Tokyo Vice trailer: Ansel Elgort, Ken Watanabe clash with Yakuza

HBO Max has debuted the first Tokyo Vice trailer starring Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe. The Max Original crime drama series hails from Endeavor Content and WOWOW, Japan’s leading premium pay-TV broadcaster. Tokyo Vice premieres Thursday, April 7 with three episodes, followed by two episodes every Thursday leading up to the finale on April 28.

Here’s the official logline for Tokyo Vice:

Loosely inspired by American journalist Jake Adelstein’s non-fiction first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat, the crime drama series, filmed on location in Tokyo, captures Adelstein’s (played by Ansel Elgort) daily descent into the neon-soaked underbelly of Tokyo in the late ‘90s, where nothing and no one is truly what or who they seem.

Tokyo Vice also stars Academy Award nominee Rinko Kikuchi, Rachel Keller, Ella Rumpf, Hideaki Ito, Show Kasamatsu, and Tomoshisa Yamashita. The limited series was created, written, and executive produced by Tony Award-winning playwright J.T. Rogers. Four-time Academy Award nominee and Emmy winner Michael Mann directed the pilot and is an executive producer, along with Alan Poul, Jake Adelstein, Ansel Elgort, Emily Gerson Saines, Brad Kane, Destin Daniel Cretton, Ken Watanabe, and John Lesher.

Everyone knows that you don’t mess with the Yakuza unless you’ve got a death wish. So, what is Elgort’s Jake Adelstein thinking? Perhaps some truths are too explosive to remain in the shadows.

In talking about Tokyo Vice in November 2020, WOWOW’s Kayo Washio said:

“Tokyo Vice is a true passion project for me as I’ve had my eyes on the material for quite some time and trusted business relationships with some of the key players involved for an even longer period of time. It is the type of story that deserves and necessitates the pedigree of creative talent assembled to bring it to life. Wowow is proud to be involved in a series that hits close to home for us, literally, and figuratively, and has such a gifted team bringing it all together. Ultimately, we believe this will be an event series that audiences in Japan, and throughout the world will be hooked into.”

What do you think of the first Tokyo Vice trailer? Let us know in the comments section below.