“Tokyo Vice” HBO Max Poster
Arriving on HBO Max on April 7th is Tokyo Vice, an adaptation of Jake Adelstein’s non-fiction 2010 novel. The upcoming series, with a pilot directed by Michael Mann (Heat), stars Ken Watanabe (Rage, Shanghai) and Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver, Westside Story).
Tokyo Vice is loosely inspired by American journalist Jake Adelstein’s nonfiction firsthand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat. The crime drama, filmed on location in Tokyo, captures Adelstein’s (Elgort) daily descent into the neon-soaked underbelly of Tokyo in the late ‘90s, where nothing and no one is truly what or who they seem (via Deadline).
Tokyo Vice also stars Rachel Keller (Fargo), Ella Rumpf (Tiger Girl), Shun Sugata (Bunraku), Sho Kasamatsu (Ring Wandering), Masato Hagiwara (Cure), Kosuke Toyohara (Deliver Us from Evil), Ayumi Tanida (Baragaki: Unbroken Samurai), Noémie Nakai (Death Note: Light Up the New World), Tomohisa Yamashita (The Head), Ayumi Ito (The Reason) and Rinko Kikuchi (Babel).
Hollywood is no stranger to putting the yakuza (organized crime syndicates in Japan) on film. Some of the more popular movies to explore the subject are 1974’s The Yakuza, directed by Sydney Pollack; and 1989’s Black Rain, directed by Ridley Scott. The yakuza have also been portrayed in a more comic book-approach in films like 2003’s Kill Bill Vol. 1, directed by Quentin Tarantino; and 1991’s Showdown in Little Tokyo, directed by Mark L. Lester.
The series will premiere on HBO Max on April 7 with three episodes. The service will then add two new episodes every Thursday until the series finale streams on April 28. The show will also premiere on Japan’s WOWOW service on April 24 (via ANN).
Don’t miss the New Trailer below:
