Giri/Haji

The nephew of a powerful Yakuza boss is murdered in London. The Tokyo Police suspect that the perpetrator is a former member of a rival Yakuza clan. After a counter-hit on his former clan and fearing an escalating gang war, the suspect's brother, a police detective, is sent to London to track him down and bring him back to Japan.

Good drama series but promised to be brilliant. Started very well: the first four episodes were fantastic, full of action, an interesting plot, good back stories and interesting characters. However, the longer it went on the more implausible and contrived some of the plot development became. Some developments are quite farcical.

Furthermore, writer-creator Joe Barton tries to cram in far too many sub-plots into the series. I was only really interested in the crime-drama aspect but Barton has all sorts of other angles wound around this, stories that really don't add anything. I didn't mind when they were just there to provide some colour to proceedings but instead of staying as minor filler they become major plot streams (in terms of time consumed, rather than quality or interest/entertainment factor). Episodes 5-8 become very unfocused because of this, resulting in my interest and engagement waning.

It all comes together more-or-less okay in the end but the contrast with how it started is still quite stark.

A tighter plot, captured in about 4 or 5 episodes instead of 8, and this would have been excellent.

After watching one-and-a-half episodes of the execrable series "The Witcher," I'd begun to doubt the reliability of IMDB ratings. Then, I decided to try "Giri/Haji," suspicious of its 7.9 rating. Also, I'd seen Joe Barton's series "Cuffs," and while enjoyable, it was pretty weak beer.

"Giri/Haji" was an absolute revelation, right from the start through the eighth and final episode. The writing and direction, art direction, cinematography and effects, were just superb. And the acting! I was not familiar with any of the Japanese actors, but they were great. So were the British actors, many of them familiar to fans of UK films and TV, including Kelly Macdonald (first seen in Trainspotting), Charlie Creed-Miles (from Peaky Blinders), Tony Way (from Ricky Gervais' "After Life"), and new-to-me Will Sharpe.

Part family drama, part police procedural, part Yakuza film, the movie flips between London and Tokyo during a Japanese gang war. Strange as it may seem, the various filmic elements hold together beautifully, whether changes in screen dimension to denote time shifts; brief uses of anime; and a lovely ballet sequence.

It is bloody, violent, tender, exciting, and contemplative. Something for everyone. I fully recommend this series.

What a breath of fresh air in a world where tv is so uniform and unoriginal that you can predict the next move a mile away.

I'm also grateful that we got to discover a bit of Japan and its culture beyond the usual Hollywood cliches.

Well worth my time and highly recommended.

Binged watched this week but no spoilers here. This really benefits from having 8 episodes rather than the BBC's usual 6 and allows for greater character development and backstories. There are side plots and stories galore, bloody violence, humour, tears, sadness & retribution but everything comes together with a few twists and turns in a final episode that has one of the most unexpected & touching rooftop moments. The cast are fantastic as is the script and cinematography. Loved it.

The first episode starts with the kind of stylized art violence that is unreal enough to let me carry on watching. Resonates with "the matrix" (gun scene) or similar.

The daughter, Taki, is so beautiful, that presumably the stage direction in her shots is: "Close up of Taki's face, takes half the screen, dialogue (optional), something else pertinent to the plot and artfully arranged in the other half of the shot, pause on Taki's face for 8 seconds, cut. Repeat".

Sometimes it suffers a bit from acting as if some characters are "wise" or might suddenly say "the answer" (to life and everything I suppose) - a lot of things "happen", and then the characters are generally busy seeking meaning, and we happen to be there, so we are along for the ride. But they are as muddled as anyone in the world, more so maybe. If you stop looking for meaning, just fall in love with the characters, and appreciate the series of heists, showdowns, coincidences and cinematography, it is more enjoyable, and watchable.

For me, the brother Yuto is a bit irritating to watch in episode 1 - maybe because he has so many "soft focus" "in the past" scenes, which make him look and act like a model for photos that come free/ready installed in new photo frames than a real person. The other characters are all engaging, and only he is the odd man out in this episode. Also, this is the odd-episode-out too - yuto improves.

There is some unevenness in what is possible/impossible in this created universe, especially around fight scenes and show downs - sometimes the characters are unbeatable/unstoppable in their gunfighting skills, callous professional heisting and doing the job of the gangster/police/yakuza. Other times, "those pesky kids" (not those pesky kids, but some of the non-yakuza characters) seem to be able to get the upper hand over the gansters by hitting with a frypan or a pair of scissors, against automatic weapons and uneven numbers, and get away with it. That breaks the magic really. But at least there is a lot of magic:

The series has its own style and its own humour. The between-the-scenes boards and narator are cool/witty/self deprecating. In terms of characters, Rodney and the Cockney gangster could each have a show of thier own really, their dialogue is so sharp and watchable.

And even apart from those two shining stars, there is quirkiness and humour in this show, that means I feel I can watch it again. Look out for hidden personal messages to some of the characters in the billboard/adverts and airport departure boards, and even painted onto the road where the "Stop/go slow" should be.

Stop, go slow, and watch it again.