FANTASIA26 REVIEW: TOKYO BURST-犯罪都市- [Tokyo Burst: Crime City] [2026]

Rating: NR | Runtime: 116 minutes
Release Date: May 29th, 2026 (USA)
Director(s): Eiji Uchida
Writer(s): Tatsuro Mishima & Eiji Uchida

You were singing too!

Who needs Beast Cop when you have a former Yakuza punk turned rookie detective with a concrete skull? The answer is, of course, everyone since Don Lee’s Ma Seok-do is a one-man wrecking crew, but Eiji Uchida’s Tokyo Burst: Crime City does make us wonder if Japan is in good hands with Shiro Aiba (Sota Fukushi) anyway. Sure, he needs some help from a Korean cop on loan (who we’re to infer is a Ma disciple), but that’s mostly just to split their two villains.

Shinjuku City is Aiba’s turf. Has been since his youth running his own gang before turning legit. Just because he has a badge, however, doesn’t mean he’s looking to destroy the delicate ecosystem built-up over centuries between the Yakuza and Japan. Aiba still respects mob boss Iwaki (Pierre Taki) when he must, but he won’t let that get in the way of his Special Crimes cases either. It’s just nice to toe that line since it might come in handy down the road.

Aiba’s unit is currently investigating a string of jewelry store robberies that ultimately proves our in-road into the action and the first bit of connective tissue tying the Yakuza and police force together with a violently ruthless duo (Uhm Ki-joon and Koshi Mizukami). Because one theft of the Dreaming host club leads to another of its spoils … and another still. Everyone is looking to get cash in-hand as political and entrepreneurial aspirations demand liquid finances.

It just so happens, though, that Korean agent Si-woo Choi (TVXQ’s Jung Yunho) is also on the hunt for one of those two anonymous heavies. Aiba hates that this outsider is suddenly in his domain (there are no butterflies for this rookie since he fancies himself a bad ass doing Shinjuku a favor by choosing the law over crime), but only because he doesn’t yet know Choi is cut from the same cloth. He’s all about a little police brutality inside a “truth room” too.

Comedic tactics like covering surveillance cameras to play a rigged game of rock, paper, scissors or goofy smiles when taking out a group of unsuspecting thugs single-handedly aren’t the only connections to The Roundup franchise. There’s also a familiar face in fan favorite informant Jang I-su (Ji-hwan Park). Don’t worry about his character’s evolution from the main series smoothing any edges, though. Tokyo Burst unfolds in 2015. He’s still all-in on the mischief.

Not that he plays a big role in the plot. Think of Jang as a glorified cameo to keep us aware of the over-arching universe. (Will Aiba and Choi join Ma in a future sequel, perhaps?) The same goes for the hosts and Dreaming’s own gangster boss (Tatsuya Ueda) who’s willing to show he’s his own bodyguard. Uchida and co-writer Tatsuro Mishima do well to keep a lot of plates spinning to distract from who Uhm and Mizukami are working for as well as their motives.

That homicidal pair is the focus. Uhm plays the calm and collected frontman who does most of the talking while Mizukami enters the picture when the situation demands a bit of vicious chaos. The action is always punishing when they get into it with bystanders meant to end up as bodies for Aiba and Choi to find a few seconds too late, but it stays pretty heated when they meet up too. Like all these films, however, living to fight another day is crucial to the runtime.

It’s also crucial to the plot considering Uhm and Mizukami act with impunity for a reason. Their survival and impossible bureaucratic escapes from justice are part of the puzzle that Aiba and Choi must decipher before they go too far and end up suspended. Because their department head (Kiyohiko Shibukawa) having their back can’t protect them when government officials breathe down the Chief’s neck. This case reveals itself to be more complex by the minute.

Yunho’s Korean straight man and Fukushi’s Japanese trickster are a ton of fun together when at each other’s throats and having each other’s backs. Does needing two actors to replace Don Lee’s iconic protagonist say more about his stature than their success? Maybe. But don’t let that diminish how much fun you’re having while they beat people up with a scowl and grin respectively. Their methods are different, but their righteous impulses are aligned.

The real highlight, though, is the Uhm and Mizukami tandem. Their villainy oozes a sense of cool due to their seeming invincibility allowing them to have just as much fun as we are. But the cause of that confidence (without spoiling anyway, the line about having “time to waste” is superb) doesn’t mean Aiba and Choi won’t still nab them. As long as the fights are bloody and brutal (Aiba is a pro wrestling fan, after all), though, they can take their time getting there.