The King of Minami

When the recession hits, Osaka-based loan shark Ginjiro Manda decides to help out small business owners in trouble, but finds himself face-to-face with the yakuza who come to collect debts.

Released in 1992, just after the collapse of Japan’s economic bubble, The King of Minami’s timely story hit a nerve. The middle-class males most directly hit by the fallout from the recession were also V-Cinema’s main target audience. They helped make the film a hit that spawned an entire franchise, becoming the quintessential V-Cinema series, with over 50 sequels, theatrical spin-offs and a TV series that last up to the present day.

The King of Minami also launched actor Takeuchi Riki, until then mostly a supporting actor coasting by on his good looks in mainstream films such as Gosha Hideo’s Yakuza Wives and Obayashi Nobuhiko’s His Motorbike, Her Island. His turn as Ginjiro Manda set him onto an extremely prolific career as a star in countless straight-to-video productions (on average about 20 a year), which would earn him the nickname “King of V-Cinema”. Elsewhere in this programme, he can also be seen in Crime Hunter and in Miike Takashi’s Fudoh: The New Generation.

– Tom Mes