I kept thinking about Double Mints when I was watching this. The same brilliantly executed desperation and melodrama that's the beauty of both films while being intense and jarringly violent. The relationship Shinji (Suda Masaki) has with Barikan (Yang Ik Jun) or with his ex gangster boss had the same undertones of Fuchikami Yasushi and Tanaka Shunsuke's relationships in Double Mints.