After a string of refreshingly nice video game-to-TV variations — specifically HBO’s The Final of Us and Prime Video’s Fallout — the bar set for Sega and Amazon’s upcoming sequence primarily based on the Like A Dragon (née Yakuza) video games is excessive. The producers and stars of this October’s Like A Dragon: Yakuza believe their present will meet that prime bar, in half as a result of it’s regionally grown and has world enchantment as a narrative about household.
The producer of the video video games is on board, too. Like A Dragon game sequence producer and head of Ryu Ga Gotoku studio Masayoshi Yokoyama gave his blessing to the TV present’s script, and serves as govt producer on Like A Dragon: Yakuza. He informed Polygon in an interview over Zoom that he had “in-depth conversations with the director and cast” to debate the sequence’ mythology and “the rules they needed to follow.”
“I was ready to turn down or really tear apart the script,” Yokoyama stated by way of a translator, “but it turned out it was really, really impressive what I read through. So beyond that point, I was very light touch after that, and let the film crew take full control of the production.”
Like A Dragon: Yakuza, a six-episode live-action crime drama sequence, relies on the occasions of the first game in the franchise — and never the equally named Yakuza: Like A Dragon.
Yokoyama stated that the linear storytelling format of Like A Dragon: Yakuza will give viewers some extent of view of the story that the video games can not, since they’re not seeing the narrative by enjoying from Kiryu’s perspective.
“When you adapt it into a [TV] story, you can stick with Kiryu and then [Akira] Nishikiyama, and then Yumi [Sawamura]. You can jump through POVs and tell things from a more rounded, bird’s eye point of view, which was quite liberating. I think that’s one of the strengths of the adaptation that’s different from the game,” he stated.
One space the place the Prime Video sequence may outdo the video games, Yokoyama stated, is its illustration of the fictional nightlife district of Kamurocho in Tokyo. “In all the iterations [of Kamurocho] we’ve been pouring so much energy into to realize this fictional city, [the adaptation is] almost besting us in doing that, making it feel really alive. So we’re kind of feeling a little jealous about it and feeling that we need to do a better job in the games again.”
Erik Barmack, govt producer on Like A Dragon: Yakuza, at all times felt it was essential to maintain the present not solely set in Japan, however made in Japan.
“You’ve seen Hollywood take Japanese IP and bring it to the U.S. and not always do it successfully or authentically,” Barmack stated. “You’ve seen great video game adaptations in the U.S. for the world, but there aren’t many examples of a great Japanese video game that are done locally and authentically to the material, which is really a tribute to the games. You could really only do it authentically in Japan, and the fact that Amazon took the chance to do something that’s a pretty big show in Japan, for a global audience, is really interesting and unique.”
The person tasked with enjoying the lead in Like A Dragon: Yakuza, Ryoma Takeuchi, believes the present’s potential world enchantment comes right down to its human relationships and the patchwork household that surrounds Kiryu.
“What drew me into the story that I feel has a global sensibility, is the orphans who don’t have family, craving and desperate to form a human relationship,” Takeuchi stated by way of a translator. “That’s the core essence of it all, and the element that makes it most relatable.”
Takeuchi’s co-star, Kento Kaku, who performs Kiryu’s friend-turned-rival Akira Nishikiyama, stated he appreciates the accountability of embodying these characters in live-action and the expectations that include it.
“I had a lot of experience doing famous manga adaptations in Japan, and I know by experience how difficult it is to successfully make them into live action,” Kaku stated. “So actually I was going to turn down [the part], but when I read the script, it was the first time I really could see the depths of the characters and [their] backgrounds, and understand the relationship between Kazuma and Nishiki.”
Takeuchi echoed that assertion, however expressed that he’s not making an attempt to easily cater to longtime Yakuza game followers. He desires his Kiryu to embody the masculine toughness and the delicate vulnerability of Sega’s beloved protagonist, he stated, and to painting him in a manner particular to live-action.
“I think it’s not the right approach to just try to please the fans,” Takeuchi stated. “It’s extra about coming from the inside and being genuine. So it’s a giant problem, and it’s strain, however I feel that’s the place that all of us want to come back from.
“It is terrifying,” he stated with amusing.
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Takeuchi, at the very least, has Yokoyama’s approval in how he portrays Kiryu onscreen.
“It’s very freeing to have a chance to work with a very talented cast and have [Takeuchi] embody the character in his own way is just so refreshing,” Yokoyama stated. “It’s not an imitation or mimicking the game character. It’s more embodying the spirit of him and making him live again as a new character. So there’s no comparison. It’s just something completely different — and it’s cool.”
And whereas Like A Dragon: Yakuza, is a decade-spanning crime drama that tells the begin of a sprawling story, it will also be intimate and emotional, Barmack stated.
“This isn’t a show that needs $20 million spaceships blowing up for it to work,” he stated. “You have to believe these three characters [Kiryu, Akira, and Yumi] care about each other and are in conflict with each other. If you were to go back in time as little as 15 years ago, you would say that there would be no opportunity to take a Japanese-language show and put it with the scope that this show has in front of a global audience that matches up with the millions of people who played the games. So you needed a platform like Amazon and and and the game to travel around the world the way it has. It’s scary, but it’s also amazing that a show like this can happen.”
Like A Dragon: Yakuza premieres on Prime Video worldwide on Oct. 24.
