2.0 out of 5 stars
A Yakuza with a Sense for Justice, April 4, 2010
This review is from: Ryuji the Yakuza (DVD)
Ryuji the Yakuza is a live action set of four 35 minute episodes, which a yakuza named Ryuji rights the wrongs committed upon innocents by other yakuza members.
All four episodes have an independent storyline, but there is one storyline that continues throughout and climaxes in the fourth episode. Really simply put, there is a Yakuza world, and a non-Yakuza world, and it seems Ryuji feels that the Yakuza shouldn't involve outsiders who don't want anything to do with Yakuza activities. And in every episode, those Yakuza who do, gets theirs from Ryuji.
Thus, in episode 1, a street gang blackmails from regular people. Ryuji stops this activity because the activity is happening in his turf without his approval. But in reality, he is a customer of one of the victims.
In episode two, another street gang is robbing people. The gang mistakingly attack Ryuji's younger brother. He goes and stops this activity not only because his brother is hurt, but also because they are robbing people off the street and also beat up a policeman.
In episode three, a small business owner mistakingly hires the Yakuza for a contracting job. Then the Yakuza try to extort the business owner. Ryuji helps the business owner because the business owner's daughter gets involved, who is innocent of all that had happened between the business owner and the Yakuza.
In episode four, a dirty politician teams-up with the Yakuza, but when Ryuji's friend gets victimized, he goes to set things straight - this episode has a double conclusion in that this same plot takes care of the underlying plot of the four episodes which cover Ryuji's relationship with his rival yakuza lietenant within the same Yakuza group.
Incidentally, Ryuji's last name is Ogami, the same last name as Itto, the main character in Lone Wolf and Cub, who, as an assassin, rights wrongs committed on his clients (for money). This Ogami does the same, but beats people up instead (and not for money). But the main difference is that in these episodes, you don't get emotionally involved with any of the characters. An incident happens, and Ryuji goes and beats people up to correct it. Episodes one, two and four are just okay. Episode three I thought was pretty good.
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