Osaka Tough Guys is perhaps the earliest Miike that I've even seen. In fact, as far as Miike is concerned, you don't get too much earlier than that! It's a pretty outright silly movie. I mean, most of Miike is silly but this was almost completely silly. There's some fighting but none of the gore that would become synonymous with Takashi Miike, instead, we get the silliness that made so much of his violence palatable. In fact, there's a lot in this film that kind of pre-empts his later stuff. There's clearly a big sense of fun and cartoonish sensibility that he manages to water down in his later work. No one with much of a name in the flick, at least, no one that I could really pin down. The two lead actors are ridiculous though. They're a ton of fun to watch, gleefully running about being morons. I mean, it's like a Miike movie where you can enjoy his goofiness without the fear of seeing something pierced, ripped open, or hung by hooks. It's not a great movie by any means. Following two delinquents who accidentally and against their will become Yakuza and then they just dick around being Yakuza. There's definitely a throughline in the film but I wouldn't call it PLOT HEAVY by any means. The film ends in ridiculousness with an explosion of dynamite and a bug-eyed tongue sticking out CG face. Also, I must admit in enjoying the performance of the third shitty Yakuza recuit. A possibly retarded college student who is just really a big doof. A fun movie. If you like Miike for more than violence. Definitely check it out.
The only picture I could find from Osaka Tough Guys... Yeah, it's Miike, all right.
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