Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi

Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi (, Yamaguchi Yoshiyuki), born on August 6, 1971 in Tokyo, Japan, is a film and voice actor, fashion model, and brand designer. He is represented by Tristone Entertainment. He portrayed Yuki Tsuruno in Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name.
== Involvement ==
=== Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name: 2022-2023 ===
Yamaguchi was cast alongside Yasukaze Motomiya as Yuki Tsuruno and Kosei Shishido respectively by Masayoshi Yokoyama. Close friends since high school, he and Motomiya frequently co-starred, most notably as the leads of the Nihon Touitsu franchise. Yokoyama had watched thirty Nihon Touitsu films over four nights and three days while hospitalized with appendicitis in October 2022; at the time, he was writing the script for Like a Dragon Gaiden.
According to Yokoyama, Yamaguchi and Motomiya were cast as Tsuruno and Shishido because their age ranges matched what he envisioned for the characters perfectly and because he had not seen them portray "proper" yakuza in a long time. They were notified of the offer at nearly the exact same time while filming Nihon Touitsu. He offered advice to Motomiya when he was troubled about whether he should take the offer.
Because he specialized in action, Yamaguchi initially thought he was being cast as a motion capture actor, but was delighted to learn he would have a major speaking role. He was familiar with the Like a Dragon (formerly Yakuza) series, as many of his mentors and peers had appeared in previous games, and was excited to finally have "[his] chance."
Upon reading the script for Like a Dragon Gaiden, he was surprised to see Tsuruno had more lines than the game's protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu. Aside from that, he found the script "really interesting," praising its shocking moments. He went on to say the story was "quite a surprise" even for "an actor like [him], who's played a bunch of yakuza-type characters."
He also enjoyed the recording process; although he was an established voice actor, he had never portrayed a video game character before. As Tsuruno shared his likeness and he had to convey emotion through his voice rather than his body language and expressions, which would be animated by the studio, he felt "the sense of anticipation made the process really fun."
Yamaguchi described Tsuruno as "a real man's man" whose "affiliations and way of life may not be picturesque," but who would "do anything for his brothers [or his patriarch]." He went on to say he felt he and Tsuruno were somewhat alike, and as a result, he was able to "sympathize with him a lot." 
On June 16, 2023, he attended RGG Summit Summer 2023 alongside Yokoyama, Motomiya, Takaya Kuroda (the voice of Kiryu), and First Summer Uika (the face and voice of Akame), where his casting was first officially announced. 
When asked about his impressions of Tsuruno, who was more intellectual than eccentric, Motomiya responded for him, saying Yamaguchi was more of an intellectual himself. Yamaguchi whispered his answer into Motomiya's ear, which Motomiya partly relayed before the host reminded Yamaguchi he could speak for himself, making the panel laugh.
Continuing where Motomiya left off, he said while he typically portrayed wild, vicious characters, Tsuruno was a man of words, revealing Tsuruno had more lines than Kiryu. When he first read the script, he asked Yokoyama if he was sure about Tsuruno having so much dialogue. The host then asked him for his initial thoughts on the script, to which he responded expressing his initial lack of confidence in playing such a major role, recounting his expectation to be cast as a motion capture actor. 
In his closing comments, he emphasized the game's impressive scale, which he recognized after reading the script and recording his lines, urging the audience to look forward to it. 
After the summit, he, Motomiya, and Uika were interviewed. Explaining what the appeal of the series was for him, he echoed Motomiya's answer: the opportunity to "send all the actors you admire flying," though he noted they were the ones who would be sent flying this time around. When asked which actor he enjoyed fighting in-game the most, he said it was (the face and voice of Hiroki Awano in Yakuza 0). 
He and Motomiya were then questioned on the differences between their characters in Like a Dragon Gaiden and Nihon Touitsu. Adding to Motomiya's remark that their roles were basically reversed, Yamaguchi said his character in Nihon Touitsu, Yuto Tamura, was more like Goro Majima, whereas Motomiya's character, Renji Himuro, was more like Kiryu. Indirectly comparing Tsuruno to Kiryu and Shishido to Majima, he thought the reversal was refreshing. 
Lastly, he was asked what the highlight of working on the game was, and according to him, it may have been recording his voice lines for the minigames. Although he did not yet know how everything would come together, he hoped fans would look forward to it, since neither he nor Motomiya had ever done anything like that before. 
From July 5, 2023 to July 19, 2023, a series of interviews titled "Heated Discussions" were uploaded to YouTube by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. Yamaguchi's was uploaded on July 12, 2023. It featured behind-the-scenes footage of Yamaguchi recording his voice lines for Tsuruno followed by an interview in which he was asked about being cast for the role, the script, the recording session, and his character, ending with a message for the fans.
== Credits ==
== References ==
Category:Voice Actors
Category:Face-Scanned Actors