Amazon Prime has released the first teaser trailer for “Ryu ga Gotoku”: a short trailer, but it feels more gritty and serious than the game's sometimes goofy, always surrealistic fairy tale. It's a short trailer, but it feels more gritty and serious than the game's sometimes goofy, always surreal melodrama.

The trailer inserts a close-up of Kiryu getting his signature dragon back tattoo and a short scene from the show. The show takes place in 1995 and 2005, and at first glance appears to be a retelling of Yakuza 1, but if this is the first time Kiryu has a tattoo on his back, it indicates that the story may have been tweaked to introduce a younger Kiryu and incorporate elements of Yakuza 0.

In this timeline, Kiryu seems to be at least a sort of underground bounty hunter on the side. Nevertheless, I have always appreciated the fact that even the burly-faced old yakuza in the “Yakuza” game are acrobatic fighters in one way or another. On the other hand, the shots of Kamurocho's nightlife in the trailer have a brittle atmosphere of nervous decadence that I really like.

Compared to the game, it seems a bit too serious. The show's promotional materials used the word “gritty,” but it still looks like a stylish Tokyo noir: if Like a Dragon: Yakuza delivers quality kills and stunts, who cares how faithful it is to the game: Oct. 24, we will know if “Like a Dragon: Yakuza” will be a winner when it is released.

In the days of the go-go pandemic, it seemed like every week there was an announcement of a video game adaptation. For our fallen comrades, consider for a moment: the “Halo” show was cancelled after one season when the Chief and crew finally reached “Halo” and Master Chief had sex.