It's Tokyo, the mid-Nineties and you fancy punching the poo-poo out of someone. That's how total cult directors Tsukamoto Shinya and Kitano Takeshi felt, at least. Coming a year apart - much like your mother's sex life - both made Tokyo-based films centred around boxing: 'Tokyo Fist' (1995) and 'Kids Return' (1996), both bringing their own unique flair to the art form.

To start, the films are very similar: 'Tokyo Fist' starts with salaryman Tsuda bumping into an old school friend, Kojima, a part-time boxer. Likewise, 'Kids Return' begins with former best friends from school, Masaru and Shinji, happily bumping into each other on a Tokyo street, both recognising that their lives have taken a downward spiral since they last saw each other. However, due to the nature of both directors, the similarity largely ends there.

'Tokyo Fist' is very much along the lines of Tsukamoto's most famous work: 'Tetsuo: Ironman'. Focusing on ideas of revenge and aggression, Tsuda soon becomes paranoid that his old classmate might be knocking up his missus, Hizuru. His paranoia gradually drives Hizuru away, as their quiet life becomes loud, aggressive and full of blood-splattering scenes, with her ending up in the arms, and bed, of Kojima, played by Tsukamoto's brother, Koji. The anger and rage building inside him, exemplified by the ever-present loud music, Tsuda joins Koji's boxing gym, determined to beat him in the ring, much like Koji is doing to Hizuru.

The film then becomes a loud, brash experience, with fast camera movements, editing and thrashing music, leaving the viewer out of breath just watching it. And, as ever, a confusion is created as to what exactly is going on, throwing in extreme moments to push things just that little further.

Rage, obsession, and fetish are themes running throughout Tsukamoto's works, and 'Tokyo Fist' is no exception, working as a more polished version of 'Tetsuo: Ironman'. The special effects are still a little budget, but creative in the excessive blood pouring and Hizuru's new fetish for piercing any part of her body possible. Punch, punch, punch is the style for the boxing scenes, with Tsukamoto creating a work to seep into your mind and punch your brain into dazed confusion.

But where Tsukamoto chooses to show graphic violence and gore, this is the very thing that Kitano often avoids. Since starting with 'Violent Cop', the violence is Kitano's films is more in the mind than on screen. The use of still cameras and editing means that actual acts of violence fall out of shot or are skipped for comic timing. The majority of punches thrown in 'Kids Return' are at punching bags or in sparring practise.

'Kids Return' is seen as Kitano's most autobiographical work, set in the part of Tokyo where he grew up and featuring events and job roles that he himself experienced while growing up. The two friends, Masaru and Shinji drift through school, seen as the ultimate prodigal sons by their teachers. Neither has much direction; simply wreaking havoc on the lives of their classmates. Meeting his match, Masaru decides to take up boxing, but soon realises he hasn't the discipline for the sport. His perennial sidekick, Shinji, however, does, and his talent is quickly spotted by the gym's coaches. Masaru then drifts away, becoming a low level yakuza.

For Shinji, boxing is a sense of direction after days drifting, rather than an act of aggression. 'Kids Return' is all about direction when entering adulthood, mirroring roles taken by Kitano himself. Meek Hiroshi tries his hand at selling scales and driving a taxi on finishing school - two jobs Kitano had - but soon finds that neither provide him with what he wants out of life. Two students forming a school double act perform stand-up comedy to their classmates with a manzai act similar to that brought Kitano his initial fame.

If anything, 'Kids Return' is quite a depressing film. On leaving school, hopes and ambitions are quickly lost for all characters, with all left feeling lost and abandoned by their seniors. Hiroshi is repeatedly criticised by the bosses of his various jobs; Masaru is expelled from his yakuza family for speaking out of turn; and Shinji's coaches give up on him once he is led astray by an older boxer who takes him drinking.

The boxing in 'Kids Return' is exactly that: there is more emphasis on the sport, with more realistic bouts and styles. 'Tokyo Fist' goes down the Stallone-form of boxing with non-stop punch fests that would lead to permanent brain damage in seconds, but with blood spurting out of eye sockets, this is the only way Tsukamoto of the Nineties would work.

Both made in the mid-Nineties, set in Tokyo and with boxing as a key element, the films are very different. Tsukamoto favours high-octane fight scenes and special effects to create a visually spectacular gore fest, while Kitano chooses a more mellow-paced drama. At a time when two former boxing film legends return for the undoubtedly terrible 'Grudge Match', 'Tokyo Fist' and 'Kids Return' are both blasts from the past that fall under the same weight class, but see a clash of styles.

The first ten minutes are awesome. The movie is very strong, but the quality varies a lot along its development until its bad end. Both the fast paced training scenes and the oppressive Tokyo city footage are very nice. Though, the bizarreness of the story bores. This is a live action film with an anime aesthetics (for anime fans perhaps the movie pleases more). It could be a great movie if it had developed better the main character's ordinary life as a white collar, the chaos of the city (the story does not explore the interesting way the town is shown), the dangerous boxer who tattooes the number of defeated challengers on his shoulder. Less emphasis in body horror and sneezing blood would also contribute to a more satisfactory outcome. The director's brother should be substituted by a better actor. A different and better story for the love triangle would be necessary too. To conclude, the director/writer/actor Shin'ya Tsukamoto has the skills, but lacks good taste and makes bad decisions.