Tag: Yakuza

There Are No Female Kamen Riders

March 21, 2026

“Cool! Where’s the girl version?” has been my reflex with pop culture for as long as I can remember, and surely for longer than I was able to admit. I was into a lot of things – genres, subject matter, etc. – which were not, in turn, interested in women. Funny how that came to a head during my own coming-of-age, with #GamerGate and Star Wars and everything. Not “funny” ha-ha, mind. Anyway, Kamen Rider was one of those examples of pop culture, and same with Ultraman. Godzilla less so, because I’d heard that the one in Godzilla Raids Again was female, and that was good enough for me, parthenogenesis or not. I like Kamen Rider, but my ideal version – ‘90s, Keita Amemiya – never made it past a pilot or two. And truthfully, my ideal version is “girl Kamen Rider,” so I was heartbroken to discover that, out of the one-thousand-and-one Kamen Riders to ever don the motorcycle, none have been women. And even when they sort of were, they wouldn’t wear the helmet! That’s, like, a totally different thing, man. So, imagine my surprise – and confusion – when this popped up in my algorithm … More There Are No Female Kamen Riders

The Beach Episode | Sonatine (1993) Review

June 3, 2025

It’s rare for a film to give the sense that we, the audience, are seeing the world through the director’s eyes. Typically, great direction serves the story, but in this case, the director may be the story, doubling as the lead actor. As his character Murakawa, Takeshi Kitano observes. Along with countless static shots of people standing by, sitting still, waiting, we look at a lot of Murakawa looking. More than that, Sonatine, like Kitano’s earlier film Boiling Point, moves to its own rhythm. Proceeding without a lot of dialogue, it establishes a unique language with what we see and when we see it. Often, what we see is a shocking instance of violence. For my money, Sonatine has the most effective jump scare in any non-horror movie. I practically leapt out of my seat. And yet, it’s also irreverent and tender, melancholy and affecting. It’s phenomenal. … More The Beach Episode | Sonatine (1993) Review

Election vs. Outrage

May 23, 2021

I just saw the Johnnie To movie Election, and I was struck by its depiction of violence. There isn’t the usual staging around murders which typifies gangster movie structure. And the murders or beatings themselves aren’t gory or operatic. The contrary example I may as well be describing here is Takeshi Kitano’s Outrage trilogy, which I find interesting for being pure genre exercises. They’re very matter-of-fact, pretty low-energy, almost procedural yakuza dramas. The first Outrage was actually designed around the murder scenes, and throughout the series, they’re pretty extravagant. There’s death by baseball, horizontal hanging via car, mass shootings, explosions. It’s all over the place. And it’s all done with the expected style: black suits, shades, pistols, dignity. … More Election vs. Outrage