Hollywood, Calif.-based yU+Co takes viewers on a journey through the tattooed symbols of Japan’s mafia – the Yakuza – and then through neon-lit Tokyo in its main title sequence for HBO Max’s Tokyo Vice, executive produced by Michael Mann.
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As the viewer falls, they descend past the upper floors of money and power and into Tokyo’s seedy underbelly. That decline into darkness ultimately returns to where it started: in an animated dragon. The viewer gets the whole picture when the camera pulls back for the sequence’s final frames.
Tokyo Vice stars Ansel Elgort as a young reporter on the Tokyo crime beat and Ken Watanabe as the police detective trying to fight the Yakuza’s incursion into the city. It also stars Rinko Kikichi, Rachel Keller, Ella Rumpf, Hideaki Ito, Show Kasamatsu and Tomohisa Yamashita.
J.T. Rogers created, wrote and executive produces the series, which is based on the book by Jake Adelstein, who also executive produces. Michael Mann directed the pilot and executive produces along with Alan Poul, Elgort, Emily Gerson Saines, Brad Kane, Destin Daniel Cretton, Watanabe, Kayo Washio and John Lesher.
Tokyo Vice premiered April 7 on HBO Max.
CREDITS
Creative Director: Garson Yu
Executive Producer: Carol Wong
Director, Editor: Adrian Yu
Designer, Art Director: James Robertson
Traditional Animator: Masanobu Hiraoka
Designer: Edwin Baker
Designer, Illustrator: Mulan Leong-Suzuki
3D Artists: Jeffrey Dietrich, Damian Stricker, Carlos Pacheco
Illustrator: Lydia Kim, Mari Carlson
Researcher: Rick Spitznass
Technical Director, Gregory Jones
Associate Producer: Johnny Ellsworth
I/O Coordinator: Latoria Ortiz