I think I owe my friend an apology. If I recall, back when the first season of Tokyo Vice dropped on HBO Max, I wasn’t overly impressed. I don’t know if my appreciation for Asian media has grown substantially since then, but the second season of this show was freaking awesome!
And of course I’m nervous about getting anymore because now it’s just Max, and the big wigs at Warner Bros-Discovery are a bunch of nit wits who are cancelling things left and right. As good as this series is, if the audience is not there, I’m afraid it will get the ax. Luckily, the creators of this series also have that fear, so they left us at a good stopping point if this is all we’ll ever get. Of course, crime never stops, so there could always be more to explore if they were given another season. Now that I’m invested in this show, you know I’m getting my hands on the book that inspired it all. I wonder how far the events in the series deviated from Jake Adelstein’s actual experiences? I am also not really sure if he was consulted in the making of the show, or if they would look to him for further inspiration.
As most real life adaptations, there are plenty of things that are tweaked to seem more extreme than they really were. I kind of hope that is the case for a lot of what went down this season, because otherwise – holy shit! As we enter the new season, Jake and Katagiri are taking a break from hunting down Tozawa because well, he’s gone. Jake gets some traction on pieces involving motorcycle gangs, but is kind of steering clear of the yakuza. That is until, Tozawa is back. This man appeared to be on the brink of death and is suddenly back and stronger than ever. He is fear itself and he plans to take every other yakuza gang as one of his own.
This, of course, is bad news for Sato. Not only does he have to contend with the sudden murder of his Oyabun, he also has to try and defeat his crazy successor from recruiting his younger brother into this life. I feel for Sato, I really do. Sure, he is capable of cold things, but he does really seem to inhabit a great deal of empathy. While I don’t think he regrets making a family out of the yakuza, I think he also wishes sometimes he could get out and live a normal life. Lucky for him though, Samantha isn’t normal either. This former Mormon now owns her own club and isn’t above doing some shady things to get what she wants. This girls has guts, and while sometimes I found her actions a bit annoying, I can’t help but respect how brave and confident she is.
While Jake is busy trying to take down the yakuza, he can’t help but burn some bridges on the way there. He’s cocky and ruthless, and it kind of seems he’ll ruin relationships if that means he can get a good story. I know that’s kind of what it takes to be the best, but it’s a tough pill to swallow as a viewer. Becoming less enthralled with the Meicho is Jake’s boss, Emi. She’s seeing the lengths the paper will go to in order to protect Tozawa, when all she wants is to get the truth out to the people. We get even more of a personal look at her and Jake’s friends this season which made for some really interesting viewing.
I was really happy with how all of our conflicting parties found themselves working together in the end to make sure the bad guy doesn’t win. It’s a messy road there, but the ending was so satisfying. I sure hope this hidden gem is given more life, but if not, I’m plenty content with where we ended up. Go check this show out!