Tag: yakuza

Taking Down the Old Guard

On By kyndarisLeave a comment

Nestled between the seventh and eighth installation of the Like a Dragon franchise, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is a side story that turns its focus back on Kiryu Kazuma: the Dragon of Dojima and what he has been up to after his supposed death at the end of Yakuza 6. It serves as both a tribute to the main protagonist we had all come to love, as well as farewell. Especially when it came to Kiryu’s arc and role in the story.

(Yes, I know Kiryu makes a return in Infinite Wealth and he plays pivotal role in Ichiban’s romp through Hawaii, but it is clear his star is beginning to set. Even if he still has a few story threads that have yet to be fully tied up in a neat bow for the player).

Kiryu’s story and arc serve as a particularly important parallel to the main narrative, which sees the dissolution of both the Omi Alliance and the Tojo Clan. Together with allies of old, he is there to hand off the franchise of Like a Dragon to a new generation in the best way he knows how: by punching and kicking any dissenters to the change.

But as always, I’m getting ahead of myself.

The Man Who Erased His Name (or how I shall refer it from here on out: Like a Dragon Gaiden), begins with our hero, now going under the name of Joryu, serving as a bodyguard for the daughter of a power man. In these opening scenes, he is escorting her from a nightclub after she had a drunken night out. As is always the case, he serves as a steady presence and a protector. It isn’t long before they are approached by a predatory man and his posse, who are looking to take advantage of an inebriated young lady. Joryu, of course, is quick to teach them the error of their ways in the only way he knows how.

With his fists.

Once the young lady is seen off, Joryu returns to where he has been residing these last few years since the ending of the sixth entry: a temple run by the Daidoji faction. He is approached by his handler, a man named Hanawa, for assistance with another job. And it is here, I’d like to explain who and what the Daidoji are.

The Daidoji, as best I can make out, are a shadowy secretive faction working to maintain control of Japan’s politics and economy in the hands of a few men. In the game, they are there to do the dirty work for the people in power. Like espionage agents in the vein of James Bond or Ethan Hunt.

I mean, how else ought one describe the spiderwire gizmo watch Joryu wields? And the subsequent upgrades he receives later? An army of drones, cigarette grenades and rocket shoes?

Except, of course, it should be noted that Joryu isn’t a consenting agent of the Daidoji. Were it not for the threats laid against the children at the Morning Glory orphanage he founded back in Yakuza 3, Kiryu, i the guise of Joryu, would hardly be one to play lapdog. But play it he does as he is sent to the docks where other fellow Daidoji agents await an illicit exchange.

Unfortunately, things don’t go as smoothly as Hanawa envisions. Joryu and the rest of the Diadoji goons are attacked my members of a local yakuza family. Of course, given Joryu is STILL the Dragon of Dojima, he is able to fend off the attack and even save Hanawa from their clutches (the seeming target for the attack). In the aftermath, both he and Hanawa head to Yokohama in a bid to figure out who was responsible for masquerading as the head of the rebel group the Daidoji were meant to be meeting.

In Yokohama, Joryu tracks down the Seiryu clan but is able to cross them off the list of suspects. Instead, he finds himself entangled with the Omi Alliance – the actual culprits. Int he scuffle, Hanawa is taken.

Unable to sit around and let his one remaining connection to his past be tortured and killed, Joryu disobeys orders from the Daidoji and sets out alone to rescue Hanawa. His destination? Sotenbori!

So begins a convoluted mess where members of the Watase family try to recruit Joryu to their cause, or plead with him to defect. But instead of talking it out rationally, they force Joryu to jump through hoops and even threaten to hurt the children at Morning Glory.

Honestly, why can these yakuza types never communicate properly? If they had explained what they needed from the start, Joryu would have most likely understood. In fact, he even asks them numerous times why they’re looking for him but Tsuruno just wants to play hardball and use whatever else he can in his bid to solicit Joryu’s aid: kidnapping, torturing, sending Joryu out to an elaborate casino and fighting arena floating out on the ocean, bribing the Daidoji with 50 billion yen…

Although, if I think about it, it makes a sick amount of sense. They’re all stubborn men. Is it any wonder none of them know how to negotiate in good faith without threatening violence?

I kid, I kid.

Or am I?

In any case, after all the unnecessary underhanded dealings that consume the first two and a half chapters, the Daidoji and the Watase Family finally arrive at an agreement. In order to assist with the dissolution of the yakuza in both the Kansai and Kanto region of Japan, Joryu is tasked with taking down Homare Nishitani III, an old-school yakuza type who lives off the fear his name invokes. After all, were Nishitani to learn of Watase’s plan to disband the Omi Alliance, he would most likely lead a riot and bring together the other young disillusioned members to forge a new family. Something, which, Watase, and by extension, Daigo, cannot afford – especially when it comes to the betterment of the people under their command.

From a wider Like a Dragon narrative standpoint, Gaiden fills in some of the missing holes that were evident in Ichiban’s debut title. After all, why was Kiryu present in Yokohama and then again at the Omi Alliance clan headquarters?

More than that, though, Gaiden gives fans of the series one last peek into the life of Dragon of Dojima (until Infinite Wealth made Kiryu a playable character). But, truth be told, I can’t be mad. Kiryu Kazuma is the epitome of positive masculinity (in fact, all the protagonists of the Like a Dragon series are pinnacles of manhood).

Is he a bit hard-headed sometimes and not know the best way to communicate? Well, yes, but he also treats all people with respect. From women tot he homeless. And he is never one to judge how others choose to lives their lives (except when they impinge on others by taking advantage of them). It must be said, Kiryu has always had a magnetic draw. True, he is a strong and good-looking man, but it has always been his emotional vulnerability and how he isn’t afraid to shy away from anything that others may deem ‘lesser’ that shows what a wonderfully multifaceted person he is. I mean, he is an avid Pocket Circuit fan even in his early 50s!

Not to mention the other kooky shenanigans he almost always gets involved in during the optional substories. Like giving romance advice or staking out a haunted apartment. And while Like a Dragon Gaiden doesn’t have as many substories as other games (it is a much SHORTER game), they still showcase who the Dragon of Dojima is behind the image he initially projects.

Suffice it to say, Kiryu Kazuma is a multifaceted character. Something which the games never shy away from as they portray him as a flawed human.

And what tugged at my heartstring the most was the ending when Hanawa shows him a video recording of two of the kids he had raised at Morning Glory. The way he unabashedly misses them, the joy in seeing the picture Haruto has drawn…

On a personal level, I also feel like the story of Gaiden, which sees the dissolution of the Omi Alliance and the Tojo clan, echoes the slow death of the patriarchy and the hypermasculine world of the past. The traditional gender roles most people have grown up with, and which were used to prop up an unjust world, are dying out.

What we have seen in the aftermath of the 2024 US election, the rise of the anti-woke content, especially when it pertains to video games and films, are simply the remnants of the old guard in their death throes. Their attempts to revitalise something nobody even cares about is because they are scared of what the new changes might bring.

If only it were so easy to have the likes of Taiga Saejima, Goro Majima and Kiryu Kazuma on-hand to beat the living snot out of this vocal minority, and bring them kicking and screaming into the new world we’re charting.

Alas, it is much harder to shake such entrenched beliefs. But I like to think we, as a world, are making incremental steps forward. Change, after all, takes time.

From a gameplay perspective, Like a Dragon Gaiden gifts Kiryu with a new fighting style to take down his enemies: Agent. For those familiar with the series, Agent feels a lot like Rush from Yakuza 0 mixed in with a few nifty gadgets for crowd control purposes. The other fighting style Kiryu uses against his enemies is simply titled ‘Yakuza’ but plays like a combination of brawler, beast and Dragon of Dojima. It certainly sees Kiryu dealing out the most damage and includes such classic moves as the Tiger Drop.

Combat aside, the gameplay remains the same. Kiryu can still play a range of minigames including the arcade, karaoke, golf and pool. While previous cabaret clubs used in-game models, Like a Dragon Gaiden has actually used full-motion video, which was, in my honest opinion, quite a bit jarring. I mean, I knew about it going into the game but chatting with the hostesses and then going on dates with them?

Let’s just say, it wasn’t as sexy as I feel Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio thought it would be. In fact, it was downright cringey.

That aside, I still thoroughly enjoyed the vast array of optional minigame content that were readily available. Plunging into Like a Dragon Gaiden was like returning home, even though it had been a while since the Sotenbori map had been used. True, it’s not Kamurocho and it didn’t have the Don Quijote Ferris Wheel that the real life Dotonbori but it had all the signature shots of real life locations I’ve come to expect from the Like a Dragon games.

Overall, I have to say I enjoyed my time with Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that the platinum was one of the easiest to obtain. Yes, you’ve read it right! This humble internet blogger has finally obtained her first and only Like a Dragon platinum, bringing my total to 22!

So, I suppose, if I have a soft spot for the game, that may be entirely to blame.

Still, it’s certainly a worthy entry and should not overlooked for the main entries!

Here’s hoping Infinite Wealth and Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii don’t disappoint. But given the latter has Majima in the starring role, I know it won’t. Plus, you know, pirates!

Breaking the Law

On By kyndarisLeave a comment

There are three things that are inevitable. Death, taxes and the fact that Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio will forever re-use assets in every single game. I doubt there will ever be a time that the main protagonists will never not visit Kamurocho. After all, if the formula isn’t broken, why fix it? Admittedly, the city remains, as ever, dazzling and bright and filled with life. The other places that have featured in the franchise have also proven unique distractions for the enterprising detective or ex-Yakuza.

Released in September 2021, I found myself at a crossroads. There were a thousand releases and even though I had pre-ordered Lost Judgment, Sydney was in a Delta-strain lockdown. After much hewing and hawing, I finally purchased my copy digitally. Even nabbing the complete edition that would net me the Kaito Files downloadable content (DLC).

Knowing that the DLC wouldn’t be available until March 2022, I kept Lost Judgment in my backlog. After all, by then I’d have an extensive guide from CyricZ to lean on for anything that I might need. Baseball placements being a bit too hard? Check his guide. Unsure where to find all the squirrels? Check his guide.

March 2022 came and went before I finally managed to eke out some time between releases to dive back into the world of the Yakuza and Judgment series, and step into the shoes of Takayuki Yagami: lawyer and detective extraordinaire. Honestly, this is what Phoenix Wright hopes he could be.

Lost Judgment begins with the discovery of a body in Ijincho (a place I was intimately familiar with having explored it with Ichiban during Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon). It isn’t long that players learn that the body belongs to a Hiro Mikoshiba: student teacher at Seiryo High School and possible bully to subway pervert Akihiro Ehara’s son.

Though the question of who did the deed is never much in doubt, like with many of the games Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is known for, there’s a hidden conspiracy lurking behind the surface. By digging deeper into how Ehara might have committed the crime, Takayuki uncovers a plot from Public Security to blackmail the Vice Minister of Health into gambling away the pension funds of the public. Honestly, the way the narrative leaps from one plot point to another is astounding. Even when the story beats might not have always landed perfectly, especially tonally, I was still in awe at how RGG managed to weave a story themed around bullying and how it can affect victims.

After my playthrough of Lost Judgment, there was definitely a lot to unpack. Especially the dynamic between Yagami and Kuwana. And while Kuwana’s quest to kill bullies that had driven others to suicide was understandable. Especially for parents seeking closure after their child has taken their own life. I might not have liked how he forced his old students to abet in murder, but I could also understand it. After all, they went unpunished for pushing Mitsuru Kusumoto to the brink. Had it not been for them, perhaps he wouldn’t have jumped from the roof of the school. 

And yet, it’s a hard pill to swallow when these people now have their own lives and families to take care of. True, they might not be the most upstanding of citizens but they also don’t deserve to have the entirety of their lives ruined from a past action when they have since moved on and grown from that encounter.

Still, given the nature of Japanese society, perhaps this was the only way. In many East Asian cultures, discussions around bullying is almost taboo. People are praised for quietly enduring. And that’s not okay. Worse, bullying also feels more extreme than cases in countries such as the United States and Australia.

Yes, children do get bullied in schools in the Western world. Heck, people also get bullied in the workplace. But the instances of bullying never seem to extend to the extent that has been reported in Japan. Forcing someone to eat their own faeces? How does someone get away with that?

There is much to love about the plot in Lost Judgment. Despite that, I definitely enjoyed the story of the first game a lot more. Perhaps because it was a lot more personal to all the characters involved. The personal stakes in Judgment just seemed so much higher. Yagami was tortured by what had happened.

In Lost Judgment, Yagami had already found himself. There was a surety to how he conducted his investigations and he wasn’t as overwhelmed by the trauma of the past. 

Lost Judgment also improves a lot from the previous title and peppers in the main plot with a lot of side activities. Although some might have derided the addition of the School Stories, I felt that they added to the collective narrative around Seiryo High. Plus, I got to play a dancing minigame. And who doesn’t love a dancing minigame? Don’t forget the boxing and robot battles and the motorcycle racing and skateboarding and everything else in-between.

The only thing that I felt was lacking in Lost Judgment was that, once again, there was no karaoke for Yagami. LET HIM SING, YOU COWARDS!

Combat, too, also saw some improvements along with the addition of snake style. Yagami was fast and quick on his feet. While some of the quick-time events during boss battles weren’t explained as coherently as I would have liked, they were still mostly fun rather than frustrating.

As for the Kaito Files DLC, I loved the fact that it managed to pack in such a plot-heavy narrative within just a few short hours. While there’s much to love about the Yakuza and Judgment games, there’s also plenty of needless filler where there are cutscenes that repeat information that was already learned through various other forms of gameplay.

Yes, characters need to talk and they need to remain in-character as they deliver exposition to other characters but there was something charming about Kaito reuniting with the woman he was in love with more than a decade ago. Oh and the conspiracy by her late husband to kill his old friends in order to maintain his pristine reputation. I have truly never seen anyone as slimy as Kyoya Sadamoto. 

In any case, Mikiko and Jun better not disappear to America in the next Judgment instalment. I want to see them interact with Yagami! Especially after one of the main characters has actually found love.

As for the combat in the DLC, Kaito’s fighting style definitely brought back memories of fighting as Kiryu. His tank style was reminiscent of beast. Hurling around mopeds and motorcycles will never not be amusing.

Lost Judgment was definitely a game that had a lot to do. It might not have been crammed with as much side activities as Yakuza 5, but it still managed to provide me with fun distractions that I found enjoyable to invest my time in. Whether that was leading the Seiryo Rabbits to victory or talking to kids to stop them from their delinquent ways.

I suppose my one gripe would be the romance options. Stop trying to tease us with a Mafuyu and Yagami ship (actually, I’m still angry that Mafuyu appeared so little in this title), and trying to feed us with other romance options that don’t seem to care that Yagami has three other girlfriends. And why are they also so young? The only one that seemed age appropriate was the school nurse: Kyoko Hakase. 

On a side note, loved the Solid Snake reference. Cardboard boxes all the time, every time.

Familial Bond

On By kyndarisLeave a comment

With video game releases that I’m interested in few and far between (or delayed), I felt compelled to make a proper dent in my pile of shame. In truth, it was just a simple excuse for me to pull out in order for me to finally finish Kiryu’s saga by playing through Yakuza 6: A Song of Life. Unlike the last two titles in the series, Yakuza 6 returned its focus on our favourite civilian-who-looks-like-a-yakuza, Kiryu Kazuma. There would not be four characters all vying for my attention with their separate narratives that would collide in the last chapter. Would there still be some strange government cover-up bullshit? You bet! So, without stopping to wonder if I should play something a little more light-hearted after finishing The Last of Us Part II, I dived head-first back into Kamurocho.

Yakuza 6 starts right at the end of Haruka throwing away her cherished dream because she could not continue lying about her family. Despite Haruka’s best attempt at reuniting with both the other orphans at Morning Glory and Kiryu, her father-figure is almost immediately arrested on trumped up charges of assault. With Kiryu’s decision to cleanse himself of his sins, however, Haruka is left at the mercy of the media. Unable to deal with the negative press, she then flees Okinawa to allow her pseudo-siblings the chance at achieving their own dreams without casting a shadow.

The motivation felt incredibly shallow as it all played out, considering that Haruka barely called the other children during her three years stint away. When Kiryu returned, it was understandable that he would be somewhat outraged to find Haruka gone. I’m not entirely sure who looked after the rest of the orphans. Maybe Ayako? But where would they have obtained the money to be properly fed and clothes? Were the subsidised by the government? Plot holes aside, Haruka’s disappearance was enough to spur Kiryu back to his old stomping grounds to find out what had happened to his young charge.

In Kamurocho, however, many things have changed. Increased tensions between the Tojo and the Saio triad now pushing into the area have put people on edge. But as Kiryu wanders around, hoping to find clues on the whereabouts of Haruka, he is informed that she was involved in a hit-and-run. And SURPRISE! there’s now a baby in the mix.

With such an odd beginning, it took some effort for me to properly click with the story. Like many, I had placed Haruka on a pedestal. The fact that she became pregnant and had birthed out a son seemed unfathomable. And then for the child’s father to have been a member of a small yakuza family in Hiroshima AS WELL AS THE HEIR TO THE SAIO TRIAD was a bit much to take in.

As such, it was imperative that I distracted myself with almost all the substories and side activities that were on display. And there were many. From being the manager of a baseball team to ousting a corrupt gang from the streets of Kamurocho. I very much liked the spearfishing elements as they brought a new dynamic to the gameplay that I was accustomed to when it came to the Yakuza series. The reintroduction of Pocket Circuit Fighter was also a fun distraction. 

But, of course, how could I forget Ono Michio? Though it was widely out of character for the usually serious Kiryu to don a mascot outfit with a huge tangerine head, I found these moments of levity enjoyable. They also proved to be a great distraction from a plot that only picked up steam in the latter half of the game, which was prone to spamming players with copious amounts of revelatory cutscenes in the last two chapters.

And yes, why has NO ONE ELSE ever thought to use SKI MASKS to hide their IDENTITY BEFORE? Once they were pulled out of the proverbial hat, it made little sense that none of the main characters ever thought to use such a disguise in their more nefarious crimes. 

Also, chucking Haruto around like he was a football IS A TERRIBLE IDEA! THIS IS A BABY WE ARE TALKING ABOUT!! True, he might have enjoyed being thrown up into the air, but one does not simply pass him around as if it was a game of rugby. Honestly, story writers, do you have any lick of sense?

Then, of course, the narrative had to force Kiryu into trying to dig deeper into the ‘secret of Onomichi.’ Though Haruto’s life was not in any further danger, Kiryu’s endless curiosity to find out more served to elongate the story for a couple more hours – with a final confrontation that saw Kiryu shot three times and losing consciousness with Haruka bearing witness to his ‘final moments.’

Overall, the narrative was serviceable in that it allowed for a proper send-off to Kiryu Kazuma. After ten years of playing as the Dragon of Dojima, it was appropriate that Yakuza 6: A Song of Life made so many allusions to the previous titles – mostly in the character arcs. Unfortunately, since the title was solely focused on Kiryu, many of the other characters that fans fell in love with such as Daigo, Majima and Saejima took a backseat. I also disliked how even as the story focused on Haruka’s disappearance and her child, she remained in a coma for most of the chapters.

Unfortunately, Doctor Emoto and Komaki were absent. And I missed the silly revelations.

The underlying message of family and the bonds between people left a strong impression on me. After the previous game’s very strong hammer of DREAMS, I was relieved to see that Yakuza 6 kept it subtle and a little more tasteful. In fact, the comparisons between the Lo and Iwami family were excellent in highlighting the importance of understanding one’s children and maintaining a good relationship. I also liked how families were also not solely defined by blood ties. This was particularly evident in the adoptive family feel that came from the Hirose Family and Kiryu’s own experience of growing up as an orphan and seeing Kazama Shintaro as a father-figure. 

Gripes aside, I enjoyed the new songs Yakuza 6: A Song of Life brought into the world. My favourite was ‘Today is a Diamond.’ My least, ‘Fork in the Road.’ But that was mostly due to the game not reading my inputs. After searching on Google, I discovered that I was not the sole person that had encountered the bug. I also very much liked the gym portions of the game and scouting out hidden cats around the cities.

The one side activity that I was a little hesitant to repeat after completing it once was the live chat. Kudos to the translators that played an instrumental role in making some of the dialogue hilarious. Truth be told, however, it was the less savoury moments of the game and I am glad that I never discovered the photography section of Yakuza Kiwami 2. 

What I also liked was the Chinese. Gone was the halting and incorrect pronunciations from Tanimura. The truth is, though, they probably actually hired Chinese actors to give the Saio Triad proper lines. While some of the translations were not exact, they still managed to accurately portray the meaning behind the words and phrases used. 

The combat was also very reminiscent of Yakuza Kiwami 2 with experience points separated into strength, agility, spirit, technique and charisma. It was a little annoying that normal mobs could still reduce my health by such a large amount, but it did feel balanced. I doubt it would have been fair if I just blasted through every fight with just one punch. Although, that would have been entertaining to see.

Yakuza 6: A Song of Life proved to be a decent send-off for one of my favourite characters. Though there were stumbles along the way, it was a solid adventure that kept quite a bit of intrigue. As a writer, however, the plot did feel quite contrived in places, but I swept it aside.

Now with the pending release of a new generation of console, I’ll need to hurry if I want to remain on the front-lines of not-gaming-journalism. Of course, with Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon still on the horizon, it won’t be long before I’ll be back on the streets of Kamurocho. Then again, I still have Judgment to get through…