![[Subscribe]](/blog/rss.png){kind=small}
Monday TV Mini-Series Musings - Like A Dragon Yakuza
There were some hints in the lates RGG Summit that another live action series or film is upcoming. Today I’m posting my review for the recent Amazon series. This was one of the TV shows I was most excited about obviously. It was dreadful. It’s also my review on IMDb with the most thumbs up!
I put a Spoiler Warning on IMDb, but as usual, it’s really not very spoilery, and you shouldn’t watch this anyway so read on.
Like A Dragon: Yakuza (2024) Rated TV-MA (I think that means Mature Audiences?)
3/10
Who did they make this for?
Date Watched: 1 November 2024
God that was awful. What were they thinking?
I would have been fine with a new story. But instead of a new story, they seem to have tried to fit a little bit from every game into 6 episodes, and as a result, kind of failed to tell any story.
Every single character behaves wildly out of character, (except for Majima, who is pretty great, but he’s in the show for like, 5 minutes.) nobody’s motivations make any sense, and to top it off, the show is just boring.
A lot of what is compellng about the game’s story comes from Kiryu being older and wiser after spending a decade in prison after climbing high in the ranks of the Yakuza. Making him a young angry twenty-something would have worked if they’d decided to tell us a story set somewhere between 0 and 1. Giving us a vague retelling of the original story but with all the details changed doesn’t work.
It’s like they intentionally set out to alienate the fanbase while making sure they wouldn’t attract any new fans either.
I found myself constantly asking ‘Why is this the choice they made?’ Why are there satanists? They obviously needed to pair down some of the characters. I understand why they rolled Shimano and Dojima together..oh, no, you’ve also cast a guy you’re calling Shimano. I’m baffled. Just completely baffled.
Also, having a long flash back sequences when you only have 6 episodes to begin with is really cheap.
So, 1 star for Majima. 1 star for the heat actions they re-enacted in the series’ very few fight scenes (one of which was so dark you could barely see it.) and 1 star for the horse sculpture in the Yakuza office. Three stars seems really generous btw.
The stage play remains the best adaptation.