So it seems that the next entry in the Like A Dragon (formerly Yakuza) series, Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, won’t be available with an English dub at launch. While we will eventually be able to get to hear Kazuma Kiryu’s world come to life in what I assume is the native language of most of the people reading this, for the time being, everyone who’s not fluent in Japanese will have to settle for navigating their way through the game’s story with the aid of subtitles.
As a long-time anime fan, I understand that struggle. My preferences vary between different series, and with most anime that I love, I’ve got very solid opinions when it comes to whether the sub or the dub is the superior choice. I’ve even got some that I refuse to play in the background while I’m doing chores around the house, because I can’t follow the Japanese audio and the English dub just doesn’t feel like the authentic or essential experience.
But when it comes to LADG:TMWEHN (Man, even as an acronym, that title is cumbersome as hell), I can understand the hesitation of gamers who have only come to the series recently. While some of the older fans may have fond memories of playing through the games with their all-Japanese voice cast, every entry since 2018’s Judgment, which came out about halfway through the series’ run on PlayStation 4, has had optional English audio.
It might not seem like a game that came out five years ago is in the distant past, but the Like A Dragon series is a very active one, and there have been three fresh and new console releases (Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Lost Judgment, and Like A Dragon: Ishin!) between Judgment and the next game in the series with its ridiculously long name, which comes out on November 9 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
But before that, Japanese audio with English subtitles was just something that we, the gamers, kind of got used to, and for most of us, it wasn’t too hard of a transition. The first Yakuza game came out on the PlayStation 2 back in 2005, and while it was playable with English audio, it wasn’t exactly fondly remembered for its voice acting (aside for the legendary’s Mark Hammill’s splendidly demented performance as Goro Majima.
After the decision came through to not bring the English cast or audio track back for the second game the following year, things didn’t exactly see a downturn. The sequel not only outsold the original—not entirely surprising, as it was building upon the first game’s success only a year prior—but it also saw slightly higher reviews than the original. To me, that means even without its audio options reaching a wider variety of players worldwide, it still managed to provide a better overall gameplay experience than the game that came before it, which is, ya know, what a sequel should be trying to do. And while they saw mixed reactions, the next dozen or so games in the series got by fine doing the same thing.
Even ignoring the past and just looking towards the future, if it takes The Man Who Erased His Name’s developers time to get the English audio where it needs to be, I’m okay with that. The Yakuza series has always been a love letter to Japanese culture, and some of its really standout moments for western audiences have come from concepts that seem alien or just downright weird to us despite just being a part of everyday life for our neighbors to the east. As an American, I’m well-acquainted with karaoke, and I’ve even won myself an ugly sweater and caused a bar full of hipsters to break out into spontaneous, coupled-up slow dancing with my rendition of Billy Joel’s New York State of Mind. But Japan’s karaoke is on another level entirely, and it’s a treasured memory for Like A Dragon’s fandom.
Continuing with that trend, The Man Who Erased His Name is bringing in live-action cabaret girls that you can try to woo and win the affections of. I’ve got a creeping suspicion that this may be part of the problem, as dubbing in lines to match the lips of a video game or anime character is going to be a lot easier than matching them to an interactive video of a real, live person, and I’m perfectly willing to give the localization team extra time to get this sorted out, so we don’t get left with asinine gibberish that makes no sense but matches the shapes these women are making with the word holes in their faces.
All in all, the lack of an English dub at launch is a bit of a letdown for a personalized play experience, but at least it’s coming, and I’d rather that the world get to experience the next exciting chapter of Like A Dragon all at the same time rather than delaying it for the English-speaking world.