Incredible potential here, I hope they do the characters justice and don't focus too much on "funny" side events or dare make it a comedy in general.
Generally a very welcome development with the adaption of so many video games into TV/movies.

Like a Dragon: Yakuza Live-Action Series Announced for Amazon Prime Video This Fall @IGN

6 months ago*

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Never played any of these, but "Made in Japan" is a bit of a relief.

6 months ago
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I'm a little bit afraid since I'm used to both Kiryu (or Kasuga)'s appearance and voice. Not saying this can't be good. But I can't remember when a live action serie was good on an existing video game or anime.

The last One Piece on Netflix was an absolute Nogo for me.

I hope I'm wrong.

6 months ago
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Not much info on the showrunners despite the much touted direction so that's a bit worrying.
All I could find is "The screenplay and story are by Sean Crouch and Yugo Nakamura, with a Japanese screenplay by Yoshida Yasuhiro and Yamada Kana." which is not really great since none of the Japanese guys seem to have any prior writing experience and Sean Crouch is a trash writer but then that doesn't mean there won't be good writers on the project.

It does seem to point to a more dramatic take than comedy though, which is a good thing imo

6 months ago
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Somewhat excited because amazon has a good track record of making quality series.

5 months ago
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There is a first teaser trailer.
https://youtu.be/mZkC1sYxzZo?si=DN4VfiEkKptGL-QL

4 months ago
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I realy hope that the OV will be Japanese.

I tried playing the first game with a english dub (Like a Dragon) but switched to japanese voice after a few in game conversations. It just felt wrong and not as goofy as it does with the japanes dub.

4 months ago
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Official trailer came out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4tmmzh2PfA

Love the Yakuza game series, but I doubt that this show will be good. It looks pretty mediocre if the trailer is to be judged. Hopefully I'm proven wrong.

2 months ago
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Yeah for me doesn't look much like Yakuza? Don't know, it has elements from the games but there is something off

2 months ago
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It's difficult to tell. Some scenes look like caricatures but so do the games often enough. I'll reserve my judgment for the moment the story unfolds.

2 months ago
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Yeah exactly, games are also weird and serious at the same time. Will have to wait out once it fully releases. Hopefully it won't disappoint.

2 months ago
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TBH for the most part i like the trailer except that i have the feeling that some actors are not yet up to the task to portray such iconic characters at the beginning of the show.
I think the biggest challenge will be if the actors can convince us of their interpretation of this characters.

2 months ago
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I've recently watched Tokyo Vice and can recommend it if you're looking for a yakuza themed TV show:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2887954/

2 months ago
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Ah Ken Watanabe, love that guy.

2 months ago
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Isn't the whole series centered around being outlandish and comical? I've never played any but that was the entire vibe I got from looking at screenshots.

2 months ago
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It's a mixture. Sidequests and activities are often oddball. The main plot is deadly serious.

2 months ago
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I would not call it deadly serious because a lot of it involves.

"You can not think straight so i have to punch sense into you".
Followed by well punching/kiking sense into the person.
And like a miracle this punching/kiking worked like a charm and also forms the strongest bonds.

From experience i can tell you, no amount of punching/kiking has ever helped to get some sense into my brother ;)... Just kidding.

2 months ago*
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Maybe the problem with your brother is that he punched you back just as much. If the punches neutralize each other ... 😅

2 months ago
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Guess i need to intensify my intimitation game then.

Step 1: Speak japanese with an intense voice (no matter if it just gibberish he can´t understand japanese).
Step 2: Rip my shirt and Jacket from my body with just one fluid motion of one arm.
Step 3: Even more intense japanese.
Step 4: punching/kiking sense into him

I will keep you informed if it worked out ;)

2 months ago
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don't forget to get a sick back tattoo, otherwise step 2 might not go well

2 months ago
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Good point i will keep it in mind if the above steps do not work.

I am thinking of getting a guinea pig one and calling my self the Omnom of .... then ;) do you think this might work out?

2 months ago
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I don't understand adaptations from similar media (visual to visual). It's great (or at least can be great) from reading material to visual material because readers usually love to see things instead of only imagining, this works there. But when there is already a visual material (either anime or a game etc.), you cannot possibly best its feelings for the consumer by making it into a live-action, unless your target audience is different people. If that's the case, it still doesn't work because it's an unknown variable.

2 months ago
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That is a pretty good argument that many people have brought up before when it comes to adapting games to cinema, you're only ever gonna lose parts of it on the translation, but I actually think that there're merits to an adaptation when we're talking about RPGs or any other game that's long with plenty of side-plots (or just hard gameplay sometimes) because some people want to experience the core of the story without having to bother to go through all of the secondary stuff or the gameplay. It's the old argument that games are the only media that asks you to pass a skill check before allowing you to consume the rest of the story, and not everyone is up to the challenge or willing to take it so there's room for a non-interactive adaptation of it. For example I'm never gonna touch League of Legends because I don't like the genre but I really appreciated Arcane.
Although to be fair a puzzle-free point and click adventure or visual novel adaptation/spin-off could usually serve the same purpose without having to leave the realm of video games, and it's probably much cheaper.

2 months ago
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That's fair. I'm not saying I'm against it but the people who undertake this job should know that it will be hard to catch the feelings of the game. There are very few good examples. I actually understand the need of not requiring skill, that's a good point. For some games with long cutscenes it might not even necessary but there are games with huge lore. If I like a game, I might like to see an animated film or series with its sprites or enhanced versions of them. When it becomes live-action, most of the time they lose in-game places (or cannot re-create them correctly), lose character looks (most cosplayers do better job than them), they even bend the story or lore (if not completely replace the parts of it), at that stage "what's the point?".

I guess Arcane kind of falls under the second point (though it's not live-action), kinda feels like they made it to pull more players for LoL. Arcane made according to LoL lore with enhanced versions of in-game sprites and it already looks like they expand their trailer videos. On the other hand, people who play LoL don't play it because of its lore. Though from what I see, people who play LoL also appreciated Arcane. So, they did an exceptional job there.

2 months ago
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you know they did live action before?

2 months ago
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