The full announced cast
| Character | Performer | Role / notes |
|---|---|---|
| Makoto Daito (大東 真) | Yu Shirota | Protagonist; Japanese-American; the young Makoto Tojo, founder of the Tojo Clan |
| Yu Shinjo (真城 優) | Dean Fujioka | Daito’s longtime friend and rival; meets him aboard the ship to Japan |
| Orpheus (オルフェウス) | Snoop Dogg | Globe-trotting merchant and smuggler; teaches Daito how harsh Japan can be |
| Tae Matsumoto (松本 タエ) | Moeka Hoshi | Café waitress with ties to the yakuza |
| Suzy Day (スージー・デイ) | Tori Kelly | Aspiring singer whose career rises after meeting Daito |
| Keiko Shirai (白井 恵子) | Ado | Leading singer in wartime Osaka |
| Takashi (タカシ) | Satoshi Fujihara | Daito’s sworn brother; a pianist |
| Genzo Iwaki (岩木 源造) | Bunta Sugawara (likeness) · voiced by Takashi Ukaji | Patriarch of the Iwaki family in Kure; the attack on him sets Act 2 in motion |
| Heigo Yashima (八島 平吾) | Akio Otsuka | Kokura merchant and boss |
| Kiyoshi Otsuru (大鶴 清) | Tokuma Nishioka | An authoritative elderly man |
| The Veiled Stranger (謎に包まれた異邦人) | Cordell Broadus | A mysterious foreigner in postwar Japan; Cordell is Snoop Dogg’s son |
| Tadashi Hataoka (畑岡 正) | Takashi Ukaji | A violent Kokura yakuza |
| Takeo Godai (五代 武雄) | Takaya Kuroda | A craftsman of few words |
| Suekichi (末吉) | Kouhei Tsuji | A sworn brother |
| Tetsuya Hama (浜 鉄也) | Yasukaze Motomiya | Iwaki’s right-hand man |
| Amaru (アマル) | Tupac Shakur (CG portrayal) | Posthumous likeness, made with Amaru Entertainment’s cooperation and without AI |
| Kimura (木村) | Daisuke Shiba | A Kamurocho nightclub worker |
SEGA has not published a detailed biography for every character. The “role / notes” column combines SEGA’s descriptions with what the cast reveal and Act 2 trailer show; where a role is only described in press coverage, we have kept it general.
The four leads
Makoto Daito is the emotional centre. Born in San Francisco to an American father and a Japanese mother, he loses both parents and stows away on a ship to Japan. The game follows him for 50 years, from a teenage stowaway to the founder of the Tojo Clan.
Yu Shinjo is the friend and rival. He meets Daito on the voyage, and the two men’s paths run in parallel across the eras. Dean Fujioka plays him.
Orpheus is the mentor figure. Snoop Dogg’s merchant shows Daito how Japan treats outsiders and how the country’s power structures work. He is one of the few characters who can move between cities and eras.
Keiko Shirai and Suzy Day anchor the Showbiz story. Ado’s Keiko is a star in wartime Osaka; Tori Kelly’s Suzy is an aspiring singer whose career rises after meeting Daito. Takashi, Daito’s sworn brother and a pianist, connects the two worlds.
The Tupac portrayal
Amaru is a CG portrayal of Tupac Shakur. SEGA and Amaru Entertainment worked together on the likeness, and the performance was made without AI. The voice actor has not been announced. Tupac’s likeness also appears in the game’s marketing, which is why “stranger than heaven tupac” is one of the largest search queries around the game.
The Bunta Sugawara likeness
Genzo Iwaki uses the likeness of the late actor Bunta Sugawara, a fixture of 1970s yakuza cinema, with his family’s consent. He is voiced by Takashi Ukaji, who also plays Tadashi Hataoka.
What is still unclear
- The voice actors for Amaru and several supporting characters.
- Which characters are playable beyond Makoto.
- How the cast changes across the five eras — some characters may only appear in one act.
- Whether any unannounced Yakuza-series characters’ ancestors appear.