FAMILIAR FACES
The game has real star quality, and features major celebrities
RyuGa Gotoku Studio’s games have always featured real-life Japanese celebrities as both side and lead characters, and Judgment is no exception. Akira Nakao, 1 who plays Genda, the owner of Genda law firm, Yagami’s father figure and previous employer, has not only acted in six Godzilla films, he was also a cast member in one of Japan’s longestrunning television shows, the period drama Abarenbo Shogun (‘Unfettered Shogun’), which was broadcast for two decades.
Fans of more recent Japanese films and TV shows may know Shosuke Tanihara. 2 He appeared in Takashi Miike’s 1996 film Fudoh: A New Generation and a few live-action adaptations of popular manga: Lovely Complex, Hana Yori Dango, and Marmalade Boy.
The best-known figure in Judgment is Yagami himself, modelled on and voiced by megastar Takuya Kimura, 3 nicknamed Kimutaku by the general public. Calling Kimura one of the most popular celebrities in Japan is no stretch. From 1978 to 2016, he was what is commonly referred to as an idol – a Japanese boy band member. Idols do more than sing and dance; they act, appear in commercials, TV shows, films, talk shows, and often host their own radio programmes. Kimura’s band SMAP was one of the most enduring and popular bands in Japan. By the time they split, SMAP had lasted almost 30 years. Judgment isn’t only special because a videogame is probably the only medium Kimura hadn’t previously appeared in, but because it’s an interesting contrast to one of his most well-known roles. In Hero, a television drama with record ratings, Kimura played a delinquent who cleans up his act to become a highly idealistic public prosecutor. In Japan, Kimura and Lady Justice already go hand in hand.
Judgment will be the first game by Ryu Ga Gotoku studios complete with dual audio, featuring a slew of well-known English voice actors.