Ask John: Are There Any Yakuza Anime?

Question:
Outside of the Gokusen, which to me seems more like a GTO clone, are there any animes that are yakuza centered?

Answer:
This question was actually posed to me several years ago, and at the time I could not answer it. While I may know a lot about anime, I’m still learning more, as I watch more, all the time. So I find that I’m now much more familiar with yakuza themed anime than I used to be. I’m sure that I may not know of every yakuza anime, but I can now introduce a few of them.

In the same way that tokusatsu hero shows and kaiju movies seem to be primarily the domain of live action Japanese movies, yakuza stories seem to be mainly told in live action rather than anime. But that’s not to say that no yakuza anime exist. American fans may be familiar with a handful of anime series that involve yakuza, but full-fledged yakuza-themed anime seem far more infrequent and unknown in America. Countless American anime fans are familiar with Gokusen, the anime television series about a yakuza clan heiress who works as a public school teacher. While there’s certainly a yakuza element in Gokusen, the series is primarily a school comedy. Black Lagoon Second Barrage episodes 7-12 are a violent yakuza warfare story, but the yakuza theme isn’t the central theme of the entire series. Kaze no Yojimbo likewise involves a feud between yakuza clans, but viewers don’t get to see a lot of the workings of the clans themselves in the series. Kuchu Buranko episode 7 stars a yakuza gripped with a paralyzing fear of sharp edges – certainly an occupational hinderance for a Japanese gangster. But again, the entire series isn’t about yakuza. Yakuza families figure into Sora no Otoshimono episode 5 and the entire Seto no Hanayome television series, but both shows are primarily bishoujo fantasies, not crime dramas. The protagonist of the Stop! Hibari-kun television series is the son of a yakuza boss, but the father’s activities aren’t the primary focus of the series. There seem to be rather few true “yakuza anime,” and they seem to have inexplicably flared up then vanished again during the early 1990s.

The two episode Seishun Fufu Monogatari Koiko no Mainichi OVA series from 1989 tells the story of a mid-level yakuza enforcer who tries to live a decent thug life with his attractive and devoted girlfriend while being responsible to his boss and the buck-toothed petty yakuza who respects him as a “big brother.” This slice-of-life drama contains very little action or violence. Most of it revolves around protagonist Sabu lying around his apartment watching Koiko do housework. Ironically, the legendary yakuza atonement of severing a finger seems to appear in every American movie involving Japanese gangsters, but I’ve never seen it occur in a yakuza anime. Koiko no Mainichi comes closest, though.

Tatsuo Nitta’s long running Shizukanaru Don manga series got a single 40 minute long OVA in 1991. I know that this anime production exists, but I haven’t watched it.

Like a predecessor for Gokusen, the 1992 OVA High School Jingi revolves around an odd yakuza enforcer who takes a job as a high school teacher in a rough school full of delinquents. However, unlike Kumiko Yamaguchi of Gokusen, who attempts to keep her criminal affiliation secret, the protagonist of High School Jingi makes no effort at all to disguise the fact that he’s a gangster. This gag comedy features plenty of slapstick humor revolving around gang rivalries, romantic advances, and socially inappropriate violence, but doesn’t depict much yakuza society.

Anime production studio Knack produced six Naniwa Yukyoden OVAs in 1992 and 1993, based on the 25 volume gag manga by Dookuman Pro. This crude gag serial features animation resembling Flash animation, and a surprising degree of frank sexuality. While this series does depict the routine workings of yakuza society, it does so with tongue well in cheek, with plenty of comic exaggeration and goofy sight gags.

Japan’s best known yakuza anime may be Toei’s Emblem Take 2 OVA series adapted from Kiuchi Kazumasa & Watanabe Jun’s 62 volume long manga. The first OVA appeared in 1993. A second episode followed in 1995. Seemingly taking inspiration from Yasutaka Tsutsui’s Girl Who Leapt Through Time sci-fi novel, Emblem Take 2 stars a low ranking, pitiful gokudo named Jouji who accidentally kills himself only to time-slip back ten years to the moment his life took an irrecoverable turn for the worse. With his knowledge of the future, Jouji strives to avoid his sad fate, to mixed results. As expected of a true yakuza story, Emblem Take 2 consists primarily of angry Japanese men in hideously color coordinated suits shouting a lot. Otaku that want to watch an authentic yakuza anime will find exactly what they’re looking for in this series. I suspect that most American anime fans, however, will simply find Emblem Take 2 exceedingly dull.

Sho “Buronson” Fumimura & Ryoichi Ikegami’s 12 volume Sanctuary manga was adapted into a single OVA in 1995. This parallel story about high school friends who vow to help each other rise in the ranks of Japanese government and Japanese organized crime is as much a political drama as a crime story, but the OVA does illustrate enough of yakuza organization and routine to satisfy viewers looking for a serious yakuza anime.