HBO renews Tokyo Vice for a second season
Ansel Elgort gets to pack his bags for another season in Japan
Aux News Tokyo Vice
HBO has apparently taken it upon itself to keep West Side Story’s Ansel Elgort employed by renewing Tokyo Vice for a second season. The company has given the neon green light to the second season of the Japan-set series.
“Writing and then making the first season of Tokyo Vice with this remarkable group of artists was a matchless experience,” series creator J.T. Rogers says in a statement. “So I’m over the moon that we get to keep going. I can’t wait to get back to work in Tokyo with our brilliant cast and crew. Stay tuned: There are twists and turns in the tale to come!”
Elgort leads Tokyo Vice as fictionalized American journalist Jake Adelstein, who spends his days covering the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat at the city’s largest newspaper, Meicho Shimbun. Set in the late ‘90s, Tokyo Vice takes viewers back to the “neon-soaked underbelly of Tokyo, where nothing and no one is truly what or who they seem.”
In The A.V. Club’s review of the first season, Matt Schimkowitz writes:
At its best, Tokyo Vice drags the viewer’s arm through the bars, alleys, offices, and homes of the city’s many classes and communities, providing a rounded picture of a place that leaves room for the thrill of exploration and discovery. That’s what good journalism is supposed to do, right? Bring the world to your front door? Tokyo Vice does that, with a sleek, energizing style that keeps us wanting more.
Tokyo Vice also stars Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi, Rachel Keller, Ella Rumpf, Hideaki Ito, Show Kasamatsu, and Tomohisa Yamashita. In addition to creating and writing the series, Rogers serves as executive producer. Michael Mann directed the pilot and is an executive producer, along with Alan Poul, Jake Adelstein, Elgort, Emily Gerson Saines, Brad Kane, Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings), Watanabe, Kayo Washio, and John Lesher.
Tokyo Vice is currently available to stream on HBO Max.
11 Comments
Angel Elbert needs to team up with Tymothyieeeeieeee Chalalalalamalalamalalalelet for an Ishtar remake.
Haha I’d watch that. Do you know the story of their rivalry going back to highschool? They went to the same performing arts high school andthe story is that Ansel would beat out Chalamet for every role, and also every chick. I think it mostly comes down to Elgort being 6’3.
Please google Ansel Elgort
Is this getting a second season? I read the first paragraph but it’s still unclear.
The header and sub-header appear to muddy the waters a little but if you read between the lines it sounds like it might be getting renewed.
Good, first season was good and flowed nicely, and I particularly liked how they portrayed the treatment of gaijins. The protagonist is an idiot and that’s awesome, because idiots always drive plots. It’s what the Yakuza game series thrives on.
Glad that it is getting a second season as I like the first season and thought the setup at the end was intriguing, but I also hope they learn from certain issues in the first season as I thought it was at times disjointed. Like there were a lot of storylines, but they never managed to find that smooth connection.However, what I found most peculiar about the first season is that it felt like it wanted to touch on the inherent sexism in that society, but at the same time the only female character that was given that much space to be was the blond American woman whose issues didn’t actually stem from sexism? Also I cannot even begin on Polina whose fate was tragic, but also required her to be an idiot on a scale that is difficult to comprehend. Although in that last episode Sam was right behind her on that front.
Finally
I liked the first season a lot more than I thought I would, despite the lead actor. Thankfully, having Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi, and Rachel Keller in the cast makes up for that and the actors playing yakuza characters were great too. It was driving me crazy trying to figure out where I had seen Rachel Keller before and then I realized she played Syd in Legion which is one of my favorite shows in the last decade.
Good, since the end of its first season doesn’t tie all loose ends at all.
I’m reading the book this is based on now and it’s remarkable how much they’ve chosen to dramatize. I’ll be watching season 2, but I hope there’s a bit more nitty gritty stuff on the actual journalism side of things, and maybe a bit of a more nuanced take on Japanese culture instead of the white guy going against the grain a lot.