However, the series has always been beloved in its country of origin, Japan. Now, a fan has created an amazing live-action mashup video of the Yakuza series and the Grand Theft Auto series.
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For those who may not know, the Yakuza series of games follows a member of the Japanese yakuza through a riveting and epic crime drama storyline. While the original six games followed an ex-yakuza member named Kazuma Kiryu, Yakuza: Like a Dragon will follow a new protagonist named Ichiban Kasuga. The Yakuza series is known for iconic characters and faithful recreations of Japanese city nightlife.
Now, a fan has taken those iconic aspects of the series and made an amazing and hilarious live-action video surrounding the series. The video also takes elements of Grand Theft Auto’s gameplay mechanics and weaves them in to create a wonderful live-action recreation of those two types of games. The video even includes edited in button prompts and stiff “animation” in a real-world environment to parody the sometimes clunky feel of certain video game animations.
The video in question was uploaded by a Japanese YouTube channel “駒沢アイソレーション” translated as Komazawa Isolation. The video in question shows someone acting as the game’s ‘protagonist’ while wandering around exploring a real-world city Grand Theft Auto-style. The video parodies a variety of different games, even having a nice little homage to the Metal Gear Solid franchise where the main actor tails someone while hiding in a cardboard box. Additionally, the video shows the protagonist engaging in multiple video game-esque combat scenarios where defeat results in the iconic GTA fade out with the bold, red ‘Wasted’ text over the screen.
The 11-minute video is a joy to watch, as the two main actors are clearly having a fun time parodying these two great video game franchises. The video is also pretty timely, as Yakuza Kiwami 2 recently hit Xbox One for the very first time. Microsoft has been giving the Yakuza series a ton of love recently which is good news all around.
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Source: Komazawa Isolation (via YouTube)
