Toshiaki Karasawa as Shintaro Kazama, the former lieutenant of the Dojima Family who now runs the orphanage where Kiryu and his friends were raised.

Koichi Sato as Masaru Sera, the chairman of the Tojo Clan.

Misato Morita as Aiko, Yumi’s long-lost sister.

I am not sure why, but it seems films about boxing have been coming in abundance from Japan during the last few years, with titles like “100 Yen Love” and “Blue” being the first that come to mind. It seems that the recipe of either “Million Dollar Baby” or “Rocky”, or both on occasion, still has an impact on the audience, and that is exactly the path “Last Bloom” follows.

Last Bloom is screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival

The story is based on the novel “Haru ni Chiru” by Kotaro Sawaki and revolves mostly around two men. Jin is an elderly former boxer who has just returned to Japan after a forty year subpar boxing career in the US, following an unfair decision in the beginning of his career in Japan. Shogo is a struggling young boxer from a poor family, who has also experienced something similar. One night in a bar,...

A struggling young boxer Shogo is stunned by an elderly guy Jin's sharp counterpunch during a street fight, and asks him to be his trainer. Jin, as it turns out, used to be a promising boxer who retired without realizing his dream to become a world champion. Jin tries to persuades Shogo not to risk his life when Shogo severely injures his eye right before the championship match; however, the young man's firm determination reminds Jin of his own dream. Jin also puts his life on the line for Shogo's world title match that could be their last bout together. (Source: Japanese Film Database)

Directed by Takahisa Zeze (Fragments of The Last Will) with cast members including Koichi Sato (The Sun Stands Still) and Ryusei Yokohama (Usogui), this movie will premiere in Japan on August 25, 2023.

For its subject matter, “Kiba: The Fangs of Fiction” is a magnificent story, featuring several accomplished and intriguing actors, and using these to bring life to the world of magazine editing. Director Daihachi Yoshida does so with a mix of drama and comedy, making for a surprisingly fun film.

“The Fangs of Fiction” is screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival

One of the many films delayed due to Covid-19, “Kiba: The Fangs of Fiction” details the story of a Japanese magazine in current times, where many of them, including this one, are on the brink of collapse. Teruya Hayami (Yo Oizumi) is tasked to work on one magazine, Trinity, to keep it afloat and make it flourish once again. By using innovating tactics, some of which highly risky, he, with the help of young and passionate Megumi Takano (Mayu Matsuoka), tries to do everything in his capacity to make sure...

This Japanese docudrama is an excellent primer on the scary near- meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011. After the earthquake, a tsunami triggered a ‘major nuclear event.’ A group of dedicated engineers struggle against odds to regain control. It’s another 21st Century disaster writ large — we applaud the camaraderie and commitment of the response teams while bureaucratic and political Bs threatens to doom half of Japan. As with last week’s Spacewalker I’m betting that most negative reviews were written by people who saw the English language dub job … in the original Japanese, star Ken Watanabe’s performance is terrific.

Fukushima 50

Blu-ray

Capelight

2020 / Color / 2:39 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date April 13, 2021 / Available from Amazon / 29.98

Starring: Ken Watanabe, Takumi Saitoh, Kôichi Satô, Tomorô Taguchi, Mark Chinnery, Yuri Nakamura, Justin Leeper, Yasuko Tomita, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Riho Yoshioka, Masane Tsukayama, Masato Hagiwara, Shirô Sano.

Cinematography: Shoji Ehara

Visual Effects...

To mark the digital release of Fukushima 50 – out 8th March from Altitude Films – we’re giving away a digital voucher. Based on the extraordinary, jaw-dropping book by Ryusho Kadota, On the Brink: The Inside Story of Fukushima Daiichi, the film, directed by Setsurô Wakamatsu (Whiteout), is the rival of any Hollywood disaster epic, but at its heart it is a moving and extremely timely human drama about people pulling together in a time of unprecedented crisis.

Ten years ago the world looked on as Japan battled to avert a potentially world-changing catastrophe – when, following an earthquake and tsunami, a nuclear reactor started to leak. Hot on the heels of 2019’s acclaimed Chernobyl, comes another recreation of a truly chilling moment in history, when the fate of mankind seemed to hang in the balance – or rather, in the hands of the workers at the Japanese power plant, who became known as...

2nd February 2021, London UK – Altitude have announced the 8 March digital release of Fukushima 50; the gripping account of the 2011 Japanese earthquake and nuclear disaster in advance of its tenth anniversary on 11 March. The film will be available on altitude.film and all digital platforms across the UK and Ireland.

See The Official Trailer Here

Ten years ago the world looked on, as Japan battled to avert a potentially world-changing catastrophe – when, following an earthquake and tsunami, a nuclear reactor started to leak. Hot on the heels of 2019’s acclaimed Chernobyl, comes another recreation of a truly chilling moment in history, when the fate of mankind seemed to hang in the balance – or rather, in the hands of the workers at the Japanese power plant, who became known as the ‘Fukushima 50’.

Based on the extraordinary, jaw-dropping book by Ryusho Kadota, On the Brink: The Inside Story of Fukushima Daiichi, the film, directed...

Japan’s Koichi Sato and Ken Watanabe star in “Fukushima 50,” a forthcoming film recounting the events of the East Japan earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown of 2011. The survival action drama is directed by Wakamatsu Setsuro.

Based on the book “On the Brink: The Inside Story of Fukushima Daiichi,” by Ryusho Kadota, the film’s narrative follows 50 workers who risked their lives by staying at the plant, in order to prevent total destruction of the overheating atomic reactors and minimise devastation. The adapted screenplay was written by Yoichi Maekawa, writer of “Gunji Kanbei,” “Shuhei Nozaki,” and “The Auditor.” Salo plays a power station supervisor, Watanabe plays a site superintendant.

Backed by the Kadokawa Corporation, the film shot in Japan from November 2018 to April. It is due for release in 2020.

“The Fukushima accident shook not only the people of Japan but also around the world. This film is about the powerplant workers...

We Are What We Are | The Book Thief | Non-Stop | Ride Along | As The Palaces Burn | Unforgiven | Funny Face

We Are What We Are (18)

(Jim Mickle, 2013, Us) Bill Sage, Ambyr Childers, Julia Garner. 103 mins

The story of an archaic backwoods family with very good reasons for their insularity, this spends such a long time laying out its twisted domestic set-up, it's almost as if it's in denial about being a horror movie (remade from a Mexican original). It's a wise decision. If you don't know the family's Big Secret already, it would be a shame to spoil it; let's just say it pulls the story into real shock and gore territory.

The Book Thief (12A)

(Brian Percival, 2013, Us/Ger) Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson. 131 mins

A smart but syrupy wartime tale that traverses well-trodden territory – from The Reader to Life Is Beautiful – as a young girl is adopted by goodly Germans,...

Unforgiven Trailer, Poster. Sang-il Lee‘s Unforgiven / Yurusarezaru mono (2013) movie trailer, movie poster stars Ken Watanabe, Jun Kunimura, Yûya Yagira, Akira Emoto, and Kôichi Satô. Unforgiven‘s plot synopsis: “The action is now set in late 1800′s Hokkaido with the lead actor Ken Watanabe playing a long retired samurai drawn back into action by [...]

Continue reading: Unforgiven (2013) Movie Trailer: Ken Watanabe in Eastwood Remake Film...

With a trailer for his unreleased 2007 sex comedy “Oliviero Rising" hitting the web a few weeks back, the rare presence of Vincent Gallo on the film scene recently grew just a bit more noticeable. The actor/director's own output, like directorial effort “Promises Written In Water,” remains an unknown in terms of a proper release, but in terms of appearing before a camera, a globe-trotting Japanese film will feature Gallo later this year. In a characteristically unexpected move, Gallo has been announced as the final cast member for director Junji Sakamoto's suspense drama “Human Trust,” which finished filming in Japan, Russia, Thailand, and the U.S. this past spring. Centered on the legendary “M Fund,” a supposed stash of treasure from WWII, the film follows a conman Yuichi (Kôichi Satô of “Sukiyaki Western Django”) as he's hired to travel across the globe and steal the money by two mysterious men.

Here’s your first look at a teaser trailer for for “Villain” director Sang-il Lee’s “Unforgiven”, his remake of the Clint Eastwood Western of the same name starring Ken Watanabe as a retired Samurai called back into service to avenge some wronged prostitutes. The teaser is short and entirely in Japanese, but if you’ve seen the Eastwood original, I think you can easily figure out who is who and what’s happening (or about to happen). I can pick out the old dude playing the Morgan Freeman role, but I’m not sure who is playing “The ‘Schofield Kid’” in this one… Set in 1880 Japan, “Unforgiven” follows a samurai with a violent past (Watanabe), who lives on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido with his aboriginal wife, but is brought out of retirement for one last job… Also starring Jun Kunimura, Kôichi Satô, Yûya Yagira, Akira Emoto, and Shioli Kutsuna.

New to Netflix Streaming On Monday August 1st: The Dirty Dozen (Nr | 1967)

Flickchart Ranking: #392

Times Ranked: 20571

Win Percentage: 46%

How Many Top-20′s: 34 Users

________________________________________________

Directed By: Robert Aldrich

Starring: Charles Bronson • Jim Brown • John Cassavetes • Richard Jaeckel • Robert Ryan

Genres: Adventure • Ensemble Film • War • War Adventure

Studios/Franchises: AFI’s 100 Years…100 Thrills

• • • • • • • •

Lethal Weapon (R | 1987)

Flickchart Ranking: #477

Times Ranked: 187567

Win Percentage: 46%

How Many Top-20′s: 756 Users

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Directed By: Richard Donner

Starring: Gary Busey • Mel Gibson • Danny Glover

Genres: Action • Action Thriller • Police Detective Film • Odd Couple Film • Holiday Film

Studios/Franchises: Lethal Weapon

Lethal Weapon 2 is also available to stream.

• • • • • • • •

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (PG | 1970)

Flickchart Ranking: #4976

Times Ranked: 1337

Win Percentage: 54%

How Many Top-20′s: 0 Users

________________________________________________

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Starring: Robert Stephens • Colin Blakely • Tamara Toumanova • Christopher Lee • Geneviève Page

Genres: Detective Film • Mystery • Romance • Romantic Mystery

• • • • • • • •

Spaceballs (PG | 1987)

Flickchart Ranking: #493

Times Ranked: 233515

Win Percentage: 45%

How Many...

[Our thanks to Christopher Bourne for the following review.]

Koki Mitani’s latest film The Magic Hour is an entertaining and beautifully designed tribute to movies and movie-making that revels in its artificiality. Early in the film, Natsuko (Haruka Ayase), a nightclub waitress, remarks that the elements of the story – gangsters, guns, cement overshoes, a boss’ moll – all make the town seem like a movie set. At the film’s outset, nightclub manager Bingo (Satoshi Tsumbuki) has run afoul of yakuza boss Teshio (Toshiyuki Nishida) by having an affair with the boss’ girlfriend Mari (Eri Fukatsu). Bingo saves them both from being the proverbial feed for the fishes by claiming to be an acquaintance of Della Togashi, a famous hit man known as the “Phantom Assassin,” whom Teshio would like to meet. Not actually knowing the assassin at all, and unable to find the real deal, he comes up with the idea of asking Murata (Koichi Sato), a stuntman,...

I feel a bit guilty saying this, but I almost didn’t bother going to see The Shonen Merikensack. Kankuro Kudo’s film has been promoted to within an inch of its life in Japan, to the point that I was already getting sick of it before it had even opened. My bad: this is one of the best comedies I’ve seen in the past few years, Japanese or otherwise. Comparisons with This is Spinal Tap are inevitable, but the movie holds its own even in such esteemed company.

Kanna (Aoi Miyazaki), a ditzy Ol with a taste for cutesy nail art, is about to reach the end of her contract at a major record label when she stumbles across a web video of a live show by punk band The Shonen Merikensack. It’s noisy, violent and virtually tuneless. That’s punk, her boss tells her. What’s punk?...

When you’re up to your knees in a bucket of concrete and about to be dumped in the sea, you’ll say pretty much anything. For small-time hustler Bingo (Satoshi Tsumabuki), it’s a seemingly innocuous fib: after being caught sleeping with his boss’s moll, Mari (Eri Fukatsu), he rescues them both from a watery grave by claiming acquaintance with the renowned hitman Della Togashi. The only problem is that he now has five days to bring Togashi to his boss - and, of course, he hasn’t got a clue who he is.

Neither does anyone else, for that matter - well, what he looks like, at least - leading Bingo to concoct an unlikely scheme. He decides to hire an actor to impersonate the famed assassin, plumping for one Taiki Murata (Koichi Sato), a second-rate hack who scrapes by on a gruel-like diet of bit parts and body double work.

First Look Studios recently released the latest kick ass movie poster for the upcoming western “Sukiyaki Western Django” by director Takashi Miike and starring Hideaki Ito, Masanobu Ando, Koichi Sato (The Guardian) and Quentin Tarantino (Inglorious Bastards, Grindhouse, Reservoir Dogs) as Ringo. Look for “Sukiyaki Western Django” on DVD from First Look Studios soon. Synopsis: Set during “The Genpei Wars” at the end of the 1100s, the Minamoto and Taira gangs face off in a town named Yuda, while a deadly gunman (Ito Hideaki) comes to the aid of the townsfolk. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest “Sukiyaki Western Django” movie news and posters.

Sukiyaki Western Django

Starring Hideaki Ito, Yusuke Iseya, and Koichi Sato

Directed by Takashi Miike

Rated R

It's on the undercard of age-old arguments, not nearly the main event attraction of chicken or the egg, science vs. religion, or boxers or briefs. But the debate of style or substance can hit us right between the eyes if we're not careful.

The thing is, it's usually style over substance in the argument, because if a movie has enough substance, the style doesn't matter as much. But when the story seems to serve the visuals, then you wonder if you're watching or just seeing.

Moulin Rouge! is a great example of style triumphing over substance, and the recent Max Payne a veritable case study in having too little substance to support the vision.

Enter Sukiyaki Western Django, which you can expect to be unconventional from the title alone. Director Takashi Miike has...

Last weekends #1 indie film at the box office, Sukiyaki Western Django, will be opening in La on September 12th. In preparation of next Fridays release we have exclusive clip from Takashi Miike's latest over at Bdtv. The battle scene is pretty bloody and a man gets bent backwards, in half! Set during "The Genpei Wars" at the end of the 1100s, the Minamoto and Taira gangs face off in a town named Yuda, while a deadly gunman (Ito Hideaki) comes to the aid of the townsfolk. Hideaki Ito, Koichi Sato, Yusuke Iseya, Teruyuki Kagawa, Masanobu Ando and Quentin Tarantino all star.

First Look released the latest kick ass movie trailer for the upcoming western “Sukiyaki Western Django” by director Takashi Miike and starring Hideaki Ito, Masanobu Ando, Koichi Sato (The Guardian) and Quentin Tarantino (Inglorious Bastards, Grindhouse) as Ringo. Look for “Sukiyaki Western Django” in theaters on August 29, 2008. Synopsis: Set during “The Genpei Wars” at the end of the 1100s, the Minamoto and Taira gangs face off in a town named Yuda, while a deadly gunman (Ito Hideaki) comes to the aid of the townsfolk. Stay tuned to Toxic Shock TV for the latest “Sukiyaki Western Django” movie news and trailers.

I’d love to stick around and chat but I gotta get to work. Variety Japan unveiled a number of stills from the upcoming J-punk rock comedy Shonen Meriiken Sakku. They feature Koichi Sato, Tomorowo Taguchi, Yuichi Kimura and Hiroki Miyake in character as The Brass Knuckle Boys. Still no footage from the film as of yet but as soon as we know you will know.

どうもありがとう to Chris over at J-Film Pow Wow for the heads up.