It turns out that I can relate quite a lot to the new live-action actor behind Kazuma Kiryu, as he’s waiting to play the Yakuza series until he has more time, too.
Look, you don’t have to sell me on them – I know I’ll love the Yakuza games. Every single thing I’ve seen from them I’m in love with, to be perfectly honest, and I’ve even played a chunk of Yakuza 0, but, you know… I’m an adult! With a job! This one, right here, which not only requires me to play lots of different games, but sometimes TV shows and movies too, and Yakuza games are long. And there’s a whole bunch of them now! Luckily, I’m not alone in that, as Ryoma Takeuchi, the actor behind Kiryu in the recently released (and pretty alright) Like a Dragon: Yakuza series has shared he’s waiting to play them until he has time to do so.
In an interview with GamesRadar, when asked about whether he’s interested in playing the games having now taken part in the series, he responded, “Yes, actually I do have a strong feeling towards that. I really want to play the game, but if only I could be given a break to do so. What I mean is that I really like playing video games, but if I start playing it I need to play the whole game. So, I need to stay in front of the television screen for a long, long time.
“I have so many things that are waiting for me to do and accomplish in front of me,” Takeuchi continued. “So, that’s where I am right now. But I look forward to playing the games.” I feel the same way, truly. Takeuchi shared his thoughts on playing an established character like Kiryu earlier this year, especially in the context of not having played the games really, and he made some very reasonable and respectable points about his approach to the job.