Product Description

Regarded as a milestone in cult maestro Takashi Miike’s career, Osaka Tough Guys (Naniwa Yuukyôden) is the bridge between his work as an apprentice director and as an auteur. It also displays the two distinct themes that he would explore in later work. Here, bonded together for the one and only time is an affectionate look at late youth that he would later develop (Young Thugs) together with the magic realist dive into yakuza life and rituals (Full Metal Yakuza, Fudoh) for which he is best known. When two street punks, Makoto and Eiji, run out of drinking money, it seems they have no choice but to look for work. But when they find an extremely well-paid job that requires no experience, they don’t realize that they’re about to be conscripted into the yakuza!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #87329 in DVD
• Brand: RYKODISC
• Released on: 2006-03-28
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Japanese
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 101 minutes

Features

• Petty hoods Makoto and Eiji join up with the yakuza and partake in lots of rowdy antics and minor crime. But when their friend Keiko gets pressured into making a hardcore S&M video, the buddies must get serious to get her out of trouble. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: NR Age: 881482003495 UPC: 881482003495 Manufacturer No: ATU034

Customer Reviews

Quite possibly one of the funniest Miike movies
Eiji and Makoto are two juvenile delinquents, after "voluntarily" leaving school they find themselves strapped for cash in need of jobs. They believe they find what they're looking for in an ad that pays great with little experience necessary, and most of their exploits therein deals with trying to adjust to this new world with some very strong (and peculiar) personalities.

Miike is known for his yakuza films, and Osaka Tough Guys is no exception, though they are represented in a deprecating, mocking, at times ridiculous manner. This gang is down on their luck, they've been hit hard by the anti-boryokudan laws and have not quite adapted to making money in this new world. They have a lot of great ideas (selling panties, blackmailing old ladies, extortion), with very little pay off. They are living in a world that no longer finds them threatening, where the katagi aren't afraid of standing up for themselves. This contrast has a powerful message, it speaks to the changing attitude toward yakuza members and within the gang itself, as it has to stoop to increasingly degrading and nefarious activities just to make ends meet.

But really, the movie gives off the impression as complete ham. Many of the scenes are random and never explained, the opening scene being one of them, but if you resist the urge to require that everything make sense in a movie, you can sit back and laugh. I was laughing out loud pretty much from the time the movie opened to the time credits rolled. If you enjoyed Miike's Happiness of the Katakuris, you'll probably enjoy this movie as well.

It's crude, but there is none of the cringe-worthy violence and torture scenes that make Audition difficult to watch. Don't watch if you can't tolerate vomit, molestation and manties, otherwise I recommend this movie to any Miike fan.

Possibly the funnest and funniest thing Takashi's ever done...
but it's a total send up. The story comes directly from the pages of a Japanese comic book and almost everything about it is over the top. Although there is a genuine story-line (read the other reviews for that), the movie is intersticed with crazily cartoonish, literally cartoonish, vignettes unlike anything one is likely to find in a 'real' movie that are often so much fun that they have one laughing or chuckling aloud in places. I rate this three stars because it really is just a cartoon animated by human actors but it is great! So long as you know what kind of absurdity and nonsense you are getting yourself into, this definitely is worth watching.
Takashi Miike is one of Japan's most talented directors and almost anything he directs is worth watching, one suspects. Still, althouh his movies usually have a touch of the surreal in them they are essentially filmic literature. This is filmic comicbook and quite unlike anything I've ever seen from him, even taking into account the other manga-based movies he's done (e.g. Zeburaman). Fair warning.

Kansai Gangstas
This is a very funny film. Its based on a manga that Miike grew up reading in high school by the manga artist, Dorkman.
The film opens with an amusing finishing move. The two main characters get in a fight with some street punks, after beating one of the punks down, they vomit on his face.
Miike does a good job of establishing characters in this early effort. You get to like Makoto and Eiji as the movie progreses. Makoto seems so innocent and nice but is naive enough to be recruited into the Yakuza. Since both Makoto and Eiji both fail to graduate high schol, it seems that their job prospects are limited in Japanese society.
Osaka Tough Guys show a lighter view of Yakuza life than other Yakuza films. Its refreshing to see slapstick antics inside hostess clubs. While it is amusing, it does show the dark side of Yakuza life like Makoto's girlfriend getting set up, problems with debt collecting, and the fact that the community doesn't show hardly any respect to their Yakuza sect.
It isn't as dark as Audition or Rainy Dogs. It is an enjoyable film that shows off the nightlife of Osaka. Anyone who has ever lived in Osaka and visited places like Umeda, Shinsaibashi, and Doutonbori, will see those locations, particularly in the daytime scenes. Overall a fun, fast-paced, action/comedy that you don't have to stop and think to get into.