Warning: The following article contains mild spoilers for Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1.
Prime Video scored a big win earlier this year with critically and commercially successful video game adaptation Fallout. Now the streamer is looking to keep this hot streak alive with Like a Dragon: Yakuza, an action-crime series based on Sega’s hit Yakuza franchise.
Yet lightning rarely strikes twice, so it’s hardly surprising – albeit still deeply disappointing – that Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1 fails to reach the same heights as its predecessor. Admittedly, it’s not for lack of trying. Series creators Sean Crouch and Yugo Nakamura, directors Masaharu Take and Kengo Takimoto, and the wider Like a Dragon cast and crew are clearly aiming high here.
But despite their best efforts, Like a Dragon: Yakuza fails to capture the essence of its source material, and runs out of puff long before the credits roll on the first season’s finale.
Loosely based on 2005’s original Yakuza game (and its 2016 remake, Yakuza: Kiwami), Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1 flits between two timelines: one set in 1995 and the other in 2005. Combined, these dual narratives follow Tokyo orphan Kazuma Kiryu (Ryoma Takeuchi) and his pals – including best buddy Akira “Nishiki” Nishikiyama (Kento Kaku) and love interest Yumi Sawamura (Yuumi Kawai) – as they’re pulled into a vast underworld conspiracy. Along the way, they’re forced to make tough choices to survive and, by the end, their destinies are forever changed.
You’ll have to wait to see said ending, though. Prime Video is releasing Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1 in two three-episode batches – and having viewed the lot, it’s easy to see why. Season 1’s first trio of installments is markedly stronger than its second. This is especially true of Episode 1, which kicks off with a heist sequence that introduces the show’s striking, game-accurate recreation of the Kamurochō district. It’s a stylish bit of business that promises bigger and better set pieces that never materialize.
In fairness, glimmers of Like a Dragon: Yakuza‘s upfront potential do occasionally break through. A bare-knuckle boxing match later on in Episode 1 and a beauty pageant shoot-out midway through Episode 3 are admirably staged and executed. Little flourishes like a piano player pounding the keys outdoors don’t hurt, either. These are notable exceptions, however, and Like a Dragon: Yakuza otherwise suffers from oddly pedestrian fight choreography and photography. It’s incredibly frustrating given the dynamic nature of show’s the source material.
Related: What Yakuza Game Is Prime Video’s Like a Dragon Season 1 Based On?
But then, it’s not as though Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1 is that action-packed to begin with. On the contrary, the first season’s six-episode run is a decidedly chatty affair – particularly the second, more sluggishly paced stretch. Few of these conversations are overly compelling, and occasional subtitling issues only undermine them further. On the plus side, Like a Dragon: Yakuza‘s actors do what they can to add weight to proceedings. Takeuchi is likable as Kiryu, despite never fully selling himself as a hardened ex-yakuza in the 2005 scenes. Kaku fares equally well as Nishiki, sketching out the character’s slide to the dark side effectively enough. But the real standout is Munetaka Aoki as loose cannon Goro Majima. It’s a shame he doesn’t get more screentime, particularly in Season 1’s more dour second half.
That’s reflective of a wider problem with Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1: narrative overreach. There’s simply not enough room for all the characters and subplots to breathe. Naturally, cramming two timelines’ worth of underworld wheeling and dealing into just six episodes was always going to be a tough ask. But Crouch and Nakamura also squeeze in stuff like an occult-themed serial killer that eats up precious minutes. As a result, Kiryu often gets lost in the shuffle, making it hard to connect with him.
This emotional distancing is further compounded by Crouch and Nakamura’s decision to jettison Kiryu’s relationship with little lost girl Haruka. Their surrogate father/daughter dynamic is the beating heart of the first Yakuza title, but in the show, they barely have any one-on-one scenes together. Presumably, Crouch and Nakamura were keen to avoid unflattering comparisons between Like a Dragon: Yakuza and HBO’s The Last of Us, which revolves around a similar bond. But even accounting for this – and the shift from a single-player action game to a streaming series – it’s still a major miscalculation. After all, what’s the point of nailing the aesthetics of Yakuza if you can’t replicate its soul?
Related: All Yakuza Games, Ranked from Worst to Best
Which isn’t to say that Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1 is soulless overall. Crouch and Nakamura seemingly have a lot they want to say with their video game adaptation. Unfortunately, they’re once again hamstrung by how overstuffed their story is. So many ideas and themes are picked up and put down again that it’s hard to pin down what Season 1 is about. Honor, family, exploitation, social decay, and the hopelessness of outrunning the past all float to the surface at different points but aren’t ever fully unpacked. True, the family side of things hits home a little, but even this doesn’t fully land. Season 1’s finale is supposed to be a heart-wrenching affair, but only an especially empathetic viewer will tear up.
That’s a real shame too, as there’s a decent show buried within Like a Dragon: Yakuza. Season 1’s first three episodes are proof of that. But the longer it goes – and the further it drifts from its source material – what chances it had of being Prime Video’s next knockout video game adaptation go up in smoke.
Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1 Episodes 1-3 are currently streaming on Prime Video. Episodes 4-6 debut on Nov. 1, 2024.
Published: Oct 24, 2024 11:00 am