Prime Video announces the adaptation of the cult video game Like a Dragon: Yakuza

This new series will arrive on the platform on October 25.

After The Last of Us on HBO in 2022 and fallout on Prime Video this year, series adaptations of video games live-action have proven that they can be successful. Moreover, Amazon studios intend to exploit this vein, and announced a few days ago the imminent launch of Like a Dragon: Yakuza.

Adapted from the game series Like a Dragonformerly Yakuzalaunched by SEGA in 2005 on PS2, this new addition to Amazon's catalog will follow the adventures of a “ex-yakuza (who) finds himself involved between the theft of 10 billion Yen from his former clan and a terrible secret”announces an X post from Prime Video France.

According to Variety, the series will be made up of six episodes broadcast in two installments, the first part on October 25, the second on November 1. It will follow the character of Kiryu Kazume (played by the Japanese star Ryoma Takeuchi) over two distinct periods, 1995 and 2005, which “will feature modern Japan and the dramatic stories of these intense characters (…) that games of the past have not been able to explore”depending on the platform.

The series, which mixes suspense and action, was entrusted to Takimoto Kengo And Masaharu Take (100 Yen Love), who explained to Variety to have “put in Like a Dragon: Yakuza all (his) heart, all (his) soul and all the experience (…) accumulated in thirty-five years”.

A motivation that we find in Yokoyama Masayoshi, head of Studio Ryugagotoku, a subsidiary of SEGA, and who confides:

“As soon as I picked up my pen to write the original screenplay for Yakuza, I never considered erasing my work on the series. I know all too well the challenges and difficulties that accompany remake of a title. However, if I were sent into the past by some kind of cosmic happenstance, this is the experience I would want to create, with the most endearing version of Kamurochō and Kazuma Kiryu possible. This series has it all. While the games allow you to experience their world through a subjective lens, this adaptation will be the most objective way to appreciate the series. I have no doubt that fans of the series will be won over by the way it brings the games to life and offers new surprises. Newcomers, I’m sure, will simply become invested in the realism of the series.”

For Amazon representatives, the catch is impressive. Like a Dragon: Yakuza will attract both video game fans, but also anyone with an interest in Japanese culture. James Farrellexecutive at Amazon Studios, explains it in the columns of Variety :

“The unfettered appeal of Japanese content in Japan and other parts of the world has grown exponentially. As Prime Video Japan continues to offer a wide variety of content across genres, the adaptation of an internationally popular game franchise, which has such deep resonance and such complex characters, presents a unique charm and is an extremely captivating spectacle.”

For the moment, no trailer has been posted online, but Prime Video's announcement suggests that the filming of Like a Dragon: Yakuza is closed. The series will be available to discover from October 25 on the platform.

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