Who Is Yong Yea? The Controversy Surrounding The Casting Of The YouTuber And Voice Actor As Kazuma Kiryu Explained

Over the past few months and particularly over the past week, there has been significant grumbling about YouTuber and voice actor Yong Yea, who has taken over English dub voice acting duties for the iconic protagonist of the Like a Dragon franchise, Kazuma Kiryu. Here's what you need to know about Yea, Kiryu, and the controversy that's ensued over his performance.

Who Is Yong Yea?

Most people familiar with Yong Yea will first recognize him as a YouTuber. Yea has amassed over 1.2 million subscribers on the platform, largely through covering news related to video games and pop culture.

He is also a voice actor, and has landed a few major credits doing mostly English dubs of anime series and video games. Before landing the role of Kiryu, his biggest role was arguably the English voice of Father Pucci in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, which was largely well-received.

He has also worked in the Yakuza franchise before, voicing Yasutaka Shirakaba in The Kaito Files, an expansion of the Lost Judgment series.

Why Are People Upset Yong Yea Is Playing Kiryu?

Kiryu has long been an iconic video game character and has been the protagonist of the Yakuza franchise for nearly every game in the series. Kiryu is a stern, no-nonsense Yakuza member in the franchise, facing the political machinations of the organization and the wackiness of Kamurocho with an eternally stern face. Until Yea's casting, the role of Kiryu was played in the English dub by Darryl Kurylo, who portrayed him with the grizzled, middle-aged rumble in line with the character's backstory.

When Yea was cast as Kiryu for the English dubs of Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name and Like a Dragon 8: Infinite Wealth, people were initially excited he landed the role, but that excitement quickly turned to dread when samples of his voice acting began spreading online. Many felt that Yea's "Kiryu" voice was too similar to his own, and Yea's voice sounded too youthful for the canonically much older Kiryu.

Many online were not shy about voicing their displeasure with Yea's casting, particularly as more clips started coming out amid the November release of The Man Who Erased His Name and the Infinite Wealth demo.

Omg it sounds horrible 💔 pic.twitter.com/aFW6vtNKhH

— Judgment Kazzy 1988 (@2005Dojima) November 9, 2023

discodivekick Avito502 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/jCxAeZqI4d

— Дастанович @ Judgment/LAD Gaiden (@Dastanovich_) November 6, 2023

How Has Yong Yea Responded?

The backlash was unquestionably exacerbated when Yea seemed set on blocking his critics on social media. His posts discussing the role received a significant amount of tweets criticizing him, and all of these were hidden by Yea on Twitter. This attracted an outrage economy on YouTube, as content creators there were ruthless in discussing Yea's reaction to the backlash.

Adding to the controversy are criticisms Yea made about Chris Pratt as Mario, which was also derided for sounding less like a voice that would fit the character and just Chris Pratt's normal voice.

Lol Kiryu just sounds… like Yong Yea? 😂 pic.twitter.com/MKwriObu1J

— Marsupial Gamer (@Marsupial_Gamer) November 11, 2023

The backlash over Chris Pratt's Mario voice eventually died down, and it remains to be seen if the backlash over Yea's Kiryu voice will as well.

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For more information, check out the Yong Yea Kiryu dub controversy entry on Know Your Meme.