Tokyo Vice (TV Series) Read the Air (2022) User Reviews

Coming in from the cold has pros and cons

[bosporan · 7/10 · 7 April 2022]

Corruption and/or collusion between police and organised crime is becoming evident, though all carried out in a framework of honourability. This is shown particularly well during the arrests where the boss' lackeys are given up as negotiation bargaining chips, independent of their actual culpability.

Jake's wooing of Katagiri is now paying off and we see him ingratiating himself with the family thus blurring his 'outsider' status; this has the potential to end in tears. Further his wooing of Samantha is attracting unwanted attention which provides a 'page turning' hook into next time.

Lots happening here.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 23 August 2023]

Jake continues to look for a big story, his dogged persistence pays off when Detective Katagiri takes him along to an important meeting, Jake however comes to the attention of a gang member.

I was trying to see how Jake was going to get involved in the thick of things, and how he was going to end up in trouble, after this episode I was left in no doubt, he's definitely come to the attention of the bad guys.

I found this episode fairly easy to follow and pretty straightforward, I now see the gang warfare, and moreso I understand the silence of The Press.

Ken Watanabe was awesome here, and it was great to see him getting more screen time, and coming into the main plot more so.

8/10.

The Japanese Smoke Like Chimneys And Drink Like Fish

[douglasmcbroom · 6/10 · 8 April 2022]

This was the best of the original 3 episodes. The writing was quite tight in this one as the plot commences to thicken.

As I wrote previously, I am not an Ansel Elgort fan and he is not growing on me. He has limited appeal. Fortunately, Ken Watanabe is getting more screen time and that's good.

I have seen enough to want to stay and watch how this series unfolds.

Needs More Tension

[bbevis-47954 · 5/10 · 11 April 2022]

Tokyo Vice isn't a particularly bad show, it's just not a very entertaining show. At least for episodes two and three the pacing practically stalls for most of each episode. Tokyo Vice becomes more interesting once Ken Watanabe is introduced; Watanabe oozes a cold charisma that makes his presence always fun to watch. I understand a show needs time to develop characters but unfortunately after three-hour long episodes I'm not invested in any of them. Jake, Samantha and Sato are all boring-cliched characters, and it doesn't help that Elgort's performance feels fake and phoned in, coming off as cringey during certain scenes he is supposed to be building repertoire with his friends from work. Samantha, another person who ran away from home who works for an ungrateful employer and dreams of opening her own business one day. Sato, the stoic demeanor of a yakuza enforcer that may or may not be struggling with how immoral the Yakuza's dealings are. The characters and story so far give Tokyo Vice a generic feel to the show beyond its interesting location and time period. The central mystery is not engaging enough and hopefully the show realizes it's potential sooner rather than giving us breadcrumbs of tension until the finale.