Amazon Prime Video unveiled a new “special video” for Like a Dragon: Yakuza (Ry? ga Gotoku ~Beyond the Game~,) a live-action series based on Sega‘s Like a Dragon (Ry? ga Gotoku) action game series, on Thursday. The video highlights the series’ main cast.
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The six-episode series will debut on Amazon Prime Video in over 240 countries and territories in two batches on October 24 (October 25 in Japan) and October 31 (November 1). The first three episodes will stream on October 24.
The series stars Ry?ma Takeuchi (Kamen Rider Drive, Aozora Yell/Yell for the Blue Sky, The Deer King) as protagonist Kazuma Kiryu. Kento Kaku (Ranma ½ live-action special, SPY×FAMILY Code: White) will play Akira Nishikiyama (a.k.a. Nishiki). Masaharu Take (100 Yen Love, The Naked Director) is directing the series.
Other cast members include:
The series is partially based on the first game in the series, which was initially titled Yakuza in the West (the series transitioned to the title Like a Dragon, closer to its Japanese title, with the seventh game Yakuza: Like a Dragon in 2020). The story will center on Kiryu and three friends, initially in 1995, and then transitioning to 2005 as Kiryu gets out of a decade-long stint in prison.
Entertainment news source Variety previously reported in September 2020 that Sega is developing a live-action film adaptation of the franchise in collaboration with 1212 Entertainment and Wild Sheep Content. At the time of the report, Erik Barmack , Roberto Grande, and Joshua Long were producing the film.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (Ry? ga Gotoku 8), the latest game in the series, launched on January 26 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via Windows and Steam. The game sold 102,940 copies in Japan in its first three days.
Takashi Miike directed a 2007 live-action film adaptation of the franchise titled Yakuza: Like a Dragon, also based loosely on the plot of the first game in the series. The film had a theatrical screening in the United States in 2008, and Tokyo Shock released the film on home video in the United States in 2010.