Amazon’s Yakuza TV Series Should Be an Easy Slam Dunk Adaptation

The Dragon Rises.

The Yakuza series is coming to Prime Video.

It feels like we’ve entered a golden age for video game adaptations between the likes of Fallout, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Sonic the Hedgehog, The Last of Us, Arcane, and many more. The list of not just good but genuinely great adaptations keeps on growing, and hopefully, we’ll have a new one to add to that list this year. Amazon has announced a live-action adaptation of Sega’s cult classic series Yakuza, and it already has a release date of October 25. Seeing the show launch so soon is surprising, but if there’s one video game series that feels like the perfect fit for television, it’s Yakuza. It could, and should, be a slam dunk for Prime Video, which is already riding high on the success of the Fallout series.

If you’re unfamiliar, the Yakuza series follows a notorious gangster named Kazuma Kiryu, also known by his nickname The Dragon of Dojima. Most of the series chronicles Kiryu’s rise in Japan’s largest criminal organization, the Tojo Clan, and then his unsuccessful efforts to leave the Yakuza life. From the initial details, it seems the show will adapt the events of the first game across six episodes. Just like the game, the story will have a time jump, taking place in 1995 and then 2005.

The Yakuza series is structured like a serialized drama.

What makes Yakuza such a perfect fit for television is that the series is already structured like a serialized drama, with a heavy focus on character relationships, making it a perfect fit for television. Yakuza bears a ton of similarities to shows like Tokyo Vice or even The Sopranos, with stories that play out across decades and show how not only the characters change, but the city and society around them also change. A huge theme of the series, especially in recent years, is how the modern world is leaving these Yakuza behind, and they struggle to find meaningful life outside of the criminal underworld.

“Since the day I first put pen to paper on the original Yakuza script, I’ve never once thought about revisiting any of my work on the series. It’s because I understand all too well the challenges and hardships that come with remaking a finished title. However, if I were ever sent to the past through some kind of cosmic joke, this is the experience I’d want to create.” - Masayoshi Yokoyama

That’s an inherently compelling setup that leads to some fascinating character explorations. Like with The Sopranos, Kiryu and the rest of the cast are highly complex and emotional characters, not just stoic gangsters. The series’ drama-laden stories explore the nature of humanity, how people use physical force as a crutch, and finding your place in the world.

The series’ unique blend of the serious and absurd is what gives it its soul.

Yakuza is a series where one minute you’re stopping a takeover of a massive criminal organization, and the next you’re racing miniature cars. Yakuza’s unique blend of the serious and absurd is what gives the series its soul, and it’s absolutely vital that the television series captures the right tone. But again, that’s what makes the promise of an adaptation so tantalizing. Earlier this year, Amazon’s Fallout series just perfectly managed to capture the gleeful chaos of that game series perfectly, while still managing to weave an emotional story.

With Like a Dragon: Yakuza, the team behind the adaptation certainly inspires confidence that it’ll be done right. The series is directed by Japanese director Masaharu Take, best known for pulpy films like 100 Yen Love. Kiryu is being played by Ryoma Takeuchi, who’s probably best known for appearing in a number of Kamen Rider projects, including playing the main character of Kamen Rider Drive. That dynamic duo has the chops needed to bring Yakuza to life, with both the director and main actor having a wealth of experience in bringing both serious and silly ideas to life.

The show will be set in 1995 and 2005 in Kamurocho, a fictionalized rendition of an entertainment district in Tokyo, Japan.

Ultimately, if this adaptation manages to land things right, it shows that Amazon “gets” how to make good video game adaptations, involving the game’s creators in integral ways, while providing directors and actors room to bring their own interpretations.

Like a Dragon: Yakuza premieres on October 25 exclusively on Prime Video.