Key things
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Like a Dragon: Yakuza has Majima fighting using his Thug style from the game series.
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It's an elegant inclusion in authenticity.
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There aren't many other aspects of the show that fans enjoy.
Like a Dragon: Yakuza is a critically mixed bag. A few reviewers really enjoyed Amazon's adaptation of Sega and RGG Studios' beloved game series, while most described it as an aimless crime drama. An aspect of the show that has been praised by many is its adaptation of Kamurochō, the fictional Tokyo neighborhood seen in the games.
Crazy Dog Shimano
A neat detail about the show is that it brings Goro Majima's fighting style from the game into the show, adding another layer of faithful adaptation. As noted by Shoorehplppl, a die-hard Yakuza fan on X, when Majima starts fighting in the show, he uses his thug stance from the games. This style has the left hand raised high and forward while the right hand drops lower. It's a Southpaw style in the spirit of Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do.
We mostly see the Thug style in action during Yakuza 0, as Majima is one of the game's two protagonists. However, he has been seen using this style, including against Kiryu, in other games in the series. The style is fast and focuses on targeting weak points and countering enemies' overpowered attacks rather than relying on brute force. Majima is a master of melee combat, although he can never get the better of Kiryu.
While Like a Dragon: Yakuza is by no means universally hated, fan reaction is generally negative. “It's called Yakuza and nothing else,” reads one comment. Another commenter criticizes the show's adaptation of Kiryu, saying, “This Kiryu is someone the real Kiryu would beat up to teach him some life lesson in the subplot.”
Like a Dragon: Yakuza currently has mixed to negative reviews, holding a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 48 on Metacritic, although not all reviews published there have been aggregated on both sites.
Yakuza
Yakuza, also known as Like a Dragon, is a series of action-adventure games developed by Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. Set mostly in the fictional Tokyo district of Kamurochō, the games are often crime dramas featuring characters such as Kazuma Kiryu, Goro Majima, and Ichiban Kasuga, and are known for their abundance of fun mini-games such as karaoke.
