Summary
It should be pretty clear by now thatAmazon’sbigYakuzaTV show adaptation is going to steer pretty clear of the nonsensical side stories that have made the series what it is at this point. We were told by Ryu Ga Gotoku director Masayoshi Yokoyama thatthe TV show will give us a “completely different” take on Kiryu and his brother Nishikiyama, and weird and wonderful characters likeMiracle Johnson and the Diaper Mafia won’t be showing up.
It’s understandable that Amazon might not want a bunch of grown men in diapers to show upin a gritty, six-episode series, but you’d surely expect there to be some little nod to the iconic karaoke minigame that isarguably one of the biggest reasons why people love the series. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to be the case, as this Kiryu won’t be picking up the microphone any time soon.
This is according to executive producer Erik Barmack, who was asked during a roundtable interview in which TheGamer attended whether karaoke would be featured in the show at any stage. Despite how popular the minigames are among fans, the answer was a pretty resounding no, as it sounds as though Barmack would have struggled to tell the story he wanted if he was to include Yakuza’s quirkier side stories.
“Singing may come eventually. When you start to figure out how to boil down this world into six episodes… there’s so much source material to pull from.”
Yakuza’s Amazon TV Adaptation Won’t Have Singing Or Karaoke… For Now
That might sound like bad news for anyone hoping to hearKiryu belt out a “dame da ne,“but Barmack and Kazuma Kiryu actor Ryoma Takeushi leave the door open for karaoke’s potential inclusion in a second season. Takeushi even explains that he does karaoke “personally all the time,” so clearly wouldn’t be against the idea.
We’ll have to wait and see how Like a Dragon: Yakuza does and whether it manages to strike a chord with fans and casual viewers alike. We don’t have official confirmation that a second season is planned, but the Yakuza series has more than enough dramatic mafia stories at this point to make a full anthology. If the show is a success, we could potentially see another, longer season that dives into the wackier side of the series a little more. If you want that, make sure to tune in when the first half of the series airs on October 24.
Yakuza
Yakuza, also known as Like a Dragon, is a series of action-adventure games developed by Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. Taking place largely in the fictional Tokyo district of Kamurochō, the games are often crime dramas featuring characters such as Kazuma Kiryu, Goro Majima, and Ichiban Kasuga, and are known for their host of fun minigames such as karaoke.
