The Specials
Japan | Japanese, English subtitles
2026 | 110 Minutes
Director: Eiji Uchida
Cast: Sho Aoyagi, Yuta Nakamoto,
Hitoshi Ozawa, Daisuke Sakuma, Kippei Shiina
The Specials, a film about the Yakuza, gun-fu and hip hop dancing – and generally not the kind of film I would expect to find myself enjoying. Sometimes though, life throughs you a curveball and things can change.
In fact, I normally would turn my nose up at a film wanted to show me dancing Yakuza members, but having spent so many years at the Fantasia festival – I know better than to question things now. If the festival is hosting this film, its for a reason, and once again Fantasia had a bag full of treats for me. As it turns out, The Specials truly is, well, special.
See Also: When You Open The Door at Fantasia Festival
To gain gangland supremacy, crime boss Kazama must eliminate his rival, the notoriously elusive Honjo. A rare opportunity presents itself. Honjo himself is sure to be present when his beloved granddaughter participates in an upcoming dance competition. Yakuza enforcer Kumashiro is assigned the task of assembling a hit squad and infiltrating the event, and his plan is so far-fetched, it might just work.
The Yakuza assassins he gathers all have some sort of prior experience in dance (though for retired killer Daiya, now a reclusive helper at an orphanage, heavy trauma is attached). What they don’t have is team cohesion, much less a catchy choreography that will push them past the finals and up on stage in front of Honjo. Tossed out of every dance school for their thuggish impulses, they turn to precocious tween Asuka for training. She’s got the moves, the motivation, even a name for this tossed-together troupe: The Specials.
The Specials opens with a fantastic action set piece, guns blazing down a highway, as rivals gangs attempt to assassinate each other. Alright. High octane stuff, I was primed for a glorious evening of violence. While there are several well choreographed fight scenes, and despite this being a gangster film, those sequences are far fewer than I would have expected.
Instead, the audience gets to witness the plights and difficulties undertaken for this newly formed dance troupe as they practice in hopes to qualify for the dance competition where their nasty plan can take place.
Along the way, bounds are made and differences put aside. Character backgrounds are revealed and the big bad men of the Yakuza become human. There are some genuinely funny moments in this build up, and well as some touching parts as well. This isn’t a straight up gangster flick, as you no doubt figured out by the dancing portion of the film. What it is though, is a solid and well made movie that deserves your attention.
Once the dust had settled, I found The Specials to be a fantastic, funny and ultimately heartbreaking film with a few twists and turns and unexpected bits here and there. Some of it was predictable and that’s all fine and dandy, as it really helped to build the characters – which in itself is a lost artform these days, and make its audience care about what happens to our main characters.
Of course, The Specials leaves the door wide open for a sequel or two but I’ll let you discover that for yourselves.
Read More:
>> After School at Fantasia Festival
>> Unidentified Murder at Fantasia Festival
>> Tunnels : Sun In The Dark at Fantasia Festival
I’m not sure why or hos this has happened but… there are a whole bunch of dance movies at Fantasia film festival this year, and at least two of the them involve the Yakuza! Has the world changed this much? The Yazuka now dances? Somehow, in the pit of my stomach an in my heart, I know that Dance Dance Revolution is to blame for this – I just can’t prove it.
I didn’t expect to enjoy a movie about dancing Yakuza. I really didn’t. I really, really didn’t expect to love The Specials the way I wound up doing. This is a fantastic movie!
