, for short, is a character in Sega's 2018 action-adventure video game Judgment, which is a spin-off from the Yakuza game series. Yagami is a former defense attorney who resigns after a client he successfully defended kills their partner. Three years later, Yagami is a private detective in his own and investigates a serial killer who gouges out their victims' eyes. The character returns in Lost Judgment as he investigates a criminal accused of both sexual harassment and murder. Yagami is voiced by Takuya Kimura in Japanese and by Greg Chun in English. Yagami's physical appearance is also based on Kimura.
When developing Yagami, the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio team wanted to create a new type of main character following the release of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, which concludes the story of series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu. Contrasting Kiryu's strong, heroic presence, Yagami is meant to be a more relatable character due to his troubled life. To differentiate between the two protagonists, Yagami was given sidequests in which he becomes friends with residents of Kamurocho. Takuya Kimura was chosen to voice Yagami to appeal to a wide audience. Greg Chun, who played Yagami in English-language versions of the game, said the role was challenging but enjoyable.
Critical response to Yagami has been generally positive. Video game journalists have praised the depth of Yagami's character arc and backstory in Judgment, and have favorably compared him to former protagonist Kiryu. Kimura and Chun have both been commended for their portrayals of the character.
Creation and development Personality and influences
Since the game Yakuza 6: The Song of Life concluded the story of Yakuza series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio game developers wanted to create a distinctive character for the story. At the behest of producer Kazuki Hosokawa, the team decided the character should be a detective. The biggest influence was the Paul Newman film The Verdict, in which Newman's character Frank Galvin suffers a crisis similar to Yagami's in regards to his career as a lawyer. In order to establish a stark contrast between Kiryu and the new protagonist, the staff wanted to develop Yagami as a more flawed character, with his fall from grace and gradual redemption arc being designed to appeal to players who wanted a more distinct and relatable protagonist. Due to the popularity of detective stories, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio wrote Yagami as a man who would become more knowledgeable alongside the player as the game progressed.
Sega described Yagami as "a man of conviction who fights for his beliefs, despite the overwhelming despair surrounding him".
Executive director and writer Toshihiro Nagoshi said the detective idea drew on multiple influences, primarily Korean films. Because there are few games based on detective dramas, Hosokawa wanted Yagami to stand out but recognized creating a new character is a major challenge. To make a protagonist who would be a fitting successor to Kiryu, Hosokawa wanted Yagami to be "more grounded to fit the noir vibe". He also said: "When you're writing a story and there's a really solid character that's been around for a long time, the character dictates what happens next. In contrast to that, with Yagami, at the start of development we didn't really have anything attached to him at all. It was a challenge, but also an opportunity for a development team that has been working so long on the same series."
The staff wanted the protagonist to have a deep connection to the city. To emphasize this, they introduced a gameplay mechanic known as the Friendship System, allowing Yagami to befriend and form bonds with the residents of Kamurocho. The developers used the main story to explore facets of Yagami's personality, using sidequests to please fans wanting a balance between seriousness and comedy. Hosokawa regarded the friendship system as one of his favorite parts of Judgment due to the bonds Yagami forms with other characters. As a result, Hosokawa believes that a Judgment sequel would have to remain in Kamurocho due to Yagami's strong connection with the city and its people. In contrast to previous Yakuza protagonists, who are often only visitors to Kamurocho, Yagami was written as a civilian resident in the city, allowing his social life to be further explored.
Localization producer Scott Strichart said though fans might miss previous Yakuza characters, like Kiryu and Goro Majima, he hoped they would be receptive to Yagami, describing him as "his own person – super smart, a razor-sharp wit, and a guy who harbours his own flaws, too". Strichart discussed that the portrayals of yakuza are faithful to the main series due to multiple characters being involved in the clans. However, Yagami was noted for standing out within the cast as he has multiple life choices in contrast to others who are forced to be yakuza or already have a path.
The relationship between Yagami and his ex-lover Mafuyu Fujii was changed during development because Nagoshi found the romance spoiled the thriller aspects of Judgment. Nagoshi also expressed doubts about the game's popularity in English-speaking countries because Takuya Kimura is not popular in Western regions. Following the release of the game, Sega staff felt that if there should be a sequel to Judgment, Yagami and his partner Masaharu Kaito would retain their lead roles and would still be set in Kamurocho.
In Lost Judgment, the narrative focuses primarily on bullying as they consider it as a "Distorted justice" which clashes with Yagami's morals. Strichart commented that Yagami is not a hero so he is not able to solve all these cases on his which contrast the fantasy style Persona 5 which often deals with the protagonists saving victims using their powers. During Lost Judgment Yagami meets handyman Jin Kuwana who instead tries to solve every attempt of bullying regardless of methods. In contrast to Judgment, the sequel does not end on satisfactory note for Yagami as Kuwana manages to escape from the protagonist. Nevertheless, Yagami demonstrates a major influence on the bullies he meets in the game's beginning to the point they become heroic figures during the climax. Due to the character's unspecified age in Lost Judgment, Sega hopes to feature him as the protagonist at least one time again in video game form. Hosokawa commented the player should sympathize with the lead, which made Yagami's characterization to be consistent with the first game with the idea that Yagami is a common person without supernatural powers.
Casting
Early in the development of Judgment, the developers considered using a famous actor to portray Yagami, deciding upon Takuya Kimura. Nagoshi was afraid audiences would accuse them of toning down the character due to Kimura's popularity. However, Kimura was open to the team's suggestions and worked with the developers to hone the character. Yagami has more spoken dialogue in Judgment than Kiryu had in any individual Yakuza game. Sega was pleased with Kimura's performance, noting he needed far fewer retakes during recording than they anticipated. Some lines were rewritten to better fit Kimura's delivery, but the writers ensured these changes would not deviate from Yagami's personality. The game's dialogue was recorded in chronological order so players would feel Kimura's voice evolving as Yagami's character develops during the story. Kimura enjoyed his work on the game, and Nagoshi remarked on Kimura's quick response to his messages. In contrast with previous Yakuza titles, the game was not recorded until after the whole scenario was written, which helped Kimura and the other actors. Yagami's character was revealed alongside the Japanese marketing of the game in September 2018. Sega stated that Kimura spent "more than 1,000 minutes of voice recording time for his lines". As a result, the company aimed to bring a major appeal in the protagonist. Kimura's influence in Judgment was compared to Keanu Reeves's in Cyberpunk 2077 as the Nagoshi believes the games would make extra sales as a result of their popularities. However, did not want Kimura's presence to be the only reason why Judgment would be popular.
Nagoshi also expressed doubts about the game's popularity in English-speaking countries because Kimura is not popular in Western regions. The game also references other parts of Kimura's career, such as the dialogue line "Chotto mateyo" (Hey, wait a minute!), a line spoken by Kimura's character in the 1997 television drama Love Generation and Yagami's use of multiple outfits like Kimura. Stritchart claimed that Kimura's inclusion as Yagami was kept in secret between staff members, shocking the localization staff when the first video of Yagami was revealed. Stritchart was initially confused, believing Yagami's similarities with Kimura might be accidental but the inclusion of his lines made him realize the actor's connections.
Localization Based on his previous knowledge of the Yakuza franchise, Greg Chun was surprised and pleased to be selected to voice Yagami in the English-language version of Judgment. Yagami's voice was meant to make him sound like a "bona fide badass" regardless of language, something the localization team believed they succeeded at. The actor found his work on the game gratifying, saying, "it really did require me to let go of the tricks that you use to push a performance through, and I really did need to fall back on authenticity and genuine groundedness". He claimed that staying faithful to the "spirit of the Japanese version" was challenging, but enjoyed portraying Yagami's blend of seriousness and comedy. He said having to scream in certain parts of the game was difficult. Chun was surprised by the depth of Yagami's character arc, considering his work on the game an unforgettable experience. Nevertheless, Chun felt the character easy to connect with because of his realistic characterization.
For Lost Judgment, Chun noted that the predecessor helped to properly develop Yagami to the point he seemed like another person when quitting his lawyer occupation as he took a liking to being a humble detective; This was mostly seen through the scene where Yagami tells Kaito that they should search for a lady's cat as part of their job in pleased manner something the localization team enjoyed recording. As a result, he claims that for the sequel "the game kind of teed me up to really be in that Yagami mindset where, yeah, I love being a detective, but some cases are real bummer and super boring." However, in regards to the narrative, he claimed that he had to keep "living the character" due to new elements provided. He believes that Lost Judgment explores more Yagami's anger, something the first game did not focus on.
Gameplay