Get ready for another new adventure with Kazuma Kiryu — this time in a live-action TV show.
We first learned in June that Amazon intended to adapt the video game franchise Like a Dragon (née Yakuza) into a live-action Japanese series. We knew it would be a six-episode series released in two three-episode chunks — the first batch on Oct. 24 and the rest on Nov. 1 — and that it would follow Kiryu (played by Ryoma Takeuchi of Kamen Rider Drive) and his friends in what seems like an adaptation of the first game, Yakuza. At San Diego Comic-Con, we learned a bit more — particularly that House of Ninjas’ Kento Kaku will portray organized crime boss Nishiki, Kiryu’s complicated former childhood friend.
The gangster soap opera Like a Dragon series has been a big success both in Japan and abroad, with nine main games in the series, tons of spin-offs, and plenty of existing adaptations into other media. (Perhaps most significant for this project: Takashi Miike directed Like a Dragon: The Movie, also based on the first game in the series.) The latest entry, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, is an absolute delight, and one of our favorite games of the year.
The Like a Dragon show comes in the wake of Prime Video’s highly successful adaptation of the Fallout video game series, and broader interest from the entertainment industry in adapting big video game properties.
The series is directed by Masaharu Take, with a story by Sean Crouch and Yugo Nakamura, and a Japanese screenplay by Yoshida Yasuhiro and Yamada Kana.
The biggest question left: Will the show include the game series’ famous mini-games (and their delightfully silly tone)? I’m anxiously anticipating seeing Dondoko Island in live-action, or someone trying to become a Sujimon master. Since the series appears to be adapting the first game, the chances seem pretty slim, but we can dream.
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