Amazon Prime's 'Yakuza' adaptation launches October 25

Amazon Prime's 'Yakuza' adaptation launches October 25

Amazon has announced its latest series coming to Prime Video, and gamers might recognize it. The streamer is releasing Like A Dragon: Yakuza, a live-action adaptation of the Yakuza SEGA game series. The Japanese Original show will premiere worldwide in two batches of three episodes on October 25 and November 1, 2024.

SEGA launched Yakuza in 2005, with over 20 other titles and spinoffs joining it in the years since. Amazon bills Like A Dragon: Yakuza as a "crime-suspense-action series, follows the life, childhood friends, and repercussions of the decisions of Kazuma Kiryu, a fearsome and peerless Yakuza warrior with a strong sense of justice, duty, and humanity." The show takes place during 1995 and 2005 in Kamurochō, a fictional entertainment district modeled off Kabukichō, the game's setting.

There will be similar themes between the show and the game, of course, but it seems creators are attempting to give it a unique identity. "While the games let you experience their world through the subjective lens, this adaptation will be the ultimately objective way to enjoy the show," Yokoyama Masayoshi, Yakuza writer, head of Ryugagotoku Studio and executive producer. "I have no doubt that fans of the series will be drawn to how it brings the games to life and adds new surprises. Newcomers, I'm sure will find themselves invested simply in the gritty realism of the show."

Promotional shot for "Like A Dragon."