The director of Yakuza 3 Kiwami + Darkish Ties has damaged his silence on Ryo Ga Gotoku Studio’s controversial hiring of Teruyuki Kagawa to play Goh Hamazaki, saying they wanted somebody who would make audiences assume, “This man’s a creep.”
This comes from an interview with Horii carried out by Japanese outlet GAME Watch, and independently translated by IGN. Within the interview, Horii is requested immediately in regards to the determination to recast sure characters in Kiwami from their unique Japanese actors. His common response as to why he recast each Hamazaki and Rikiya Shimabukuro is that whereas it will “definitely be safer not to recast them and keep away from on-line criticism,” the studio “felt there was no use being afraid.”
Horii goes on to say that they primarily based their determination on who they most wished to see carry out. When requested immediately about Kagawa taking part in Hamazaki, that is what Horii had to say:
Hamazaki is a sleazy, persistent, and militant yakuza, proper? Since he is not an explosive character like Kanda, after we tried to assume of somebody who makes you go, “This man’s a creep,” naturally it was Kagawa – that was the primary issue. Kagawa’s performing is enjoyable to watch. Even when he is chopping a pig’s toes off with a chef’s knife, it has a slimy really feel. That feeling permeates his efficiency, so it brings a freshness to the scene and made it really feel actually enjoyable.
Kagawa’s casting as Hamazaki has been met with anger from Yakuza followers due to the actor having been accused by multiple women of sexual assault, with one girl coming ahead with what appears to be photographic proof of the incident. In 2022, Kagawa admitted to and apologized for one of the incidents, however one other of his accusers has said she received no apology.
Following the announcement of Kagawa’s casting, Yakuza followers reacted in anger on social media, getting #REMOVEKAGAWA trending on a number of networks and creating a Change.org petition that on the time of this writing has almost 10,000 signatures. Followers have accused RGG Studio of suppressing the #REMOVEKAGAWA hashtag and deleting feedback referencing the difficulty on its official Instagram web page. And a quantity of them have identified that Sega has recast actors for offenses previously – Pierre Taki was recast in Judgment again in 2019 after he was arrested for cocaine possesssion.
Up to this level, neither RGG Studio nor Sega has supplied official touch upon Kagawa’s casting, nor the accusations – Horii’s reply is the primary assertion that is been supplied on the topic. Nevertheless, Sega did publish a trailer on its official YouTube after the wave of criticism, which launched the Japanese voice forged and opened on a longer clip of Hamazaki. IGN reached out to Sega for extra remark forward of this story, however didn’t hear again in time for publication.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Received a story tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.