With the release of the anticipated Yakuza Kiwami 3—the remake of Yakuza 3 originally released in 2009 on the PS3—with the addition of Dark Ties—a third installment in the line of character-centric “Gaiden” games, this time featuring the title’s antagonist—there have been some thoughts of how to approach a potential playthrough following its coverage since it’s announcement.

For those not in the know, we’ve started a journey playing through Sega’s long-running game series, Yakuza—now known as Like A Dragon—from its prequel Yakuza 0, to the most recent Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, where we spent a few years from 2022 to 2025, with our recent wrap-up up of the latter game.

We were excited for the then-upcoming announcement of Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, following a leak on their official website, when Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio announced their RGG Summit in late September during Tokyo Game Show 2025. In the weeks following the announcement—and even with its release this week—fan reactions have been mixed—and for valid reasons… one that we will discuss as to how we’re approaching a potential stream, video, or even just a written review of Yakuza Kiwami 3.

Highlighting the Characters That Matter

Many of you who have followed the Yakuza Kiwami 3 coverage may know already what we’re going to talk about. To start, I will say that, despite them being fictional, I have a lot of respect for the main characters that have been with us from the start: Kazuma Kiryu, Goro Majima, and Daigo Dojima to name a few. The included Dark Ties game features Yoshitaka Mine, the antagonist of Yakuza 3; it is the third game in the line of “Gaiden” games, with the first being released in late 2023 “The Man Who Erased His Name” that follows Kiryu in the story surrounding the events of Yakuza: Like A Dragon released in early 2020, with the second Gaiden game released in early 2025, the above mentioned Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii featuring Majima following the conclusion of events of Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth.

With us being given the opportunity to know more about a major character through a supplemental title such as Dark Ties, I would love to highlight the ups and downs of what makes Mine who he is, especially if there’s the possibility to give existing characters positive developments that we never knew could happen over a decade in a half ago in the future with other Gaiden entries.

However, there are characters where we do not have the space or energy to give, especially in certain situations where their respective actor, voice-over or in likeness, have caused issues: that means even minor characters such as Goh Hamazaki will NOT be given the spotlight on Centaku Media.

The issue in question is of the new actor portraying Goh Hamazaki, Teruyuki Kagawa, who has been in serious legal and moral matters that have caused a lot of distress to not only the people he hurt, but to those around him as well: the fans. The situation in question dates back to 2019, where he was involved in an incident with an employee of a hostess club—the following video covers everything needed to know of the situation featuring Like A Dragon news translator 04tenno. (Warning: contains mentions of S#x##l Assault)

While there has been little to no intervention involving law enforcement or other legal means, the situation leaves a bad taste for many, even to the fans of the Yakuza franchise. It has been a disappointing cycle of promotions following the signal boost, with a questionable response from RGG Studio other than comments being filtered or removed that include #RemoveKagawa in every post on RGG-related post on Sega and RGG West’s social media accounts. A #RemoveKagawa petition was launched in protest of RGG’s casting of Hamazaki, with over 9,900 signatures as of writing.

Previously, there have been actors in RGG titles who were later recast due to scandals, such as Pierre Taki, whose appearance in Judgement that resulted in the game’s slight release delay following his arrest on charges relating to illegal substances. Most recently, long-time voice actor of Amuro Ray from Mobile Suit Gundam and Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon, Toru Furuya, having voiced Bryce in Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, was replaced in several anime and gaming projects following his infidelity scandal in 2024, roughly a few months after the release of Infinite Wealth.

Alternate Opportunities for Kiwami 3 Coverage

With the above discussed, I have been thinking carefully on how I want to proceed in covering the post-release of Yakuza Kiwami 3. Having already played Yakuza 3 Remastered semi-recently during our franchise playthrough, Kiwami 3 is an easy skip. However, I do have a strong interest in the story of the included Dark Ties, where it seems that it’s unlikely to ever be released as a separate title due to potential implications of the story of Like A Dragon in the future, based on feedback from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio director, Yokoyama Masayoshi.

If I had to livestream any part of Kiwami 3, it would be Dark Ties only. However, it would probably be best to just include the best parts of Dark Ties in a highlight video released at a later date. Unless RGG goes a different direction with Goh Hamazaki for a future title or an update to replace his character—which is unfortunately unlikely following the above interview with Ryu Ga Gotoku’s Ryosuke Horii on RockPaperShotgun—this is the better option; this way, I can control who I want to give attention to in the event of of an appearance of Goh Hamazaki, with the unchanged likeness of Teruyuki Kagawa.

Summary & Conclusion

Yakuza Kiwami 3 will be featured in the future, just not in the capacity that I normally approach. Additionally, if there are to be releases of Yakuza 4 and 5 in the Kiwami format, there will a period of vetting as to how they will be included based on appeal factors such as the current situation.

Slowly coming out of my content creating hiatus over the holidays, I am easing back into making content altogether. Having caught up playing the main Yakuza games, my next focus is on other games in my backlog until the next new RGG game drops… hopefully free of controversy and actors with questionable pasts. But it is important for it to be known that any kind of disrespect, verbally and physically, to anyone is not tolerated, and those who cause such pain will not be given any space here on Centaku Media.