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Ushijima the Loan Shark
Movie

Ushijima the Loan Shark

2012 • Unknown

Woke Score
3
out of 10

Plot

Mirai Suzuki (Yuko Oshima) becomes responsible for her mother's debt which is owed to loan shark Kaoru Ushijima (Takayuki Yamada). To begin paying off her mother's debt, Mirai begins working at a dating cafe. Meanwhile, Jun (Kento Hayashi) is the ambitious and greedy company president for an event group. To borrow money, Jun visits Kaukau Finance owned by Kaoru Ushijima.

Overall Series Review

"Ushijima the Loan Shark" is a gritty Japanese social commentary that explores the dark underbelly of debt and financial desperation in contemporary society. The film follows the cold, amoral titular loan shark, Kaoru Ushijima, as he relentlessly collects from various debtors. The narrative interweaves the struggles of Mirai Suzuki, a young woman forced into a vulnerable line of work to pay her mother's debt, and Jun, a greedy company president who tries to cheat Ushijima. The film unflinchingly portrays a morally bankrupt world where personal failings like addiction and greed are exploited by predatory lending and yakuza elements. The storyline focuses on the brutal reality of economic disparity and the destructive impact of consumer culture, with characters constantly battling their own endless desires. It functions as a raw critique of specific modern social and economic failures.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics2/10

Characters are judged by their economic status, greed, and individual failings, not by immutable characteristics like race or gender. The primary conflict is based on class warfare between the exploiter (Ushijima) and the exploited (debtors) in an environment of social disparity. Universal meritocracy, where a character's morality or lack thereof defines their fate, is the guiding force.

Oikophobia2/10

The film functions as a harsh social commentary on the specific consumer culture, economic pressures, and societal failures of modern Japan. It depicts the 'grim underbelly' and 'perversions' of the contemporary era. This is an internal critique of systems and current failings, not a rejection or demonization of the nation’s historical core or ancestors. The film does not frame external cultures as morally superior.

Feminism2/10

Mirai, the female lead, is a victim of circumstance and is forced into a vulnerable, service-oriented job to repay her mother's debt. She is not a 'Girl Boss' or a 'Mary Sue.' Jun, a main male character, is depicted as a nasty and predatory boss who uses women for profit. The villain, Ushijima, is equally amoral to all debtors, male and female. The narrative portrays traditional exploitation and personal desperation rather than emasculation or anti-natalist themes.

LGBTQ+1/10

The narrative focuses entirely on themes of debt, poverty, crime, and greed in the black market underworld. There is no evidence of centering alternative sexualities, deconstructing the nuclear family, or lecturing on gender ideology. The structure remains normative.

Anti-Theism8/10

The world of the film is entirely defined by moral relativism and the law of the jungle. Ushijima operates on the principle of 'stealing or being stolen from,' which frames morality as subjective 'power dynamics.' Characters are driven by uncontrollable 'endless desires.' The lack of any objective moral or spiritual framework provides the foundation for the film's bleak 'Spiritual Vacuum.' There is no overt anti-Christian sentiment, but the pervasive amorality aligns with a high score for this category.