The Like A Dragon Adaptations Don't Understand The Perfect Balance Of The Games

Summary

Amazon Prime's Yakuza mini-series fails to capture the comedy elements crucial to the game's essence.
Adaptations of the Yakuza series struggle as they focus solely on drama or comedy instead of blending both elements.
Like a Dragon (2007) embraces silliness, while Prime's series delves more into drama, neglecting comedy.

Amazon Prime’s 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Like a Dragon: Yakuza mini-series launched last week to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:dismal reviews♚ 🍌and negativity from fans. In the wake of the fandom crying out about the changes made to the narrative, ꦿa slew of live-action Yakuza gifs have been surging on social media. Only the majority aren’t from the new😼est adaptation at all, they’re from Takashi Miike’s 2007 film, Like a Dragon.

This older adaptation had an equally less-than-stellar reception and was also criticise💟d for veering off the well-known narrative path that fans had expected, though arguably it does this far less than Prime’s series. Perhaps this is why in light of the new mini-series and the general dislike of it, Like a Dragon seems to be resurfacing as the preferred of the two adaptations.

Like a Dragon: Yakuza as a What If show.

Like A Dragon: Yakuza Is More Enjoyable If You Don't Expect A Faithful Retelling

Like a Dragon: Yakuza is more like a What If...? adap🥃tation.

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The problem is that neither adaptation t understands the balancing act that the game series is so well known for. Each game has a mixture of hard-hitting drama and narrative, alongside absolutely bonkers comedy. It’ll swap between the two so often that you won’t know whether ♊to laugh, cry, or do both at times. Yet the game series balances this with such finesse that it never feels out of place. It simply feels very on-brand for Yakuza/Like a Dragon.

I think that’s a big part 🎀of why the 2007 film and Prime’s series fall short. They don’t encapsulate the same feeling and soul of the games, as neither manages to master t🍌he balance of emotional narrative alongside comedy. Each adaptation takes one part of the balancing act only, and as a result, ultimately fails.

Like a Dragon (2007) could arguably fall int𝕴o the category of so bad it was good. People love it because it's silly and for its wealth of hilarious and campy scenes. 🧸Majima straddling Kiryu is a top favourite, Majima looking around the corner with his eyepatch eye, and the gun showdown between Kiryu and Majima. Yes, let’s just say all the Majima bits are the best.

Thi🐈s film epitomises the comedy side of the game series, from small moments like showing Kiryu struggle to work a phone after being in prison for ten years, to being daft enough to include the c꧑olour of heat moves in an actual live-action film. It’s enjoyable because it’s so quirky, and you’re so busy focusing on the comedy of it that you’re less likely to start pulling at the threads of what does and doesn’t make sense. You still notice the changes from the game’s narrative, but you’re more likely to shrug them off as you’re too busy anticipating when Majima will next do something silly.

As a polar opposite, Prime’s Like a Dragon: Yakuza seems devoid of comedy. It’s gone all-in on the drama, fleshing out different narrative arcs for characters, inventing new characters, introducing new stakes, and overall, putting a different spin on an old favourite. I don’🐈t believe the series is bad simply because it switches things up from the source material, but I do think it’s harder for fans to overlook the changes when they’re struggling to find something they do like about it.

Some more comedic moments would have helped, not only in assuaging fan fears about changes, but also to better embody what the Yakuza series is all about. The fandom loves to latch onto things, and unsurprisingly, the scenes peop🍌le seem to appreciate the most from the Prime miniseries are those b⛦etween Kiryu and Majima. Many are fangirling over Kiryu being so focused on Majima in the club before even knowing who he is, myself included. But these few scenes don’t manage to hit the high notes of Yakuza comedy.

Majima, Kiryu, and their potentially homoerotic scenes aside, the most fundamental failing for both adaptations is that they only choose one as﷽pect of the games and stick⛦ with it, rather than trying to balance both. I get that it’s a difficult task. Even trying to explain to those unfamiliar with the series the wide spectrum of gut wrenchingly emotional scenes to mouth-agape wildness the games manage to harness is a tall order. But it works. For the adaptations to work just as well, they need to channel that same balance and energy.

We’ve had the silly adaptation, we’ve had th﷽e serious adaptation, so now let’s get a better mix of both. I d﷽on’t mind if the narrative gets tweaked and changed in the process. If someone can capture the essence of the games and their balance, that will mean far more to me than if we get an accurate shot-for-shot retelling of a story we all know far too well. It’s fine to shake things up a bit, but if you don’t understand what the games are about beyond the narrative, you will never create a winner.