While The Godfather romanticized the American Mafia in the early 1970s, Kinji Fukasaku's five-film series known as The Yakuza Papers: Battles Without Honor & Humanity revolutionized the Japanese yakuza film with unprecedented intensity. A post-World War II epic that broke Japanese box-office records, this complex, utterly authentic cycle of gangster films replaced the popular ninkyo or "chivalry" films of the '60s with jitsuroku, an entirely new breed of gangster film that rose from the ashes of Hiroshima and post-war reconstruction, depicting a meticulously detailed "alternate history" that had been ignored by the "official" factual record.
Battles Without Honor and Humanity

NR1h 39m7.4

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In post-war Japan, a formidable and merciless gangster named Shozo Hirono rises to prominence in the black market, where he must outmaneuver and outwit cunning crime lords in a cutthroat struggle for power.

Hiroshima Death Match

NR1h 40m7.5

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A former gang violence survivor joins the yakuza in a quest for vengeance, only to become entangled in a complex web of loyalty, love, and deception, leaving a trail of enemies and dead bodies in his wake.

Proxy War

NR1h 42m7.3

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A Yakuza leader navigates a treacherous landscape of rival gangs, where family ties are stretched to the limit and violence simmers just below the surface.

Police Tactics

NR1h 41m7.3

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A long-standing rivalry between two families reaches a boiling point, fueled by powerful external forces and resisted by courageous authorities, ultimately culminating in a dramatic and intense showdown.

Final Episode

NR1h 40m7.3

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A cunning crime boss orchestrates a drastic shift in his organization's focus, morphing his syndicate into a political force, while his loyal lieutenants aim to capitalize on their new power to advance their own interests.

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