YMMV / Tokyo Vice

• Complete Monster: Shinzo Tozawa is a sickly Yakuza boss, yet exceptionally cruel, even for the underworld of Tokyo. Tozawa is ruthless in dealing with his subordinates, best displayed when he executes one for turning police informant and forces another to kill himself as punishment for failure. A nasty misogynist who threatens, abuses, and even kills his mistresses if they displease him, Tozawa's mistreatment of women extends to his corrupt Yoshino sex cruise, where he forces women indebted to him to prostitute themselves out in his name. Tozawa's most heinous act is running a phony insurance company where he tricks dozens of people into taking out life insurance on themselves, then harasses and terrorizes them until they are are Driven to Suicide. When Jake Adelstein and Detective Hiroto Katagiri try to investigate his crimes, Tozawa has Jake nearly murdered and threatens to kill Katagiri's entire family down to his small children, all to secure his own dangerous meth peddling empire.
• Friendly Fandoms: With Shōgun (2024), whose premiere overlapped with the airing of season two. Both series are centered around a white foreigner living in Japan and dealing with cultural clash, and showcase an authentic and respectful, yet non-romanticized view of Japanese culture in their respective time periods. Not coincidentally, both productions are helmed by the two leading Japanese actors of their generation: Ken Watanabe and Hiroyuki Sanada.
• Magnificent Bastard: Hitoshi Ishida is the noble yet stern upfront leader of the Yakuza clan Chihara-kai. An aged mobster who has danced around rival gangs and dogged police for years, Ishida quickly sees the potential in reporter Jake Adelstein and twists him into a puppet to turn the media and cops alike against Ishida's foe Tozawa, who disgusts even Ishida. Ishida weeds out Tozawa's moles in his organization and disrupts Tozawa's drug operations, later killing several assassins sent after him. Calculating and quick to capitalize on any prospects, Ishida rebels against typical Yakuza strategy by endorsing Samantha's idea for a female-owned hostess club, Ishida planning to test the waters to see if the club is successful before sinking his claws into Samantha and siphoning the club's profits for himself.

---