Amazon’s live-action film adaptation of Sega’s hit “Like a Dragon” series has finally landed, and it’s already making waves. Titled Like a Dragon: Yakuza, the gritty crime drama follows the series’ long-time protagonist Kazuma Kiryu across two timelines. One in 1995 as a teenage orphan and the other in 2005 as a hardened yakuza with a 10-year prison sentence. Remixing many elements from the first game and its prequel, Yakuza 0, it takes considerable liberties with remixing the beloved series, but the controversial title goes its own way. , and this move is not to everyone’s liking.
Total Recall: Why Yakuza is so much better than Japanese GTA
One big change from the original is that Amazon’s adaptations seem to be mostly simple, bare-bones dramas. Like a Dragon games are well known for their melodrama, complex plots, large casts, and cinematic presentation, but they also tend to have an established irreverence. The game’s main setting, the town of Kamurocho, is filled with eccentrics like Mr. Libido, who erupt into manic, sexual frenzy during casual conversations. The game features a Yakuza family made up of grown men in diapers who apparently have Oedipus complexes. The next game in the series will cast one of its best characters, Goro Majima, as an amnesiac pirate who can (and perhaps should) leave the criminal underworld for a career in the arts. ), because that guy messes up karaoke nights. There’s no one else.
Yet, Like a Dragon: Yakuza doesn’t feature diaper-wearing yakuza or any heart-wrenching “stupid” scenes, leaving many disappointed. There is no doubt about it. This new show seems to set aside much of this glitz and embellishment that, to the untrained eye, might seem like the fattening of a Like a Dragon game. But you’re far more likely to find fans who call these distractions and detours the very soul of the series, and I tend to agree.
However, the cast and crew of Like a Dragon do not lack respect for the original work. Interviews with the actors provided insight into the production, revealing that developing Kiryu’s combat abilities in a logical manner was a major factor in the lead actor’s preparation. Ryoma Takeuchi, who plays Kiryu on the show, has stated that Kiryu’s fighting style varies between different eras of the series and is intended to match his growth and outlook on life, and that his acting is one thing. There seem to be more universally agreed upon adaptation highlights. There also seems to be a focus on Kamurocho itself, with the red light district (based on the real-world Kabukicho) evolving over time, similar to how it played out in-game over the decades starting in the late ’80s. I’m keeping an eye on the situation. And now. There is also a spin-off set in the mid-1800s, but that’s a topic for another day.
But aside from the strength of the main cast, Like a Dragon: Yakuza seems like a bit of a vague adaptation. Some reviews have accused it of oversimplifying the story in order to fit it into a too-short six-episode season. Some popular characters seem to be kept to a minimum as the action of two huge games is blended into just a few hours. The action choreography doesn’t always seem to jump off the screen, and the show barely gives the audience time and space to wrap their heads around the complex structure of Japanese organized crime, which involves many “families”. It looks like it’s not. I’m still learning about the chieftains, captains, etc.
Overall, critics are divided, saying that this is yet another great game adaptation in a year that already saw the birth of Fallout, and that the concessions to realism don’t fully capture the game’s surreal brilliance. Some people feel that they are demonstrating their full potential, while others appreciate it. It was a creative failure, lacking everything that makes a game memorable. Here’s what some critics are saying about Amazon’s Like a Dragon: Yakuza.
The performances of Kiryu (Ryoma Takeuchi), Nishiki (Kento Kaku), and Yumi (Yumi Kawai) are the steely foundations on which this show is built, each with a deep depth of real complexity and layers. Provide emotional performance. Basically, consider that we see two versions of these characters in two time periods. Kiryu, played by Takeuchi, is particularly impressive, transforming from a daydreaming boy into a stoic warrior with a heart of gold that never lacks. But beyond that, the rest of the cast also makes this world feel grounded, from detective Date (Subaru Shibuya) who is too tired for this job to the cold and indifferent Dojima (Masaya Kato). He is showing great performance. The head of the Tojo Dojima family.
Like Dragons, Dragons’ other greatest strength is that they are unapologetically authentic. The show isn’t afraid to use Japanese and Yakuza terminology, and the set design and costumes in particular provide a fascinating glimpse into Japan in 1995 and 2005. With its floral shirts and punch perm haircuts, Like a Dragon feels as much like a historical drama as it does a drama, exploring the lives and inner lives of the yakuza and the seedy town of Kamurocho. The cinematography is also beautiful, with good use of space and angles to enhance the emotions of the characters.
But at the same time, the show takes inspiration from video games, combining surrealism with a sense of the absurd. There’s a touch of unreality that gives Like a Dragon its special flavor, from the fight club-like underground martial arts arena to the secret mass surveillance room of a police officer turned yakuza. What makes Kamurocho such a fascinating setting is its mix of the familiar and the unknown. It’s down-to-earth and realistic, but also contains elements of the unknown.
On some level, I admit that. I went into this TV series biased and with preconceptions because I’ve spent so much time playing these wonderfully stupid video games. The story has no wacky sense of humor at all, even if its weirdness is difficult to pull off outside of games, where there are more natural ways to create barriers between different modes of storytelling. I was disappointed that it was missing.
But even with that in mind, Prime Video’s Like a Dragon fails to achieve its goal. There are a few flashes of inspiration here and there, and we see the scaffolding that could have formed a moving tale of tragedy and revenge spanning a decade. But the series’s eagerness to jump from scene to scene makes it difficult to care about the individual members of this large cast, robbing these turns of their dramatic weight. Ultimately, it feels like the show borrows a lot of surface-level aspects from the games, like names and plot points, but fails to convey the deeper reasons why these characters and their storylines worked. At the same time, it’s not enough to take things in a new direction. Bad video game adaptations are nothing special, but I expected more from Dragon of Dojima.
The original game’s plot boils down to a simple story of theft and revenge. I won’t spoil the details, but both the setting and the conclusion are unsatisfying. And by moving the events of Yakuza 0 from 1988 to 1995, there is no commentary on the absurdity of Tokyo’s real estate economy during the bubble period. In fact, it’s strange how much money is flowing at once now, even though that was never the case in the real world of Japan.
That’s not to say that the world of Yakuza isn’t well represented in other ways. The detailed setting of Kamurocho is fun. The show is most enjoyable when it takes in all the additional details of its world. I especially like movie theaters that show posters with period-accurate movie listings (I also give credit to Forrest Gump, which was a big hit in Japan after its release in 1995). In the final scene here, a huge amount of the show’s budget is spent on extras that really make the place feel like it’s living and breathing.
(…)
If it weren’t for the name Like A Dragon, this series would get very little attention. There’s very little that’s very Ryu ga Gotoku in tone, and there’s very limited inspiration from games, so very little of it is recognizable as being taken from games. Some of the cast, especially Kento Kaku as Nishikiyama, play great characters, but unfortunately, there’s nothing all that interesting about them.
Video game adaptations shouldn’t be constrained to coloring inside the lines so fans can get their reference fix. They should be free to explore different avenues of the game’s mythology, just like in Like a Dragon: Yakuza. Even if that means leaving the series’ quirky elements on the cutting room floor and focusing all its efforts on telling the Mob’s story.
Despite its flaws, Like a Dragon: Yakuza is a bold step forward, not only making a worthy video game adaptation following Amazon’s Fallout series, but also delivering on the game’s engaging drama and It incorporates possibilities while maintaining a tone of humor. I hope it will be a fascinating second season.
