Like a Dragon fans have turned their attachment to its characters into wedding photos, pilgrimages and even funeral exhibitions. Now RGG Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama is going on Japanese television to discuss that enthusiasm, with a special focused on the series’ female fans.
Famitsu reports that Yokoyama will appear on ABEMA Prime on November 11. The program’s official listing promises a discussion of why women become absorbed in the series and what drives its development, alongside those unusually elaborate fan activities.
Sega has already helped turn the relationships players build with these fictional men into events people can physically attend.
The Funeral Was an Actual Exhibition
Sega’s December 2023 announcement for the series’ first exhibition described a memorial to characters who had died in its stories. Visitors received flowers to place before their favorite character’s portrait, then moved through areas recalling final moments and memorials.
That gives a fictional death a place in the real world. Players could revisit a scene on a screen, but the exhibition also offered them somewhere to go, something to carry and a gesture to make. For a series that spends so much time building emotional attachments to its cast, the idea fits surprisingly well.
Its 20th-anniversary exhibition went further. The official event guide describes wedding-style experiences with character panels and augmented-reality photos, alongside another memorial area. The characters became part of staged ceremonies, with fans stepping into the picture themselves.
The Current Yokohama Event Changes the Rituals
The event has continued to evolve. Sega’s announcement for the Yokohama revival, running November 6–29, replaces the funeral-themed area with a gift-giving theme inspired by Japan’s year-end gift tradition.
It also switches the earlier special wedding package to a coming-of-age photography package. The announcement says the wedding-area exhibits remain, so the new edition retains that part of the earlier show while changing its premium photo experience.
Those details give the November 11 television discussion a concrete subject. RGG has an audience willing to bring its characters into personal celebrations and rituals, and an events business that keeps finding new ways to stage those encounters. As studio head, Yokoyama can speak to how that enthusiasm reaches the development team.
When the Special Airs
The Japanese-language broadcast is scheduled for November 11, from 10–11 p.m. JST on ABEMA NEWS. That is 8–9 a.m. Eastern or 5–6 a.m. Pacific on the same date. RGG’s announcement, reproduced by Famitsu, advertises a free live broadcast and six days of catch-up viewing.
