Yakuzais a long-running franchise, withLike A Dragon: Infinite Wealthcontinuing the latest trend of optional English voice acting. Given that there are many games in the series, it’s not that much of a surprise when familiar faces (or voices) return to the scene in newer games.
Of course, given that English dubs are, themselves, fairly new, it isn’t too much of a surprise that the English Voice Actors don’t have a full slate of Yakuza games in their resumes to boast about. Plus, all the remakes only help to give returning Japanese voice actors a little extra boost in the number of Yakuza games they’ve participated in.
10Ichiban Kasuga - Kaiji Tang/Kazuhiro Nakaya
Kaiji Tang (EN)
Yakuza: Like A Dragon (2020), Lost Judgment (2021), Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (2023), Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
Kazuhiro Nakaya (JP)
Yakuza (2005), Like A Dragon: Ishin! (2014), Yakuza 0 (2015), Yakuza Kiwami (2016), Yakuza Online/Ryu Ga Gotoku Online (2018), Yakuza: Like A Dragon (2020), Like A Dragon: Ishin! (2023), Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (2023), Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
Although Ichiban’s English voice actor,Kaiji Tang,hasn’t been in the Yakuza series for very long, he’s beenthe sole English voice actor for Ichiban. Kaiji Tang also happens to voiceKaito Sakakiba inLost Judgment, the sequel toJudgment.
You may recognize Kaiji Tang from his work outside of the Yakuza franchise onPersona 5as Iwai. By contrast,Kazuhiro Nakaya, Ichiban’s Japanese voice actor, has been in and out of the series for a while, most notably voicingAkira Nishikiyama and Izo Okadaprior to his role as Ichiban Kasuga.
9Kihei Hanawa - Jake Eberle/Hiroki Tochi
Jake Eberle (EN)
Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (2023), Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
Hiroki Tochi (JP)
Yakuza 5 (2012), Like A Dragon: Ishin! (2014), Yakuza Online/Ryu Ga Gotoku Online (2018), Like A Dragon: Ishin! (2023), Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (2023), Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
Although Kihei Hanawa’s English voice actor, Jake Eberle, hasn’t played another character in the Yakuza character, the Japanese voice actor, Hiroki Tochi, has. Beginning with Yakuza 5 in 2012, Hiroki Tochi wasthe voice behind Yuu Morinaga. Two years later,he picked up the role of Chuji Matsubarain the originalLike A Dragon: Ishin!.
Hiroki Tochi played both of these characters in Yakuza Online before reprising the role of Chuji Matsubara in the Like A Dragon: Ishin! remake. More recently, he has taken on Kihei Hanawa, offering him a fairly diverse group of characters compared to others who play the same character throughout the entire series.
8Goro Majima - Matthew Mercer/Hidenari Ugaki
Matthew Mercer (EN)
Judgment (2019), Yakuza: Like A Dragon (2020), Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (2023), Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
Hidenari Ugaki (JP)
If Goro Majima has been in a game, Hidenari Ugaki has been there, voicing him.
Just as Takaya Kuroda has always been the voice behind Kiryu,Hidenari Ugaki has always been the voice behind Majima- even voicing a few different “types” of Majima in the Yakuza Online/Ryu Ga Gotoku Online game.
Matthew Mercerhasn’t seemed to stray far from the path of Majimaeither, fillingalmost every English dub role that Majima has needed. What may surprise some, though, is that his introduction to the series came throughJudgment, in which he voiced Mitsuru Kuroiwa,rather than the Yakuza or Like A Dragon names.
The only time Majima’s English voice wasn’t Matt Mercer was in the original game when he was voiced by Mark Hamill.
7Yu Nanba - Greg Chun/Ken Yasuda
Greg Chun (EN)
Judgment (2019), Yakuza: Like A Dragon (2020), Lost Judgment (2021), Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
Ken Yasuda (JP)
Yakuza Online/Ryu Ga Gotoku Online (2018), Yakuza: Like A Dragon (2020), Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
Like other English voice actors, Greg Chun started his career in the Yakuza series throughJudgment and Lost Judgment, where he voiced Takayuki Yagamiin both games, up until he, as you can guess, played Yu Nanba.
This actually offers Greg Chun slightly more roles in the Yakuza series than Yu Nanba’s Japanese voice actor, Ken Yasuda. Although Ken Yasuda has played three roles in Yakuza,each one has been as Yu Nanba,which comprises the majority of his career as a video game voice actor.
6Kouichi Adachi - Andrew Morgado/Akio Otsuka
Andrew Morgado (EN)
Yakuza: Like A Dragon (2020), Lost Judgment (2021), Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
Akio Otsuka (JP)
Yakuza 3 (2009), Yakuza: Like A Dragon (2020), Like A Dragon: Ishin! (2023), Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
Andrew Morgando, Kouichi Adachi’s English voice actor, actuallyvoiced two characters in Lost Judgment - Hiro Mikoshiba and the Judge. However, his introduction to the Yakuza series came throughYakuza: Like A Dragonrather than through the Judgment series like many other English voice actors.
Akio Otsuka, on the other hand, first played a role in theoriginal Yakuza 3, where he voiced Ryuzo Tamiya.In the Like A Dragon: Ishin! remake,Akio Otsuka also voiced Isami Kondobefore going back to his role as Kouichi Adachi in the newest installment of the Yakuza series.
5Taiga Saejima - Ron Yuan/Rikiya Koyama
Ron Yuan (EN)
Yakuza: Like A Dragon (2020), Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (2023), Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
Rikiya Koyama (JP)
Yakuza 4 (2010), Yakuza 5 (2012), Like A Dragon: Ishin! (2014), Yakuza 0 (2015), Yakuza 6 (2016), Yakuza Online/Ryu Ga Gotoku Online (2018), Like a Dragon: Ishin! (2023), Yakuza: Like A Dragon (2020), Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (2023), Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
Like many other English voice actors, Ron Yuan doesn’t have a particularly long resume concerning Yakuza, having only played Taiga Saejima. Rikiya Koyama, however, has been in and out of the Yakuza franchise for a while, often playing Taiga Saejima. In unique roles, however,he played Shinpachi Nagakurain both the original and the remake of Like A Dragon: Ishin!
In Yakuza Online, Rikiya Koyama played three different characters,including Taiga Saejima, Shinpachi Nagakura, and a new one, Retsu Kaioh, who came from a collaboration with the Baki series.
4Eric Tomizawa - Matthew Yang King/Satoru Iguichi
Matthew Yang King (EN)
Judgment (2019), Lost Judgment (2021), Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
Satoru Iguichi (JP)
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
Interestingly enough, this is one of the few instances where the English voice actor has more credits in the Yakuza series than the Japanese voice actor. Satoru Iguichi, Eric Tomizawa’s Japanese voice actor, isn’t even traditionally a voice actor - he’s a singer from the band King Gnu.
Matthew Yang King, however, started with Judgment,working as the voice actor for Kazuya Ayabe. In Lost Judgment, Matthew Yang King wasthe English voice actor for Kazuki Soma.Unlike many of the other English voice actors in the main cast, both of Eric Tomizawa’s voice actors weren’t present for the previous game, Yakuza: Like A Dragon.
3Daigo Dojima - Tim Friedlander/Satoshi Tokushige
Tim Friedlander (EN)
Satoshi Tokushige (JP)
Yakuza 2-6 (2006-2016), Yakuza: Dead Souls (2011), Like A Dragon: Ishin! (2014), Yakuza Kiwami 2 (2017), Yakuza Online/Ryu Ga Gotoku Online (2018), Yakuza: Like A Dragon (2020), Like A Dragon: Ishin (2023), Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (2023), Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
AlthoughSatoshi Tokushige has mainly played Daigo Dojimathroughout the original Yakuza games and the remakes, he does actually play a different role in Like A Dragon: Ishin! In both the original and the remake,Satoshi Tokushige plays Yoshinobu Tokuagawa.
In Yakuza Online, Satoshi Tokushige voices both his rolesas Daigo Dojima and Yoshinobu Tokugawa. While he doesn’t play a diverse array of different characters, it is notable just how many Yakuza games he has been in. He appearsalmost as often as several different recurring side charactersthroughout the franchise.
Yakuza (2006), Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
Kazuhiro Yamaji (JP)
Yakuza 2-6 (2006-2016), Yakuza: Dead Souls (2011), Like A Dragon: Ishin! (2014), Yakuza Kiwami (2016), Yakuza Kiwami 2 (2017), Yakuza Online/Ryu Ga Gotoku Online (2018), Like A Dragon: Ishin! (2023), Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
Surprisingly, Bill Farmer has been around for a little bit longer than the newer games, like most of the English voice actors.Bill Farmer was the voice of Makoto Date and Hirata in the very first Yakuza English dubin 2006.
Kazuhiro Yamaji, on the other hand, has been in the Yakuza series more often, usually just as the voice of Makoto Date. However, he does make an appearance inLike A Dragon: Ishin!, both the original and the remake, as Shintaro Nakaoka. He, of course, plays both of these roles in Yakuza Online.
Takehito Koyasu (JP)
Yakuza Kiwami 2 (2017), Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
Neither of Yutaka Yamai’s voice actors has much experience in the Yakuza franchise (at least, not as much as some others). Andrew Kishino’s introductory role to the franchise is as Yutaka Yamai, after all. However, Takehito Koyasu does make a surprise entrance much earlier in the series,playing Kei Iibuchi in Yakuza Kiwami 2.
Aside from that, these two actors do stand out in that they don’t seem to be nearly as well entrenched in the franchise. Hopefully, we’ll get to see more from both of them in the future.
