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Returning from a ten-year prison sentence, former gang leader Gunji (Koji Tsuruta, Big Time Gambling Boss) finds that his turf has been taken over by his former enemy, now a large crime syndicate with a legal corporate front. Looking for new opportunities, he gathers his old crew and heads for the island of Okinawa, a legal grey zone ripe for the taking. Made just before Kinji (Yakuza Graveyard) Fukasaku's 1970s streak of yakuza movie masterpieces, Sympathy for the Underdog is a key film in the development of this director's unique style and themes.

Media

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Bonus Materials

• High-Definition digital transfer
• Uncompressed mono PCM audio
• Audio commentary by yakuza film expert Nathan Stuart (2024)
• Interview with Fukasaku biographer Olivier Hadouchi (2024)
• Visual essay on Okinawa on screen by film historian and author Aaron Gerow (2024)
• Trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
• Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Bastian Meiresonne and an archival review of the film

Sales Points

• Yakuza classic from the director of BATTLE ROYALE & YAKUZA GRAVEYARD
• First time on Blu-ray
• For fans of Fukasaku's BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR AND HUMANITY

Press Quotes

Sympathy for the Underdog is something of a transition... but it is every bit as accomplished in style and technique as Fukasaku's later films

     —Matt Bailey, Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Stylish and hard-boiled, pivotal early crime drama in the celebrated career of the director who changed the face of Japanese action cinema

     —Gary Tooze, DVD Beaver

A strong and often engrossing film that any fan of yakuza or Fukasaku movies should know, a major marker in the development of the yakuza genre

     —David Grote, Japanonfilm