Goro Majima isn’t actually that interesting on paper. It’s that voice and those moves that bring everything together, says RGG Studio’s head

There’s less than a month to go until the release of Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, the Yakuza series’ latest spin-off title. The surprisingly big spin-off to Infinite Wealth sets a lot of new precedents for the Like a Dragon series – including having Goro Majima as a solo protagonist. While Majima has been an established fan-favorite since the franchise’s early days, it seems his creators sometimes have difficulty predicting how well his scenes will hold up in the games.

Goro Majima in Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

During the Majima Maji Festival fan meeting held in Tokyo on January 25, RGG Studio gave a joint media interview (reported on by Denfaminicogamer). During the interview, RGG Studio’s representative and Like a Dragon series executive producer Yokoyama Masayoshi talked about what it’s like to write Majima.

Surprisingly, he revealed that Majima’s charm doesn’t leap off the page immediately. “When you’re looking at just the script, Majima isn’t really interesting,” Yokoyama admitted. “It’s only after you add that voice of his, those movements and paint the whole image of him that you realize Oh, this scene is actually great.”

This unpredictability presents a unique challenge during development, as Yokoyama explained, “He’s the kind of character that makes you feel unsure during the scenario stage. You end up wondering whether the script is entertaining or not.”

But despite these concerns, Yokoyama comments, “Majima’s scenes always hold up well in the finished product.” It seems Majima’s creators consider him to be a character who shines in execution rather than in planning, requiring the full spectacle of his appearance, animations, and Hidenari Ugaki’s voice acting to deliver the Majima-ness fans know and love.