Summer Streamin' 25 - Tokyo Vice - Season Two/Series Finale

Tokyo Vice joins previously posted Bump as another series that called it a day in 2024.

We lost some big series the past year, however Tokyo Vice (despite being on HBO's streaming platform, Max) never really got out from under the radar.

Streaming on SBS on Demand, based on the 2009 memoir by Jake Adelstein, the first season originally streamed ad-free on Paramount+, however for some reason the series was removed, now it only streams on SBS's platform. 

Starring Ansel Elgort, Ken Watanabe, Rachel Keller, Hideaki Itō, Show Kasamatsu, Ella Rumpf, Rinko Kikuchi, Tomohisa Yamashita, Miki Maya, & Yōsuke Kubozuka. 

The series is set in the late 90's with American aspiring investigative journalist Jake Adelstein (Ansel Elgort) relocates to Tokyo and secures a job at a major Japanese newspaper, becoming their first foreign journalist. 

Taken under the wing of a veteran detective in the organised crime squad, Adelstein delves into the dark and dangerous world of the yakuza whilst living under the city's (and the newspaper's) official line that "murder does not happen in Tokyo".

The real Jake Adelstein in the early 90's became the first non-Japanese staff writer at the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper in Urawa, Saitama, where he worked for 12 years.

After leaving the Yomiuri, Adelstein published an exposé of how an alleged crime boss, Tadamasa Goto, made a deal with the FBI to gain entry to the United States for a liver transplant at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). In 2009, Adelstein published a memoir about his career as a reporter in Japan, Tokyo Vice, in which he accused Goto of threatening to kill him over the story.[5] An April 2022 article by The Hollywood Reporter raised doubts about the veracity of the events described in the memoir.[6] In November 2022, Esquire reported that Adelstein had released via Twitter a folder of source materials which he claimed supported his versions of events.

Adelstein was subsequently a reporter for a United States Department of State investigation into human trafficking in Japan,[8] and now writes for the Daily Beast, Vice News, The Japan Times & other publications. He is a board member and advisor to the Lighthouse: Center for Human Trafficking Victims (formerly Polaris Project Japan).

On April 19, 2011, Adelstein filed a lawsuit against National Geographic Television, which had hired him to help make a documentary about the yakuza, citing ethical problems with their behavior in Japan. However, the court dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the plaintiff is barred from bringing that claim in another court.

So how does the series wrap? Full details (meaning spoilers) below the trailer.

In the now series finale, endgame, Hiroto and Shoko lead simultaneous raids on Shinzo's properties: the boat reveals his agreement with the FBI. 

Jake (Elgort) is tasked with writing the exposé but Emi realizes the Meicho will not run the story, learning that Ozaki, the leader of the Meicho, destroyed the tape. Hiroto hands the documents to Sato. 

Shinzo abducts Misaki's mother and is lured by her to a hideout led by Sato and the other yakuza clan leaders, including Kazuko: Shinzo commits suicide when confronted. 

Sato is officially appointed oyabun of the chihara-kai. Misaki decides to end it with Jake, while Samantha decides to take an extended break from her current responsibilities. Katagiri claims to have retired, while Maruyama has been offered a new job opportunity if she wants to leave the Meicho. It does all end rather neat and tidy, making me think the producers knew it always had a two season run.

Both seasons received generally positive reviews, with praise for its setting, aesthetic, and characters. With the show concluding in April last year, I am slowly catching up on those 2024 shows.

This is a standout SBS on Demand series. If you haven't already downloaded the free app, get on it now!