The final installment of the Yakuza Papers Saga .. About cleaning up the yakuza lifestyle in the ever changing times , but old habits die hard and gangsters will always be gangsters ----------------------------------------------------- The movie begins 20 years since the first chapter , 1966. Shozo is still serving his 7 year sentence , and Takeda has revamped the old Yamamori clan into the political body Tensei Coalition, with the vow to drop their yakuza customs and become legit and straight businessmen.

An altercation between Matsumura (youth commander), and Shozo's old clan leads the Tensei discussing how to manage the younger generation of hotheads. Meanwhile Boss Ichioka , whom shared prison time with Shozo, wants to war with Takeda and the Tensei Coalition as vengeance. After killing Tensei's trusted financial supervisor it puts Tensei in an uneasy position fore they must maintain a clean outstanding image but always must rule underworld with an iron fist. Ichioka crashes the funeral and starts a rift between Matsumura, the calm head in clan, and Otomo, the hothead old-school yakuza. The result leads to Otomo and his flunkies breaking off Tensei and starting their own party.

Due to the resurgance of violence, the police take the opportunity to investigate and find guns stashed in the compound. They arrest Takeda, but first he must choose the new Chairman to take his position. Matsumura, the director under Takeda, is prime to be the new Chairman of the Tensei Coalition due to his calm head and good morals, while Otomo wants to revive the old yakuza ways of discipline and violence. Matsumura wins the vote but makes an enemy out of Otomo.

Otomo sends some hitmen to eliminate Matsumura but the plan backfires. In spite of this Matsumura invites Otomo back into the family and Ichioka takes the opportunity of the rift to join forces with Otomo in taking down the Tensei Coalition. Matsumura buys Hayakawa and Makihara support (now a boss in Kure) to stregthen his team.

Upon hearing of the Makihara/Matsumura team-up, Ichioka takes the liberty to trash Tensei shops in Otomo's name. Matsumura gets Ichioka rubbed off, and Otomo gets arrested as he's going after Matsumura for revenge. With his competitors out the way, Matsumura decides to make Tensei Coalition his own and has all members swear to his name under oath.

Its now 1970, the year both Takeda and Shozo get out of prison. Matsumura steps down from Chairman position, which creates rifts within the loyalty of the Tensei. Shozo's release has revitalized his men, as they terrorize Makihara's gang in Kure. Some of Shozo's goons assassinate Makihara, sealing Shozo's power over Kure as a whole.

Makihara's assassination leads Takeda to retire, fore he knows his generation is outdated and the younger guns are on the rise. He attempts to talk Shozo into retirement to calm the unrest of Hiroshima but Shozo thinks otherwise. Matsumura makes a surprise visit to Shozo to present his retirement case , and the two agree to both Shozo's retirement and the joining of his Akashi clans with the Tensei Coalition on one condition: Matsumura cleans up Tensei from the inside to make it safe for outsiders.

It's now the day of Matsumura's formal installation as the new Chairman. On the way to his ceremony he gets ambushed by former members of the Hayakawa and Otomo clans. He survives the attack and defies his enemies by still attending his ceremony half-dead. Shozo, impressed by the young man's resilience, announces his retirement and the union of his and Tensei's families. After the ceremony, Takeda offers Shozo a drink but Shozo refuses, knowing this is only a minor peaceful victory in a long history of violent struggles. Later that year, after a random yakuza shooting, Shozo officially retires, as he looks back on his 25 year history serving as a boss in the Yakuza System

Finding the fantastic 4th part (also reviewed) to have wrapped up everything,I had started to wonder about what was left for the saga to explore. Reading up before viewing about the behind the scenes issues this entry had, I entered the unexpected final battle.

View on the film:

Finishing a box set containing a 150 page book covering all the films, Arrow end the collection on a strong note, with the print having a clean clarity to the outdoor scenes,and the soundtrack being fired cleanly.

Surprisingly giving the unvarnished truth in a interview by saying that "We only had enough material for half a script.", and working from the leftover notes that former scriptwriter Kazuo Kasahara gave him,of the sliver of ideas left out of the first four films, the screenplay by Koji Takada at first appears to be finding a path towards building upon the themes Kasahara had made, with a striking opening marking the anniversary of Hiroshima, whilst Hirono begins to write his memoir in jail (a reference to Kozo Mino,whose memoir Battles is based on.)

Keeping Hirono in prison and off-screen for a majority of the movie, Takada increases the progression into a corporate status of the gangsters,with them increasingly becoming involved in politics.

Driving down the streets filled with new up and coming gangs, Takada takes a awkward shift which cuts the gravitas and pace of mass fallouts which had been increasing with each film away, as Takada aims for the theme of a cycle of violence, which is damaged by the new thugs being given little room for depth, that drains the impact of the delightfully bitter final scene.

Believing he had finished with the series,until 6 months (!) after the 4th had come out, the studio demanded he make a 5th, directing auteur Kinji Fukasaku returns with cinematographer Sadaji Yoshida, and takes the on the street violence to the most extreme, raw level.

Fukasaku's distinctive fluid hand-held camera moves gets slammed on the ground from each bullet shot, (which Fukasaku covers in a red mist, in tribute to Tokyo Drifter (1966-also reviewed) and smashes into each dying gangster spilling blood over a battle without humanity or honour.

With the authorities cracking down on organized crime, many yakuza families prolonged their existences by becoming political parties. The cops weren't fooled, but it did make it harder to prosecute them.

The talkiest of the entries and the entry burdened with the task of wrapping up dozens of loose threads, FINAL EPISODE depicts the legitimization of the crime and protection business and draws a curtain on the life of Bunta Sugawara's symbolic yakuza "torpedo".

It is as compelling for its performances as for its historical detail. Right up until the last body falls, director Fukasaku keeps the energy level high and kicks the narrative along at a heady pace.

It has been a monumental journey and a classic, unforgettable piece of cinema.