Summary
In a recent interview, theLike a Dragonseries director talked about how middle-aged dudes are their target audience because they are also middle-aged dudes. Correctly, they say this is one of the series’ selling points because these characters are relatable. But even though the games have “had a large increase in new fans, including women”, the studio doesn’t “plan to do anything like deliberately changing conversation topics in order to cater to new fans”.
I found this a little perplexing. I’m not entirely sure why female players or new fans would want the games to pull focus from the stuff middle-aged men talk about, considering that’s the soul of the series. As a fan who was introduced to the games by my best friend, a lesbian under the age of 30 who’d unwittingly fallen in love withYakuza 0, I can’t imagine any woman I know who loves these games saying they want to see more young women’s perspectives. These old dudes are the whole point.
Like a Dragon isn’t unique in its usage of male protagonists in this age range, and I don’t think you often hear people saying that they’d prefer the game if the protagonists were younger or talked about different things. The Last of Us’ Joel is in his 50s, and that is the point. Same with Red Dead Redemption 2 – these characters are who they are because they’ve lived longer and done more things. The Like a Dragon games are grounded in reality in a similar way (okay, The Last of Us has fungal zombies, but you know what I mean). It has moments of high camp, and you’ll fight guys dressed as trees or getting babied in diapers, but it still feels like these characters are just regular dudes.
Ichiban Kasuga,Yakuza: Like a Dragon’sprotagonist (and one of my favourite characters of all time), was 42 in the first game. In the follow up, Infinite Wealth, he’s 46. All his friends are around the same age, and they sit around talking about old man things – in the interview, lead planner Hirotaka Chiba uses the example of Adachi being “conflicted about whether he should drink beer or not” because he’s concerned about his uric acid levels. These aren’t youthful, unaging action stars who can bounce around beating people up all day without being sore after. They get back pain. In fact,Kiryu Kazuma even gets cancer.
That last part is at the core of Infinite Wealth, and it hits so hard because so many people watched Kiryu get to that age over the years. When he was introduced in the first game, he was shown getting out of jail at the age of 37, though you do get to see him at 20 in the later released prequel, Yakuza 0. He eventually ages to 55 by the time of Infinite Wealth. He gets visibly older – his hair turns grey, and he gets more haggard. He can’t fight for as long. He knows he’s dying. He isn’t an ageless protagonist, but a human being who, like all of us in real life, is impacted by the ravages of time.
My parents are only five years older than Kiryu, and they’re already concerned about their health – they read me their test results from their regular checkups, telling me about their futile efforts to lower their blood pressure and cholesterol. I’m not an old man, and many players aren’t either, but we allknowan old man who sits around with his old man friends to discuss uric acid levels.
I don’t love the Like a Dragon games in spite of them being about older men, I love thembecauseof it. I love that they feel like real people who, in between attempting to go on dates and taking exams at vocational school, sit around and talk about what it means to get older, and how they feel it manifesting physically. I love that they have the wisdom to judge people on their own terms, not because of where they came from or what their life circumstances force them to do to survive.
I love them because they’re out of touch with contemporary culture. I love them because theyactlike old dudes who attempt to relate to women with their own male experiences. I love them because they feel like real, wholesome, older dudes who are doing the best they can with the tools they have. Sure, a game that focuses on younger women’s voices would be cool, but it also wouldn’t be Like a Dragon.
Yakuza
Yakuza, also known as Like a Dragon, is a series of action-adventure games developed by Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. Taking place largely in the fictional Tokyo district of Kamurochō, the games are often crime dramas featuring characters such as Kazuma Kiryu, Goro Majima, and Ichiban Kasuga, and are known for their host of fun minigames such as karaoke.
