While the Like a Dragon games mainly revolve around immersing you in the shady and dangerous world of the yakuza, this franchise is best known for its many distractions in its dense neon cityscapes.
One activity that has remained a franchise staple is Karaoke, a rhythm minigame where you can take a break from the high-stakes plot in a karaoke booth and sing to your heart’s content.
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First introduced in Yakuza 3 as the result of director Ryosuke Horri’s karaoke obsession, the songs featured in Karaoke quickly became the core aspect of any Yakuza game.
To celebrate the 20 years of Like a Dragon and the recent release of Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, we’ll be ranking the most iconic karaoke songs in the series.
This list considers songs from the entire Yakuza/Like a Dragon mainlines.
10 Kamurocho Lullaby
An Underrated Enka Gem
Kamurocho Lullaby is one of the first songs to debut in the karaoke mini-game in Yakuza 3, a song written to romanticize Kamurocho, a city filled with crime and pleasure.
Kamurocho Lullaby is written as an Enka song, a genre of traditional Japanese ballad that’s sung along a slow and ethereal track, with an emphasis on the vibrato of the singer’s voice.
Kiryu singing any melodramatic song never gets old, and Kamurocho Lullaby is no exception. Halfway through the song, we see him really getting into the singing mood, making dramatic movements and bowing when he’s done giving the performance of his life.
What’s interesting about this song is that it was featured in Yakuza 2 in the form of the substory “The Enka Life,” where Kiryu meets and helps Chikamatsu, an old-fashioned Enka singer trying to make it big.
While not instantly recognizable as the others on this list, Kamurocho Lullaby is a slow and romantic ballad that perfectly encapsulates an Asian karaoke experience.
9 Hell Stew
Kamurocho City Rock
As one of the new songs introduced in Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Hell Stew is a much heavier, darker, and sinister alternative rock song depicting preparing and eating hotpots as a demonic ritual.
While both Zhao and Ichiban can sing this song, Zhao’s usual calm and mellow voice makes for a fun contrast as he gets to let loose and scream in a heavy metal song that’s heavily inspired by the band Seikima-II, known for their diabolic outfits and theatrical makeup.
Some fans describe Hell Stew to be this new generation’s Judgement, and they’re not wrong. What’s a better song about the bonds of friendship than one about bringing ingredients and cooking a hotpot with the boys?
If you listen to the original Japanese version, you might notice that Zhao’s voice very closely resembles Bakugo from My Hero Academia.
That’s because they’re both voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto, whose stacked resume in anime voice acting includes icons like Rin from Blue Exorcist and Himmel from Frieren.
8 Like A Butterfly
Kiryu Raps!
When karaoke was first introduced in the franchise, most songs were sung by hostesses in karaoke clubs to entertain their guests, as is the culture of hostess clubs in Japan.
Debutted in Yakuza 6 and sung by hostesses Saki Akai and Riona Ichijo, Like A Butterfly is a fast-paced and intense J-Rock song.
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The song features Kiryu wearing goofy futuristic sunglasses while providing backup vocals and rapping English lyrics, two hilariously out-of-character moments for the usually stoic Dragon of Dojima.
Like A Butterfly has since become a staple for female characters in subsequent games, and while rapping interjections might be a little offputting at first, it doesn’t distract from the badass singing of the franchise’s female characters.
7 The Goro Pirates Theme
The Real Treasure Was Friendship All Along
The release of Pirate Yakuza brought not only a new cast of characters, but new karaoke songs for Majima to sing.
The Goro Pirates Theme is a campy yet passionate rock song that gets the blood pumping as Majima and his crew march toward an unseen foe in the music video.
Not only is it the main menu theme and the game’s end credits song, it also exists diegetically in the game world, as you can hear Majima and his crew sing the song as a sea shanty while sailing through the Hawaiian seas.
As much as I hate touching on the ever-controversial Sub vs. Dub discourse, I have to admit that the iconic Matt Mercer singing as Majima sounds much better than Hidenari Ugaki’s voice despite his iconic voice as the unhinged Majima.
6 The Future I Dreamed Of
Quintessentially Ichiban
In many ways, Ichiban Kasuga is the perfect successor to Kiryu as the main protagonist of the Like A Dragon series, symbolizing a paradigm shift in how RGG Studios writes their heroes from the strong, silent type to the boisterous and brave.
Ichiban’s song, The Future I Dreamed Of, perfectly encapsulates the tone of Yakuza: Like A Dragon, which has anime-ending-like vibes that fit an RPG game inspired by the likes of Dragon Quest.
The Future I Dreamed Of also describes Ichiban’s as a character, as he stays true to his values and hopes for the future despite the constant sorrows he’s experienced in his life. Ichiban started with nothing and was a deadbeat convict at 40, yet he was still able to make a name for himself despite all odds.
As one of the series’ most inspiring and hopeful songs, The Future I Dreamed Of has an amazing message about keeping your head high and trying your best regardless of your circumstances.
5 Today Is A Diamond
A Happy Song With Depressing Lyrics
With an upbeat and cheery backing track of classic 70s-style pop-rock, Today Is A Diamond is a deceptively happy song that, on the surface, sounds like it’s about a parent trying to wake their lazy child up from a deep sleep.
But if you look at the lyrics and know the context of this song, Today Is A Diamond has some surprisingly depressing and dreary lyrics.
Debuting in Yakuza 6, this song is essentially Kiryu hiding his desperation and sorrow behind a happy-go-lucky song when he learns that his adoptive daughter Haruka is in a coma after a deadly encounter with the yakuza.
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The contrast between the song’s tone and the lyrics is quite unsettling, as you can see Kiryu uncharacteristically emoting and smiling in a song where he sings about lyrics that parallel the implication that Kiryu might end his life if Haruka doesn’t wake up from her coma with the final two lines in the karaoke version: “You’re never going to wake up/I guess I’ll sleep too…”
Today Is A Diamond is one of those songs that, despite its sad lyrics about death, is an incredibly enjoyable song and has earned its spot in the top five.
4 Machine Gun Kiss
Firing Off A Billion Kisses
Machine Gun Kiss is a passionate rock song about showing one’s dedication to their lover by shooting a barrage of kisses, accompanied by strong and aggressive power chords with a badass guitar solo in the full version.
Like the other Yakuza karaoke mainstays, Machine Gun Kiss has been sung by different characters: Kiryu and Shinada in Yakuza 5, and Adachi in Yakuza 7. Among the three singers, Adachi’s version, titled Police Spec, is probably the best.
While Kiryu’s voice actor, Takaya Kuroda, has an iconic singing voice that we’ve all grown to love, Adachi’s talented voice actor, Akio Otsuka (also known for voicing Solid Snake from Metal Gear and All For One in My Hero Academia), brings the song home with his ad-libs and impressive belts.
3 24-Hour Cinderella
Majima Is Forever Youthful
While Majirock and Get to the Top are some of Majima’s best songs, 24-Hour Cinderella is undeniably his flagship song, simply because it is completely in-character for Majima to be a 80s pop idol doing acrobatic stunts while on rollerskates.
Here’s a friendly reminder that Majima is canonically in his sixties during the events of Infinite Wealth and Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, and yet he still exudes the hyper energy he always had since his debut in the games.
First introduced in Yakuza 0, 24-Hour Cinderella makes a return in Pirate Yakuza, and this time we also have Matt Mercer singing this song in the English dub, making Majima sound way younger than he really is in this song. It’s like he’s singing from the heart and returning to his younger years.
Not only that, but this is one of the songs where Majima actually sings instead of the typical Majima-isms where he screams and rambles like the madman he is.
2 Judgement -Shinpan-
We Are Bad Boys
Not to be confused with the spin-off series starring Takayuki Yagami, Judgement -Shinpan- is a catchy rock song that has great vocals and lively rhythm.
First introduced in Yakuza 0 and sung by Kiryu and Nishikiyama, Judgement -Shinpan- is deliberately corny and is reminiscent of 80s rock, as it depicts two bros wearing leather jackets and headbands fighting against an unjust world.
But since their falling out in Yakuza 0 and eventual feud in Yakuza 1/Kiwami, Kiryu has not sung this song for decades, which is sad considering it is canonically Kiryu’s favorite song.
That is, until Kiryu met Ichiban, whom he now considers a brother since the events of Yakuza: Like A Dragon and Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
Coincidentally, both Nishikiyama and Ichiban share the same Japanese voice actor, Kazuhiro Nakaya. Some might even say that Ichiban is the person Nishikiyama would have become had he not strayed from his path.
Infinite Wealth’s version of Judgement -Shinpan- reignites the burning brotherly passion that Kiryu felt some decades ago, and despite his aging and growing weaker from cancer, it’s nice to see Kiryu relive the best parts of his youth.
1 Bakamitai
I Sing For You…
Bakamitai is undoubtedly the most iconic song of the franchise, as it is inextricably tied with the surge in the franchise’s popularity ever since it became a meme during the pandemic in 2020.
This song has also been remixed into countless deepfake meme formats, culminating in people making collages of dozens of deepfaked characters singing Bakamitai in an ensemble choir.
Though it first debuted in Yakuza 5, Bakamitai is more closely associated with Yakuza 0.Translated as “I’ve Been A Fool,” the song is a melodramatic ballad about heartbreak that fits surprisingly well with the serious crime drama that is Like a Dragon.
Outside its meme popularity, however, Bakamitai is a catchy, sorrowful song about heartbreak, where the singer laments about regretting the way things turned out yet still longing for the object of their love.
It’s iconic enough that those who take the song seriously can be moved by its lyrics, and at the same time, equally enjoyable for those who recognize it as a meme song.
Bakamitai is so popular that RGG Studios decided to grace us with a spiritual successor to the song years later in Infinite Wealth: Baka Darou, or as fans affectionately call it, Bakamitai 2.0.
While Baka Darou doesn’t have Bakamitai’s iconic status, it carries on the corniness of romantic karaoke songs and hits hard if you look at the self-deprecating lyrics about missed opportunities and lost love.
There’s something quintessentially heartfelt and intimate about karaoke, and Bakamitai fits the bill as the most iconic karaoke song in the Like a Dragon franchise.
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