The Japanese straight-to-video movie scene. A big market in Japan. The films often start off very well but run out of inspiration/budget about halfway through. Riki Takeuchi and Show Aikawa are two of V-cinema's biggest stars, the latter has made over 118 films and the former makes up to 27 v-cinema films a year. The two came together for Miike Takashi's Dead or Alive, however since they are both huge stars, neither could be killed off. This, alongside the fact the it was directed by Miike, explains the ending.