Developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios has never shied away from anime influences within the Yakuza series, but it seems that the team is going really hard on them for the upcoming Lost Judgment. Shared this morning by Sega, the intro cinematic to detective Yagami's next case was uploaded to YouTube and it features a lot of characters staring into the distance and looking all melancholy. I almost thought there was some Judgment series I didn't realize about.
The theme is titled "蝸旋 (Rasen)," a pop/rock song by jon-YAKITORY featuring Ado. I'm not up on my Japanese music, but it sounds similar enough to the previous game's theme, which was done by J-rock group Alexandros. Since the English trailer is age-gated, you'll find the Japanese version below for your viewing pleasure. It's no different, other than the text being in Japanese.
Related: Judgment Might Be The Next Yakuza Title Coming To Xbox Game Pass
One thing I like about this opening cinematic is that it doesn't spoil any of the game. The opening cinematic for Yakuza: Like a Dragon had some scenes thrown in from later in the game that could have potentially spoiled significant moments of the story. For Lost Judgment, the team has wisely stuck to characters walking around a neon-drenched Yokohama, avoiding any specific story beats.
Maybe it's a little non-descript, but it certainly is flashy as hell. This reminds me of the install screens for the PS3 Yakuza games, which had the characters striking muscular poses and looking all badass while you waited for the PS3's slow disc drive to finish moving data. Maybe that was the intention.
Source: YouTube
Next: Harassing Respawn Devs Won't Solve Your Issues, It Just Makes Everything Worse
