New live action Like a Dragon series will feature Japan’s top Yakuza film stars
A new, live-action drama project has been announced, which will be a collaboration between the worlds of the popular video game series Like a Dragon and the long-running V-Cinema series, Nihon Tōitsu (“Japan Unification”).
The new project was revealed today, Wednesday, the 24th of September, during the “RGG SUMMIT 2025” presentation from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio.
Nihon Tōitsu is a hugely popular and long-running series of “ninkyō,” or “honorable outlaw,” direct-to-video films that has become the modern standard for the Japanese yakuza movie genre.
This new, crossover drama will be a live-action adaptation of the story of the first Like a Dragon/Yakuza game.
The project will be created by the staff of the Nihon Tōitsu series, and will star its two main actors in the iconic lead roles from the game.
The main cast for the new drama is as follows:
- Kazuma Kiryu: Yasuyuki Honmiya
- Goro Majima: Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi
- Akira Nishikiyama: Kazuhiro Nakaya
- Makoto Date: Kenji Matsuda
Yasuyuki Honmiya and Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi are the two main stars of the Nihon Tōitsu series.
Kazuhiro Nakaya and Kenji Matsuda are the original voice actors for their respective characters in the video game series.
This new project is a “dream team-up” for fans of the Japanese yakuza genre, combining the star power of its most famous video game and its most famous contemporary film series.
The new drama is being planned for a multi-language release.
If filming progresses smoothly, it is scheduled to be released on Monday, the 8th of December.
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