Hi everyone!
This is the third (and probably final) post in my series for Beast in the East, coming after The Yakuza 0 "80's Hits! Collection" Soundtrack and A History Documentary for the Yakuza Endurance Run.
Now that Beast in the East is acquainted with most of the key characters in Yakuza 0, here’s my third post of extras for those keeping up with the series. The following were all released as part of Yakuza 0’s original PR campaign. I’ll tell you right now: this wound up being a lot more than what I had planned it to be, so it’s going to be a pretty long post.
First up, a collection of interviews with the voice actors. There’s no official English translation, but you do get to see the faces behind the voices. The topics include opinions on the script and characters as well as personal memories of the late ’80s and a message for fans. There’s also some discussion and footage of the face capture tech used in the game. How long ago was L.A. Noire? Man...
Oh, and you get to see Riki Takeuchi gesture like he’s sponsored by his own body and say the words “face capture” amazingly. Hope you enjoy it.
PART ONE
0:00 黒田崇矢 Takuya Kuroda - Kiryu
3:57 宇垣秀成 Hidenari Ugaki - Majima
7:50 中谷一博 Kazuhiro Nakaya - Nishikiyama
12:50 咲野俊介 Shunsuke Sakuya - Kashiwagi
17:44 沢城みゆき Miyuki Sawashiro - Makoto (credited as “blind working girl”)
Wen Hai Lee was played by Kazunari Tanaka (田中一成). His page at Aoni Production is here. Sadly, he passed away in October 2016 at the age of 49.
PART TWO
0:00 竹内力 Riki Takeuchi - Awano
3:28 鶴見辰吾 Shingo Tsurumi - Sagawa
6:21 中野英雄 Hideo Nakano - Shibusawa
9:50 井浦新 Arata Iura - Tachibana
14:37 小沢仁志 Hitoshi Ozawa - Kuze
Thirty AV actresses appeared in Yakuza 0’s substories. Here are the top ten.
0:00 朝倉ことみ Kotomi Asakura (Club Moon)
2:44 白石茉莉奈 Marina Shiraishi (Real estate - Kiryu’s secretary)
6:44 湊莉久 Riku Minato (Telephone club)
9:15 友田彩也香 Ayaka Tomoda (Telephone club)
12:32 さとう遥希 Haruki Satō (Telephone club)
15:07 初美沙希 Saki Hatsumi (Club Jupiter)
17:30 大槻ひびき Hibiki Ōtsuki (Club Mercury)
20:20 上原亜衣 Ai Uehara (Club Mars)
22:50 紗倉まな Mana Sakura (Club Moon)
25:43 有村千佳 Chika Arimura (Club Venus)
Club Sunshine’s Yuki is played by voice actor Manami Sugihira (杉平真奈美). Her page’s demo reel opens with a variation of Yuki’s answer to “do you have any hobbies?”. I wonder if it was borrowed from Yakuza 0, or if it was original dialogue that won her the part. Whichever came first, she is the most charming stammerer I’ve heard.
...and now I need to change course for a moment.
While proofreading actors’ names for this post, I stumbled upon a small page tucked away on the series website.
The Yakuza tradition of auditioning real-life AV stars and hostesses to appear in the games is well-known, but Sega also holds auditions for male characters. For Yakuza 0, these were for Mr. Shakedown, Mr. Libido (known as Mr. Matchless in the Japanese version), Mr. Moneybags, and hosts that would appear on club advertisements throughout the game. Series creator (and Sega CCO) Toshihiro Nagoshi and chief producer Masayoshi Yokoyama acted as judges.
Yokoyama (left) and Nagoshi
The winners are posted on this page, and their real names are mentioned in the game. In addition to introductions, some were asked to act out certain situations. The following are the audition videos, with a list of where you can see the winners.
MR. SHAKEDOWN
0:55 大江健次 Kenji Ōe - Sōtenbori #2
He is also known as “mckj” and raps freestyle about his bald head for the audition.
3:39 川橋直也 Naoya Kawahashi - Sōtenbori #1
A huge fan of the series, Nagoya lost a lot of weight before the audition, partly because he wanted to be more popular with women. When asked, he admits that he has not found a girlfriend yet.
6:45 江頭宏哉 Hiroya Egashira - Kamurochō #1
He’s a man of few words, and that doesn’t change in his audition. ^_^
8:40 佐藤祐基 Yūki Satō - Kamurochō #2
Now known as Jin Satō, he’s been an actor since 2005 and is best known for his work in the Kamen Rider Kabuto series.
MR. MONEYBAGS
4:26 谷岡幸太郎 Kōtarō Tanioka - Sōtenbori
Among other things, Kōtarō fronts a band called The Sneakers. Their website is here and his Twitter is here.
7:10 福島善成 Yoshinari Fukushima - Kamurochō
Yoshinari is half of the comedy duo Garittochu. His two impressions for the audition: a child getting a vaccination and Saddam Hussein’s statue.
MR. LIBIDO
1:01 ハブ Habu - Sōtenbori, obviously
A comedian now known as Habu Service. He’s asked to show his technique for (I think) keeping a date from taking the last train home in hopes that she spends the night at his place.
9:56 秋本智仁 Tomohito Akimoto - Kamurochō
Half of comedy duo 5GAP. His audition is the same as Habu’s, but his technique isn’t as desperate.
...and here’s their interview video.
Finally, there’s one last thing I wanted to share.
This is the Goro Majima Hannya Bracelet. I love it. It was designed by Naoto Furuya, who makes silver jewelry in his studio Strange Freak Designs. His work has shown up in TV shows such as the Kamen Rider series and on Marilyn Manson’s fingers, and he’s been working on Ryū ga Gotoku-themed jewelry for Sega since 2013.
The latest line is all about Goro Majima. Although it’s billed as a “ladies line”, some of the designs skew more toward unisex. There’s no English page, but Google Translate does a good job, and you can still order from the collection in English using the Shopping Guide. Here are the names along with the model numbers.
Goro Majima Hannya Ring II / SFD-CLB-SG-R-03
Goro Majima Snake Pendant / SFD-CLB-SG-P-03
Goro Majima Hannya Pendant II / SFD-CLB-SG-P-04
Goro Majima Hannya Bracelet / SFD-CLB-SG-B-01
...and that’s that. I don’t think I can continue making posts like this, as I always take too long to put them together and now have a giant non-Yakuza-sized fish to fry in my life. Still, I’m happy that I could post what I did. Many thanks to all of you who wrote kind words about them, and to everyone that read them. Have a good one. ^_^
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