The Yakuza series has been around for almost 16 years now, and in that time Sega has released eight main entries in the series, with its latest, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, marking the series’ biggest story and gameplay transition ever. Acting as a soft reboot, Yakuza: Like a Dragon introduces a new main protagonist, new locations, and an entirely new combat system based on classic JRPGs such as Dragon Quest.
Crucially, Yakuza: Like a Dragon is the third ever main entry in the franchise to receive an English dub, following the very first entry on the PlayStation 2 in 2005, and 2019’s Judgment. This inclusion of an English dub has brought in a slew of new fans to the franchise and now that it has just arrived on PS5, here is a full breakdown of the Yakuza: Like a Dragon voice cast.
Starting off is Yakuza: Like a Dragon’s protagonist with a heart of gold, Ichiban Kasuga, who Game Rant hailed as one of our favorite video game characters of 2020. Ichiban Kasuga joined the yakuza from a young age after being raised in a soapland in Kamurocho, but was locked up for almost 20 years after taking the blame for a crime he didn’t commit in order to repay his family’s patriarch.
In the English version of the game, Ichiban is voiced by Berserk and Detective Pikachu voice actor Kaiji Tang, while in the Japanese version he is voiced by none other than Yakuza‘s own Kazuhiro Nakaya, who previously voiced Akira Nishikiyama, blood brother of Kazuma Kiryu.
Backing up Kasuga is Yu Nanba, a homeless nurse living in Yokohama who joins Ichiban early in his quest. Nanba lives in a small homeless community that keeps tabs on Yokohama’s dark underworld. His an Ichiban’s relationship is one of the strongest in the game, and is tested even more when it is revealed that Nanba has a personal stake in helping Ichiban in discovering why his former yakuza family betrayed him.
In English, Yu Nanba is voiced by Greg Chun, voice of Takeyuki Yagami in Judgment, the Yakuza series spin-off first released in 2019, which is also coming to PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC in April. In Japan, Nanba is voiced by Ken Yasuda, who does not have many voice acting credits but did voice Pusan in the CG anime film Dragon Quest: Your Story.
Koichi Adachi is the first to join Kasuga’s merry band of misfits as he exits his 18-year prison sentence. A former police officer, Adachi has been investigating Ichiban’s case as he has already discovered that Ichiban was falsely imprisoned and helps Ichiban understand how the yakuza world has changed since his imprisonment.
In the English version of the game, Adachi is voiced by Andrew Morgado, who previously voiced characters such as Ripper Roo and Fake Crash in Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled. In the Japanese version, Adachi is played by Aiko Otsuka, who has various iconic anime roles such as Guts from Berserk, All For One from My Hero Academia, Blackbeard from One Piece, and Xehanort in Kingdom Hearts.
Saeko Mukoda is a standout in Like a Dragon as the Yakuza franchise’s second playable character after Yakuza 5‘s Haruka Sawamura, however she is the first that the player can control during combat. Saeko is the mama in a hostess bar in Yokohama, she is a stern businesswoman who is constantly teasing her party members with a playful energy during combat.
In English, Saeko is played by Elizabeth Maxwell, who JRPG fans will know as Persona 5‘s Sae Niijima, and Dragon Ball Super fans will know as Caulifla, one half of Kefla. In Japan, Saeko is played by Sumire Uesaka, who has voiced various anime characters, including Pipimi from the comedy series Pop Team Epic.
Masumi Arakawa is the head of the Arakawa Family, one of the Tojo Clan’s most feared subsidiaries. Known as “Arakawa the Assassin,” Arakawa is one of the most powerful men in Kamurocho before the events of the main game. After Ichiban leaves prison, he confronts Arakawa to just for Arakawa to shoot him point blank and leave him for dead in Yokohama.
Arakawa is voiced by George Takei in the English version of the game, who famously played Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek, and has voice acted in many animated TV shows such as The Simpsons, Futurama, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. In Japan, Arakawa is voiced by Keiichi Nakai, a live-action actor mostly known for his performances in films such as 47 Ronin and When The Last Sword is Drawn.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon features a stellar main cast of familiar JRPG and anime voice actors in both English and Japanese, and this extends into its additional voice cast, with Final Fantasy 15‘s Robbie Daymond voicing Tianyou Zhao, and Fire Emblem: Three House‘s Zach Aguilar portraying Sota Kume. Interestingly, five of Yakuza: Like a Dragon‘s supporting characters, one of which is an optional party member, are based on real women who won a contest held by Sega in 2019.
While there are many other characters worth mentioning which have received English voices for the first time ever in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and some who have returned even from the original 2005 game’s dub, to discuss these characters in Like a Dragon would to get into spoilers regarding the game. Just know that for fans new and old, seeing some of these characters portrayed in English for the first time ever is a fresh, exciting new perspective.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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