Screenshot of Tokyo Vice: HBO Max
HBO Max has released the first official look at Tokyo Vice, the long-running drama from executive producer Michael Mann and series creator and playwright JT Rogers.
The gripping trailer introduces viewers to Jake Adelstein (Ansel Elgort), an American journalist in Japan covering crime in Japan in the late 90s. “I want to experience the real Tokyo,” Adelstein states in the trailer. “What’s Under the Surface”
The series will take viewers from the sterile offices of Japanese newspapers to action-packed police raids and the neon-lit underworld of Tokyo, owned by the yakuza. To immerse himself in both worlds, Adelstein teams up with second-in-command officer Hiro Katagiri (Ken Watanabe) and yakuza member Sato.
Executive Producer Michael Mann’s touch is felt throughout the trailer, touching on many of the mannerisms expected of a crime story writer: fraternity themes, the gray area between cops and robbers, tough guy dialogue (“A Man Without Enemies Is No Man”), and a look at combat on swords with ninja yakuza. And it all looks 100% cool.
The series is based on journalist Jake Adelstein’s 2009 memoir of the same name, which chronicles his work as the first non-Japanese reporter for Yomiuri Shinburn, one of the country’s largest newspapers. The book has yet to be published in Japan because, according to Adelstein, “it comes too many times” and can lead to “acts of violence”.
The project was originally announced back in 2019 and will finally premiere on HBO Max on Thursday, April 7th. Mann will be behind the camera in the debut episode, written by Rogers.
Tokyo Vice will follow an interesting release schedule, dividing the difference between a weekly water cooler model and a new streaming model with the ability to overeat. Three episodes will debut on April 7, and after that, two episodes will be released every Thursday until the finale on April 28.