"Tokyo Vice" Serves More Vibes Than Violence

Starring Ansel Elgort pictured at top as American journalist Jake Adelstein and Ken Watanabe as Vice Squad Detective Hiroto Katagiri Tokyo Vice follows Jake as he fights his way onto the staff of the world39s most popular Japanese newspaper where just before being fired for not producing he happens to come across a story involving the Yakuza that could both make his career and threaten his life The rest of the main cast is rounded out by Rachel Keller Shamp244 Kasamatsuamp160and Rinko Kikuchi who plays my favorite character so far Jake39s editor EimiFirst off and not to sound clichamp233 at all but the biggest most important character in the whole series is probably the country of Japan itself Every location has a specific vibe whether it be the bustle of the busy ramen shops or the soulcrushing environment inside the Meicho Shimbun corporate offices Meicho Shimbun is the fictional Japanese newspaper that Adelstein works for in 1999 the year in which the show is set In real life Meicho was actually a publication called Yomiuri Shimbun and the reallife Adelstein actually worked there from 3993 to 2005 We also spend a decent amount of time seeing different aspects of Tokyo39s supposed night life in the late 3990searly 2000s which apparently consists largely of quotescort loungesquot loud dance clubs and Japanese BBQ spots This series had the luxury of not only being shot completely on location but also with a cast that is mostly of Japanese descent I would say quotyou can39t pay for that kind of authenticityquot but obviously someone didSignificant aspects of the vibe are decided by the time period we find ourselves in as well There are definitely a couple of situations where instead of writing notes down on an envelope with a pencil or taking a loud photo with an analog camera Jake could have just taken a quick and quiet picture with his phone camera amp8230 if that had been an option Unfortunately it wasn39t Another sign of the times was the presence of the pop classic quotI Want It That Wayquot by the legendary Backstreet Boys who around that time had the boy band scene in their collective back pocketAs far as the series itself I39ve found that it39s great at purveying the idea that violence or death is close if not right around the corner but very rarely goes beyond the dialogue to cash in on that promise Instead of seeing a murder we39ll see the body Instead of Jake getting his ass beat someone will make serious faces at him and the context of the scene will imply danger but he doesn39t actually get hurt at least not so far At the time I39m writing this I39ve watched five of this season39s eight hourlong episodesSo cultural tourism and Nineties nostalgia aside what does Tokyo Vice truly offer It39s not a comedy but there is humor there just see the banter between Jake and his coworkers specifically his friend Tin Tin played by Kosuke Tanaka As far as Bstories go we have Samantha Keller a white woman who through her work in Japan39s luxury escort bars has fully integrated the Japanese language and culture into her daytoday She39s got big plans a shady background and takes no shit and I39m interested to see how her plot line plays out Turns out that not everyone friendly is your friend you knowThere39s also the story of Sato Kasamatsu a member of the Yakuza who somehow also seems like he39s not such a bad guy We do see him put his hands on a couple of people but he almost never comes off as a loose cannon He39s seems like he has enough of a moral compass to feel bad about some of the things he does but also enough intelligence to not bite the blood and tattoocovered hands that feed him He knows Samantha because the club she works at pays his Yakuza family for protection It39s also how he ends up meeting Adelstein because Jake hangs out there from time to time as wellI also have to give specific props to Rinko Kikuchi I love her character Eimi and her nononsense attitude She39s tough but she39s also wise fearless and capable of holding her own in the pressure cooker that is Meicho Shimbun Between her and Samantha I think we39ve definitely hit our badass lady quota It39s particularly impressive how readily able to switch from fluent Japanese to fluent Korean Kikuchi isTokyo Vice is a weird show in a sense It39s impressive on the one hand because of its cultural accuracy and the fluency with which the nonJapanese cast members had to grasp the language but also because it doesn39t give me any of the things I usually relish and yet I still dig it It promises violence but besides this one guy setting himself on fire it39s mainly a lot of threats It behaves like a mystery but the narrative details aren39t hard for the viewer to decipher so instead we spend a lot of time watching Jake either try to connect the dots himself or trying to convince someone else that there are dots to be connected in the first placeAll of this happens while the show constantly makes us feel like Jake39s in danger even though he39s mostly not especially when considering the fact that the very first scene of episode one takes place a couple of years in the future meaning that anything we see before that moment definitely can39t result in anything too serious happening to our main character It39s almost like this show39s main skill is capitalizing on the threats and implications of the setup without really having to dig into that HBO gore budgetVisually Tokyo Vice is everything you want on your flatscreen It39s got dazzling visuals amazing backdrops stellar lighting that neon lightwet street combo is to die for and enough tension and suspense to keep you guessing even when you kind of know the answers already Japanese culture is one of the coolest things to explore in any medium and as it turns out the Yakuza is just as infatuating as the American Mafia seems to be Between that and the legitimacygravitas combo served up by Watanabe I39m really hoping to see a second season for this oneI guess we39ll have to wait and see if this thing survives its reallife drama firstClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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"Tokyo Vice" Serves More Vibes Than Violence

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Ainsley Andrade

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"Tokyo Vice" Serves More Vibes Than Violence

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