This forgotten crime thriller masterpiece was canceled on HBO Max after just two seasons, even though it was one of the best original series on the streaming service during the early 2020s.
While HBO has always been a leader in prestige TV, not all of its series have been certified hits, even when they have all the ingredients of a popular, must-binge show. This 2022 gangster crime series, consisting of 18 episodes, still holds up 2 years after its unjust cancellation.
Tokyo Vice Is An Incredibly Overlooked Crime Thriller On HBO Max
The HBO Max original series Tokyo Vice released in 2022 and was widely considered one of the platform’s most promising new series. The gangster crime thriller earned a Rotten Tomatoes score of 85% for its debut season before improving to a 94% for its brilliant second season in 2024.
The series follows Ansel Elgort’s American journalist Jake Adelstein, who moves to Tokyo to become a reporter for one of the nation’s most prominent newspapers. Set in the 1990s and based on the memoir Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan by the real-life Jake Adelstein, Tokyo Vice follows Jake’s investigation into the yakuza crime culture across Tokyo.
Tokyo Vice had it all: A fantastic ensemble cast around Elgort (who learned Japanese for the role) that included Ken Watanabe, Rachel Keller, Jessica Hecht, Shun Sugata, and a breakout performance by Shô Kasamatsu. Additionally, the series was beautifully shot, almost entirely in Tokyo, and lit with a cinematic “film noir” style lighting that rivals gangster classics like The Godfather.
What’s more, the story across Tokyo Vice’s two seasons is deeply immersive, tense, gripping, but also comedic and lighthearted at times. The relationships between the characters, particularly the near-buddy cop dynamic between Elgort’s Jake and Watanabe’s police detective Hiroto Katagiri, are well-developed and entertaining. The depiction of yakuza culture, specifically in season 2, is also fascinating and authentic.
Tokyo Vice Is Still Worth Binge-Watching After Its Cancellation
Ken Watanabe as Hiroto Katagiri and Ansel Elgort as Jake Adelstein Walking on The Streets of Tokyo from Tokyo Vice Season 2 Episode 5
Tokyo Vice remains a top-notch gangster crime series and is one of the most binge-worthy series on HBO Max, even to this day. The series was executive produced and partly directed by Michael Mann, of Heat acclaim, so expect a similar type of crime genre style when pressing play on Tokyo Vice this week.
Series creator J.T. Rogers had originally had plans to extend the series into at least a three-season arc, but HBO shockingly canceled the show even after its series-high critical reception in season 2. While season 1 mostly follows Jake’s story, season 2 expands into a wide-scale crime epic between two rival yakuza gangs.
If you’re looking for a deeply thrilling, immersive, and overlooked crime series on HBO Max this week, Tokyo Vice just may be the perfect choice for you to binge heading into 2026.
AloJapan.com