Men and women caught up in "a downward spiral of corruption, discrimination, poverty and death" are the focus of this detective-thriller/social-drama inspired by the unsolved 1984 kidnapping of a Japanese candy company president.

Lady Joker

One year has passed since Kazuma Kiryu, "yakuza with the heart of gold", defeated his biggest adversary. Despite this victory, Kazuma has lost more than he had ever imagined. But events from the past continue to haunt him. A man he had admired so much, who was like a father to him, has revealed a terrible secret before he died. It's time for Kazuma to solve the mystery once and for all. Caught in the eternal fight between Kantou and Kansai, the Eastern and the Western organized crime groups of Japan, he soon realizes that there are other powers on the stage, including a mysterious Korean organization that seems to be connected somehow to his past.

Yakuza 2

In 1943, as Japan's WWII effort falters, a vice-admiral proposes training squadrons of "volunteer" flyers to crash their armed planes into Allied warships. Yarn follows the lives of kamikaze pilots, as remembered by an aging Kyushu restaurateur who cherishes their memory. Honoring the dead and multiple military anthems may stir the soul of some Japanese, but elsewhere auds will make a one-way trip for exits. Battle scenes are well-executed and script delivers some memorable scenes, but overall competent helming and thesping are powerless over writer-cum-Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishiara's repetitive storytelling. A post-war postscript adds considerable length to an already over-extended narrative. Tech credits are good quality.