![]() And, you know, his arc begins where he gets caught up in all of that chaos after leaving. Sakamoto: With regard to Ichiban, he was obviously jailed for quite some time and has aged almost disconnected and isolated from society and what was happening in the yakuza scene. How did that come about with regards to the idea of having dual protagonists? That relationship between them, is it like a mentorship situation? It seems like two leads who have a sort of brotherhood. And despite his lack of romantic encounters and experience, he's trying to explain, but that shows his awkwardness. He still wants to sort of be Ichiban's guide or senpai in a way, and kind of the bigger brother or the older, bigger man. And I think personality-wise, he may not be the most experienced in that field. You know, he's got a certain interest but awkwardness around the opposite sex. I think it's that side that's really being shown a little bit more, but I wouldn't necessarily say he's changed since the beginning of when I started playing his role. I think he's always that very straight-arrowed, honest guy, but also has an awkward component to him. Kuroda: How I feel about Kiryu, I wouldn't necessarily say his character has changed or evolved. Can you tell me a little bit more about his personality in these new games? How is Kiryu evolving or changing in these new games? You voiced him for so long and he's been a very stoic character, but it seems like he's breaking out of his shell a little bit. It was so different from what I expected from them. There was an extra scene from Infinite Wealth shown at RGG Summit where Ichiban and Kiryu have a conversation about their love lives. And through the spinoff, explain a little bit more about the lore, world, et cetera. We're kind of navigating it as we go and determining what's important to shine light on. It was more of a collective decision within the development team thinking that it's important to explain the story and what was happening behind the scenes. But if you ask, was it all planned that Kiryu was going to come back? I would say probably not. Of course, we're always operating at 100%, especially for a numbered sequel. So that's why we developed Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name-that's how we shine some light on the backstory of Kiryu between. We figured it would be best, and the most seamless transition, to have a story explaining what was happening before going into 8. ![]() When developing the Ichiban arc, we were looking at Yakuza 7 and 8 and felt that there was a bit of a void in between them. And we were planning on going straight into Like A Dragon 8 with that sort of ambiguity. 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 when we were planning development on Yakuza 7, we wanted to pivot and have a new protagonist, and that was the whole Ichiban story arc. Sakamoto: When we were planning Yakuza 6, it was supposed to be the final arc for Kiryu. What was it like internally deciding to bring Kiryu back to lead two major games? This interview was translated through interpreter and independent producer Mike McNamara and was edited for clarity and readability.Īfter Yakuza 6, it felt like that was it for Kiryu and we were going to move on with Ichiban in the mainline games. From left to right: Takaya Kuroda (Kiryu's Japanese VA), Hiroyuki Sakamoto (RGG Studio chief producer), Yong Yea (Kiryu's English VA). 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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