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Set in early 20th century Shanghai, this Hua Shan actioner stars former Golden Harvest regular Nora Miao Ke-hsiu as Bobo, a village girl who has journeyed to the big city in search of her father. Not long after her arrival, Bobo witnesses a gang fight dominated by a man she was friends with as a child. Now known as Jaguar, he works as a bodyguard for mob boss Kam, who is having a row with one of his partners. Jaguar makes trouble at one of the man's casinos as a part of a plan to smooth over the situation. Ace gunman Ko Tang is also in town and the two strike up an alliance to take over Kam's empire. Jaguar's lust for power soon alienates Bobo, who realizes that she was simply a pawn in his plan to gain control of the Shanghai underworld. Held a virtual prisoner, Bobo's one hope for revenge is Luo Lie, another friend from childhood and now her fiancee, currently imprisoned in Germany.

Director Isshin Inudo should be quite happy these days. Recently, he wrote the screenplay for Resurrection (Yomigaeri, 2003) which director Akihiko Shiota turned into a big hit across the country. Now, Inudo's own movie Josee, the Tiger and the Fish has turned into both an indie crowd pleaser and a successful crowd puller. While Yomigaeri is a fantastic fable about the dead coming back to life in order to settle things with those they left behind, Josee is a much more down-to-earth story about a normal guy falling for an abnormal, physically disabled girl. What is fantastic about Josee, though, is its unique cinematic style and quirky humour that makes it a heart-warming experience. Tsuneo (Tsumabuki, of Waterboys fame) is in the beginning of the movie an easygoing student who enjoys a laid-back college life consisting of a part-time job at a mah-jong parlour and casual sex with girls from his school. The life ahead of him seems pretty straightforward and predictable. Then he hears rumours in the mah-jong parlour of a strange old woman who pushes a baby carriage around in the neighbourhood. Why does she always bring a baby carriage? What does it contain? While the busy minds of the customers in the parlour ponder over these questions, the manager asks Tsuneo to take his dog out for a walk. Out walking the dog, the baby carriage in question literally bumps into Tsuneo, and his curiosity leads him to peek inside it. That becomes his first encounter with the strange young woman, Josee (charmingly played by up-and-coming Ikewaki).

King of the shadows is looking for his girl, who has to be his bride. Lin Xi is pretending to be her brother, who has died, because she is trying to solve his death.