Like a Dragon: Prologue

In 1970s-era Japan, three children, Kazuma Kiryu, Akira Nishikiyama, and his younger sister, Yuko Nishikiyama, are raised together in Shintaro Kazama's Sunflower Orphanage. In the summer of 1980, Yumi Sawamura, a young girl whose parents were accidentally shot and killed during a gang's shootout, joins them in the orphanage. Following a yakuza tradition, the honorable Kazama secretly raises orphans whose parents he has directly or indirectly killed. In return, the children love him as a father and he eventually inducts the teenage Kiryu and Nishikiyama into the Dojima Family, a Tojo Clan affiliate of which he is a senior officer.

Directed by Takeshi Miyasaka, Takashi Miike, Like a Dragon: Prologue leans on a strong ensemble — Masakatsu Funaki, Mikio Osawa, Ayaka Maeda — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about drama titles of 2006.