The best Yakuza series every made!
The Yakuza Papers better known as Battles Without Honor & Humanity was Kinji Fukasaku’s masterpiece. The series consisted of five films based upon the diary of a real Yakuza (gangster) boss from the Hiroshima district. It documented the rise of gangs in the aftermath of World War II and the A-Bomb.<br /><br />Fukasaku’s series was a ground breaker in Japanese cinema. Yakuza flicks had been a favorite for decades but when he came out with Battles Without Honor & Humanity in the 1970s it was totally new. First of all it was filmed in an almost documentary or news style to give it  realism not seen before. Second it showed how down and dirty the gangs were. Before they’d always been shown to be honorable groups and many were portrayed as anti-heroes. Here all their murder, backstabbing, etc. were exposed. Second it had realistic violence. Traditional Yakuza films for example usually had the gangs just wielding short swords. Here you had guns and anything else the gangsters could get their hands on. For example, in the opening scene the main character Yamanaka (Kinya Kitaoji) is caught cheater at gambling, is beaten up, but then gets revenge by stabbing several of the Yakuza.<br /><br />This film also features a young Sonny Chiba as Katsutoshi Otomo the son of a gang boss who is a sociopath. He wanted to shake up the traditional gang hierarchy, which led to a round of wars. For some reason they gave him a very bad fake tan for his look. The main character Yamanaka starts off homeless, but his fearlessness against the Otomo clan catches the attention of the local boss and leads to his entrance into the Muraoka gang. He falls in love with the boss’s niece played by Meiko Kaji of Lady Snowblood fame. Finally, mainstay throughout the series Bunta Sugawara as Shozo Hirono is trying to keep his gang out of the battles in Hiroshima city.<br /><br />The story takes place in the 1950s in the wake of the Korean War which led to an economic boom and more opportunities for the Yakuza. Now they are fighting over the spoils, which is the main theme of this volume.<br /><br />The Yakuza Papers rivals anything America ever produced on gangsters. There’s great action. A huge ensemble cast, and the neo-realism Fukasaku captured really makes the series stand out.<br />C
The movie title "The Yakuza Papers, Vol. 2 - Deadly Fight in Hiroshima," available on Movies & TV, has received an average rating of 4.4 from 6 reviewers. 
It features elements such as [], and it is priced at $10.48.

This title falls under the categories of Movies & TV, Featured Categories, DVD and Drama. 
The additional details include the following in key-value format :
 {"Aspect Ratio": "2.35:1", "Is Discontinued By Manufacturer": "No", "MPAA rating": "Unrated (Not Rated)", "Product Dimensions": "7.75 x 5.75 x 0.53 inches; 4.8 Ounces", "Director": "Kinji Fukasaku", "Media Format": "Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, Subtitled, Closed-captioned, NTSC", "Run time": "1 hour and 39 minutes", "Release date": "December 14, 2004", "Actors": "Bunta Sugawara, Hiroki Matsukata, Kunie Tanaka, Eiko Nakamura, Tsunehiko Watase", "Subtitles": "English", "Language": "Unqualified (DTS ES 6.1)", "Studio": "Homevision", "Writers": "Kazuo Kasahara, Koichi Iiboshi", "Number of discs": "1"}

Here is a brief synopsis of the title : Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka (Kinya Kitaoji, who went on to star as Rhett Butler in the Tokyo stage version of GONE WITH THE WIND), finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hit man and falls in love with boss Muraoka¹s niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo (Sonny Chiba, KILL BILL) draws our series¹ hero, Shozo Hirono (Bunta Sugawara), into a new round of bloodshed, culminating with the tragic demise of the young Yamanka..