Hibotan bakuto: Jingi tooshimasu

Even if this time around Oryu doesn't do much of Gambling and she acts fully in her role as a Yakuza leader amongst other Yakuza leaders (mind you, this is still NOT the businesswoman of the fourth movie), but there are indeed a couple of gambling scenes at the very start and that's ok. The bit of well-done drama other reviewers point out is not particularly a problem, on the contrary it only adds to the movie. No comic-book stuff like the idiotic deus-ex machina of her all-knowing Yakuza brother-in-law of the previous movie, no feeling of extreme tiredness shown from Junko Fuji in the final fight (on the contrary, she looks well-spirited), this movie just flows well from start to finish. It's not the best of the saga, mind you (I still think the sixth steals the show in all possible regards in that sense), but considering what my expectation were all in all I'm pretty satisfied. A good ending to an entertaining saga with a beautiful, charming and kickass female lead, some disappointing and out-of-tone bits permitted. Thanks to the Sukeban Deka II fansubs for pointing me out to this!

This final film in the Red Peony Gambler series essentially begins with the Yakuza gambler "Ryuko Yano" (Sumiko Fuji)--who is also known as "Oryu-The Red Peony"--requesting accommodation for the night and learning that she will have to share a room with a man by the name of "Kitahachi Shuhei" (Bunta Sugawara) who was recently released from the hospital and recovering from an injury. Although she doesn't mind it so much Kitahachi isn't nearly as comfortable with the situation and sleeps in a closet instead. The next day they each go their separate ways with Oryu traveling to Osaka to visit the Yakuza boss of the Doman clan who is extremely ill. Upon arriving she learns that there are two men who have been positioned to succeed this boss with the first one being an ambitious man named "Matsuaka Chojiro" (Kyosuki Machida) and the other being more kind and considerate by the name of "Iwaki Seichi" (Hiroki Matsukata). Complicating matters is the fact that a rival Yakuza clan sees an opportunity to increase their territory and soon Oryu finds herself in the middle of a gang war while having to deal with treachery from within the Doman clan as well. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film started off incredibly well but relapsed into the same typical formulaic scenarios as seen in its other predecessors. On that note, although I liked the intrigue and the acting of Sumiko Fuji, I would have preferred more gambling and a cleaner ending than the one presented. That being said, while this certainly wasn't a bad film by any means, it wasn't one of the better additions to the series and I have rated it accordingly.

Oryo goes to Osaka, where she is caught within a dispute regarding the succession for the leader of a local yakuza clan. The main part of the movie focuses too much on drama, but there is a nice all-out battle in the finale, where we see Junko Fuji, Bunta Sugawara and Tomishaburo Wakayama killing dozens of yakuza enemies. It's not a bad chanbara/yakuza hybrid, but not as good as some of the previous entries in the series.