Like a Dragon: Ishin will not feature an English dub. This means that the forthcoming video game will only be available in native Japanese.
Like a Dragon: Ishin is a full remake of Yakuza: Ishin which was released for the PS3 and PS4 in 2014. The game served as a spin-off to the mainline series being set during the 1860s.
Like a Dragon:Ishin has been a long time coming
Sadly, the original game was only ever released in Japan. Yet, fans were still able to import the game.
However, unless the player had a firm understanding of the Japanese language, they had to make do with translation guides.
While not available in all Yakuza games, recent instalments have offered the choice of an English dub as well as native Japanese.
However, during Tokyo Game Show week, a plethora of Yakuza games was announced.
One of the games announced during TGS 2022 week was the aforementioned Like a Dragon: Ishin.
Alongside this, SEGA officially confirmed the series was rebranding under the new name, ‘Like a Dragon’.
Here’s why there’s no English dub in Like a Dragon: Ishin
Like a Dragon: Ishin producer, Masayoshi Yokoyama confirmed during an interview with Tojo Dojo, that the remake will only feature Japanese voice actors with English subtitles.
Yokoyama explained that English voice acting in Like a Dragon: Ishin would make its lines of “specialised vocabulary[…] incredibly long”.
Yokoyama also mentions that voiceovers were not present in Yakuza 0 and suggested that most western fans prefer the series that way.
He further stated that western audiences prefer Japanese voice actors over those that translate to the English language.
Do fans prefer Japanese voice actors?
“For the Ishin remake, we’re using subtitles. We’re not dubbing voiceovers,” explains Yokoyama. “We’re translating the game into English, but the specialised vocabulary and the way people talked during the Bakumatsu era would make the lines incredibly long so it just wouldn’t work. So, this time we’re doing subtitles.”
Being a fan of the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series, I definitely prefer the Japanese voice actors.
It would simply be too weird hearing Kiryu with a different voice. However, it can be argued that an English dub may aid those with impaired sight.
So much Yakuza goodness!
Elsewhere during the TGS 2022 week, a sequel to Yakuza: Like a Dragon was announced, as well as a brand-new game starring Kazuma Kiryu. Oh, and the Judgment series finally came to PC.
What are your thoughts on Like a Dragon: Ishin only having Japanese voice actors? Would you have preferred an English dubbed option? Let us know your thoughts across our social media channels.
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Featured Image Credit: SEGA/RGG Studio/Source: Eurogamer via PC Gamer