Unification of Japan Gaiden: Yamazaki Family — Joji and His Merry Friends (2024) | Movie Browser

yakuza comedypet hoarding disasterfound family absurdity

Overview

Action Drama Crime

One day, when Himuro (Yasukaze Motomiya) and Tamura (Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi) go to the office, they're met with a host of adorable pet animals. Asking a guilty-looking Ishizawa (Hiroto Honda) and Yamamura (Kenta Kawasaki) what happened, they learn about Joji (Takashi Kitadai) and his escalating alcoholism, and how his new impulse is to buy pets he finds "cute". Little hedgehogs and leopard geckos, however, are the least of their problems when Joji's post-stupor amnesia gets him in trouble with the independent Masaki Family...

Standout Aspects

Acting

Takashi Kitadai's drunk amnesia performance is uncomfortably real.

Writing

Escalates from geckos to gang war with zero logical warning.

Production

Actual hedgehogs. No CGI. Respect the commitment.

Best for:Friends·Solo·Rewatch

Heads up:Violence·Drug Use

Director

Hiroyuki Tsuji

ReleasedJun 25, 2024

Runtime1h 12m

StatusReleased

Vibe

Pacefast

Intensitymedium

Tonemixed

Feelmedium

Top Cast

Yasukaze Motomiya

Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi

Kenta Kawasaki

Takashi Kitadai

Hiroto Honda

Yoshimi Tachi

Tatsuya Nakazawa

Masayuki Ino

Yoshiaki Umegaki

Kappei Yamaguchi

Akane Yamaguchi

Tomokazu Koshimura

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Deep Dive

Trivia, insights & behind the scenes

Trivia

This is a spinoff of the 'Unification of Japan' yakuza series, which typically runs serious crime drama—making this drunken pet comedy the franchise's most bizarre tonal shift.

Cultural

Leopard geckos and hedgehogs became trendy 'low-maintenance' pets in Japan's 2020s urban youth culture; Joji's impulse buying satirizes this while accidentally making him weirdly relatable.

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