Like a Dragon Producer Talks Anime Inspiration within Their Games

Many of you know of the Yakuza franchise–or at least, you did. After being named that for so long, the team behind the game decided to rebrand it. Now it’s under the title “Like A Dragon.” That is a reference to the 7th mainline title, which was called Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and that title was one of the most popular games in their series. Their branding came at a critical moment in their franchise as they’re now developing two different entries in the series with Like a Dragon: Ishin and Like A Dragon 8. What might surprise you, though, is that anime hugely influenced the upcoming game and the 7th mainline title we discussed.

The revelation came from Producer Masayoshi Yokoyama, who has been a part of the franchise for a long time. He noted that the upcoming 8th mainline title had dialogue inspired by Bleach, which recently made its anime return. But he didn’t stop there. He pointed out that the Yakuza: Like a Dragon game was basically One Piece, but with Japanese gangsters.

“I’ve never really talked about this before, so I’m not sure if I should just go for it now, but for [Yakuza] 7 I was really, really inspired by One Piece. To me, Ichiban is basically Luffy. And around him there’s Zoro and Nami and basically the rest of the party, you know?”

He noted that the Straw Hat Pirates’ “composition” as a team was on his mind during game development, and it shows. Yokoyama even said that this was basically his “unofficial crossover” of the two franchises, which is heartwarming, don’t you think?

Some out there might think it’s odd that two very different franchises have a connection like this, but it’s not that uncommon. Think about it like this, where do you get the inspiration for certain things you do? Your family, friends, surroundings, jobs, and everything around you influence you, whether you realize it or not. For artists, writers, game designers, and more, it’s the same way.

There are plenty of stories out there about people who looked at an established property or idea and went, “Hey, I wonder what would’ve happened if the plot was more like this,” and then made their own story to fit that notion. Even in video games, developers look at other titles and ask, “How can we copy it and make it our own thing?”

All this shows is that the team behind Like a Dragon are anime fans, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Anime is at one of its highest peaks right now. So if their influence helped make a great video game? We’re all for it. Regardless of the name change, fans can certainly look forward to a bright future for the franchise.

Source: Crunchyroll