Yamazaki Ichimon — Unification of Japan (or "Hiragana Ichimon") (2023) | Movie Browser

absurdist bureaucracygentle chaosfound family cringe

Overview

Comedy Action Drama Crime

Himuro (Yasukaze Motomiya) and Tamura (Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi) receive a request from their now-retired old patriarch, Mikami (Eiichi Furui) regarding harassment by the Chinese mafia on his ward, Oomiya Hayato. While Himuro and Tamura investigate, the Yamazaki Family kill time by dealing with merchandise fraudsters, YouTube streamers, and holding a seance to possibly consult the dead ...? Originally a 16-part "workplace comedy" online sketch series hosted on Rakuten TV, "Hiragana Ichimon" was released as a full movie cut on other platforms such as U-Next, while Netflix Japan retained the 16-part cut.

Standout Aspects

Writing

Sketch-to-movie alchemy that shouldn't work but does.

Acting

Veteran yakuza actors playing burnt-out middle managers.

Best for:Solo·Friends·Streaming

Heads up:Violence

Director

Hiroyuki Tsuji

ReleasedOct 25, 2023

Runtime1h 36m

StatusReleased

Vibe

Pacesteady

Intensitymedium

Tonemixed

Feellight

Top Cast

Yasukaze Motomiya

Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi

Eiichi Furui

Manzo Shinra

Takashi Kitadai

Yoshimi Tachi

Katsuya

Tatsuya Nakazawa

Hiroto Honda

Kenta Kawasaki

Tatsuya Kishida

Yutaka Kyan

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Deep Dive

Trivia, insights & behind the scenes

Trivia

This began as Rakuten TV's 'Hiragana Ichimon,' a deliberately low-stakes spinoff of the main 'Yamazaki Ichimon' franchise—think The Office but with extortion.

Cultural

The 'hiragana' title signals these are soft yakuza, junior in status and ambition—part of a Japanese comedy tradition of deflating masculine crime genres that includes Takeshi Kitano's early work.

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