Limited Edition version.

Underworld Chronicles: Three Yakuza Fables by Takashi Miike

The late nineties and early 00s saw director Takashi Miike make the transition from his origins in direct-to-video V-cinema to one of the most critically and commercially successful Japanese directors on the international stage. A multi-talented director who would come to work in almost every established genre, it was his often outrageous takes on the gangster genre that first brought him attention outside of Japan. Three of his most notable Yakuza films from this period are collected here, in a landmark new box set.

FUDOH: THE NEW GENERATION

Riki Fudoh (Shosuke Tanihara) is a high school student juggling academic work with a secret life operating as an underworld boss. As the leader of a group of larger than life, school-age assassins, Fudoh is waging a campaign of violence against the entire criminal underworld, as part of a revenge plot against his own father (Toru Minegishi), a high-ranking Yakuza in his own right who was forced to murder Fudohs brother. Originally planned for release as a direct-to-video V-cinema title, Fudoh was granted a theatrical release after producers viewed the film, leading to it becoming a festival favourite around the world, and establishing Miike on the world stage as one of films great provocateurs and a key figure in extreme cinema.

AGITATOR

A yakuza (played by Miike himself in a cameo) is murdered after violently assaulting a hostess on rival turf, providing the catalyst for a gang war between a number of factions seeking a redistribution of power. In this densely-layered gangland drama , the backroom manoeuvring of the senior figures in the yakuza, overseen by Mr. Kaito (Hiroki Matsukata, Rapacious Jailbreaker), are juxtaposed against the actions of the street-level mobsters, as the two sides head towards an inevitable