Watch Order
0 / 12 watchedTwelve key films in release order.
About Kinji Fukasaku
Kinji Fukasaku filmed postwar Japan as shaky newsreel. Five Battles Without Honor and Humanity films landed 1973 to 1974 with Bunta Sugawara as Hirono, adapting real yakuza manuscripts. The run won Kinema Junpo best film and made jitsuroku the mode. Three New Battles followed 1974 to 1976 as standalones.
Graveyard of Honor from 1975 and Cops vs Thugs from 1975 keep the street level. Doberman Cop from 1977, Shogun Samurai and Message from Space from 1978 swerve to cops, samurai and space opera. Virus from 1980 goes global pandemic, Fall Guy from 1982 won director prizes, Battle Royale from 2000 closes with school island slaughter.
Good to know
Watch the five Yakuza Papers in release order first, they form one 634 minute saga. New Battles entries reuse actors as new characters, so they stand apart. Battle Royale needs no homework but lands harder after the seventies run. The Complete Saga cut from 1980 compresses four films for the curious. Start with the 1973 first film, then Graveyard of Honor.
