After its announcement in June, Amazon Prime Video’s adaptation of one of the greatest video game sagas is definitely on track and should be released before the end of the year! For the occasion, a first teaser was presented and suffice to say that it got everyone in the mood!
Yakuza/Like A Dragon in live-action!
After the resounding success of its series adaptation of the Fallout saga, Amazon was quick to follow up with another video game adaptation. Like A Dragon: Yakuzaa live-action Japanese production based on Sega’s gangster game series, will be released on Prime Video worldwide on October 24, 2024. At least half, since it will be a six-episode show, which will be broadcast in two parts: the first three on October 24 and the following three on November 1
The series follows Kazuma Kiryu, the protagonist of the original video game saga, and his friends between 1995 and 2005, two periods suggesting an adaptation of the first game, which followed the gangster after his release from a 10-year prison sentence. Kazuma is played by Ryoma Takeuchi, star of the Japanese series Kamen Rider Drive with his character Shinnosuke Tomari. In addition, on the occasion of Comic-Con which took place last weekend in San Diego, that the firm released a first teaser/trailer of the projectteaching us in particular that Kento Kaku – notably known for House of Ninjas – will play organized crime boss Nishiki, Kiryu’s former childhood friend. The trailer, as a whole, is built around the image of the emblematic tattoo on the protagonist’s back, interspersed with various action scenes, and presenting the different characters.
An adaptation for Prime Video
A presentation which therefore follows a first announcement last June, which was quickly followed by a press conference at the picturesque Hotel Gajoen Tokyo, event in which Ryoma Takeuchi and Masharu Take, respectively interpreter of Kazuma and director of the show, took part. Asked about the adaptation process, the actor explains that he cannot “playing Kiryu Kazuma without being in shape, so I knew I had to give it a go. It was a job not only for me, but also for the costume and makeup teams. It took me two and a half hours to get ready”, he declares. He then adds that “it’s partly thanks to Kiryu Kazuma and partly thanks to me. I got so close to the role that it was difficult to distinguish where it ended and I began. In particular, I got in shape for the role, I wore the costume, etc. Rather than playing the role of Kiryu, I feel like he became a member of the family”, he concludes.
Director Take explains, for his part, that “having someone with as much physical presence as Takeuchi makes all the difference. I understood that he knew his body better than anyone, so I left it to him to get in shape”, he declares, before adding that “Takeuchi also did all the action himself. It was impressive”. Concerning Kiryu’s place in the plotthe director declares: “In 1995, the protagonist is still young and makes a lot of mistakes, mistakes that lead him to spend ten years in prison and suffer the consequences when he is released in 2005. I tried to show these differences between the two periods, and the actors also helped me achieve this“. Like A Dragon: Yakuza is expected on October 24, exclusively on Prime Video!
