Japanese YouTubers go viral after filming ‘real life video game’ on streets of Tokyo

KMZW Isolation channel filmed the impressive recreation in one of the city’s famous shopping districts

Louis Chilton
Friday 07 August 2020 09:55 BST
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YouTuber walks around Shibuya like it was a video game

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A Japanese YouTube channel has gone viral for posting footage of a “real life video game”, in which a man wanders the streets of Tokyo.

Entitled “Grand Theft Gotoku” (or "Grand Theft Yakuza"), the clip is filmed in the style of a third-person video game like Grand Theft Auto – or the popular beat-em-up series Yakuza.

KMZW Isolation, the channel on which the video appeared, usually features dance tutorials from a street dancing duo.

The video’s camerawork mimics the movements of a video game point-of-view, as one of the channel’s stars navigates his way around the famous shopping district in Shibuya, a ward of Tokyo.

The video’s “story mode” involves its “player-character” waking up and hunting for clues to solve a recent crime.

Towards the end, “Grand Theft Yakuza” even features a fight scene, with some video game-like special effects.

A clip from the video was shared on Twitter, gaining over 15 million views.

“This really is GTA V: Japanese Edition huh?” wrote one commenter. “Ngl, I would actually play this game.”

Another praised the camerawork, noting how impressive it was to accurately replicate the rotating over-the-shoulder perspective used in video games.

“THE CAMERAWORK??? that’s 10000% the most impressive bit,” they wrote.

You can watch the full video on YouTube here.

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