This 5-film epic series of Japanese gangster movies isn’t just a thrilling, darkly violent genre saga—it also charts the post-war history of Japan from the American Occupation all the way into the 1970s. Cult Japanese auteur Kinji Fukasaku (Battle Royale) directed all five, offering an unexpected (criminal) portrait of his generation, as well as crystallizing the in-your-face filmmaking of the era he helped pioneer.