In a recent interview with Famitsu, SEGA’s Toshihiro Nagoshi and Japanese VA Kazuhiro Nakaya talked about the Yakuza series. For many years, Kazuma Kiryu (voiced by Takaya Kuroda) led the series and passes the torch to Ichiban Kasuga (voiced by Nakaya). With Yakuza: Like a Dragon’s release, many fans are loving Ichiban as the stellar new lead. Nagoshi is really confident and told Nakaya that “you’re going to help me make a living for the next 10 years”:
Nakaya: Thanks to Kuroda’s support I was able to play Ichiban Kasuga to the best of my ability.
That’s why I hope Kasuga and I can follow in Kiryu and Kuroda’s footsteps and continue to grow with every new title.
In the beginning Nagoshi said to me “Nakaya, you’re gonna help me make my living for the next 10 years” so I’d like to continue to develop with a little help from those around me. I’d also like to see Kiryu and Ichiban Kasuga standing side by side one day so I could hear Kiryu call me “brother” once again.
It looks like SEGA is going to build Ichiban over various new games just like Kiryu and we can wait to see more. For now, fans can enjoy Yakuza: Like a Dragon across consoles and PC. Yakuza: Like a Dragon is coming natively to PS5 on March 2nd. Stay tuned at Final Weapon for the latest Japanese gaming news and updates!
