The biggest takeaway I had from Netflix’s Tokyo Swindlers was…wow, Pierre Taki won.
It wasn’t that long ago that this dude was arrested for cocaine possession. In another time, that would have been it given Japan’s strict drug laws and the entertainment industry’s overreaction to infractions. Stores would have taken all the Denki Groove CDs they had in stock and burned them in some rural field. A once prolific actor would suddenly just disappear from the screen. Even the goofy commercials he starred in would be erased.
Yet a few years on, Taki is thriving, with 2024 being a high point. Just about a month ago, he was on stage at Fuji Rock’s Red Marquee in front of a hype crowd, just the latest time Denki Groove has been welcomed with open arms to the festival despite any previous legal hoo-ha. He’s starred in a movie called Horizon, and he’s become a go-to actor for Netflix Japan’s original series. In the first half of the year, he appeared in House of Ninjas and then landed a more prominent role as a scumbag in Tokyo Swindlers.
The series, released in late July, follows a group of criminals as they try to rip off a property developer via some land-related flimflam. What’s surprising about it is that Taki isn’t alone in this series. This seven-episode affair offers the closest thing to a Denki Groove “prestige TV” series.