Fudoh: The New Generation 1996

On the surface, Riki Fudoh is a popular high school student in Kyushu, but behind classroom doors he runs a brutal parallel life as a crime lord. He commands a fractious cohort of underage assassins—children and teenagers armed with advanced weapons—who rally to his name as he plots to seize control of the island’s criminal underworld. His motive is as personal as it is deadly: revenge against his father, Iwao Fudoh, a veteran yakuza insider who once ordered a harsh verdict in a feud with Osaka’s powerful Yasha-Gumi. Iwao’s directive was to kill his eldest son, the brother of Riki, a deed Riki secretly witnessed and has spent years trying to avenge. The family’s painful dynamic threads through every bold move and treacherous alliance, giving the narrative a sharp, intimate edge amid its sprawling underworld clashes.

Riki is not alone in this dangerous ascent. He is backed by a tight trio of lieutenants who sharpen his reach and recalibrate his ruthlessness: Akira Aizome, a towering brute whose sheer physical power makes him a formidable enforcer; Touko Zenzai, a gun-toting female student whose presence on the frontline adds a chilling, unpredictable edge; and Mika Kannonji, an intersex student who works as a part-time stripper and wields a covertly concealed dart gun that can strike with disarming precision. Together, this unlikely squad launches a campaign of grisly assassinations aimed at the top figures of Kyushu’s criminal hierarchy, all converging on the ultimate target: Riki’s father and the legacy he embodies.

The underworld responds with feverish alarm. Daigen Nohma, the legendary boss of the Yasha-Gumi, recognizes the threat and summons Iwao to answer for his son’s audacious ascent. To counter Riki’s influence, Iwao deploys a covert infiltrator, a former South Korean Army agent who slips into Kyushu’s schools as a new gym teacher. The tension thickens as another sharp twist arrives with Jun Minoru, a striking new presence at the school who steps into the English classroom and disrupts the status quo. Jun, who carries the memory of Riki’s dead older brother, reveals a personal connection to the family tragedy that intensifies every decision Riki makes.

Amid this brewing storm, a full-fledged gang war erupts. The infiltrator’s plan becomes a direct challenge to Riki’s security and power. The confrontation unleashes brutal confrontations, as the infiltrator demonstrates his intent to wipe Riki off the map. In a brutal clash that tests loyalties and combat skills, Mika and Touko fall to the infiltrator’s assault—his martial arts prowess and a brutal acid attack delivering a lethal blow. The moment exposes a painful truth: the infiltrator is closer to Riki than he realizes, and the shock of the revelation shakes the foundations of Riki’s fortress of control. In the heat of the fight, Riki pushes back with a ferocity born of desperation, and Jun’s intervention becomes a pivotal turning point that interrupts the infiltrator’s escalation and saves Riki’s life.

As night falls on a city that has already bled enough, Iwao makes his move in a bid to extinguish the rebellion and mercy of bloodshed. The elder Fudoh confronts his son in a visceral, fateful encounter that ends with a catalyzing act of vengeance: Riki kills his father, a moment that seals the personal revenge at the heart of the saga and irrevocably alters the family’s legacy. The funeral becomes a stark stage for reckoning, and the two men who survived the earlier onslaught—Riki and Daigen Nohma—stand across from one another with history etched into every line of their faces. The two exchange terse, loaded words as fate hovers over their next move; when Nohma finally draws a gun and Riki unfastens his katana, the film leaves viewers with a final, silent cliffhanger: the inevitable duel that will determine the future of Kyushu’s criminal underworld.

What emerges is not just a tale of revenge, but a portrait of a town-wide power struggle told through the intimate lens of a family torn apart by ambition, loyalty, and the high price of loyalty. The world-building is steeped in the grit of street-level warfare, while the relationships—between a son and his father, between a leader and his lieutenants, and between the infiltrator and his hidden ties—give the narrative a emotional gravity that lingers after the last blade is drawn. The tonal balance mixes stark violence with stark, almost candid human moments: the tenderness of Jun’s protective concern, the history etched in Iwao’s stern demeanor, and the uneasy camaraderie that occasionally surfaces among Riki’s unlikely team.

In the end, the film keeps its promises with a patient, relentless build toward a final confrontation that could reshape Kyushu’s criminal order. The duel between Daigen Nohma and Riki Fudoh remains a tantalizing question mark at the edge of the screen, a living wound waiting to be reopened as the story hurtles toward its ultimate reckoning. The result is a dense, unapologetically brutal saga that stays true to its core themes: the costs of power, the complexities of family loyalty, and the thin line between protector and predator in a world where every ally could become a liability.