These days, video game adaptations can be taken seriously as TV shows, or at least a handful of them ever since HBO'S wildly successful The Last of Us series. Amazon recently struck nuclear gold with Fallout, which was similar to Netflix's One Piece with the way it surprised (most) fans of the original with how respectful and accurate it was for the source material. But before Fallout's second session, Amazon are dropping yet another adaptation of a successful video game franchise, one I don't think anyone saw coming.

Sega's Like a Dragon, AKA Ryu ga Gotoku, FKA Yakuza, is getting adapted as a series by Amazon, directed by Masaharu Take, director of viral Japanese Netflix original The Naked Director. Kamen Rider Drive star Ryoma Takeuchi is playing Kazuma Kiryu, and he's got big, white snakeskin shoes to fill trying to balance the goofiness, stoicness and earnestness that Takaya Kuroda provides in the games. In the teaser image Amazon have released with the announcement (above), Takeuchi has Kiryu's iconic ryu irezumi and is striking the same pose as the original Yakuza cover. The tattoo is a little less elaborate than the original, and he doesn't look quite as buff as the Dragon of Dojima, but maybe he'll be a bit bulked up in the final show.

Yakuza was previously adapted into a live-action movie by Takeshi Miike in 2007, which was very loosely based on the first game's story that struggled to keep up with the game's tonal variety. It's likely this new series will also cover the story of the first game, i.e. Kiryu meeting Haruka and the whole plot with Nishiki and the Milennium Tower, but just how well they balance the silly minigames and substories alongside the serious crime drama at the center of it all would be interesting to see. If nothing else, I'm willing to bet the fight scenes will be worth looking forward to.

Like a Dragon: Yakuza will hit Prime Video on October 24. Do you guys think it'll live up to the games? Let us know in the comments!