The Ultimate Yakuza Movie Guide — Timeless Japanese Crime Classics Chosen by the Pros
The 30 Most Vicious Yakuza Films You Should Watch Now—Precisely Because Loyalty and Humanity Are Fading Today
“Office workers, in particular, should be watching yakuza films. Why? Because yakuza films are the ultimate stories about life within an organization. These films depict universal themes for people working in corporate structures—unreasonable bosses, factional struggles, and the conflicts between duty and personal feelings. There are no stories that resonate with salarymen more deeply than yakuza films.”
This is the belief of journalist Tomohiko Suzuki, who has spent many years reporting on organized crime. He argues that precisely because loyalty and compassion have become scarce in today’s world, there are valuable life lessons to be learned from yakuza films.
So, among the countless yakuza films out there, which ones are truly worth watching? For this feature, FRIDAY asked professionals in the know—former organized crime detectives and critics well-versed in the genre—to each name their top five must-see masterpieces. Here, we introduce a selection from the 30 most vicious yakuza films chosen by the experts.
Suzuki’s top recommendation was an unexpected one: Sailor Suit and Machine Gun, released in 1981.
“There’s a reason it’s ranked number one—it has a miraculous sense of realism. The yakuza in this film aren’t glorified like in typical ninkyō (chivalry) films, but are portrayed as complete lowlifes.
The highlight is the scene where Hiromi Yakushimaru (61), playing the boss of the ‘Medaka Group,’ and Tsunehiko Watase (who passed away at 72), playing her underboss, visit a rival organization to offer formal greetings. Since the boss is a high school girl, you’d expect the scene to lack weight—but even to me, after years of covering organized crime, it felt like watching a real yakuza exchange.
The rivals clearly underestimate the two, but the underboss stands his ground and shields his boss at the last moment. In yakuza society, if you don’t risk everything and bare your fangs, the weak will continue to be looked down upon. The film brilliantly captures these subtle power dynamics. The story itself—where a yakuza’s relative inherits the group—is pure fiction and couldn’t happen in reality. But setting that aside, the authenticity in the film’s smallest details is truly exceptional.”
Meanwhile, the Battles Without Honor and Humanity series—the gold standard of yakuza films—was highly praised by many experts. Based on the prison memoirs of Kozo Mino, the boss of the Mino-gumi gang involved in postwar Hiroshima conflicts, the saga consists of five films. Former Tokushima Prefectural Police First Investigation Division Chief Inspector Hiroyasu Akiyama, known as the “Pompadour Detective,” recalls, “It was an extremely influential work for both gangsters and detectives of the time.”
“When we conducted raids on yakuza offices, I remember seeing young gang members watching Battles Without Honor and Humanity on VHS. Even detectives used it as a reference. We’d warn each other, ‘Be careful—those guys are copying the movie’s language and methods of gang warfare.’ In other words, the film had become a kind of manual for yakuza behavior.
In terms of content, Nobuo Kaneko’s (who passed away at 71) portrayal of a comical gang boss in the first film was especially memorable. The way he mixes humor with cunning betrayals and power plays captures the true nature of people in the underworld.”
An unexpected method used to portray real yakuza authenticity
The second film in the series, Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Hiroshima Deathmatch, also received strong acclaim. Nonfiction author Masahiro Ojima, known for works such as The Truth Behind the Yamaguchi-gumi Split, explains:
“In postwar Hiroshima, two organizations battle for dominance, waging a deadly struggle just as the title suggests. The bloodshot eyes of the actors vividly express the yakuza facing extreme, life-or-death situations. In fact, there was a trick behind those eyes.
During filming, director Kinji Fukasaku reportedly drank all night with the young actors who were to perform the violent scenes and then brought them straight to the set without any sleep. The reason was that staying awake through the night would give the actors a crazed, intense look in their eyes—perfect for scenes where they had to convey the intent to kill. That exhausted, feral gaze gave the film its raw, gripping power.”
The huge success of Battles Without Honor and Humanity triggered a major boom in the 1970s for a new genre called true-record films (jitsuroku eiga), which were based on real-life events. Former Tokyo Metropolitan Police anti-gang detective Yuichi Sakurai, who was involved in many yakuza investigations, chose The Yakuza Warlords (Shura no Mure), based on the life of Seijo Inagawa, the first boss of the Inagawa-kai, as his number one pick.
“In the film, the protagonist Ryuuji Inahara—played by Hiroki Matsukata (who passed away at 74)—shows true manly spirit time and again. For example, there’s a scene in a gambling den where a thug from the Yokohama gang places a pistol instead of money as his bet. When Inahara calls him out, the thug angrily tries to shoot him from behind. Without turning around, Inahara says, ‘A man who shoots from behind is a pig.’ The thug is so impressed by his guts that he joins Inahara’s group.
For me, learning about gang history through yakuza films actually helped in my work. When interrogating younger members of the Inagawa-kai who got rowdy, I would say, ‘Do you even know your group’s history? Behave yourself, or the old-timers would laugh at you,’ and they’d go quiet. I’m not defending organized crime, but this film makes you think, ‘A real boss should be like that.’”
In contrast to The Yakuza Warlords, which depicts a man expanding his organization through sheer guts, Graveyard of Honor (Jingi no Hakaba)—based on a real-life yakuza who rejected all codes of loyalty—was hailed as the pinnacle of true-record films and also made it into the list of 30.
“In this film, the protagonist, played by Tetsuya Watari (who passed away at 78), turns his blade even against his own boss and senior members, eventually becoming a heroin addict and ending up arrested and imprisoned. In the end, he commits suicide by jumping to his death. The real-life model, Rikiya Ishikawa, a senior member of the Wada-gumi gang, left a final poem from his prison cell: ‘Thirty years of foolish uproarious laughter.’ His life truly was a foolish uproar.
The film begins with audio interviews of Ishikawa’s acquaintances, giving it a semi-documentary touch that’s fascinating. It’s a profound work that stares deeply into the curse borne by those who live as yakuza.” —Film critic Yukio Todoroki
From the October 17, 2025 issue of “FRIDAY”
