Summary
Like A Dragon’s upcoming TV show adaptation has a bit of an uphill battle to climb. Just like every adaptation of a video game, you’ll have a section of fans that want the game’s original story to remain untouched, and for their favorite characters to be adapted perfectly into another medium. It’s not an unreasonable request, especially with a character as iconic as Kiryu, but we have seen that Amazon is planning to go ina different direction with Like A Dragon’s TV show.
Ryu Ga Gotoku director Masayoshi Yokoyama explained recently thatmain characters Kazuma Kiryu and Akira Nishkiyama will be “totally different"in the TV show, and we found out recently that the sillier aspects of the games have been left out,such as karaokeandthe wacky substories. These revelations were enough to upset someYakuzafans, who have now been further angered by a very short clip from the series that features Kiryu saying something very out of character.
Yakuza Fans Are Upset That Kiryu Wants To Be The Dragon of Dojima
The teaser was posted to the official Prime Video Japan account, and is a very short compilation of clips from the show. In one of these clips, Kiryu says “I want to become the Dragon of Dojima”, and it’s this quote thatappears to have riled up a lot of people. The argument being made is that Kiryu is a character that is not bothered about titles and never has been, especially the title of ‘Dragon of Dojima’, which he’s been trying to escape from for the best part of the entire series.
You also have quite a few people annoyed at the fact thatKiryu would want the title in the first place, given that it’s something that is passed along through actions rather than specifically sought after.Even the Japanese side of the fanbaseis poking fun at the quote in the replies to Prime Video’s tweet, sharing pictures of fake Kiryu from Yakuza 2 and claiming the title of ‘Dragon of Dojima’ is being diminished.
In fact, the anger over this quote has been so great that Yokoyama himself released a statement via his Twitter account.Translated by Twitter user Carrie1138, Yokoyama describes this anger over the title as a “hot topic” at the moment, and admits that the way the phrase is used in the show is “completely different” from what’s intended in the games. However, Yokoyama thinks this is a good thing, and is happy that the show is going to be “a completely new Ryu Ga Gotoku”.
From a creative standpoint, you could see why Yokoyama would be quite happy to see an alternate take on his own work, but it’s not great news for anyone still holding out hope for a faithful recreation. With the lack of Haruka and Kiryu’s new obsession with the title of ‘Dragon of Dojima’, I think we can say that ship has sailed, and you might be better off expecting a very different Kiryu when the show airs later this week.
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.
