I believe this movie was made by Beat Takeshi just before his famous suicide attempt. If true, the nihilism evident in this movie I think really indicates the tortured mindset that Takeshi must have had at the time. I've been led to understand that the real Yakuza pride themselves on restraint when it comes to violence. So the ruthless and wanton brutality shown by the "Yakuza" characters in this movie must surely originate solely in Takeshi's head and further leads me to believe that Takeshi was expressing his inner torment. Doesn't that indicate a huge ego on Takeshi's part to use a movie production and all that money to simply show how Takeshi happens to be feeling at that time in his life?