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Amazon Yakuza/Like a Dragon - First trailer

Gp1

Member


The trailer shows brief scenes from the show intercut with close-ups of Kiryu getting his signature dragon back tattoo applied. The show takes place in 1995 and 2005, seemingly a retelling of Yakuza 1, but if Kiryu's still getting his back tattoo for the first time, that indicates to me that they might have tweaked the story to give us a younger Kiryu, possibly incorporating elements of Yakuza 0.

In this timeline, Kiryu seems to be some kind of underground prizefighter, at least on the side, which might help explain his proficiency with martial arts⁠—in the games, the guy fights like Donnie Yen but apparently never trains or goes to the gym. Though I gotta say, I always appreciated how even the most craggy-faced old gangsters in the Yakuza games are inexplicably, jacked, acrobatic fighters. The shots of Kamurocho nightlife in the trailer, meanwhile, have this vibe of brittle, nervous decadence that I can really get behind.

It all seems a bit too serious compared to the games, "gritty" was the word used to describe it in the show's promo material, but this still looks like some stylish Tokyo noir, and if Like a Dragon: Yakuza brings some quality fight choreography and stunts, who cares how faithful it is to the games? We'll know for sure whether or not Like a Dragon: Yakuza is a winner when it releases on October 24.

It looks like they will go with a Yakuza 0, 1 and Yakuza Black Panther for the series. I like what I'm seeing here, that Japanese mocking tone of the games wouldn't be good in a live action.
 
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Hrk69

Gold Member
i hope they dun have turn based battle :p
funny just for laughs GIF
 

HAYA8U5A

Member
Didn't Miike Takashi make a movie like this in the 90s?

If you are talking specifically based on the video game series it was 2007.



If you are talking Yakuza in general then yeah he had some in the 90's and I would guess you are thinking something like Dead or Alive but he has made a lot of Yakuza movies. Yakuza movies are very common in general. Especially in the 60's and 70's when they were pumping out a ton of them which is why I am surprised the video game series never had a spin-off in that time frame as a homage to those films.

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This teaser didn't show much so impossible to get a feel for it until a full trailer. Not overly optimistic but that could just be the usual expecting the worst from a video game adaptation even if Amazon are coming off one of the few good ones.
 

navii

My fantasy is that my girlfriend was actually a young high school girl.
Trailer was lame. I hope the show itself is indeed good.
 

StueyDuck

Member
this is one of those games that only works as a video game.

any of the yakuza games in general, if you strip all the light-hearted silly side elements out of them they lose what makes them special. it's gonna be a tough sell
 

FunkMiller

Gold Member
Gritty is precisely the wrong tone to be using for a Yakuza adaptation. Let's hope it's a lot more playful and weird than this trailer seems to indicate. Suck all of the fun stuff out of the games and they wouldn't be half as good as they are.
 
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