, also known as ''Another Battle'', is a 2000 Japanese

yakuza film is a popular film genre in Japanese cinema which focuses on the lives and dealings of ''yakuza'', Japanese organized crime syndicates. In the silent film era, depictions of ''bakuto'' (precursors to modern yakuza) as sympathetic Robin Hood-li ...

directed by

Junji Sakamoto is a Japanese film director. Career After working as a set assistant or assistant director under such filmmakers as Sogo Ishii and Kazuyuki Izutsu, he made his directorial debut in 1989 with '' Dotsuitarunen'' (earning the Directors Guild of Ja ...

. It is a remake of

Kinji Fukasaku was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Known for his "broad range and innovative filmmaking," Fukasaku worked in many different genres and styles, but was best known for his gritty yakuza films, typified by the ''Battles Without Honor ...

's ''

Battles Without Honor and Humanity , also known in the West as ''The Yakuza Papers'', is a Japanese yakuza film series produced by Toei Company. Inspired by a series of magazine articles by journalist Kōichi Iiboshi that are based on memoirs originally written by real-life yaku ...

'' series from the 1970s, which were adapted from a series of newspaper articles by journalist

Kōichi Iiboshi was a Japanese journalist for ''Yomiuri Shinbun'' and author. Career Iiboshi graduated from Seventh Higher School Zoshikan (now Kagoshima University) and from Faculty of Law, Kyoto University. He was the vice copy chief of the social news divisio ...

, that were rewrites of a manuscript originally written by real-life

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

Kōzō Minō while he was in prison. Rock musician

Tomoyasu Hotei , also known simply as Hotei ( ), is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter, composer, record producer and actor. With a career spanning more than 35 years, Hotei claims record sales of over 40 million copies and has collaborated with acclaimed a ...

, who plays Tochino Masatatsu, wrote the soundtrack to the film. Its title piece would be reworked and retitled "

Battle Without Honor or Humanity is an instrumental music piece by Japanese rock musician Tomoyasu Hotei. It was originally featured in the 2000 film '' New Battles Without Honor and Humanity'' (also known as ''Another Battle'') by Junji Sakamoto, for which Hotei wrote the sou ...

" and go on to become a hit both in Japan and internationally. The film was followed by ''New Battles Without Honor and Humanity/Murder'', or ''Another Battle/Conspiracy'', directed by Hajime Hashimoto in 2003.

Synopsis

While the film is a remake of the original ''Battles Without Honor and Humanity'' series, it has no direct similarities. Set in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, it focuses on former childhood friends Kadoya Kaneo (

Etsushi Toyokawa is a Japanese actor. Biography Born in Yao, Osaka, he studied at Shimizudani High School is a prestigious Japanese public co-educational senior high school (secondary school), located in Tennōji-ku, Osaka, Japan. Overview Shimizudan ...

) and Tochino Masatatsu (

) as their lives cross paths again. Kaneo is now a yakuza member, while Masatatsu is a nightclub owner with a distaste for crime gangs. When a yakuza boss dies, a struggle for his position takes place between Kaneo's boss Awano (

Ittoku Kishibe , born , is a Japanese actor and musician. Career He originally entered show business as the bassist for the Japanese rock bands, The Tigers and Pyg, but later switched to acting. The veteran of over 115 films, he won the Best Actor Japanese Ac ...

) and the young Nakahira ( Kōichi Satō). Nakahira's men try to extort money from Masatatsu, bringing him in between a yakuza battle.

Cast

as Kadoya Kaneo *

as Tochino Masatatsu * Shō Aikawa *

as Awano * Kōichi Satō as Nakahira *

Seizō Fukumoto (3 February 1943 – 1 January 2021) was a Japanese actor. Biography He started acting at age 15 in Kyoto, the capital of Japanese cinema. A specialist in film and television jidaigeki set in the Edo period, he most often played a rōnin, but in ...

* Shigeki Terao *

Junkichi Orimoto was a Japanese actor. Orimoto often worked with Kinji Fukasaku and Sadao Nakajima. He started his acting career at the Shinkyō theatre company in 1949. His first film appearance was in the 1952 film ''Yamabiko Gakkō'' directed by Tadashi Imai. ...

as Mizoguchi Takeo

Awards

*2000

Nikkan Sports Film Award for Best Director The Nikkan Sports Film Award for Best Director is an award given at the Nikkan Sports Film Award. List of winners References External links * Nikkan Sports Film Awards on IMDb
{{Nikkan Sports Film Award for Best Director Awards establi ...

- Junji Sakamoto *2001 Japan Academy Prize for Newcomer of the Year - Tomoyasu Hotei *2001

Yokohama Film Festival The is an annual awards ceremony held in Yokohama, Japan. Ten films are chosen as the best of the year and various awards are given to personnel. The first festival, held on February 3, 1980, was a small affair by fans and film critics. In 1994, ...

Award for Best Supporting Actor -

Jun Murakami is a Japanese actor. He is not to be confused with Japanese stunt actor Jun Murakami. Career Murakami starred in Sho Miyake's ''Playback'' (2012). He co-starred in Sion Sono's '' The Land of Hope'' (2012) with Megumi Kagurazaka. He has also a ...

*2001

Kinema Junpo , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...

Award for Best Director - Junji Sakamoto

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to the film was composed and performed by

, who plays Tochino Masatatsu, with the

London Session Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

also performing on several tracks. It was released on November 29, 2000 as . The first track is the theme of the original 1970's series, composed by Toshiaki Tsushima, while the second is Hotei's version of the same song, which would later be re-titled "

" and become internationally known. The soundtrack peaked at number 41 on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

chart, while "Born to Be Free", which was released as a single earlier in the year, reached number 14.

Track listing

References

External links

* *
New Battles Without Honor and Humanity
' at the

Japanese Movie Database The , more commonly known as simply JMDb, is an online database of information about Japanese movies, actors, and production crew personnel. It is similar to the Internet Movie Database but lists only those films initially released in Japan. Y. ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Battles Without Honor And Humanity 2000 films Yakuza films Toei Company films 2000s Japanese-language films 2000s Japanese films 2000 crime drama films Japanese crime drama films