Kazuma Kiryu, the Dragon of Dojima, from the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series will now be voiced by YongYea in the series’ new English dub and fans aren’t pleased.
RGG Studio announced that YongYea would be the new voice of Kiryu, with the YouTuber honored to be voicing a legendary character. However, many feel that Kiryu’s original dub actor, Darryl Kurrylo, should have been given the role since these games haven’t been dubbed in decades.
Unfortunately, this has also led to some toxic comments for YongYea, with many “fans” leaving some awful comments due to the voice actor’s original career as a gaming YouTuber.
“Holy shit Kiryu gonna be reading gaming news and articles for at least 10 minutes while adding absolutely nothing of importance about the subject?” said @digdigdighempa.
“I really liked Darryl's Kazuma so that sucks. Kind of lame to have YongYea involved as such a major character too,” says @SegaUranus.
It’s worth noting that YongYea has actually had voice acting experience before getting this Like a Dragon role. The YouTube star has done roles for the SMITE video game, the Demon Slayer anime, and more. Sadly, most of us know him for his video game news YouTube channel and that’s going to get some blowback.
Hopefully, the voice actor/YouTuber can prove his critics wrong and give Kiryu a voice many can be proud of. Obviously, he won’t be using his normal speaking voice for this role since it just wouldn’t fit the character. We’ll have to wait for his upcoming games before giving our criteria.
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YongYea will be Kiryu in the next two Like a Dragon games. Like a Dragon Gaiden comes out on November 8. Meanwhile, Like a Dragon 8 will be coming out in early 2024.