Yakuza (now known as Like a Dragon) is getting a live-action series on Prime Video, premiering October 24. I like what Amazon did with Fallout, and aside from Borderlands, video game adaptations are on the rise. But I’m not sure why anyone would want a prestige Yakuza show when that’s exactly what the games are anyway.
It’s a running joke that Like a Dragon is 90 percent cutscenes and 10 percent fistfights—Yakuza 0 even ends with a 42-minute cutscene. But these moments are brilliant because they delve deep into the minds of each character, revealing who they are beneath the macho bravado while letting their vulnerability shine through at the height of thrilling brawls. They’re tender, methodical, and contribute to the longer JRPG runtimes, and in abundance.
The story’s big moments feel like you’re watching an episode on TV. It’s not for everyone – hence the running joke – but the sheer amount of time you spend with the characters in the quieter moments and during the bigger spectacles means you build a bond with them like no other game. In each 80-hour story, you spend so much time following Kiryu, Nishiki, Majima, Ichiban, and many other iconic characters in an intimate way, giving them ample room to develop into fully developed people who feel so real you’ll want to grab them through the screen to make sense of them.
But what makes Yakuza so good is something that many TV series unfortunately abandon – filler. Even the new Amazon series cuts out side quests and karaoke to tell a more straightforward, serious prestige drama. These moments build character, they let you see who these people are when they’re not caught up in the conflicts of their yakuza lives. Kiryu relaxing in the bar to sing with his friend Nishiki while being hunted by every clan in Kamurocho is both a refreshing change of pace and a great way to show their brotherly bond.
Kiryu sobbing on the rooftops after a fight, begging his enemies to change their ways, or ripping his shirt off alongside his friends to save the ones he loves are all incredible moments that define Yakuza, but the silly antics he uses to show us a different side of himself are crucial to understanding who he is. TV used to understand this with its longer episode counts, but as we reduce everything to eight-hour “special events” that are essentially drawn-out movies, we lose that.
So I wouldn’t be surprised if the new Amazon series was a worse TV show than the actual Yakuza games, because its length coupled with the filler gives you a lot more time to identify with the cast, which is not possible in the modern streaming age. A large part of Good Filler means moving away from the main characters to make the story seem more comprehensive.
Over the course of the Yakuza story, we’ve seen Haruka Sawamura become a pop idol, Majima’s brother Taiga Saejima break out of prison, spend time with former baseball player and now adult entertainment journalist Tatsuo Shinada, and Shun Akiyama witness the aftermath of the very first game when he started his own money lending company called Sky Finance. These are all interconnected subplots that tie into the larger Yakuza story, but since the Like a Dragon series only has six episodes in its first season, I can’t imagine it ever finding time for anyone other than Kiryu.
Some of the best TV episodes in history are quiet and understated, often having nothing to do with the main character at all. In Breaking Bad’s “Fly,” Walter White and Jesse Pinkman attempt to catch a fly in their lab to prevent contagion. While that sounds like nonsense, it’s a brilliant, deep dive into the pair’s relationship and Whitet’s perfectionism. More recently, and to use a video game adaptation in particular, The Last of Us’ “Long, Long Time” bypasses Joel and Ellie entirely and delves into the past to spin a beautiful queer love story between Bill and Frank. It doesn’t push the narrative forward, but it does give us a glimpse into how much the world has changed, and how humanity prevails even in the harshest of circumstances. It just makes Joel’s downfall all the more painful.
The third season of Daredevil is often remembered for the thrilling battle between the titular superhero and Bullseye/Kingpin, but my favorite episode to date is the quieter detour “Karen.”
Like all good television, the Yakuza games value the small details and disjointed stories because they only add beauty to their world. Even if the new Amazon show is good, I’m not sure that matters because the games already perfectly capture what makes the small screen so unique and special.
Yakuza
Yakuza, also known as Like a Dragon, is a series of action-adventure games developed by Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. The games are mostly set in the fictional Tokyo district of Kamurochō and are often crime dramas featuring characters such as Kazuma Kiryu, Goro Majima and Ichiban Kasuga. They are known for their many fun mini-games such as karaoke.
