The best Akikane Sawa’s action movies

A story of yakuza lynching during the Edo, Taisho, and Showa periods.

The third chapter of the ‘Red Peony Gambler’ saga depicts the happiness and sadness of Red Peony Oryu’s life as she seals her femininity with a red peony tattoo and lives in world of chivalry and honor of the yakuza. This story takes place in the middle of the Meiji era in Nagoya. Oryu is wandering the country, training herself to reinstate her family name. With a written recommendation from Kumatora, she appears at the door of the Nishinomaru family. At the same time, the family is preparing for the gambling competition at the Netsuda Shrine Festival, which they have been hosting for generations. Meanwhile, the crooked Kinbara family is plotting to take over the competition. And now Oryu is forced to get involved in the struggle…

When an alien force tries to invade Earth to steal a powerful new rocket fuel, a mysterious hero intervenes.

The son of a prominent member of a fishing community returns home after a stint with the yakuza to find his father has died under orders of a local gang leader. He sets out to avenge his father, keeping his plans secret from his mother who is cold to him since his perceived abandonment of the family. This wonderful, if little-seen, Fulasaku gem deals with family, community and what it means to do right by both.

Junko Fuji returns as Oryu the Red Peony, a wandering female yakuza on a soul-searching journey after the death of her father. After collecting her sickly follower from jail, she is taken in by a fishing village. Feeling indebed to their generosity, she stays to work for the village and promises to leave her yakuza ways behind. When a dispute breaks out for the gambling rights to a local festival, the villagers are harrassed by a gang of thugs. When the harrassment turns violent, Oryu must decide wither to keep her promise or protect the villagers.

After World War II, their town was a pile of rubble. Gennosuke, the second-generation boss of the Kamizu Group was upholding yakuza chivalry by keeping black-market and illegal items out of their open-air market. Taking advantage of the mess, Iwasa and his gang take hold of goods from the US military, black-market and controlled items in order to become the most powerful group in the Enko area. Iwasa has Gennosuke assassinated but before he dies, he names Shinji Terajima as his successor and makes him swear to carry on the family business and not seek revenge or use violence. Shinji tries to make his family’s marketplace a success, but with constant interruption and attacks from Iwasa’s gang, he can no longer keep his word to his former boss…

A yakuza gang gets driven out of Yokohama by a big gang from Tokyo. They relocate to Okinawa to violently start over.

A yakuza man is released from prison after serving a long sentence. He immediately sets about creating a new gang and attempts to pull off a huge ransom score.

Okatsu the Fugitive is the third film in the "Ohyaku/Okatsu" series. Okatsu; a "tomboy" who is good with a sword. Her father has found her a man to marry and actually she doesn't seem too upset about the situation. At the same time, a bunch of farmers are being slaughtered by a corrupt group running a tobacco smuggling ring. They're being investigated by a man who is documenting their crimes and when they find out about it, they torture him for information but get none. It's not long before he and Okatsu's mother wind up dead and she sets out for revenge.

Sabu and his pals hold a pauper's funeral for Sabu's mother. His brother Jiro arrives home, fresh out of jail, and Sabu pointedly states that Jiro is not invited. Jiro meanwhile is planning a big job - steal 40 million in cash and drugs, and he invites Sabu and gang to act as decoys, for 50,000 each. The sting is a success, but the double-crossing starts almost immediately. Sabu discovers how little of the take they were promised and hides the stash. Jiro and his slimy partner pressure the kids to fess up. Meanwhile, their respectable elder brother Ichiro is being leaned on by the town's big boss, whose money it was.

This film focuses on Okatsu; the adopted daughter of a master swordsman. She is a master with a sword herself and her talents far overshadow that of her brother, and real child of the man who adopted her. Her brother unfortunately has a gambling habit, and it plunges the family into trouble when he loses a lot of money in a crooked dice game. After releasing he is unable to pay the debt he owes; the blame is shouldered by the father, who is killed, leading Okatsu on a path of revenge.

Chiba plays Tenka Ichirou, a student and son of a private detective who, if the sequelonic nature of this film is to be believed, keeps getting into wacky adventures. And I do mean 'wacky'. Herein you'll see Japan's greatest action star pretend to be a plastic surgeon, make funny faces when surprised, sit terrified in the back of a cab driven by a manic... the list goes on.

Journalist Kuroki is investigating clandestine arms sales to Southeast Asia. He discovers that the point man in an arms trade was also involved in the cover-up of a murder on an American base during the Allied Occupation. The film rolls along as a suspenseful thriller while offering a critique of political corruption, hypocrisy, and journalistic cowardice in postwar Japan.

Assassin Nanjo goes on a solitary mission to take revenge on the man who trapped him into a complicated drug deal.

A young leader of the Yamazaki family of Nagasaki, Takida (Ken Takakura) is an A-bomb survivor. He fiercely battles violent elements in southern Japan like there is no tomorrow.