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Some 2,000-year-old squirrels offer some great lessons about both the Bible and life in this clever new Minno series.
Every kid has dreams. Kazuma Kiryu, for instance, dreams of escaping his orphanage and becoming the Dragon of Dojima, the most feared underground boxer in the Japanese mafia.
OK, so maybe not every kid’s dreams are the same.
Based on the video game series of the same name, Like a Dragon: Yakuza follows the decade-spanning consequences of one ill-fated heist. All Kazuma and his friends wanted to do was steal enough money to leave their orphan lives behind–but what first seems like an incredible success quickly takes a left turn into disaster.
See, the arcade they robbed was no average arcade. It was owned and operated by the yakuza, the fearsome Japanese mob. And they want payback.
Here, Kazuma sees his chance. If he can convince the yakuza to let him join up, he’ll finally get his chance to prove himself and become the Dragon of Dojima. In a strange twist of fate, all his dreams seem to be coming true.
If only it was that simple. Kazuma’s path through the yakuza is told over two storylines: one in 1995 (the year of the original heist) and one in 2005, unfolding as he delves down, down, down into the world of organized crime. But whatever timeline we’re talking about, one thing is certain: Neither he nor his childhood friends are coming through unscathed.
The Yakuza series of video games is known for contrasting dark, serious main storylines with wacky, over-the-top side content (2024’s Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth includes minigames such as karaoke, go-karting, pizza delivery and island-resort management). Amazon’s Prime Video adaptation, however, seems much more interested in the former than the latter.
Good luck finding smiles, laughter, or really anything fun at all in this crime drama. Instead, you’ll be treated to bloody melee fights, gang violence with knives and guns and some disturbing threats against children. Admittedly, none of this is absurdly graphic at first–but if the source material is any indication, that could very well change in future episodes.
While the Yakuza games feature intense violence as well as suggestive themes such as sexual assault and prostitution, the Prime series stays relatively on the safe side, preferring the threat of violence to in-your-face gore. Subtle references are made to prostitution (including a threat made to two young girls regarding their futures in the “red light district”), although nothing is explicitly shown. But again, keep the strong content issues of the games–and the show’s TV-MA rating–at the forefront of your mind when checking out future episodes.
In the world of underground crime, it’s important to stay inconspicuous, allowing yourself to hide from the law in plain sight. That could very well be the case with Like a Dragon: Yakuza. Though content issues aren’t immediately obvious on this crime drama’s surface, there’s no reason to believe it won’t soon let its true colors show.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out. )
[Note: This review covers the English-subtitled version of the episode with original Japanese dialogue. Language concerns may differ slightly in the English-dubbed version due to translation.]
In 1995, teenage orphan Kazuma Kiryu robs an arcade with the help of his three friends, not knowing that the arcade belongs to the feared yakuza (the Japanese mafia). In 2005, Kazuma is released from prison after a 10-year sentence, and the events that led to his imprisonment are slowly revealed.
Kazuma is an aspiring boxer, and he enters the ring for a match to prove his abilities to the head of the yakuza. Brutal punches and kicks are thrown, and blood is shown on the fighters’ faces and shirts. At one point, Kazuma spits and sprays blood in his opponent’s face. After the fight, Kazuma is bloody and beaten, with his face bruised and swelling.
Kazama, Kazuma’s adopted father (yes, those are two different people), has his thumb cut off in exchange for the yakuza sparing the lives of Kazuma and his friends. We don’t witness the act itself, only a bloody bandage wrapped around the man’s thumb. We do, however, witness Kazuma’s best friend, Nashiki, attempt to imitate this act to prove his loyalty to the mafia. He struggles to cut off the finger, and we hear the disturbing sound of slicing flesh as well as the boy’s screams. He’s stopped before he’s able to fully carry out the act.
During a fight after being released from prison, Kazuma stabs a man in the leg with his own knife, though this isn’t particularly bloody. Yumi, another of Kazuma’s childhood friends, is abducted in her car; she stabs her attacker in the ear and strangles him to death.
The leader of the yakuza says that Yumi and Miho, both young girls involved in the heist in 1995, will have to pay off their debts by “working in the red-light district.” It’s unclear at this point whether that actually came to pass. Multiple people casually smoke cigarettes, and Yumi and Nashiki drink liquor at a bar. (This takes place in 2005, when both are adults.)
The s-word is used two times. “H—” is said twice, and “b–ch” is said once.
Lauren Cook is serving as a 2021 summer intern for the Parenting and Youth department at Focus on the Family. She is studying film and screenwriting at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. You can get her talking for hours about anything from Star Wars to her family to how Inception was the best movie of the 2010s. But more than anything, she’s passionate about showing how every form of art in some way reflects the Gospel. Coffee is a close second.
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