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''Doberman Cop'' is a film version of the manga ''
Doberman Deka is a Japanese hardboiled manga series written by Buronson and illustrated by Shinji Hiramatsu. It was serialized in the ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' manga anthology from 1975 (Issue 39) throughout 1979 (Issue 48), with the chapters collected into 2 ...
'' released theatrically in Japan by Toei on July 2, 1977. The film was directed by
Kinji Fukasaku was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Known for his "broad range and innovative filmmaking," Fukasaku worked in many different genres and styles, but was best known for his gritty yakuza films, typified by the ''Battles Without Honor ...
and starred
Sonny Chiba , known internationally as Sonny Chiba, was a Japanese actor and martial artist. Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later before an international audience. Born in Fuku ...
as .


Plot

The burned and unidentifiable remains of a young woman are discovered in an apartment in
Shinjuku, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world ( Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...
. Objects in the apartment seem to indicate that the woman is named Mayumi Tamashiro, though the police believe this to be a pseudonym used by Yuna Tamashiro, a runaway from
Ishigaki Island , also known as ''Ishigakijima'', is a Japanese island south-west of Okinawa Hontō and the second-largest island of the Yaeyama Island group, behind Iriomote Island. It is located approximately south-west of Okinawa Hontō. It is within the ...
who has been missing for five years. Mayumi's former boyfriend, a
motorcyclist Motorcycling is the act of riding a motorcycle. For some people, motorcycling may be the only affordable form of individual motorized transportation, and small-engine displacement, displacement motorcycles are the most common motor vehicle in ...
named Chōei Mikawa who is also nicknamed "Hotshot", is originally a suspect but produces an alibi for the time of her murder. The police theorize that it must be the work of a serial murderer and arsonist. Kano, a visiting policeman from Ishigaki Island, is unconvinced by the theory presented by the police and begins conducting his own invasion to find the real criminal. He speaks with Yuna's mother, a ''
noro Noro may refer to: * Noro, Solomon Islands * , in the Cíes Islands, Spain * Noro (priestess), within the Magiri system of the Ryukyu Kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands * "Noro", a song on the 2009 album '' Daisy'' by Brand New People with the surname ...
'' who predicts that Kano and Yuna will marry. A topless dancer named Kosode becomes infatuated with Kano and begins caring for his pet pig. When Miki Haruno, an aspiring singer, is being held hostage by a crazed admirer near the top of a hotel, Kano uses ropes to rappel down the side of the building and break through a window to rescue her. That night he sees her perform at the Lido club, where one of the waiters tells him that the photo of Yuna does not look like his acquaintance Mayumi. Chōei Mikawa poses as a fan and tells her that he knows her secret and attempts to blackmail her but is caught by the club staff and beaten before he is saved by Kano. They find Miki passed out from drug use and Chōei tells Kano that until a few years ago she had been working at the same brothel in Kawasaki where Mayumi worked. He says that Miki Haruno is a persona created by her manager Hidemori, a yakuza from
Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
who put up money for her to get plastic surgery in the United States. Hidemori bribes Mr. Fujikawa, a judge on the show ''A Star Is Born'', to choose Miki as the best performer over her main competition Kenji Mizuki, who is sleeping with Fujikawa. Kano finds Miki and introduces himself as the boy who used to live next door to her in Ishigaki when she was known as Yuna, but Hidemori and his men grab him and beat him, then tie him up. Chōei's new girlfriend Miyoko is attacked by a masked man who breaks her neck before pouring gasoline on her and lighting it. Chōei finds Hidemori and accuses him of the murder but is overpowered and tied up with Kano. One of Hidemori's men shoots Chōei's .44 Magnum at Kano but the recoil causes the bullet to hit the steam pipe from which they are hanging. Kano and Chōei fight their way free but Chōei is injured by a masked man while escaping. Hidemori and his bonded brother Jono show Mr. Fujikawa a video of Jono whipping his lover Kenji Mizuki. Kano is arrested for killing Hidemori's men but escapes from police custody when Chōei tells him that he has seen the real killer's face. Kano rushes to Chōei's apartment but finds him murdered and sees the killer escaping. Kano catches the killer, a fellow police officer trying to eliminate individuals whom he considers to be scum, and kills him. At the taping of ''A Star Is Born'', Miki is too nervous to perform and Hidemori gives her an injection of drugs to help. Kano determines that Miki killed Mayumi with her own belt, which was too small for Mayumi, and had had a locked engraved with the name "YUNA" to plant on the body before it was burnt. He tells this information to Hidemori, who reveals that he paid a yakuza to act as the crazed admirer who was holding Miki hostage in order to gain cheap publicity. Jono and Hidemori's other men enter but Kano kills them all. He uses a lucky bullet given to him by Chōei that is supposed to protect his life as his final bullet to kill Hidemori by shooting him through a door. He asks Miki to return to Ishigaki but she insists on finishing the show. She wins the competition and sings an encore of her song "My Memory" for the audience. Kano performs a traditional ritual of throwing shells and determines that the person known "Yuna" is ultimately dead. He and his pet pig set off to return to the island.


Cast

*
Sonny Chiba , known internationally as Sonny Chiba, was a Japanese actor and martial artist. Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later before an international audience. Born in Fuku ...
as *
Janet Hatta is an actress. Biography Her mother is Japanese and her father is an American. After working as a stewardess for Japan Airlines, she entered acting. She briefly used the name . In 1981, she married Kōichi Tabuchi, who at that time played baseb ...
as Miki Haruno * Eiko Matsuda as Kosode Murasaki * Takuzō Kawatani as Hideyoshi Kinoshita *
Hideo Murota was a Japanese actor who specialized in playing villains and tough guys. In 1957, he signed a contract with Toei Studio and appeared in over 1000 films. He won the Best Supporting Actor award at the Yokohama Film Festival for his role in ''Shin ...
as Jirō Takamatsu (officer of Shinjuku) *
Koichi Iwaki is a Japanese actor. He won the award for best actor at the 8th Yokohama Film Festival for the 1986 film '' Minami e Hashire, Umi no Michi o''. He was a Zainichi Korean until April 5, 2017, when he naturalized. Iwaki is also a racing car driver. ...
as Chōei Mikawa *
Jūkei Fujioka was a Japanese actor. He is known as an actor who often played villains, but is famous for playing the role of detective Daisaku Tani in the popular detective drama ''Seibu Keisatsu''. Fujioka started his acting career at the Haiyuza Theatre Com ...
as Takeo Sano *
Nenji Kobayashi is a Japanese actor. He won the award for best supporting actor at the 23rd Japan Academy Prize for ''Poppoya''. Kobayashi signed with Toei in 1961 and started his acting career with small roles. Filmography Film * '' Soshiki Bōryoku'' (196 ...
as Katsuo Kōyama (Mikawa's friend) *
Seizō Fukumoto (3 February 1943 – 1 January 2021) was a Japanese actor. Biography He started acting at age 15 in Kyoto, the capital of Japanese cinema. A specialist in film and television jidaigeki set in the Edo period, he most often played a rōnin, but in ...
as one of Hidemori's followers * Tatsuo Endō as Fujikawa *
Hiroki Matsukata , better known by his stage name , was a Japanese actor. He was the son of ''jidaigeki'' actor Jūshirō Konoe and actress Yaeko Mizukawa and has a younger brother, Yūki Meguro, who is also an actor. With ex-wife actress Akiko Nishina he had tw ...
as Kaiji Hidemori (a
yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...
and Miki's manager)


Release

''Doberman Cop'' was released on July 2, 1977.


References


External links

* {{Kinji Fukasaku 1977 films 1970s police films Live-action films based on manga Films about police officers Films about singers Films directed by Kinji Fukasaku Films set in Tokyo 1970s Japanese-language films Yakuza films 1970s Japanese films Toei Company films