Yakuza: Like a Dragon introduced us to a brand new cast of characters when it launched in 2020, with Kasuga Ichiban at the helm. With the series’ new focus on turn-based combat, we needed a proper party of allies to stand alongside him, so RGG Studios delivered a range of characters to choose from, including soon to be fan favourites Adachi, Nanba, Saeko, and Zhao.

Though the old gang resurfaces in its most recent title, Infinite Wealth, many don’t come back as playable party members until later on in the game. This latest adventure with Kasuga instead focuses on the brand-new setting of Hawaii and the new personalities you meet there, and Eric Tomizawa is the first new character to join your ranks.

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Like a Dragon has such a passionate fanbase, so it would be understandable for anyone joining the series to feel a little trepidation, but Matt Yang King, the English voice actor for Tomizawa, had no concerns about stepping into the role of a new character. Interestingly, King previously voiced two roles in Like a Dragon’s spin-off series, as Kazuya Ayabe for Judgment and Kazumi Soma for Lost Judgment.

“Any time I get to work with [performance director] Keith Arem is a good day. And the way that [ direction studio] PCB handled this title was amazing. Playing this character was wonderful because I really got to experience the arc of his journey and it's huge. Such enormous swings of character and emotion. Sometimes quite bizarre. Almost surreal.”

Though Tomizawa starts as an enemy—well, more a nuisance than a true antagonist—it doesn’t take long for him to fall for Kasuga’s charm, unrelenting positivity, and tenacious will to see the good in everyone. Though Kasuga wins him over, as we’ve seen before with many characters he meets, Tomizawa mixes things up from the norm by being a begrudging addition to the team.

Tomizawa makes it clear from the get-go that he and Kasuga are not immediate buddies despite having to partner up. It’s funny to see how he disparages the team for being so blasé about near misses with death and their eagerness to run headfirst into danger. In many ways, he has the most realistic outlook on the bizarre yet incredible situations the team finds themselves in.

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As the narrative unfolds, we learn more about Tomizawa and how he came to be mixed up with the Yamai Syndicate, shedding some much-needed light on how he went from your average guy to someone beaten down by unfair circumstances.

Infinite Wealth deals with many core themes, such as closure and hope, but each character has their own issues to deal with, too. King says that for Tomizawa, the important themes were loss and forgiveness, telling us, “I handled it by going into my personal sense of dealing with tragedy and hardship and tried to find the truth in the extreme circumstances of the game.”

King tells us that it was fun to convey Tomizawa’s evolution into an ally, “Building in little nuances of his backstory really gave him a chance to incrementally grow towards someone really loyal and honourable.”

As with the rest of the party members, participating in the Drink Link conversations with them allows them to open up to Kasuga. In addition to getting to know them on a deeper personal level, you see a different tone for each character.

“I fell in love with this kind of character expansion in the Mass Effect series,” King says. “But I think it's done extraordinarily well here. [It’s] a very different vibe. Keith Arem is an extraordinary director and he's great about hearing specific nuances that he wants to pull out of your performance.”

Though King hasn’t yet had time to play Infinite Wealth, he has played some of the series’ older titles, telling us, “I am an old-school gamer. Was a lot of running around Tokyo getting my butt kicked.” When asked what his favourite character is from the entire series, he says, “I really like Kasuga. Because other than the fact that he's a loveable dumbass, he's also super fun to play.”

Disappointingly, Tomizawa doesn’t get any karaoke songs in Infinite Wealth, but King says he’s “always up for a good schmaltzy ballad though”. Perhaps we’ll see Tomizawa belting one out in the next Like a Dragon instalment, with King hoping that we haven’t seen the last of Tomizawa and that maybe he’s even living life in a cottage on the beach. When asked where he sees the series going next, King jokingly replies, “No clue, there was a giant shark in this one —spoilers— we might need a bigger boat.”

Though it’s not clear where the series will go next, I hope we get to see more of Tomizawa. He undergoes so much growth in Infinite Wealth that it would be a waste to leave him behind now. Whether Like a Dragon returns to Japan or stays in Hawaii, I hope we find our favourite cabby there, too.

Like a Dragon Week

Dates March 25-31, 2024 Genre Action-Adventure Developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios Publisher Sega Franchise Yakuza Games Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza Kiwami 2, Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, Yakuza 5, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Like a Dragon: Ishin, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, Judgment, Lost Judgment

Like a Dragon Week is TheGamer's celebration of all things Yakuza/Like a Dragon, with features, interviews, and opinions on Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's massively popular series of action-adventue brawlers.

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