Yakuza: Like a Dragon Was Apparently Inspired by One Piece

gamerant.com:

In a new interview, producer and writer of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Masayoshi Yokoyama, has stated that the game was inspired by the popular anime and manga series, One Piece. Yokoyama also went on to detail how the game's name was agreed upon as well as the future of the franchise. Yakuza: Like a Dragon was first released back in 2020 as a mainline entry that featured turn-based combat and focused on a protagonist named Inchiban Kasuga, who was apparently heavily inspired by Luffy from One Piece.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon was thelast game in the franchise to use the title "Yakuza" outside of Japan, before adopting "Like a Dragon" as the new series title in the West. Sega clarified the Yakuza franchise's name change back in September. Given how popular the series has gotten around the world, it will likely be difficult to not refer to the series as «Yakuza,» and given how popular the One Piece franchise has gotten, it isn't as much of a stretch for the manga to have been such a big influence on this unique entry in the franchise upon further examination.

Like a Dragon: Gaiden Will Be A Smaller Scale Game Than Other Yakuza Games

In an interview with Crunchyroll, Yokoyama, looked back fondly on Yakuza: Like a Dragon, stating that writing the game was his take on a One Piece game. «I’ve never really talked about this before, so I’m not sure if I should just go for it now, but for Yakuza: Like a Dragon I was really, really inspired by One Piece. To me, Ichiban is basically Luffy. And around him there’s Zoro and Nami and basically the rest of the party, you know? One Piece’s party composition was on my mind so much during writing that it was a massive influence,» said Yokoyama. Yokoyama also stated that catch copy for Yakuza: Like a