The celebrated Battles Without Honor and Humanity series continues with its second episode, Hiroshima Death Match, setting aside part one protagonist Shozo Hirono to follow a side story showcasing genre icons Sonny Chiba and Meiko Kaji.
Hiroshima, 1950. Demobilized kamikaze pilot Shoji Yamanaka is released from prison and finds himself hungry and broke. Following a bust up with a local gang, he earns the psychotic wrath of local underboss Otomo, but Yamanaka's suicidal … mehrimpulses are soon put to good use as a hitman for another gang, befriending series hero Shozo Hirono in the process. Despite a budding but forbidden romance with the boss's niece, Yamanaka's instability and recklessness soon begin to make him a dangerous liability. Taking an even more fatalistic turn than the series' original entry, Hiroshima Death Match tells the story of the ultimate loser, based on a true story uncovered by screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara while interviewing real-life Hiroshima yakuza for part one. A prosperous era may be dawning for the protagonists, but one with new characters and new grudges to draw them more deeply into its world of blood and betrayal. weniger