Amazon has announced an original live-action series for Prime Video based on Sega’s successful Like a Dragon game series, previously known as Yakuza.
Simply titled Like a Dragon: Yakuza and including six episodes, this original series is directed by Masaharu Take, best known for the drama series The Naked Director. Made in Japan, the series stars the hugely popular Japanese drama and stage actor Ryoma Takeuchi in the role of Kazuma Kiryu.
Like a Dragon: Yakuza will be available on Amazon Prime in over 240 countries and territories worldwide, released in two batches on October 25 and November 1, 2024.
The live-action crime-suspense series is based on an original screenplay loosely inspired by the first game in the series, 2005’s Yakuza. It will be set mainly in the Kamurocho entertainment district, straight from the games, and follows Kiryu and three of his childhood friends in two time periods, 1995 and 2005.
Similar to the games, protagonist Kiryu is described in the show’s press release as a “fearsome and peerless Yakuza warrior with a strong sense of justice, duty, and humanity”, and the story will deal with the repercussions of his actions in the two time periods. Takeuchi commented that the show will include “intense fighting scenes”, alluding to the wild action the series is famed for.
The series was announced today at a press conference at the picturesque Hotel Gajoen Tokyo. At the event, Takeuchi and Take discussed the process of adapting the acclaimed game series for a live-action drama.
The Like a Dragon game series is developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega. The first game, upon which the Amazon series will be partly based, was released in 2006 in the West, with IGN praising its story and awarding it 8.2/10. The game spawned a globally successful franchise, with multiple sequels and spinoffs, a movie adaptation directed by Takashi Miike in 2007, and a remake of the first game titled Yakuza Kiwami in 2016.
The series was renamed Like a Dragon in 2022, and the most recent entry, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, was released globally in January 2024, receiving 9/10 scores from both IGN and IGN Japan.
Daniel Robson is Chief Editor of IGN Japan. Find him on Twitter here.
