First reactions to the series Like A Dragon: Yakuza by Amazon — adaptation with respect, but without soul

«The live-action adaptation of Sega’s hit game Like a Dragon has finally landed on Amazon, but the first reactions from viewers have been quite mixed.

On Metacritic, the series was rated 48/100, while Rotten Tomatoes critics were more lenient and gave it 67% (however, it should be borne in mind that there are not many reviews on the sites — 4 and 6 respectively).

In its review, the Kotaku website wrote the adaptation remixes numerous elements of the first game and its prequel Yakuza 0, but «paves its own path for», which is what many critics dislike.

The reviews also accuse the series creators of over-simplifying the storylines, trying to «squeeze» into a season of 6 episodes — which is why some of their favorite characters received minimal attention. Below are some more direct quotes.

• Hayes Madsen, Inverse: «The performances of Kiryu, Nishiki and Yumi are the steel-like foundation for this show. The emotional appearance of each of them has real complexity and layers. Another strength of the show — is that it is wonderfully authentic, not afraid to use Japanese terms and yakuza jargon, and the sets and costumes give a fascinating glimpse into Japan in 1995 and 2005».
• Elijah Gonzalez, Paste Magazine: «I admit that I approached this series with a bias because I spent a lot of time playing games. It was very disappointing that there is no sense of humor in this story. The show wants to jump from scene to scene, so it’s hard to follow the individual participants. It seems like the show borrowed a lot of aspects from the games, like names and plot points, but failed to convey the depth of».
• Mat Jones, IGN: «The plot of the original game is reduced to a mechanical story of theft and revenge… The show becomes more enjoyable when you take into account all the extra details of its worldbuilding – I especially like the movie theater where they show posters with accurate lists of movies for a certain period… Without the title Like A Dragon, this series would have attracted very little attention. Some of the actors have played the characters perfectly, but unfortunately, there is not much interesting for them».
• Isaiah Kolber, Rolling Stone: «Video game adaptations shouldn’t be limited to coloring in lines so that fans can get reference fixes. They should, like Like a Dragon: Yakuza, boldly explore different avenues of the game’s mythos, even if it means leaving some elements in the editing room and devoting themselves entirely to telling the story of the mafia. Despite its shortcomings, the series not only takes a bold step forward by creating another noteworthy video game adaptation after Fallout, but also retains the game’s gripping drama and shades of humor».

The series Like a Dragon: Yakuza spans two time periods (90s and 2000) and tells the story of a warrior from a yakuza family with a strong sense of justice, duty, and humanity. The role of Kazumi Kiryu in the show was played by Ryoma Takeuchi («Kamen Rider») in the company of Kento Kaku (Nishiki) and Munetaki Aoki (Majima). The latter, by the way, has played his character before — at least it was announced that Aoki voiced young Majima in the upcoming game Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, which is due to be released in early 2025.

The series is directed by Masaharu Take («Love for 100 Yen») and Kengo Takimoto («Kamen Rider»), produced by — Eric Barmack, Roberto Grande and Joshua Long, and written by — Sean Crouch, Nakamura Yugo, Yoshida Yasuhiro and Yamada Kana.

On Amazon Prime Video, Like a Dragon: Yakuza debuted with three episodes, while the next «batch of» is expected to arrive on November 1 (the series is available in subtitled and dubbed versions in 30 languages).