Are “honourable criminals” lying to themselves? Is servitude worse than death? Less a criminal drama and more a criminal soap opera Prime Video’s Yakuza has thoughts on these questions.

Focusing on four orphans, two male and two female, on the cusp of leaving their orphanage the four protagonists here walk themselves into a nightmare of a heist gone awry. Gangsters who come looking for stolen money don’t shut up. The assassins who will kill them at their leader’s whim don’t talk. And the one who makes the room go silent when he speaks is now speaking to them. What’s it going to be, kids? Death or servitude to the Yakuza? You can have a bullet now, or you can work yourself to death at manual labour or in the sex trade.

With the characters' back stories developed through time jumps we’re shown the build up to the situation that changed their lives and what the results are a decade later. This isn’t the strongest story telling device and the show lost my attention when it went back in time. The Yakuza operation and its politics I found more interesting. Much of their code of honour is a way of controlling street scum on the ground but their ceremonies have reverence. There is no room in the sprawling criminal organisation for those who don't know when to take a blade and cut off their fingers. Self-mutilation to restore honor is a tradition.

Like all organisations rooted in tradition even gangsters are under siege from modernity. The difference is that their idea of pushing back against the pressure to change comes in the shape of a psychopath with a sword and a gun.

While our protagonist recruits see their transformed lives as more glamorous they become more isolated. Their criminal association is a stain on them that never fades. In the case of women, the world becomes something they see through luxury car windows. The show gives them lifestyles of high-end escorts while avoiding any mention of sex. In the main character’s case the world is something he perceives from inside the illegal fighting ring or through prison bars. Enforcing immoral people's will puts him in a cage.

Based on the video game franchise of the same name the characters dress pixel perfect at times. But there’s decent human drama here and the fights are competent. There’s good English audio dubbing for those who don't want subtitles and the story has a Japanese method of story telling that makes it different. I’ll watch episode 4.