Yazuka Producer Says Like A Dragon Is Basically One Piece

thegamer.com:

Yakuza: Like a Dragon was a turning point for the Yakuza series. Not only did it have a brand-new protagonist, but it also had a much different tone. Ichiban has lovable, funny, and kind-hearted in a way that was totally different from Kiryu. Turns out, Ichiban can owe a lot of those character traits to One Piece’s Luffy.

Yakuza producer Masayoshi Yokoyama recently told Crunchy Roll just how an anime like One Piece could be so influential towards Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

Related: Kiryu's Like A Dragon Return Is A Sign That Gaming Can't Leave The Past Behind

"I’ve never really talked about this before, so I’m not sure if I should just go for it now, but for [Yakuza] 7 I was really, really inspired by One Piece," said Yokoyama. "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."

Yokoyama went on to explain how even the game's advertising used the phrase "life is an adventure," a tagline similar to One Piece's. "And, you know, and this is definitely not official, but in my own heart, Yakuza 7 was basically my ideal version of what would be Yakuza: One Piece. That’s how I got the inspiration to make it!"

Elsewhere in the interview, Yokoyama discussed the Yakuza franchise's recent renaming to its Japanese title of "Like A Dragon," starting with Like A Dragon: Ishin. The name change was actually previewed with Yakuza: Like A Dragon, which Yokoyama described as an intermediate step to keep players from becoming confused.

"Then, there was a discussion about whether to put use it again next time and we thought that ‘Like A Dragon’ might already be in people's