Japanese TV can catch Shogun wave, says star of new Japanese series Like A Dragon
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Actors Kento Kaku (left) and Ryoma Takeuchi at Like A Dragon: Yakuza Press Room at Comic-Con International in San Diego, California, on July 26.
PHOTO: AFP
SAN DIEGO – Japan’s entertainment industry must “catch the wave” of global streaming hits like Shogun (2024 to present), according to one of the stars of new Amazon television show Like A Dragon: Yakuza.
The crime-thriller series – unveiled at Comic-Con over the weekend, and out on Prime Video in October – is based on a popular and long-running Sega video game series about Tokyo crime gangs.
Like Shogun – the drama that topped July’s Emmy nominations – Like A Dragon: Yakuza was created by an American studio but set in Japan, with a Japanese cast speaking its own language.
HBO’s recent Tokyo Vice (2022 to 2024) also explored the world of yakuza gangsters, while animated series Blue Eye Samurai (2023 to present) recently made Netflix’s global top 10 most-viewed lists.
Ryoma Takeuchi, 31, star of Like A Dragon: Yakuza, said “it makes me really happy, and it’s only recently that we’re getting this recognition” internationally.
Co-star Kento Kaku said it is important for Japan to “catch the wave” of success stories like Shogun by making more shows that are “recognised internationally”.
“We have to be the ones to lead the way,” said the 35-year-old.
Based on a long-running video game series, Like A Dragon: Yakuza is set in a Tokyo nightlife district modelled on the real-life red-light area of Kabukicho.
The action hops between 1995 and 2005, as a group of childhood friends are drawn into the world of the yakuza in various ways.
Kazuma Kiryu (Takeuchi) has become a fearsome but morally conflicted warrior, in mysterious circumstances.
“I had to take the risk to build a character from scratch... he’s very beefed up on the outside, but intricate on the inside,” said Takeuchi.
The show follows a string of recent hit video game adaptations for television, including HBO’s The Last Of Us (2023 to present) and Amazon’s Fallout (2024 to present).
Beloved Japanese video game characters like Nintendo’s Mario and Sega’s Sonic have also recently enjoyed huge success at the movie box office.
Those followed years in which film adaptations of video games generally struggled.
Like A Dragon executive producer Erik Barmack suggested that previous flops were the result of Japanese creations being “pulled over to Hollywood” and stripped of their context.
“Game players particularly can sniff out when something doesn’t feel right,” he said.
With the new series, Amazon insisted on making “a local story... authentic to its roots in Japan”.
It is a strategy shared with Shogun, from the Disney-owned FX network.
Although shot in Canada, Shogun meticulously transported viewers to the intricate and deadly world of the early 17th-century court politics of feudal Japan.
It is a hot favourite to win big at the Emmys
James Farrell, vice-president of Amazon MGM Studios for International Originals, said there was never any question of filming Like A Dragon in English.
“There is this swell of interest and love for Japan around the world,” he said.
“The games are popular outside of Japan because it’s Japanese,” added Barmack. AFP
