With Amazon's live-action TV adaptation of Like A Dragon/Yakuza fast approaching, the streaming service has shared a first trailer suitable for those who want a better look at its lush mayhem ahead of its October 24 arrival on Prime Video.
Like A Dragon: Yakuza, as the series is known, spans two different time periods (1995 and 2005, to be exact) and chronicles the life of protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, a “fearsome and incomparable Yakuza warrior with a strong sense of justice”. duty and humanity.”
“In 1995, eager to escape their restrictive lives, Kiryu and his friends, Nishiki, Yumi and Miho plan a heist at a local arcade,” explains Amazon. “However, the game room is under the control of the Dojima family, a powerful yakuza organization that rules Kamurocho… Meanwhile, in 2005, Kiryu is about to be released from prison. Detective Date tells him that his friends are in danger and he decides to return to Kamurocho to protect them. However, their friendship has deteriorated, as tensions between the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance are at a boiling point.
Kiryu's story is interwoven with “dramatic stories [the games] have not been able to explore,” all centered on the “dark underworld of the yakuza” and the “universal theme of family not only through lineage but also through the bonds between yakuza bosses and their underlings, orphans and their caregivers, as well as their mentors and students.
For this particular live-action adaptation (a film directed by Takashi Miike released in 2007), Kazuma Kiryu is played by actor and model Ryoma Takeuchi, with Masaharu Take directing. You can take a look at what's to come in the new 90 second trailer above.
Amazon hopes Like A Dragon: Yakuza will see at least some of the success of its live-action adaptation of Fallout earlier this year, which was watched by 65 million people in its first two weeks. Like a Dragon may not be as immediately recognizable as the Fallout brand, but it's not an unknown quantity, having sold over 21.3 million units worldwide.
Sega recently announced the next game in the long-running series, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, which is as deliciously wacky as they come.