Like a Dragon

Plot

The plot is loosely based on the original Yakuza game and is a "one-night-story" that unfolds in a hot summer night in Kamurocho, the fictitious version of Tokyo Shinjuku's Kabukichō.

The night begins with a bank robbery by a manzai duo of amateur masked gunmen, and the disappearance of ten billion yen from the Tojo Clan's deposits. Meanwhile, in Kamurocho streets, former yakuza Kazuma Kiryu and a young girl called Haruka Sawamura search for Mizuki Sawamura the youngster's mother and the former's childhood love, with Kiryu's rival, psychotic yakuza, Goro Majima and his gang on their trail.

After a meeting with Kiryu and Haruka in the convenience store Poppo, employee Satoru and his new girlfriend Yui decide to start holding up stores for money and for fun. Elsewhere in the district a mysterious South Korean hitman, Park, tracks down the culprit behind the Tojo Clan heist which leads him toward the infamous Jingu or Mister N and the Millennium Tower.

The search for Mizuki brings Kiryu to the top of the Millennium Tower and ends with a clicmatic battle with yakuza Akira Nishikiyama which is Kiryu's childhood best friend (they were raised in the same orphanage see Like a Dragon: Prologue) gone deadly enemy.

Video

Amuse Soft Entertainment released the regular DVD edition on September 28, 2007 in Japan, with a limited edition "Deluxe Box" featuring three Kubrick figures (Majima, Kiryu and Haruka).

American distributor Tokyo Shock released a licensed DVD titled Yakuza: Like a Dragon on February 23, 2010 to coincide with the North American localization of Yakuza 3. The release date was originally planned to March, probably in order to coincide with the North American localization of the PlayStation 3 video game Yakuza 3.

Prior to this official release, the English subtitled DVD was distributed in North America by Bonzai RCS, the case featured a Korean cover for some reason (it was likely an unlicensed product), it was similar to the Korean market edition by CJ Entertainment.

Soundtrack

The motion picture soundtrack features three songs by Crazy Ken Band from his 2006 album Galaxy released on the Almond Eyes label (XNAE-10010), these are Hama no Ambassador (ハマのアンバサダー, hama no anbasada, lit. "ambassador of Yokohama") featuring Fire Ball and Papa B., Kuroi Kizuato no Blues (黒い傷跡のブルース, kuroi kizuato no burusu, lit. "black scar blues") and the ending theme 12 gatsu 17 nichi (12月17日, lit. "December 17th"). The latter two are also included in the Yakuza 2 game's soundtrack.

Cast