‘Tokyo Vice’ Review: A Deceptively Engrossing Slow-Burn Crime Thriller Starring Ansel Elgort And Ken Watanabe
As a person that’s looking to pursue journalism as a career, I am constantly curious about the field and what it takes to make it as a woman in journalism. Pair that with my life for crime thrillers and suspended and you get Tokyo Vice directed by Michael Mann and starring Ansel Elgort, Ken Watanabe, Rachel Keller, Hideaki Itō, Shô Kasamatsu and Ella Rumpf. The 8 episode season is airing on HBO Max and Lionsgate Play. The synopsis and the fact that it’s based on a memoir intrigued me and I decided to give this 8 episode of crime thriller and suspense a watch. Here is my review of Tokyo Vice.
Plot
Tokyo Vice is based on a memoir by journalist Jake Adelstein named Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan. He was the first non-japanese reporter in one of Japan’s biggest newspapers and wrote about his years there. Tokyo Vice shows us American journalist Jake Adelstein (Ansel Elgort) who has to give a Japanese writing exam in order to be a reporter in one of Japan’s biggest newspapers, Meisho. He was hired as their first non-japanese reporter and was taken under the wing of his editor Emi Maruyama (Rinko Kikuchi) and detective Hiroto Katagiri (Ken Watanabe)
Cast And Characters
I genuinely enjoyed all the performances in Tokyo Vice but let’s do a breakdown. Ansel Elgort, who plays protagonist and journalist Jake Adelstein, surprised me in more ways than one. His efforts of playing a white American trying to fit into the rigid Japanese work culture and society. Moreover, he genuinely seemed to have worked on making his Japanese sound as well rounded as possible. His performance was effortless and he didn’t overdo or underdo any scene which made the scenes in Tokyo Vice seem as realistic as possible.
Ken Watanabe is a Japanese actor who is seen by the English speaking audience as Lord Katsumoto Moritsugu in The Last Samurai. He plays detective Hiroto Katagiri who sees Jake as a son and tries to guide him through the streets of Tokyo and how to deal with the yakuza. I absolutely loved his stern but compassionate nature, who genuinely has a soft spot for Jake. His entire personality of being a father figure to him is adorable to me.
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Rachel Keller is known for her performance as Simone Gerhardt in Legion. She plays Samantha, an American ex-pat who works for an upscale club as their hostess. I loved Keller’s performance. She has a side plot of her own going on which also leans into the suspense genre of Tokyo Vice. Her role genuinely adds a lot of different angles and perspectives to the plot of Tokyo Vice. It highlights the commodification of women within the Japanese culture and is not on the nose about it but makes its point clear.
Execution
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Tokyo Vice will genuinely alter the manner in which you view Japanese culture and society. The show has pointed out the racism and exclusion of foreigners in Japan, going as far as pointing out the racial slurs used against Jake.
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The show also highlights the inherent sexism in the Japanese workforce through Jake’s editor, Emi Maruyama. The constant harassment she is shown to deal with while being discredited and underestimated for her work (as she is a woman) can get very jarring. However, her stern demeanour, resilient nature and her insistence on doing the right thing are what make her my favourite character.
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Tokyo Vice also sheds light on how the Yakuza works within Tokyo. The show uses characters like Sato, played by Shô Kasamatsu to show the reality of poverty in Japan and the desperate times in which people have to join the yakuza and how their financial situation is used to exploit them. Sato is a grey character who isn’t comfortable with a lot of the brutality that exists within the yakuza but doesn’t want to go back to the streets. I feel like Kasamatsu did a great job showing his internal conflict of having to do his ‘job’ while fighting his personal morals.
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The show has used characters like Emi, Samantha and Polina (played by Ella Rumpf) to highlight the blatant patriarchy within Japan. While Emi shows the merciless sexism in the Japanese workforce, Samantha and her profession as a club hostess call attention to the commodification of women amongst the Japanese elite.
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Furthermore, a lot of the corruption and toxic work environment of Japan has been brought under the spotlight by using the struggles of the side characters. I feel like Tokyo Vice has been smart about using its characters wisely as they all add to the main plot and none of them come across as pointless or unnecessary. The show uses a lot of references to the nightlife of Tokyo, using neon lights and colour schemes against the backdrop of grey, beige and brown city building to draw attention to pivotal moments and characters.
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Also, Tokyo Vice did a great job with the Japanese of the non-Japanese characters. Unlike many movies and shows that are based in foreign countries, they do not make the local characters speak in English and rather realistically have the actors speak Japanese and use subtitles for the audiences to understand. It adds to the authenticity of the show and stays true to the memoir. Moreover, the non-Japanese speaking actors have done a good job with the dialect and haven’t Americanised the language, making it sound fake and weird.
I absolutely enjoyed the pacing of Tokyo Vice. At first, it will come off as slow but the storytelling slyly pulls you in until you are completely engrossed in the plot and invested in the characters.
Verdict
With this, I give Tokyo Vice a solid 4 out of 5.
Tokyo Vice is available to watch on HBO Max and Lionsgate Play.
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