Yakuza Adaptation Stumbles, Fails to Capture the Heart of the Franchise

When approaching an adaptation of a personal favorite, it's often best to keep an open mind: take deep breaths and accept that every micro-storytelling decision won't be identical to the source material. It's possible that these changes are there for a good reason, like to streamline the narrative for a shorter runtime or to account for aesthetic differences between mediums. There could even be a grand design behind these choices that brings things in a compelling new direction.

A Missed Opportunity to Capture the Essence of Yakuza

The Yakuza Franchise: A Beloved Blend of Grit and Absurdity

The Yakuza videogame series has amassed a devoted following over the years, with each new entry drawing heaps of fanfare and selling millions of copies. At the heart of the franchise is the character of Kiryu Kazuma, an ex-yakuza whose boundless kindness is only matched by his peerless ability to pummel bad guys. The games seamlessly blend gritty crime narratives with over-the-top, absurdist side adventures, creating a unique and captivating experience for players.

Adapting Yakuza to the Small Screen: A Missed Opportunity

When Amazon Prime Video announced its adaptation of the Yakuza series, titled "Like a Dragon: Yakuza," fans were cautiously optimistic. The jump to live-action seemed like a natural fit, as the franchise was deeply inspired by yakuza films and shows in the first place. However, the resulting series falls short on multiple fronts, failing to capture the wackiness and pathos of the source material while also struggling to establish its own compelling identity.

Kiryu Kazuma: A Muddled Protagonist

At the center of the TV series is Kiryu Kazuma, portrayed by Ryoma Takeuchi. In the games, Kiryu is a paragon of virtue, mixing burly cool with undercurrents of tenderness. His motivations are intensely straightforward: he wants to become a yakuza because he's inspired by the father figure who raised him, and the sincerity of his aims makes the ensuing tragedy all the more potent.In the TV adaptation, however, Kiryu's motivations feel muddled and confused. After witnessing a legendary underground fighter known as the "Dragon of Dojima," Kiryu resolves to follow in this man's footsteps by joining the yakuza and becoming a champion fighter of his own. The issue with this motivation is that aside from a brief flashback, we don't get much insight into why he's so moved by these illicit bouts that he's willing to give up nearly everything to enter the ring.Ryoma Takeuchi's portrayal of the character doesn't do much to assuage this issue, particularly when it comes to the cartoonish differences before and after the time skip, which makes it even more challenging for the audience to connect with his arc. The series' attempts at moral ambiguity fall flat due to a lack of nuance, resulting in an inconsistent and dull figure.

A Convoluted Narrative Lacking Dramatic Clarity

While Kiryu is ostensibly the main character, the narrative of "Like a Dragon: Yakuza" jumps between a clutter of plot points across the past and future, concerning a sizable cast of similarly underdeveloped figures. The series attempts to weave all these stories together to craft a decade-spanning tragedy, but these efforts don't coalesce, in large part because it fails to convey the initial camaraderie between Kiryu and his companions that would have made their fall difficult to watch.Instead, almost every character is either less interesting or less likable than their in-game counterpart, often both. The confusing cavalcade of storylines, which includes imminent gang wars, a group of masked killers, an underground fight club arc, and more, each individual beat lacks the necessary weight and dramatic clarity.

Visually Erratic and Lacking in Impactful Action

Further adding to the general sense of incoherence is the wonky camera work and sometimes jarring editing, which makes the show visually erratic. This is a particularly big problem during the fight scenes, as the majority of these brawls lack impact or convincing choreography.There are a few highlights, such as the over-the-top battle royale during the climax that makes up for scrappy choreography with sheer scope. Additionally, the appearances of the previously mentioned masked killers provide some fun, edge lord-esque slasher segments. However, these moments are the exception rather than the rule, and one can't help but wish the series had more faithfully captured the stylistic flair of the games.

A Missed Opportunity to Expand the Yakuza Universe

While the author admits to a certain bias due to their extensive experience with the Yakuza videogames, they acknowledge that the TV adaptation could have found its own path and succeeded on its own terms. The series borrows a bunch of surface-level aspects from the games, like names and plot points, but fails to convey the deeper reasons why these characters and their storylines worked in the first place.At the same time, the series also comes up short of taking things in a truly new direction, resulting in a missed opportunity to expand the Yakuza universe in a compelling way. Bad videogame adaptations are not exactly unique, but with the rich source material and the potential of the live-action format, "Like a Dragon: Yakuza" could have been so much more.