History Characters / LikeADragonKazumaKiryu

CharacterSpecificPages: '''Kazuma Kiryu''' | [[Characters/LikeADragonGoroMajima Goro Majima]] | [[Characters/LikeADragonAkiraNishikiyama Akira Nishikiyama]] | [[Characters/LikeADragonIchibanKasuga Ichiban Kasuga]]\\

** [[spoiler:In the 1980's on the night of the Jingweon Massacre, Kiryu's adoptive father Kazama attempted to make contact with their leader to warn them of the attack so they could flee before Dojima and Shimano made their move to kill them all. Unfortunately, a young 12-year old Kiryu followed Kazama discreetly that night and upon entering the room mid-negotians, he was mistaken for a Yakuza member and proof that this was all a trick to get them all killed. Kazama was then forced to kill the Jingweon Mafia Boss who had jumped the gun on trying to shoot Kiryu. Shimano and his men on standby heard the noise and proceeded to slaughter the rest of the Jingweon. The remaining survivors would come to play a substantial role in the mayhem that would threaten Kamurocho in ''Yakuza 2''. Had Kiryu not interfered, the Jingweon Mafia may possibly have escaped without anyone swearing vengeance on the Tojo Clan resulting in most of the plot of ''Yakuza 2'' likely never happening.]]

* InkSuitActor: Partially. Starting with ''Kenzan!'', the [=PS3=] titles onwards started using 3D facial scans of Takaya Kuroda for Kiryu and his historical counterparts with some minor adjustments, with the resemblance being particularly strong during the Dragon Engine era and beyond.

*** '''Rush''' style gives a wider range of movement and allowing Kiryu to attack twice per turn.
*** '''Beast''' style has a narrower range of movement, but also provides better defense, and guard-breaking grapples.

* PaperThinDisguise: In the first game, he infiltrates Tojo Clan Headquarters in the midst of Masaru Sera's funeral and with nothing more than a standard black suit and sunglasses. Admittedly, he has been in prison for the last 10 years so it's not unlikely for people to have either forgotten his face or never even have met him in the time that's passed. Then again, when two mooks spot him after he loses the shades, they recognize him pretty quickly.
** {{Exaggerated|Trope}} with one of the responses to the mook overseeing the funeral guestbook. Kiryu can enter a false name, or [[WhatTheHellHero sign his real one]], and claim he's a [[BlatantLies different Kiryu]] when called out on it. ''[[FailedASpotCheck The mook believes him.]]''

* WorldsStrongestMan: Legendary through the underworld for being unstoppable in a fight, Kiryu is both the most physically powerful man and [[WorldsBestWarrior the greatest fighter]] in the entire series thus far. Numbers are of little to no use against him, as he's demonstrated that he can take on 100 yakuza at once and clear buildings full of enemies on his own, all while suffering little injuries and appearing more winded than wounded, and the enemies who tend to pose an actual challenge against him are considered to be some of the yakuza world's hardest core, like Nishiki, Daigo, members of the Amon Family, Goda, and most prominently his friends Majima and Saejima, and even then Kiryu constantly wins while at times holding back, and the latter two only ever win when he's been badly injured or weakened, Kiryu having won at times while they only ever stalemated him at best. He's also able to handle some of the most dangerous wild beasts around, as he punched out ''two'' tigers in the space of a few minutes and once caught a charging bull by the horns without being pushed back an inch then ''threw'' it across a ring and handily defeated land sharks. His skills haven't dulled with age either, as in his fifties he's still more than capable of taking down Ichiban's crew single handedly while holding back, whereas Majima and Saejima working together while similarly holding back failed to do so. His legend has both an intimidating effect in that people tend to do their best to avoid a confrontation with him as they know no matter how hard they try he can and will eventually defeat and wipe the floor with them and also ironically an encouraging effect in that many of the great fighters of the Yakuza world want to test themselves against him.

* InkSuitActor: Partially. From the [=PS3=] games and onward Kiryu incorporated some of the facial features of his voice actor Takaya Kuroda.

* PurposelyOverpowered: In ''Infinite Wealth'', he lives up to his legendary status by having high stats all around and being a heavy damage dealer all while only having his bare fists as his weapon. His StanceSystem in his personal job allows him to either act twice in one turn or grapple enemies with just a regular attack, and they each get more powerful the more of his Bucket List is completed. To top it all off, his LimitBreak straight-up allows him to forego the turn-based combat to attack enemies without any repercussions within a short time limit. Although, he still has drawbacks, one being that all of his skills are attack based, leaving no room for Healing and Support without going to other jobs, and [[MightyGlacier his Agility stat is more on the slower side.]]

* InvincibleHero: As the series goes on, Kiryu is basically treated as an unstoppable force of nature that simply cannot be beaten in a fair fight (which is why villains often resort to threatening Haruka). There does exist some characters who can inflict some nasty damage on him and certain characters like Saejima can get close to a stalemate, but never can they have a full victory. This becomes most evident in [[spoiler:"Like a Dragon", where he single-handedly takes on Ichiban and (ignoring the ArbitraryHeadCount) his entire crew (including another Han) and [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose beats them with little trouble]] while likely holding back]].

* CelibateHero: After his relationships with Yumi and Kaoru ended in [[TheLostLenore tragedy]] and going their separate ways respectively, Kiryu seems to have little interest in romance anymore. A lot of it may be pragmatic as his reputation tends to put loved ones in danger but he also just doesn't seem to have romance on his mind.

-->''"Ready to die? Step up!"''

[[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan]]. [[TheRival KIRYU-CHAN]]. [[PapaWolf Uncle Kaz]]. [[LivingLegend The Legendary Dragon]]. [[ThatManIsDead Taichi Suzuki]]. [[FakingTheDead The Man Who Erased His Name]]. '''[[TheHero The Dragon]]''' '''[[OneManArmy of Dojima]]'''. \\\

The Dragon of Dojima, fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan and our hero. Big and scary, but very kind, loyal and gentle as long as you don't get on his bad side.\\\

* SympathyForTheDevil: His AllLovingHero tendencies lead to him expressing sympathy for his enemies at least once a game, even if it doesn't ever stop him from beating them into the ground. Examples include: [[spoiler:Akira Nishikiyama, Yukio Terada, Ryuji Goda, Yoshitaka Mine, Goh Hamazaki, Daigo Dojima, Masaru Watase, Naoki Katsuya, Masato Aizawa, Jun Oda (though by the time of ''Infinite Wealth'' he also bluntly refers to him as an asshole he never liked), Toru Hirose, Takumi Someya, Kosei Shishido, and Masataka Ebina.]]

** Since ''0'' is the prequel to the series before meeting the aforementioned weapon trainers, he completely averts it there with Majima taking up the role as the resident weapon aficionado. That said, he does get some unique benefits when using [[PowerFist knuckle dusters]], [[DropTheHammer hammers]] and [[{{BFS}} large two-handed swords.]] With brass knuckles, he can retain his [[FragileSpeedster Rush style]] techniqes with the added power of said knuckles while also gaining certain unique Heat Actions. The only downside is he can't stun enemies with brass knuckles on like he can with barefist Rush style. As for hammers and large swords, only he get access to their weapon Heat Action which requires wielding them in Beast Style.

** Another iconic move would be a high right roundhouse kick or more commonly known as the Box Cover Kick or the 4th attack in Kiryu's basic Rush Combo. A stylized black and white version of the kick is featured on the box art for the [[Videogame/Yakuza1 first game]], ''{{VideoGame/Yakuza 0}}'' recreates the cover when first unlocking the Legend style, a charged heavy attack unleashes a devasting version with the same pose, he unleashes a flying version when he clashes with [[spoiler: Iwami for the last time]] in ''{{VideoGame/Yakuza 6}}'' and when called upon in [[spoiler: ''{{VideoGame/Like a Dragon}}'', his summon]] includes a basic combo which of course puts empahsis on the kick. It's also the icon for the Legend and Dragon styles from 0 and Kiwami respectively.

* SympathyForTheDevil: His AllLovingHero tendencies lead to him expressing sympathy for his enemies at least once a game, even if it doesn't ever stop him from beating them into the ground. Examples include: [[spoiler:Akira Nishikiyama, Yukio Terada, Ryuji Goda, Yoshitaka Mine, Goh Hamazaki, Daigo Dojima, Masaru Watase, Naoki Katsuya, Masato Aizawa, Jun Oda, Toru Hirose, Takumi Someya, Kosei Shishido, and Masataka Ebina.]]

** He was this with Nishiki as kids and through the era of ''Yakuza 0'' until the events the first game broke their bond forever.
** Somewhat against his own will he becomes this with Majima as the Mad Dog is determined to keep his favourite WorthyOpponent around.