I'm a fan of Takashi Miike so basically every time I can buy or rent one of his works (I'm almost sure that, with the exception of the censored version of Ichi the Killer in festivals, none of his films had a theatrical run in my city) I don't miss the chance since is not that common to find a Miike film. At my local Blockbuster there aren't many Miike films, of course you can rent Ichi the Killer and Audition but apart of those titles there are just about 3 other films and 1 of them is already in my collection. I never heard or read something about Kikoku aka Yakuza Demon but for sure I really wanted to watch it. Yakuza Demon was released straight to video and certainly it is not one of Miike's very best but if you ask me it is a great film, I loved it and now it is a personal favourite of Miike. It is a simple Yakuza story, not as graphic as some others Miike films, very well acted, with some bizarre shoots and certainly once again Miike proves with it that the Japanese straight to video market is way different. I enjoyed it a lot, I was stick to the screen, I really like this well-made and simple crime films.
In Yakuza Demon we have two rival Yakuza organizations: the Tendo Group (an organization with 15,000 men) and the Date family, each organization conformed by families. So we have the Muto family with Boss Muto, Seiji (very cool Riki Takeuchi) and Yoshi Okamoto, they are part of the Date family. During the beginning of a war between those two organizations Boss Muto is arrested, and he will spend two years in prison, just after he promised to the Date family that in order to pay his debts he would kill someone big of the Tendo Group. "You are way too cool, man", those are the last lines, of course according to the English subtitles from the DVD, of the movie and are words from a man of the Tendo Group to our protagonist, Seiji, just after he and his men killed him. After Boss Muto is arrested the name Seiji becomes an extremely well known name in the Yakuza world and obviously not for some childish actions, actually Seiji together with Yoshi (both know the other since long time ago and now are just like brothers) made what no one imagine, well I guess many though about that but just as a dream: they tried to kill the boss of the Tend Group, actually they were very close. This action has as a consequence the worst time of the Date family and now practically Seiji is alone with Yoshi not being secure in any place. There is not something complicated about the war, is easy since the Tendo Group is so much more powerful so the interesting things comes of course from Seiji. He was loyal to his boss and now he is replacing him, there's a great scene: Seiji just realized about the fact that the Muto family has been expelled from the Date family. They always thought that Boss Muto went to jail to avoid the obligation of paying his debts by killing someone of the Tendo Group but now Seiji is a demon, obviously he feels nothing but anger by knowing that his boss has been expelled and nobody will argue with him. Seiji did what his boss promised but with that he practically finished the date organization. And with Boss Muto we have the story that involves a woman, of course she will be the one who will suffer the most, she will suffer the killing of Boss Muto and the killing of Seiji, Yakuza Demon has a really great ending, there you have a man who killed finally without a gun, he and she are going for a new and different life, they may be through with the past but the past ain't through with them.
In Yakuza Demon we have two rival Yakuza organizations: the Tendo Group (an organization with 15,000 men) and the Date family, each organization conformed by families. So we have the Muto family with Boss Muto, Seiji (very cool Riki Takeuchi) and Yoshi Okamoto, they are part of the Date family. During the beginning of a war between those two organizations Boss Muto is arrested, and he will spend two years in prison, just after he promised to the Date family that in order to pay his debts he would kill someone big of the Tendo Group. "You are way too cool, man", those are the last lines, of course according to the English subtitles from the DVD, of the movie and are words from a man of the Tendo Group to our protagonist, Seiji, just after he and his men killed him. After Boss Muto is arrested the name Seiji becomes an extremely well known name in the Yakuza world and obviously not for some childish actions, actually Seiji together with Yoshi (both know the other since long time ago and now are just like brothers) made what no one imagine, well I guess many though about that but just as a dream: they tried to kill the boss of the Tend Group, actually they were very close. This action has as a consequence the worst time of the Date family and now practically Seiji is alone with Yoshi not being secure in any place. There is not something complicated about the war, is easy since the Tendo Group is so much more powerful so the interesting things comes of course from Seiji. He was loyal to his boss and now he is replacing him, there's a great scene: Seiji just realized about the fact that the Muto family has been expelled from the Date family. They always thought that Boss Muto went to jail to avoid the obligation of paying his debts by killing someone of the Tendo Group but now Seiji is a demon, obviously he feels nothing but anger by knowing that his boss has been expelled and nobody will argue with him. Seiji did what his boss promised but with that he practically finished the date organization. And with Boss Muto we have the story that involves a woman, of course she will be the one who will suffer the most, she will suffer the killing of Boss Muto and the killing of Seiji, Yakuza Demon has a really great ending, there you have a man who killed finally without a gun, he and she are going for a new and different life, they may be through with the past but the past ain't through with them.