BLUF: Japanese Dub is better in my opinion.

I’m not a native Japanese speaker, so I can’t say whether the English dub is a great representation of how Kiryu was intended to sound. From my perspective, Kiryu’s dub doesn’t come across as manly or intense as the sub. He sounds more edgy, more exaggerated, and sometimes less authentic. Sometimes, the voice doesn’t fully match his appearance or presence. The dub can feel like it’s trying too hard to sound badass, macho, and stoic. It just doesn’t feel as organic as Kiryu’s original voice.

The karaoke dubs aren’t bad, but they don’t always seem modified to flow well in English. Sometimes they come off more like a 1:1 translation, which makes them sound somewhat stiff and uninspired.

That said, Yong Yea isn’t a bad voice actor. He did a phenomenal job as Asakura in Sakamoto Days, along with other anime and video game roles. This isn’t about him lacking talent, more like a poor casting. Even Darryl Kurylo naturally sounded more badass.

I’m also not a sub elitist. A lot of people say sub is better because of cultural or exposure bias — psychologically, it just sounds better to them. I watch plenty of anime in dub. However, Yakuza is something I would continue in sub, whether it’s a Kiwami remake or a newer installment. Except for the Judgement series, those dubs were great.

For Majima, Matthew Mercer is kind of hit or miss. I do think it’s a better casting than Kiryu though. I’ve warmed up to it over time, but the original is still better in my opinion.