SEGA’s Like A Dragon series (aka Yakuza) is getting the live-action treatment for a series on Amazon Prime Video this fall, the company has announced.
Like A Dragon: Yakuza will feature six episodes and will be directed by The Naked Director’s Masaharu Take, with Kazuma Kiryu confirmed to be ported by Japanese drama and stage actor, Ryoma Takeuchi. The series will be available in over 240 countries and territories worldwide, and will be spit into two releases on October 25 and November 1, 2024.
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Based loosely on the original Yakuza game, the series will take place mainly in Kamurocho and takes place in two time periods — 1995 and 2005 — and follows Kiryu and three of his childhood friends. The press release confirms that Kiryu will be portrayed as a “fearsome and peerless Yakuza warrior with a strong sense of justice, duty, and humanity.”
Like A Dragon: Yakuza was announced at Tokyo’s Hotel Gajoen during a press conference, where Takeuchi-san commented on his role:
You can’t play Kiryu Kazuma without getting into shape, so I knew I had to throw myself into it. This was a job not only for me but also for the costume and makeup teams. It took two and a half hours just to prepare for this shot.
It’s partly Kiryu Kazuma and it’s partly me. I got so close to the part that it was hard to distinguish where he ended and I began. That included getting into shape for the part, the costume and so on. Rather than acting the part of Kiryu, I feel like he became part of the family.