Osamu Kawase

Koreyoshi Kurahara's ingeniously plotted, pocket-size noir concerns the intertwined fates of a desperate bank manager, blackmailed for book-cooking, and his resentful but timid underling, passed over for a promotion. The marvelously moody Intimidation is an elegantly stripped-down and carefully paced crime drama.

A reformed bartender is blackmailed into aiding a heist by former gang associates, leading to betrayal, violence, and the collapse of his hopes for a new life.

A seamstress seeks the love of her life while helping a troubled couple.