Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto and Sawako, a young couple whose relationship is about to be broken apart by the former's parents, who have insisted their son take part in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter.
Shinjiro, who runs a humble detective agency using a coffee shop in a certain town as his office, gets into trouble at a dark gambling den and is forced to take on a troublesome job by Kyoichi, an executive of the Kasahara clan, a yakuza gang he knows well. The task is to investigate an arson case that is suspected to involve the Chinese mafia Barretto, with whom the Kasahara-gumi has a rival gang. In addition, Shinjiro is asked by Michiko, whose Filipino parents were deported in the past, to search for her best friend, a Kurdish woman who mysteriously disappeared. However, as he pursues the two cases, he finds himself caught up in a war between two huge underworld organizations.
In an alternate Japan, territorial street gangs form opposing factions collectively known as the Tokyo Tribes. The simmering tension between them is about to boil over into all-out war.
Yakuza movie directed by Yasuharu Hasebe
Arikawa runs a transport company. But this is only a front for his gambling house. Yuriko is a regular on the scene, and she is fascinated by the dice and the one who throws them. A year before, Yuriko's father died in mysterious circumstances; she decides to go in search of the truth.
Yukiko is on her way to meet Boss Gunji. Judging by her appearance, no one would suspect that this beautiful young woman, sitting quietly in a suburban train, is the only woman able to beat the best professional players in Japan; or that she is wearing the tattoo of the man that loved her and died for her...
A biker gang, led by a Vietnam veteran, rapes a veterinarian's wife. When the man decides to seek revenge and hunt down the perpetrators himself, he ends up joining forces with a Cajun woman whose husband they killed.
A Tokyo cop is sent to Los Angeles to help an LAPD detective break up a yakuza ring operating in the city.
Young Lord Taihei goes to Edo to find the lost family treasure, a plover incense burner, under the disguise of a ronin.
Turbulent life of Kiwa, the successor of the most prominent yakuza in Osaka, the Domoto Clan.
Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. However, in Japan he manages to escape, and as they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game—the Japanese way.
A group of ruthless gangsters, an unknown woman and an escaped convict have met, in The Forest of Resurrection, the 444th portal to the other side. Their troubles start when those once killed and buried in the forest come back from the dead.
Detective Nishi is relieved from a stakeout to visit his sick wife in hospital. He is informed that she is terminally ill, and is advised to take her home. During his visit, a suspect shoots one detective dead and leaves Nishi's partner, Horibe, paralyzed. Nishi leaves the police force to spend time with his wife at home, and must find a way to pay off his debts to the yakuza.
Okawa Family’s yakuza, Junji, is released from prison, and is told to take over a local radio station by his boss. Junji tries to explain that it is not a yakuza’s job to talk on the radio, but no one listens to him. He reluctantly goes to the radio building, and is met by a young, upbeat girl broadcasting a talk show and playing pop music. Will this seasoned gangster really fit in on such a show?
A producer puts on what may be his last Broadway show, and at the last moment a chorus girl has to replace the star.
An American model is pursued by Yakuza gangsters when she writes a book about her experience modeling in Japan.
Unlike traditional gangster movies, it is a gangster swashbuckler that mixes romance and humanity with a yakuza lover as the main character. A young man who heard that his former boss was killed is imprisoned by slashing his family's minions, and his lover is tortured by the enemy, but rescued by the imprisoned young man's nemesis.
Kosuke Suzuki was presumed dead after boss Toseikai Setouchi lynched him and threw him into the sea off the coast of Kobe. However, three months later, Kosuke suddenly appears in Kagoshima and reunites with his partner, the vagrant Kumagoro. However, Kosuke's relief does not last long, he learns from Kumagoro that Toseikai are acting ruthlessly here too.
Hubert is a French policeman with very sharp methods. After being forced to take 2 months off by his boss, who doesn't share his view on working methods, he goes back to Japan, where he used to work 19 years ago, to settle the probate of his girlfriend who left him shortly after marriage without a trace.
Set in Osaka, during the devastated time of post-war Japan, this is a tale of the yakuza who set about rebuilding after the death of their Oyabun (big boss). Battles erupt as tempers explode as someone seeks to fill the seat of power.