A Death Retcon Has Completely Changed Like A Dragon: Yakuza

Amazon Prime’s Like a Dragon: Yakuza adaptation was a Komaki Tiger Drop to the fandom’s gut. It sent viewers spiraling into disarray as they struggled to come to terms with just how different it was from the source material.

The initial reaction from most was immediate dislike, which I don’t agree with, but whether you liked or loathed how creative the series got with the canon narrative, one thing’s for certain: it will only continue to veer away from the source material. Well, if it gets renewed for another season that is.

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Go in without any expectations for your best chance of enjoying it.

For all the ways in which the series differs from the games, there’s one change in particular that will irrevocably alter the entire narrative of what’s to come: a death retcon. While a bunch of people die in the first game both on and off-screen, there are a couple of big ones that matter most.

Nishikiyama Akira, the childhood friend and brother in all but blood to protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, and Sawamura Yumi, Kiryu’s childhood sweetheart and love of his life. You can see why losing these two might impact the poor guy and haunt him for years (and games) to come.

It’s not Nishiki who was given a reprieve in Prime’s series though, but Yumi, the more catalysing of the two. Her death shapes Kiryu’s life in many ways, the most notable of which is that Kiryu takes Yumi’s daughter, Sawamura Haruka, in as his own. After the events of the first game, Kiryu takes Haruka to the countryside to live in peace away from the yakuza lifestyle. Not that it pans out that way, of course.

Yumi isn’t Haruka’s mother in the show, but her aunt, as rather than have Yumi pretend to be her sister (who doesn’t actually exist) as the games did, the series gives her a sister who is then killed off instead. That means Yumi is the next of kin and the obvious choice for who will care for Haruka. It would make no sense for Kiryu to do this with Yumi still alive and in the picture.

If Kiryu isn’t raising Haruka, does he even go to Morning Glory Orphanage? That would massively impact the events of Yakuza 3, as the orphanage and their impending eviction drive this storyline. Yakuza 4 would also be affected if Kiryu and Haruka aren’t at the orphanage first thing, they wouldn’t be there to see Saejima Taiga or Hamazaki Goh wash up on the shore.

If Kiyu isn’t raising Haruka, the whole storyline of Yakuza 5 where he has to hide his identity while she becomes an idol to protect her reputation, and everything else that follows, becomes moot. Haruka likely wouldn’t even become an idol, given the different circumstances. Then there’s Yakuza 6, where Haruka’s fame has adversely affected the orphanage and Kiryu is eventually left looking after Haruka’s son, Haruto, after she is attacked.

Would Haruka even have Haruto? Being raised by her Aunt Yumi, her life would be entirely different. The orphanage, the idol career, Haruto, all of these could ultimately fail to exist in the world of Prime’s Yakuza. Would Kiryu then need to fake his death at the end of Yakuza 6, and if not, that then scrubs The Man Who Erased His Name from existence, and also has a knock-on effect for Yakuza: Like a Dragon, as would Kiryu even be in Yokohama?

Even if Kiryu and Yumi start up some happy family where they raise Haruka together, and even if they decide to do this at the orphanage, simply having another parental figure around would alter anything to do with Haruka. More importantly, it would affect everything Kiryu does. Would he be as likely to throw himself into harm’s way or make the same judgment calls knowing the love of his life is waiting at home for him? I doubt it.

Kiryu loves Yumi so much that we still see the impact of her death much later in the series. Even in the latest title, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Kiryu is only in Hawaii because Yumi always wanted to go there. If she were still alive, he’d be spending his remaining months with her rather than gallivanting over to a tourist hotspot, so he wouldn’t be there to help Kasuga Ichiban.

That one decision to make Yumi live changes everything. If the Prime series has taught us anything, it’s that it wants to be bold and be different. While I’m not convinced it managed to sell the changes as well as it could have, I’m all for seeing where this alternate timeline could take us.

It opens up the whole world as we know it, as the series could make brand new content rather than use game plotlines as inspiration. Perhaps it’ll use similar beats and characters but use them in entirely different ways, maybe it’ll retcon other deaths, or maybe fan favourites will bite the dust before their time. Anything could happen, and I find that incredibly interesting. Unless they kill Majima off, in which case I’ll just be mad.

Release Date

October 24, 2024

Cast

Kento Kaku
, Ryoma Takeuchi

Main Genre

Drama

Seasons

1