While searching for his fiancee Ritsuko, Sakutarou rediscovers through flashbacks the void deep within him caused by the events from his high school days.

Looking like a third-rate salary man, the slightly dumpy Michio (Dankan) has reached his mid-thirties without ever joining the mob, confessing fear about life as a yakuza. Yoichi (Osawa Takao), the wild country boy from Shikoku he recruits, fits in better with that violence-prone world. But he is both too unruly to accept rigid gang hierarchies and too uncontrollable to go straight. The two run an illegal bookie joint on behalf of the gangster Otani (Ishibashi Ryo). But far from accepting the rules of the gang, Yoichi steals Yoko (Kataoka Reiko) away from Otani's lieutenant Masao (Terashima Susumu). And against his own better judgement, Michio gets Otani's woman Miya (Aoyama Chikako) pregnant. The film speeds towards a violent conclusion when Otani is assassinated by a junkie and Michio, his pride hurt and hoping for a better life, absconds with Miya and the gang's money.

Shinzo Egi is an asthma sufferer who does not want to be place on life support. As a last request, Shinzo Egi asks his doctor Ayano Orii if she could follow his wish. Doctor Ayano Orii is then questioned in a criminal case because of her decision.

2001 film by Shunji Iwai

2004 film by Shunji Iwai