Ushijima the Loan Shark 2 (2014)

This is a cynical drama with an unforgiving morale, an outstanding cast, and lots of graphic violence.


Ushijima the Loan Shark is a popular long-running franchise. Each installment can be watched independently. This drama, in particular, is more known due to its cast which includes:

- Yamada Takayuki, with his impressive presence that he projects without moving a single face muscle;
- Ayano Gou, whose brief appearances add levity and charm;
- Suda Masaki, who plays an unusually vulnerable character (if a petty criminal);
- Kubota Masataka, who plays the host number one if you can believe it;
- Kadowaki Mugi, who is as charming as ever (be aware though that Kubota's character and hers do sex work);
- Yagira Yuuya, who flexes his 'disgusting creeper' muscles.

Such a strong cast with many big stars usually appears only in the shounen manga adaptations (see Gintama or Rurouni Kenshin). But you should not let it bewitch you into watching this drama if the genre is not to your taste.

The brilliant actors have little trouble convincing the viewer to root for their characters. But the characters themselves are sliding down the slippery slop of bad decisions faster than the audience shouts 'stop! don't do it!' The cynical stories about flawed humans and the bitter consequence of their actions is quite an acquired taste. It doesn't help that the extras are getting raped and brutally killed in the background making it hard to stomach a story already overfilled with graphic violence. Two scenes, in particular, are chilling to the bone.

The viewers acclimatized to violence, though, would find the story quite mild and fairly entertaining.

Read More