How Yakuza Made A Legend Of Its Long-Time Hero Over Two Decades

27.07.2023 - 19:15 / gamespot.com / Hiroyuki Sakamoto / Michael Higham / Of Its

The voice of Kazuma Kiryu Takaya Kuroda, new English voice Yong Yea, and series chief producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto, explained the complexities of Like A Dragon's iconic lead, and what to expect in the series' new games.

By Michael Higham on

Few video game characters stick around as long as Kazuma Kiryu, the long-time lead of the Yakuza / Like A Dragon franchise--and even fewer have as commanding a presence as him. It's also rare to see one character's rollercoaster of a life play out and evolve over the course of nearly 20 years, with 10 distinct entries telling that story. Though we thought we had closed the book on the Dragon of Dojima at the end of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life back in 2018, his appearance in 2020's Yakuza: Like A Dragon and two new entries that put Kiryu front and center shows that series developer RGG Studio isn't letting go of him anytime soon.

In anticipation of both Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name and Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, I caught up with RGG Studio's chief producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto, the voice of Kiryu himself, Takaya Kuroda, and newly minted English voice actor Yong Yea at Anime Expo 2023. While we weren't able to get into specifics of the upcoming games, we talked about Kiryu's budding relationship with co-lead Kasuga Ichiban in the new story, the complexities of building the character over the years, and the nuances of voicing a personality like him. We also got into our favorite substories and karaoke songs, if Kiryu will ever really get to rest and retire, and addressed Kiryu's new idol-influenced haircut.

This interview was translated through interpreter and independent producer Mike McNamara and was edited for clarity and readability.

After Yakuza 6, it felt like that was it for Kiryu and we were going to move on with Ichiban in the mainline games. What was it like internally deciding to bring Kiryu back to lead two major games?

Sakamoto: When we were planning Yakuza 6, it was supposed to be the final arc for Kiryu. And when we were planning development on Yakuza 7 [Like A Dragon], we wanted to pivot and have a new protagonist, and that was the [conception of the] whole Ichiban story arc. What Kiryu was doing behind the scenes was very important to that story, but we didn't shine too much light on the why or what. And we were planning on going straight into Like A Dragon 8 [Infinite Wealth] with that sort of ambiguity.

When developing the Ichiban arc, we were looking at Yakuza 7 [Like A Dragon] and 8 [Infinite Wealth] and felt that there was a bit of a void in between them. We figured it would be best, and the most seamless transition, to have a story explaining what was happening before going into 8 [Infinite Wealth]. So that's why we developed