Like A Dragon Fans Aren't Impressed With Kiryu's New English Voice
For many Yakuza/Like A Dragon fans, beloved protagonist Kazuma Kiryu has been voiced by Takaya Kuroda since the first game released back in 2005. Now that the series has become a little more mainstream, there's a greater emphasis on having a quality dub, as not everyone likes having to read subtitles to understand what's going on. For the dubs, developer Ryu ga Gotoku Studios usually goes with voice actor Darryl Kurylo, but he's been replaced by YouTuber Yong Yea for Like A Dragon Gaiden and presumably Infinite Wealth as well.
We've yet to hear YongYea's professional performance as Kiryu, but the voice actor gave us a sample during the Dragons of Japan panel during this year's Anime Expo, doing a rough voice over the game's most recent trailer. While YongYea probably thought that this tease would've hyped up fans of the series for his future performance, it's actually done the opposite, as a large amount of fans aren't too impressed with the direction that he's taken with the character.
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The snippet was shared by Judgement Kazzy on Twitter (which you can see embedded below), with the tweet itself filled with upset fans really unimpressed with what they've heard. Loads of them are simply critiquing the voice itself, while others are questioning why Ryu ga Gotoku hasn't just brought back Darryl Kurylo. Suffice to say, YongYea's performance is a little on the controversial side.
However, to be fair to him, this little clip wasn't exactly recorded in the most ideal setting, but you could argue that debuting the new voice of a character as iconic as Kiryu in a crowded convention hall wasn't the best move. Responding to the backlash, YongYea tweeted out a cleaner version of
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