Gangster Film

Ninkyo eiga ("chivalry films") is a Japanese subgenre of yakuza cinema that idealizes traditional gangster honor codes (ninkyō) and depicts stoic, principled protagonists who uphold loyalty, obligation, and personal sacrifice. Typically set in the late Meiji to early Shōwa eras or in nostalgically framed postwar locales, these films contrast old-world ethics with the encroachment of modern, corrupt syndicates. Aesthetically, ninkyo eiga blends elegant period costuming and formal blocking with ritualized confrontations, blood-oath ceremonies, and climactic duels. Musically, scores often draw on enka and ryūkōka song idioms and traditional Japanese timbres (shamisen, shakuhachi) alongside Western orchestral melodrama, underscoring themes of melancholy, honor, and tragic duty. Popularized primarily by Toei in the 1960s, the form codified the “honorable outlaw” archetype—an image that would haunt and inform later Japanese crime cinema even as grittier, documentary-flavored cycles supplanted it in the 1970s.

Jitsuroku eiga ("true record films") is a gritty strain of Japanese crime cinema that blossomed in the early–mid 1970s. Although fundamentally a film subgenre, it carries a distinct musical identity in its scores: lean, documentary‑like underscore punctuated by tough, streetwise cues. Musically, jitsuroku eiga soundtracks fuse jazz and funk rhythm sections (dry drums, prominent bass, wah‑wah guitar) with sharp brass stabs, suspense strings, and occasional traditional colors (shakuhachi, taiko). Themes tend to be terse and motif‑driven rather than lushly melodic, reinforcing the genre’s semi‑documentary realism and moral ambiguity. The overall sound is tense, hard‑edged, and urban—ideal for chronicles of clan conflicts, police corruption, and post‑war social fracture.