Characters / Like a Dragon: Kazuma Kiryu

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Character-Specific Pages: Kazuma Kiryu | Goro Majima | Akira Nishikiyama | Ichiban Kasuga
Yakuza | Yakuza 2 | Yakuza 3 | Yakuza 4 | Yakuza 5 | Like a Dragon: Ishin! | Yakuza 0 (Dojima Lieutenants | Kamurocho Residents | Sotenbori Residents) | Yakuza 6 | Yakuza: Like a Dragon (The Heroes of Tomorrow) | Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name | Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Judgment (Takayuki Yagami) | Lost Judgment

Kazuma Kiryu

Voiced by: Takaya Kuroda (Japanese), Kenji Nojima (Japanese; Young), Darryl Kurylo (English; 1, Like a Dragon), Yong Yea (English; Gaiden Onwards)^{Other Languages}Liu Beichen (Chinese)

Portrayed by: Masakatsu Funaki (Yakuza: Prologue Live-Action Short Film), Kazuki Kitamura (Yakuza Live-Action Film), Eiji Takigawa (Yakuza Stage Play)

Kiryu as he appears in Kiwami 2.

^{Click here to see Kiryu as he appears in the PS2 games.}

^{Click here to see Kiryu as he appears in Yakuza 0.}

^{Click here to see Kiryu as he appears in Gaiden as 'Joryu'.}

^{Click here to see Kiryu as he appears in Infinite Wealth.}

"Ready to die? Step up!"

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

Kiryu was raised in the Sunflower orphanage along with his closest friend Akira Nishikiyama and the woman he's always loved, Yumi Sawamura. Raised by Shintaro Kazama, he and Nishiki followed in his steps and joined the yakuza under the Dojima family in hopes to help the man who raised him. Three years later in 1988 at the age of 20, he was framed for murder and learned that the Dojima Family was seeking to obtain the Empty Lot where the murder took place, which was needed for them to gain control of the Kamurocho Revitalization Project. Seeking to prove his innocence, he teamed up with a Real Estate businessman named Tachibana and they tried to clear Kiryu's name while preventing the Dojima Family to get the Empty lot since it would mean having Sohei Dojima as a future chairman, something Kazama feared. After the last of Dojima's lieutenants, Shibusawa, the would-be Dragon of Dojima, tried to get rid of Kazama's followers in the Dojima Family, he faced Kiryu in a final battle and was defeated and incarcerated. For losing the Empty Lot race to Masaru Sera, Sohei Dojima was disgraced and lost almost all his influence and power.

Kiryu eventually returned to the Dojima Family where he became feared and celebrated as "The Dragon of Dojima". Things seemed to be working out well until one night in 1995. After a collection, Kiryu learned that his childhood friend Yumi had been abducted by Dojima, who was still known for getting anything he wanted, including women. Knowing the consequences if he dared to interfere, he went out to stop him. By the time Kiryu got to his office, he found that Nishiki was already there, and had murdered Dojima for trying to force himself on Yumi. Knowing the consequences Nishiki would face and what he would lose, Kiryu took the blame for the murder and went to jail for ten years to protect his friends.

However, he discovered that Yumi had lost her memory and disappeared after the incident, and after his release, that his closest friend had now become his bitter enemy, and ten billion yen was stolen from the clan. Seeking his friends and answers, he discovers Haruka, a young girl who is looking for her aunt Yumi and holds the key to the missing money. Kiryu fights to protect her at all costs, but loses everyone important to him in the ordeal, leaving only Haruka to keep him going. It's during this time that he's granted the title of Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan, but quickly gives up the position to start a new clean life with Haruka.

After a year of peace, the Fifth Chairman is murdered by his former colleagues, the Omi Alliance, and Kiryu finds himself pulled into another conflict that's part of a larger scheme involving the Korean Jingweon mafia. After putting an end to it, he and Haruka decide to leave Tokyo and move to Okinawa where he runs an orphanage, but even then he continues to be pulled back into the life he thought he left behind. By the fifth game, he's left the orphanage and has become a taxi driver in Fukuoka, going by the name "Taichi Suzuki", but fate continues to call him back into action once more. Following the game's events, he's arrested and serves a three-year sentence. He returns to the orphanage to discover that Haruka had left long ago and that her whereabouts are unknown, until he's told she was hospitalized after being struck by a car. He also learns about the existence of her infant child, Haruto, and the truth behind everything lies in Hiroshima.

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A-I

• 10-Minute Retirement:
  • Inverted at the end of the first game. After becoming the Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan, his very first action is to announce his resignation and hand the position off to someone else. Played straight right after as it only takes a year for him to be dragged back into the Tojo Clan's affairs in the second game.
  • A meta example: 6 was declared to be his final game as the series protagonist. Years later however, he would not only become the deuteragonist of Infinite Wealth, but star in a Gaiden Game set during the events of Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
• Aborted Arc: Him ever forming a relationship with Kaoru Sayama since the second entry in the series only to be dropped thereafter, even to the point that Date considers their relationship to be this in-universe. As the series go on, it became clear the writers don't want Kiryu to ever be tied down to one woman, even less with someone who is a dedicated police officer. Furthermore, later installments revolve around Kiryu's inability to completely shake off his Yakuza roots, no matter how hard he tries. It even gets to the point that he has to fake his death to ensure that his loved ones can truly live in peace. Tellingly, when Kaoru admits to Date that some part of her is still waiting for him, Kiryu is visibly shaken by the news. Date himself almost feels obligated to confess Kiryu is still alive in the moment, but it stopped by Kiryu over the radio.
• The Ace: Computers aside, Kiryu's practically a pro at everything he puts his mind to. Bashing people's (and tigers') heads in, saving people from going down the wrong path, raising kids, wooing hostesses, being a host, cooking, fishing, karaoke, batting, bowling, street racing, RC car racing, and even dancing when he was younger. Poor Nishiki never had a chance.
• Action Dad: He certainly counts when he takes in Haruka and the kids at Morning Glory Orphanage, even if they're not blood related.
• Aesop Amnesia: Kiryu has multiple moments where he defeats an armed opponent and does not take the oppurtunity to disarm them. This has never worked out in his favor, and he never remembers to get rid of dangerous weapons. This directly leads to Rikiya's death.
  • In spite of Yumi telling him (and Haruka) at the end of Yakuza 1 to not run away like she did, his recurring problem in the series is him bouncing between his desire to lead a normal civilian life, and his sense of honor pushing him to help the Tojo Clan whenever it gets into trouble, unable to commit to one or the other. It culminates in him leaving both behind in 6 through his faked death.
• Alliterative Name: Kazuma Kiryu.
• All-Loving Hero: To a fault. Kiryu believes in everyone he encounters, is very forgiving even toward his enemies, and never hesitates to lend a helping hand toward anyone who needs it most. Even when it ends up nearly killing him in Yakuza 3's ending, he still retains his optimism at death's door and is still willing to help those who have tried to kill him.
• All-Powerful Bystander: What his role is effectively post-6. As Like A Dragon shows, the deal that allowed Kiryu to fake his death means that he can't intervene in events he'd normally play an active role in participating. He even says as much to Ichiban, as while he has an idea of what Aoki is planning, there's only so much he can do in his position. Given that Kiryu is often an effective problem solver when pushed, one can only wonder what would happen if he stepped in for real. This is done away with in Gaiden and Infinite Wealth, as he returns to the fore in full, and retroactively subverts it for most of Like a Dragon as he was merely busy doing other things, and was more or less content to pass the torch to Ichiban after meeting him.
• Almighty Janitor: In 5, while working as a taxi driver under an alias. People are floored to discover that "Suzuki" is a master combatant, an incredibly skilled driver and just good at everything. Some people openly question who he really is and aren't sold when he insists he's just a taxi driver.
• Arch-Enemy: Of Jo Amon and the Amon clan. Subverted with Shin Amon as of Like a Dragon. After defeating Shin for the first time, Kiryu is shown to be on friendly terms with Shin, with his boss fight being something akin to a Secret Test of Character for Ichiban.
• Art Evolution: His character design has noticeably shifted with each era. In the PS2 duology, he was noticeably a lot more slender than in later games. The HD games give him a more exaggerated silhouette by making him more muscular and featuring him with a bigger, slightly more stylised hairstyle. Like a Dragon onwards tries to find a middle ground, keeping his silhouette but bringing his size down a notch, giving him a more naturalistic look.
• Artifact Title: Subverted with regards to his Red Baron title "The Dragon of Dojima". Sure, he gained that title working under Sohei Dojima only to be accused of killing him and destroying his Family, with 0 making it more ill-fitting considering how Dojima was instrumental in nearly ruining his life as a younger man. On the other hand, he continues to give a tremendous amount of support towards his son Daigo Dojima throughout the series, so it's still a suitable title.
• Assassin Outclassin': There's been multiple assassination attempts on him since the first game and none of them have ever succeeded.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Much of Kiryu's legendary reputation in the Tojo Clan and eventual crowning as its head is owed to his unparalleled ability to give people permanent brain injury with traffic cones.
• Awaken the Sleeping Giant: Kiryu for the most part stays out of the Tokyo yakuza sphere post-3, content to run Morning Glory Orphanage with his kids. However, something always inevitably draws him back into the fray in one way or another, and most of the time it's because someone has come to him for help. The rest of the time it's because someone has done something to supremely piss him off, most likely by threatening his family, and has forced him into action. It never ends well for his enemies.
• Awesome by Analysis: Can create surprisingly effective techniques that come from observations of unorthodox and even plain wacky situations. He's also a quick learner and has been trained in the use of swords, staffs, kali sticks, nunchaku, brass knuckles, and tonfa.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: When the moment Kiryu declared himself the fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan during its darkest hour, it's quite honestly the most badass thing he has ever done. Of course, the actual ceremony was never held as Kiryu quickly resigns, making this a subversion.
• Badass Boast: In his appearance in Like A Dragon.
  Kiryu: The treasure you're after is right up there. I am the dragon guarding it. So defeat me, if you really think you're the hero it belongs to.
• Badass Driver: In 5, he dominates the street racing scene with his taxi.
• Badass Family: His adoptive father was the Tojo Clan's finest assassin and later Patriarch of a powerful Yakuza family and his adoptive brother also became a Patriarch of a powerful family. We know next to nothing about his biological family but his parents were apparently dangerous enough to justify sending the aforementioned finest assassin in the Tojo Clan after them.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Kiryu's "standard" getup is a light gray suit with a maroon dress shirt. In 0, he adopts a white pinstripe and an orange dress shirt with a gold chain pattern on it. Every so often he'll dress in a standard black and white suit, such as for funerals and formal occasions. Gaiden sees him in a crisp Daidoji agent suit, and the game goes even further with optional clothes present in that game's Boutique.
• Baritone of Strength: Befitting his status as the Dragon of Dojima and his combat prowess, he speaks with a low baritone.
• Badass in Distress: Shockingly enough in an event that occurred prior to the first game, as he was captured and tortured by Lau Ka Long before Kazama saves him.
• Bag of Spilling: Played With, but usually for justified reasons. Kiryu explicitly loses his fighting edge while in prison after Yakuza 1's prologue, with Majima noting in a fight added in Kiwami that he's gotten sloppy and ordering him to get back into shape. In-game, this is reflected by Kiryu's signature Dragon of Dojima fighting style being at its absolute weakest, forcing the player to grind while using the less refined styles Kiryu had from 0. Otherwise, Kiryu largely retains some of his movesets between games but never a full selection, which itself is often justified by Kiryu trying to leave his violent life behind or ending each game sustaining a critical injury. Yakuza 4 is the largest exception to this, as Kiryu has most of his moveset from 3 unlocked by default to show his Experienced Protagonist nature. Gaiden lampshades this where the descriptor for the Tiger Drop has Kiryu admitting that he tends to forget that skill a lot.
• Barrier Maiden: He was basically Kamurocho's main defense against being taken over by the Omi Alliance, since, as of 7, long after his story effectively ended, the Omi Alliance took over the place.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: Kiryu is well-known for taking special care to never kill his opponents, no matter how badly or seriously he injures them. However, there have been some occasions where he finally becomes willing to defy that code and deal the finishing blow for good.
  • Shibusawa in 0 having made it clear he would keep trying to kill Kiryu and his loved ones and even spitefully flaunts Tachibana's death, Kiryu viciously beats him up and makes it apparent he would have beaten him to death had Nishiki not stopped him.
  • In Dead Souls, Kiryu is at first unwilling to kill the zombified residents of Kamurocho, but after realizing there is no saving them and killing them would be a mercy, he finally decides to choose saving the innocent people fighting for survival and no longer hesitates in putting them out of their misery.
  • The climax of 6 displays Kiryu's murderous rage in full detail. Sugai and Tsuneo, who are easily some of the most despicable villains in the entire franchise and will stop at nothing to kill Kiryu and/or his friends at that point, has earned Kiryu's hatred so much that he is fully willing to kill them, no matter what may happen to him. This shocks Someya, who knows the Dragon of Dojima has never killed a person, and worries Akiyama, knowing that if Kiryu commits murder he'll no longer be the "boss of Kamurocho", but Kiryu, who never considered himself to be a savior or a saint to begin with, has made up his mind. After thrashing Tsuneo during the final battle, he holds down his neck and is clearly about to crush his neck, but he is interrupted by a gun-toting Sugai. Even while Kiryu is shot and severely wounded, he still makes it clear he intents on killing Sugai and would have done it had his allies not intervened and took him down for him.
• Battle Aura: Present since the first game whenever his Heat Gauge fills at least one bar (or he activates "Extreme Heat" in the dragon engine games from 6 onwards) and usually grants him certain combat buffs if he has the right upgrades unlocked. It's usually blue but there have been exceptions.
  • In the first and second game on PS2, It's a white-ish silvery color with a blue tint.
  • In Kiwami 2, 3 and 4 it's just blue but whenever he fills up his heat high enough, it becomes red and grants him access to special "Red Heat" Actions.
  • In 5, it's also blue but activating Dragon Spirit turns it bright red. He also gains a red aura when performing Climax Heat Actions.
  • In 0 and Kiwami, the color depends on which fighting style he's using: Blue for Brawler, Purple for Rush, Golden for Beast, and White/Red for Dragon, white in the case of 0. The DoD style's aura in 7, however, is instead a light purple.
• Benevolent Boss:
  • When Kiryu becomes a dominant real estate player in Kamurocho in 0. The Five Billionaires find that they prefer working for Kiryu after being treated like garbage by the Finance King.
  • Happens again when he becomes the manager at Club Four Shine in Kiwami 2. Yuki and Koyuki immediately take a shine to him and two girls from rival clubs quit explicitly because they think Kiryu would be a better boss, especially compared to what a hateful prick Kanzaki is.
• Berserk Button: Messing with either women or kids in front of Kiryu is one of the surest ways to bring down his wrath upon you. Especially do not mess with Haruka, Kiryu's adoptive niece. Betraying your own sworn brother is a good way to anger him too.
  • 6 also displays that he takes the abandonment of children by their parents dead serious which makes sense since he grew up in an orphanage. The possibility of Haruka's son Haruto being turned over to child services while she's in a coma for an indefinite time period instead of any sort of proper parental figure drives him to effectively kidnap Haruto and even beat up Akiyama in the process when he tries to stop him. When he finally determines that Hirose Family friend and ally Yuta Usagi is the father, he tries hard to instill him the parental instinct to protect Haruto by any means necessary. When Yuta's sordid ancestry with the overly traditional and outright racist Chinese Saio Triad paints a target on his half-Japanese son Haruto, Yuta desperately tries to cut ties with the Triads by burning down their headquarters, killing his Triad Boss father and dying himself in the just to ensure that his son Haruto lives peacefully. Kiryu becomes positively enraged at the idea of Yuta choosing to have Haruto grow up without a father no matter the intentions.
  • He says in Gaiden that he's also can't stand animal abuse. One sidequest has him cross paths with a bunch of hoodlums who torture stray cats; while Kiryu tends to give small-time thugs a chance to walk away, here he makes it clear that he's going to beat them into traction out of principle.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's polite and respectful, but you do not want to see him angry.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: In the same vein as the above entry. Kiryu is one of the most reserved characters in the series, at least on the surface. While he shows numerous flashes of a very fiery inner nature, he generally stays The Stoic. Any one of his defeated enemies could tell you that this does not make him any less dangerous.
• Be Yourself: Believes that it's the most important part of living which goes a long way in explaining why so many of his substories end with him telling this to others. This is Deconstructed in later entires, such as in 5 when he abandons his home and identity for the sake of giving the people he loves a better life and is clearly pretty miserable about it. He ends up having to own up to the sorta man he is, both the good and the bad.
• BFG: His unique weapon in Dead Souls is an anti-materiel rifle.
• Big Brother Instinct: Toward Nishiki in 0 and the first game's flashback. He did ten years in prison because he couldn't bear the idea of Nishiki going to prison and in 0 he was willing to die if it meant Nishiki could use his head to climb the ranks in the Tojo Clan after Kiryu got the whole clan against him. Even Nishiki admitted he'd die without Kiryu watching his back.
• Big Damn Heroes: In the first game, a group of punks cruelly throw rocks at a defenseless dog. When the next punk throws a big rock aimed at the poor dog's head, Kiryu catches the rock, then nails the thrower in the head with it. Kiryu proceeds to beat the shit out of all the punks, much to their shock and disbelief.
  • In 7/Like a Dragon, when the Omi Alliance officers revolt against the decision to disband both the Tojo and Omi organizations. While Ichiban and his allies form a defensive wall to protect the clan heads, one man slips through, about to kill Watase. Just when it looks like all is lost, Kiryu appears and punches the guy out, disguised as an ordinary bodyguard. Ichiban doesn't know what's going on, but Majima, Saejima, and Daigo all know there's no way they're losing this fight now.
• Big "NO!": Would say this in Yakuza 3 if he didn't run away from Michiru the cross-dresser.
• Bitch Slap: A very nasty one that he's only ever had in 2 (which his historical counterpart would also inherit in Kenzan!). All together now...
  Kiryu: Hora doushita?^note  What's wrong?
• Blood Knight: While he doesn't seem like it on the outside, deep inside he's always yearning for a fight, and will never back down from ever being challenged.
  Kiryu (Yakuza 5): Sounds to me like you're all just spoiling for a fight. There's something you're forgetting. I've been thirsting for a fight as well. For far longer than any of you.
  • Most prominent in his rivalry with Ryuji Goda. Kiryu may be his usual stoic self around him but in their first meeting he gets into a subtle pissing contest with him and is eager to settle who is the mightier Dragon.
• Bond One-Liner: He gets a very few of these...
  [to B-King inside the Batting Cage] "...I did feel the urge to hit some balls today. I suppose yours will have to do."
  [after beating down the Be My Baby fetishists] "I've done enough babysitting."
• Bootstrapped Leitmotif: Streets of Kamurocho has a Genesis soundfont remix of "Funk Goes On" play when you're playing as Kiryu. It was previously used in the first game and its Kiwami remake as the generic battle theme that plays when fighting goons on the streets of Kamurocho.
• Born Unlucky: Basically nothing ever seems to go smoothly for Kiryu. The seemingly simplest of situations quickly build up complications and obstacles. This is often amusing in the substories and frequently tragic in the main story.
• Boxing Battler: Most emphasized in Yakuza 0. Two of Kiryu's three trainers, Bacchus and Kamoji, whom respectively teach the Brawler and Rush Styles, are explicitly noted to have experience in boxing. Rush in particular features an emphasis on fast-footwork, Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs and a high-guard, bladed stance heavily influenced by boxing. However, he also states that he'd fair poorly as a professional boxer due to all the rules and regulations involved in the ring.
• Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: He shows shades of this whenever "Haruka" and "boyfriend" are in the same sentence. He completely loses it when he learns about Haruto and demands to know the identity of the father.
• Brain Bleach: Played for laughs during Kiwami's "Truth About Beauty" sidequest. When the attractive girl he was about to get it on with suddenly reveals "herself" to be a man, Kiryu goes catatonic from the shock, leaving him open to muggery as intended by the man and his sister. Fortunately, the effect only lasts a few seconds and he gets up in time to fight off his would-be assailants. He's also not exactly too thrilled about Gondawara's fetish in the "Be My Baby" substory in Kiwami 2, either.
• Brought Down to Badass: By the time of Infinite Wealth, age as well as cancer has sapped his strength to the point that he's down to a strength level comparable to Ichiban and his party members. This is in contrast to his appearance as a boss in Like A Dragon, where he can wipe the floor with said party and barely break a sweat even after being "defeated". Nonetheless, he's still tough enough that he's capable of temporarily ignoring the turn-based combat system to beat enemies up in real time.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: He's undeniably rough, but he's definitely got a soft spot for kids and doesn't feel embarrassed about partaking in certain activities geared towards them.
• Bully Hunter: Kiryu does not condone anyone beating on those who can't fight back, especially on women, children, and animals. He'll wreck your shit if he catches you doing so.
• Bullying a Dragon: Pun notwithstanding, Kiryu is on the receiving end of this to a comical degree. It's more understandable in 0 despite his intimidating presence given that he's a yakuza rookie. By later games when he's known as the Dragon of Dojima plenty of punks and thugs acknowledge his legendary status and One-Man Army reputation but still insist on antagonizing him. They're always surprised when it ends as well as you'd expect.
• The Call Knows Where You Live: And how! It doesn't matter where Kiryu is or how far he's distanced himself from his past as the Dragon of Dojima, the call will always ring him up and drag him back in. Not even Faking the Dead keeps the call away from him, as shown in Like a Dragon, Gaiden, and Infinite Wealth.
• Cannot Spit It Out: He admits this problem to Hanawa in Gaiden while reminiscing about Yumi. He could never find the courage to confess his feelings and present her with the engagement ring he got her. And by the time he found it in him, Yumi was dying in his arms. To that very day, he still carries the ring meant for her.
• Celibate Hero: After his relationships with Yumi and Kaoru ended in 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. One of his Bucket List encounters in Infinite Wealth shows that he and Kaoru still have some lingering feelings for each other even after fifteen years.
• The Champion: He serves as Haruka's in the first game and its remake, as there's not much the young girl can do to protect herself against the yakuza who are after her. He also serves as one for Makoto in the prequel, sharing the role with Majima.
• Character Catchphrase: "Step forward if you want to die!" or a variant of the phrase^note In Japanese, it's consistently "死にてぇ奴だけ掛かって来い！/ Shinite yatsu dake kakatte koi!". Doubles as a Pre Ass Kicking One Liner, most frequently said right before beating up a particularly huge number of thugs at once. Later games start parodying it with variants in side content, such as Kiryu shouting it to try and intimidate a rude woman in his taxi in 5 or adding it to Ono Michio's introduction in 6. There's also "Today's been a bad day, and it's put me in a real shitty mood. It's just your bad luck to have run into me", which he doesn't say quite as often but is still iconic enough to be reused in Clan Creator and spin-off games like Isshin and Online.
  • Borrowed Catchphrase: Both Kiryu impostors in substories as well as Sodachi in 6s Clan Creator appropriated one or both of these lines. An imposter of him in Gaiden's Colisseum also uses it... right in front of him, much to his disgust.
    Kiryu: I do not sound like that...
• Character Development: Yakuza 0 starts him off as a bit of a brash, naive and hot-blooded Jerk with a Heart of Gold that gradually learns of a bigger picture and ends up creating a real name for himself. By the time Yakuza 1 hits, he's shown to be incredibly patient (For example, when Kiryu refused to fight Majima back despite being forced into this situation), but after ten years in jail and finding his blood brother Nishiki stirring up hell, he can be either a Nice Guy to Haruka and his friends, or a man with absolutely no patience (Downright punching a statue, for example) or all that much mercy for the tribulations at large. However, unlike in 0, Kiryu will refuse to give into his desire for vengeance, despite how his enemies often make his life hell (likely influenced by Nishikiyama); the events of the game then turn him into a calmer individual as he tries to take care of Haruka and eventually the entire Morning Glory Orphanage. As the series goes on, he does firmly cement himself further and further into Nice Guy territory, though also with a fair amount of Knight in Sour Armor much later when the yakuza drama keeps dragging him back into the spotlight.
  • His stoicism was also considerably more prominent in the first two games, particularly in his reactions to tragedy. This is especially evident in the first where despite several people he knew and loved perishing before the end of the game, the cutscenes choose to not really show him emote about it much, always showing him from a distance with his face obscured and cutting away as he's either shouting their names out or speaking to their lifeless body with a quiet, broken voice. At most, 2 shows that he's definitely not over their deaths since he's introduced having nightmares about what happened to them but he still proves to be as tough as ever afterwards and for the rest of the game. Compare this to 3 in which his reaction to Rikiya dying is to actually cry and even wail a bit, begging his current closest friend to hold on. While possibly a result of the newer technology allowing Kiryu to be more expressive, he's been consistently portrayed as more emotional since 3, including the prequel game. This could imply that he built up his stone-cold attitude by climbing the ranks of the Dojima Family between 0 and the first game and that it wasn't until he spent a few years peacefully running an orphanage that he loosened up more in order to be a better caretaker and honest citizen.
• Characterization Marches On: In the earlier games he worked more closely with the yakuza and was more prone to using the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique and especially in earlier American localizations of said games where he was much more of a vulgar thug towards his enemies, and in the first game, he can be pretty rude towards civilians at times despite his stoicism. The Kiwami remake tones down some of this but not entirely.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: He is perhaps the most prominent example of this. He can swing motorcycles around with ease (in Beast style in 0 or when using Extreme Heat in 6 and Kiwami 2), punch out tigers and stop a charging bull with his bare hands before proceeding to flip it over. Even in the first game he casually shatters a marble statue with a single punch in a cutscene. Even in Infinite Wealth, where he's weakened considerably, he's still able to snap a sword in half with his fists.
• Chick Magnet: Oh boy is he, probably the biggest in the series.
• Chivalrous Pervert: He has a bit of a lecherous streak in 0, often assuming that certain women proposition him while in fact they imply a much more innocent thing, much to Kiryu's relief or disappointment.
  • 2 and its remake have some opportunities to have Kiryu display a perverted side. The infamous "Be My Baby" substory can have him admit to the "caretaker" asking him about his favorite kinda milk that he loves boobs while a Kiwami 2 exclusive substory with Koyuki can have him suddenly bury his face into Koyuki's discarded panties because he was curious as to why the pervert he was helping her deal with was so fixated on trying to steal panties from her to vigorously sniff in such a manner.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: While it's more blatant in substories, Kiryu tends to be portrayed as unable to keep himself from getting involved for the sake of helping others in need often to his own detriment. Storywise, this is most evident in 4 where it isn't exactly a conflict where he necessarily needs to involve himself with. Yet, not only does it have strong ties to the events of the first game, but he also feels the need to help Saejima's sister Yasuko when it becomes clear that she's in danger.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Not usually but he does have a somewhat unconventional view of things. When combined with the bizarre situations he often ends up in, he occasionally comes to some equally bizarre conclusions, all with the utmost severity of course. This also holds true for certain optional dialogue choices, often the comical incorrect ones.
  • Special mention goes to the time, he won a bowling contest for a free fried turkey meal. Somehow the Bowling Alley receptionist running the event mistakenly brought in a chicken instead. A live chicken at that. When she offers to use her prior farming experience to quickly prepare it for a chicken meal, Kiryu instead has a silent yet intimate moment staring into the fowl's eyes and decides to adopt it as a pet instead. All with one of the most sincere smiles he's had in the entire series. Afterwards, it's quickly revealed that he hired said chicken as a financial manager for his Real Estate Firm, even assigning the fowl a legitimate salary.
  "Hello, chicken. Your name will be... Nugget."
• Combat Pragmatist: Combined with Improbable Weapon User; Kiryu has no problem using the environment around him to his advantage.
• Cold Ham: In stark contrast to his rival, Majima, Kiryu is quiet and stoic; this still doesn't prevent him from hamming it up at several points. In particular, he has a habit of making actions as mundane as answering the phone incredibly dramatic.
• The Comically Serious: Falls victim to this a lot, especially in the more bizarre and silly side quests. But Kiryu also will make the most mundane of actions look so dramatic and outrageous and not even realize it. He also winds up effectively becoming the straight man next to Majima in a Straight Man and Wise Guy duo.
• Cool Old Guy: Since the games take place during the year they were originally released, Kiryu ages in real time. He's currently pushing sixty and is still surprisingly a smooth operator and less surprisingly an unmatched fighter.
• Cop Hater: Kiryu admits that he dislikes cops, most likely due to his upbringing as a yakuza. However, he still holds a soft spot for certain members of law enforcement, especially Detective Makoto Date, one of his most stalwart allies.
• Counter-Attack:
  • His two mainstay counters throughout most of the series are the Komaki Parry and Komaki Tiger Drop. Both require strict timing to pull off and leave the opponent wide open, with the Komaki Parry using the enemy's momentum against them and the Komaki Tiger Drop sending Kiryu's enemies flying with a swift punch to the gut.
  • 0, taking place before Kiryu canonically meets Sotaro Komaki, the man he learns the above techniques from, instead features less refined versions of the same techniques. The Komaki Parry is replaced with the Rush Style technique Demonic Shadow, and Tiger Drop is replaced with the Brawler Style technique Counter Hook.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The absolute master of dishing these out. With HEAT actions, this trope becomes surprisingly literal, as his "on the ground" heat attack in most games is simply stomping his foot onto an enemies' face. Anyone who is not some of the most dangerous guys around will be subjected to this, groups or not, if they try to take Kiryu on. Even some of the elite members of the underworld who do have what it takes to fight him tend to receive Curb Stomp Cushion fights with them on the ground badly beaten while Kiryu would be at worst slightly injured or at best only somewhat winded and battered, with the guys who can really go up against him and make it a serious fight able to be counted with two hands in a VERY long list of enemies.
• Death Glare: Usually has one on his face by default, particularly in earlier games but he throws out some particularly effective ones whenever an enemy has gone too far with their actions... or sometimes just when he feels like he needs to be even more intimidating than usual.
• Deadpan Snarker: With a heavy emphasis on the "deadpan" part, he has his moments, though he more often keeps it to his own thoughts and simply shakes his head while maybe palming his forehead
  (He came all the way to Okinawa to research noodles... This guy's a bit of a noodle himself.)
• Death Seeker: Has shades of this, which is understandable considering the many losses and suffering he's been through. He's not exactly suicidal nor does he outright seek life-threatening battles, but subconsciously, it's implied he seeks to die and be reunited with the people he had lost, with how he always willing to put his life on the line and isn't afraid to die. Haruka even suspects he's become one in Yakuza 3. Yakuza 5 and Yakuza 6 makes it even more evident: The Stinger of the former shows that he's not scared to die because he knows people are waiting for him on the other side. In the latter, his karaoke song, TONIGHT ~restart from this night~ shows he waits to reunite with his brother and the people he had lost in the afterlife. Dialogue with Akiyama during the confrontation over Haruto makes it easy to infer that he places very little value on his own life.
• Declaration of Protection: He gives one in 6 that neatly summarises how much he loves Haruka.
  Kiryu: Haruka and I have less than nothing to do with your little war but hear me now... If the Tojo Clan even thinks about laying a hand on my family... I will bury all of you.
• Decoy Protagonist: Downplayed in 4, he's still a prominent character and shows up at the front of the cover art. But does not appear until the second act of the game, is the last protagonist to be in control of, and doesn't even fight the Final Boss. Instead the honor goes to Tanimura.
• Delicate and Sickly: He's revealed to have cancer by the time Infinite Wealth rolls around, yet he's still as much of a lady-killer as he's always been.
• Dented Iron: Kiryu's failing health brought on by terminal cancer means he is no longer the One-Man Army he once was by the time of Infinite Wealth. While he remains a powerhouse and demonstrates on several occasions that he's still got fight left in him, he acknowledges that he needs to choose his battles more carefully and later grows to rely on the help of Ichiban and his friends to see his mission through to completion.
• Desperation Attack: Has a few abilities throughout the series that are usable when his health is critical.
  • The most recurring example is Essence of Wreckage, a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on a prone enemy.
  • In Rush style, he has upgrades that will increase the damage of his regular attacks and Heat Actions at low health. In addition, an upgrade makes his charge attacks unblockable while critically injured.
  • Dragon style in Kiwami uses Majima's Essence of Mad Dog: Demon. His combo speed and attack power is also increased at low health.
  • Essence of Knock Down in 4 lets Kiryu grab an enemy and damage them and three nearby ones.
• Did Not Get the Girl: Yumi dies at the end of the first game, and he and Kaoru decide to go their separate ways to pursue other goals at the beginning of the third.
• Didn't Think This Through: Despite his well intentions, a lot of major decisions Kiryu has made in the series never exactly had the outcome he'd expected and ended up making things worse as the cutthroat world of the Yakuza would sneer and undermine said decisions, much to his dismay once he found out the extent of the damages in his absence. Four very notable examples which cause many of a game's events are as follows:
  • In 1, he settles on Taking the Heat for Nishikiyama when he murders the patriarch in order to allow him to attend his sister's final surgery. However, he did not consider how Nishikiyama would deal with the yakuza world on his own. Kiryu's willing imprisonment contributes to Nishikiyama's Start of Darkness as he is left without support when tragedy keeps piling up for him.
  • At the end of "1", Kiryu made Yukio Terada his successor as Chairman, no doubt seeing Terada's loyalty to Kazama as a reason to trust him. "2" then revealed it was in fact a very questionable decision at the very start and to say that Terada was an incompetent leader of the Tojo Clan within a year is a massive understatement. Both the later reveal of Terada's true nature and what Kiryu does next are the consequences of that one simple decision out of blind trust.
  • In 2, Kiryu persuades 30-year-old Daigo Dojima, who has spent the last 5 years out of the yakuza and in a jail cell, to lead the Tojo Clan without giving him any support. This bites back in 4 as Daigo's inexperience causes him to suffer when the clan faces bankruptcy, making him resort to betrayal to try saving it. In 6, Kiryu admits his lack of mentoring Daigo and forcing him into becoming chairman as his greatest failure.
  • In 6, Kiryu willingly goes to prison in the prologue to satisfy the media and keep attention off him when he and Haruka come under fire. Much like with Nishikiyama, he fails to consider how Haruka would be able to handle the media on her own since his choice did not cause them to take their eyes off her. She is left woefully underprepared when trouble rears its head, and chose to run away to keep her family safe, which lead to her getting into more trouble in Hiroshima.
• Dirty Business: Implied. Aside from being an unmatched badass, we really have little to no insight into what Kiryu actually did as a Tojo Clan yakuza who had risen to the rank of Lieutenant under the infamous Dojima Family name, such as the timeframe between end of 0 in 1988 and the start of the first game in 1995, or even if he may make excuses to not do their tasks like Ichiban, considering his moral compass and how often he defends people from those thugs' harassments. At most, he once referred to himself as someone who knows how to ruin people's lives and he's also admitted that he's not proud of some of the things he's done which would imply there's some degree of this, of which what's shown onscreen for the latter is his debt collecting, which may not fully qualify as detailed below in the (significantly downplayed) Evil Debt Collector section.
• Disco Dan: Accused of being one of these during a substory in 4 presumably due to his flashy silvery suit and somewhat garish snake-skin loafers. Later, the prequel 0 reveals that not only did he start wearing his Iconic Outfit well into the late 80's, it was already going out of fashion at the time causing the more fashionable Nishikiyama plenty of dismay and embarassment for him.
• Disney Death: It's basically a running joke that Kiryu often appears to meet his end right before the credits, with The Stinger revealing otherwise. Once the trend formally starts with Yakuza 2 it's noteworthy that 4 (and by extension 0 which obviously didn't try this, but made a fun nod in the credits as 'his whereabouts are unknown') is the only game in Kiryu's series to not try this.
  • In Yakuza 1, Kiryu and Haruka seem to be in the ground zero of the bomb's blast radius when Nishki shoots it to take himself and Jingu out, but both are revealed to survive before the credits roll.
  • In Yakuza 2, he's shot before the final battle, and after Ryuji succumbs to his own injuries, Kiryu is too weak to escape before Kim's bomb goes off. Kaoru refuses to leave him behind, and the two decide they'll die together as the countdown hits zero. After the credits, Haruka is praying in front of someone's grave thanking them for everything, but it's Kim's. Kiryu and Kaoru are both still alive, and the bomb was a dud. It turns out Kiryu had a feeling based on Kim's last words to trust him.
  • In Yakuza 3, Kiryu bumps into Hamazaki, now a bum robbed of his power. Kiryu tries to convince him to start over and do right, and when it looks like the former yakuza boss accepts his advice, Hamazaki instead stabs him in broad daylight, and Kiryu is left bleeding on the streets, ready to die for what he believes in, while Haruka attends to him. After the credits, Kiryu's back at the orphanage with his wound bandaged.
  • In Yakuza 5, Kiryu's bullet wound reopens in the final fight against Aizawa, and after defeating him, a battered Kiryu walks back to Kamurocho on foot while it's snowing (and he's still shirtless). He eventually collapses on the abandoned streets from the blood loss and is ready to accept his fate. But he's discovered by Haruka just in time.
  • In Yakuza 6, he's repeatedly shot protecting Yuta, Haruka and Haruto from Sugai, after previously being struck repeatedly on the head with a pipe no less. After Sugai kills himself, Kiryu looks at Haruka's new family and tells them to be happy before passing out, leaving them to believe he's dead. Midway through the credits, he's shown recovering in a hospital, but makes a sudden arrangement to have his death officially declared to protect those he cares for.
  • In Infinite Wealth, He delivers the final blow to Ebina, delivers one last plea, and collapses unconciousness. The ending plays as he's delivered to the hospital for immediate care. The final shot is of him taking chemeotherapy, deciding to face life again and fight for whatever time remaining he has.
• Doesn't Like Guns: Downplayed in that he prefers fisticuffs over weapons to the point that he tries to brawl with zombies in Dead Souls before settling with shooting them. Aside from that, he has no problems picking up guns in a fight as well as using them in shootouts and in later games even has unique Heat Moves with pistols that have him explicitly shoot enemies (presumably in non-vitals). His Dragon of Dojima job in Infinite Wealth even has a skill where he pulls out a pistol, with the descriptor noting that while Kiryu doesn't condone cold-blooded murder he's still a capable marksman.
• The Don: He becomes the Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan near the end of the first game, only to resign in less than 5 minutes. Despite this, the prestige of the title backed by the legacy he's forged prior still earns him quite a bit of renown among the Tojo Clan. A decent chunk of their ranks outright still treat him as if he's still a senior Officer.
• Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off!: As a young man he's fully committed to punishing an unruly, disrespectful, 12-year-old Daigo Dojima in Yakuza 0. Fortunately, Daigo backs down and apologizes from Kiryu's threat of violence alone and Kiryu leaves it at that. He also slaps Haruka in Yakuza 1 after she claimed he was just trying to use her for profit like everyone else, but ends up apologizing regretfully immediately afterwards.
• Doom Magnet: Kiryu believes that if anything bad happens to those he cares about, it's all because of him. Since many of his enemies don't target him directly, but his friends and loved ones instead to draw him out, it's not hard to see why Kiryu feels this way.
• Doting Parent: Although he's not very outspoken about it (he's not very outspoken about anything), Kiryu is very, VERY proud of his kids, and does all he can to give them a happy, wholesome life. He also doesn't take it overboard: he'll teach his kids a lesson, but he won't enforce it too much, letting his kids learn it on their own.
  • In the fifth game, he can decorate the hood of his taxi with a huge decal of Haruka.
  • When Haruka sings her song in the karaoke, he passionately does the wotagei dance and chants like the best idol otakus.
    "Tiger, Fire, Cyber, Fiber, Diver, Viber, Jyaa jyaa!!"
• The Dreaded: Upon earning the title of the Dragon of Dojima, Kiryu becomes feared through the underworld. Many times, villains not only try to plan around not getting Kiryu involved but also consider having him fight through an entire building of goons to simply be a way of buying time. His fearsome reputation also extends to normal civilians, as shown in a substory in 3 where a film crew shudders in fear when they see his tattoo. Inversely, this also makes him a massive target to incredibly ambitious villains such as Ryuji and Aizawa, who want a shot at him to solidify their own reps.
  • This, however, also has the unfortunate side effect of constantly putting his loved ones in danger, as the villains know they don't have a chance to defeat him so they normally try to use his relationships with people to their advantage. In 6, the idea of Kiryu being Haruka's adopted father not only spells the end of Haruka's idol career but also places her and the other orphanage children in a very bad situation as the media are so terrified of Kiryu that their first instinct is to publicly pressure Morning Glory Orphanage. Indeed, Kiryu ultimately comes to the realization that as much as he wants to live a normal life with his family, it just isn't possible as his fearsome strength and deeds means that he will always attract danger to them and ends up deciding to fake his death to ensure they can have a happy life free of his negative reputation. He makes use of his intimidating record of success positively for once against Minoru Daidoji's successor, leaving him unwilling to mess with him and ends up agreeing to his terms to keep his silence.
• Drives Like Crazy: Normally averted, considering he's a taxi driver and the game penalizes not following traffic laws properly. On the other hand, he also drives against a racing gang and pulls off some insane maneuvers such as driving on two wheels to get between two semi-trucks.
• Drunken Master: It's a very bad idea to pick a fight with Kiryu. It's an even WORSE idea to pick a fight with Kiryu when he's drunk: while drunk, his Heat meter recharges faster, and he even has some special(not to mention BONE SHATTERING) moves that he can only do while drunk. You will probably spend lots of yen just getting him hammered or buying alcohol to go to always make sure you have a little extra oomph.
  • Which is ironic since the game makes confrontations with Mooks more likely when Kiryu's buzzed.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Zig-Zagged. After Yakuza 0 characters in the main questline will treat him with the respect (and occasionally awe) due to the Dragon of Dojima. However characters in substories will still often treat him as an errand boy and random mooks on the street will still feel quite able to take him on. The former can be excused, as most normal citizens likely wouldn't know a legendary Yakuza, but you'd think word get around among criminals.
• Dueling Player Characters: In 4, he's fought as a boss in Saejima's campaign. In his chapter, he fights both Akiyama and Tanimura, who mistake him as one of Katsuragi's men. He has a rematch with Saejima in 5, although the player can choose who to control for it. Subverted in 0, where he and Majima don't actually meet within the game until the epilogue. In Like a Dragon, he fights Ichiban and his friends alone. In a side story in Gaiden, he fights the Deuteragonist and one-time protagonist of the Judgment games, Kaito.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The first game and its remake has a flashback scene where Kiryu is held captive by the the Snake Flower Triad and is brutally tortured and almost killed before being rescued by Kazama. Apparently Lau Ka Long had spiked Kiryu's drink in order to incapacitate him and his ultimate plan was to torture and kill him to in order to send a message to the Dojima Family for muscling in on Lau's passport forgery business. Given how Kiryu's portrayed as more and more of an Invincible Hero as the series goes on, it's rather odd in hindsight to have a cutscene casually show him in such a compromised and utterly helpless position, especially at the hands of the Snake Flower Triad whom he easily defeats in the same game and who become somewhat of a Goldfish Poop Gang in later entries past Lau Ka Long's (apparent) death.
  • Personality-wise, he was also weirdly kind of a jerk in that game. There's a particularly infamous scene where Kiryu uses a (possibly innocent) waiter as a human shield to defend himself from gunfire. While it's far from the only instance in the series where Kiryu looks like he just killed (or at least directly caused the death of) a guy despite his strict Thou Shalt Not Kill policy, most of the other examples are either restricted to gameplay or don't show any dead body on screen, leaving room for the benefit of the doubt. In this case, not only does Kiryu hide behind the waiter as he's being blasted point blank with a machine gun, he then throws what's left of the poor sap at the gunman. On a lesser note, there was also an equally infamous scene where he slapped Haruka, who was 9 years old at the time and barely even acquainted with him. To be fair, he immediately apologizes while she takes it in stride.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Downplayed, but there. Throughout his life, he faced hardship and trauma. Many who are close to him are gone; however, those that are still there motivate him enough to continue on living. While he eventually obtains advanced cancer, he ultimately decides to see things through or at least die trying. His time with the Daidoji is fulfilled, and he can finally stop pretending he isn’t Kazuma Kiryu. Plus, it’s implied that his family plans to see Kiryu at the hospital. Thus, he may very well have a shot to finally live to see his family again or spend his final days with them.
• Elder Abuse: A MASSIVE berserk button for him. Kiryu is unfailingly polite, helpful and caring towards the elderly, and abusing a senior citizen in front of him earns you a scenic trip through a window.
• Establishing Character Moment: In the opening of the first game, in order to protect those he considers friends and family, Kiryu takes the fall for a murder he didn't commit and goes to jail for ten long years. While this one action defines how truly loyal he is to those closest to him, it ended up creating even more problems than he intended, and later realizes he took the fall because he was too afraid to let destiny take its course.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Despite his tendencies for intense violence, he truly does try to give bad guys a lot of chances to make things up or better themselves since he doesn't necessarily consider himself that righteous of a person. He finally hits his limit against the likes of Tsuneo Iwami in 6 whom he's so disgusted with that he actually goes out of his way to break his moral code and try to kill the bastard in cold blood.
  • Earlier in his life in 0 he develops a burning hatred for Keiji Shibusawa for his ruthless, scheming ways and especially for targeting Kiryu's friends and allies all for the sake of glory and power (along with his own hatred and envy of him). He nearly crushes Shibusawa's skull with repeated beatings but Nishiki is able to snap him out of his rage at literally the last second. It's downplayed since this was a lot earlier in life when he was comparatively more violent and hot-blooded and hasn't quite established himself as the Warrior Poet All-Loving Hero we've come to know and love.
• Even the Guys Want Him: The games aren't shy about showing off flamboyant men and crossdressers who are also attracted to Kiryu's masculinity. He sometimes tries to get rid of them as fast as he can if they're too aggressive.
• Evil Debt Collector: Significantly downplayed. The only work we've ever seen him perform as a Yakuza is doing violent debt collections though he's only ever resorted to force after debtors throw the first punch. Both the opening debt collection in the first game and when he's working with Miss Tatsu as part of his Beast Style training portray the debtors as scumbags (some of them even serial debt-dodgers who've taken out multiple loans with no intent to pay up) that Kiryu is rightly justified in literally beating the cash they owe out of. The final debtor even tries to ambush and kill Miss Tatsu while Kiryu is out looking for him. Even the man Kiryu beats up at the beginning of 0 is considered an Asshole Victim, being described as debt-ridden scum and a leech.
• Experienced Protagonist: Kiryu starts the series having been a career yakuza for about ten years and having a famed reputation as the Dragon of Dojima, with 1's prologue mentioning that he's on the cusp of receiving his own family. As the games continue, his legend only grows and by 4, most of the villains explicitly try to plan around getting Kiryu involved as he can single-handedly ruin their schemes. This is best shown by still having a good chunk of his moveset from 3 unlocked from the start, on top of movement and power enhancements to boot.
  • Averted in 0. He's been working under the Dojima Family for 3 years but still hasn't quite got a grasp on what being a Yakuza really means.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: In 0, he has a shorter haircut than he does in the other games.
  • In Infinite Wealth, Kiryu's hair is gray with age and wears it parted to his left compared to his iconic slick. At the end of the game, when his identity is revealed to the world and the Daidoji give him some slack regarding the circumstances of such, he once again does his hair again as he dons his Iconic Outfit.
• Eye Scream: Narrowly averted. In a flashback sequence in the first game that shows him being subjected to Cold-Blooded Torture by the Snake Flower Triad, one of them is shown to be about to gouge Kiryu's eye out. Thank God Kazama showed up when he did...
• Face of a Thug: Although he is in fact a dangerous person, he gets slightly upset when people point out how scary he looks. Nishiki even mocked him saying that no matter what he wears, he still looks like a brutal yakuza.
• Faking the Dead: At the end of 6, Kiryu arranges to have himself legally declared dead and go into hiding in exchange for his silence regarding the Secret of Onomichi in order to finally give Haruka and the kids a life without the burden of being connected to a gangster. Eventually, he ends up coming out of hiding for the events of Like a Dragon but ultimately returns to continue ensuring his family's safety.
• Fallen Hero: In the first game, as the Tojo Clan used to hold him in high regard until Dojima is killed, in which a majority of the clan holds a grudge against him upon his return. Subverted as Kiryu never committed the murder and took the blame for Nishiki willingly, thus he had never earned this trope.
  • He personally assumes this mantle after 6, feeling his actions has caused the Tojo clan to suffer through so much turmoil that he uses it as the reason for Daigo to not go to war with the Yomei.
• Fall Guy: He's been on the receiving end of this twice:
  • He willingly sets himself up as one in the first game to protect Dojima's real killer, Nishiki, from losing everything, including his ill sister. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out how he thought it would.
  • Daisaku Kuze tries to frame him for murder in the prequel in an attempt to undermine Kazama's power. Though it is later revealed that Kuze's involvement was a Red Herring; the Man Behind the Man turned out to be Shibusawa.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • His "instinct as a yakuza" which compels him to value Honor Before Reason and to always find his way back to crime world, often at the expense of his loved ones' safety. This is not entirely his fault, of course, since trouble seems to find him far more often than vice versa, and he makes some effort to live a clean life and takes increasingly drastic measures to force himself away from the crime world, but at the end of the day he simply can't help but get involved in whatever crap the Tojo Clan has gotten themselves into this time even when he actually can choose to ignore it. He laments over this in 5 shortly after joining the fray again despite moving to a different city under a new identity, which much later on in the game leads to Daigo being shot, something which Kiryu blames on himself as he notices that this always seems to happen whenever he gets involved. In some ways, it's the opposite that is his flaw in 3 and 4. It's made clear that Kiryu want to have as little to do with the Yakuza as possible, despite the fact that bad thing keeps happening to the Tojo Clan that Daigo just simply can't handle on his own. By the time Kiryu chooses to get involved, there is already quite of blood spilled. At the end of 4, Kiryu is forced to admit he simply has too many responsibilities to just stay out of the Yakuza life for good.
  Arai: You're too late. You're always too late. That's why these things happen.
  • He has a bad habit of not thinking things through due to his Honor Before Reason and self-sacrificial mindset. Kiryu often does what he sees as the right or honorable thing even when the prgamatic choice would keep him or his loved ones safer. This nearly gets him and them killed at multiple points, such in Gaiden where his refusal to execute Tsuruno nearly ends with his own execution and Morning Glory being attacked by the Daidoji. If not for Tsuruno coming back with a generous bribe, he would’ve gotten killed for a man who was his enemy till then.
  • As an extension of the above: having the Daidoji fake his death means that they now have him on a leash and can threaten the Morning Glory orphans to get him to comply with their demands. While he faked his death to ensure their safety, leashing himself to the group means they have people right outside the orphanage ready and willing to take his adopted family out the second he steps out of line. His desire to keep them safe only made it easier for them to be used as leverage.
• Feeling Their Age: In Infinite Wealth aside from his cancer, age is taking a toll on him. During the Alo-Happy Tour in which the characters get a Yoga lesson he ends up twisting his shoulder trying to do stretches.
• Fight Magnet: Like every other playable character in the series, wherever he goes someone is ready to pounce him. He comments on how uncanny this is occasionally. Some of the later games Hand Wave it by saying that local street gangs send people to try to beat him up as a form of hazing or initiation.
  • According to the PSP game, the local gangs send new guys after him as a hazing ritual.
• First-Name Basis: Very few characters call him by his given name, those being Kazama, Yumi, and Kaoru, indicating their relationship and how close they are, though Kaoru calls him by his family name again at the start of 3. As part of the Pocket Circuit substories, he's directly referred to with his given name when dealing with the hobby, especially with the younger members. Kiryu does note the weirdness of being called such by kids (especially given the age gap and doubly so in Japanese society), but takes it all in stride.
  • Notably, this applied to him throughout the localization of the first 3 games, where he's referred to as "Kazuma" in the menus. Switched up from 4 onwards, where the menus call him Kiryu instead; this also impacts the Remastered version of 3, where the menus now revert back to his family name.
  • Averted in the original script by Haruka and the other orphans, who call him "ojisan" (roughly meaning uncle), but this is translated into English as "Uncle Kaz".
• Flat "What": Kiryu has a consistent way of delivering a very quiet and almost deadpan "What" whenever he hears something that takes him off guard.
• Four Is Death: Kiryu is the Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan and is a force to be reckoned with. Picking a fight with him is almost a death wish. Is also the most short-lived as Kiryu’s reign as Fourth Chairman only lasted a day.
• Friend to All Children: He's very good with kids, and actually runs an orphanage in the third game, a role he considers his true calling in life.
• Friend to All Living Things: He does seem to have a knack for bonding with stray dogs and cats no matter how hostile they may be initially.
  • In 0, circumstances leads to him winning a live chicken instead of the fried turkey dinner he was offered. While he's offered to have the chicken killed and turned into a fried meal, he instead stares into the chicken's eyes with a concerned expression and decides that he'd much rather adopt it as a pet, happily naming it "Nugget". This of course means hiring the chicken as a financial manager for the Real Estate sidequest.
  • In 6, there's a substantial sidequest focused on rescuing stray cats off the streets of Kamurocho and Onomichi and giving them a new home as part of a "Cat Cafe" managed by a well-meaning cat lover. While said manager seems to struggle to approach any of the wary strays, Kiryu has no such trouble and can tame them with ease especially if you use the right cat food. You can even have Kiryu relax in the Cat Cafe himself, sitting down in a chair with one of the former strays he tamed sitting on his lap as he gently strokes its back.
• Friendly Enemy: His relationship with Majima is... complicated. While the latter usually winds up helping Kiryu out in some way from Yakuza 2 onwards, it's always after a boss fight or two.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Two instances actually, with the first being his rise to become the Dragon of Dojima. The first game did one better, as he goes from ex-yakuza hated by most of his former colleagues to Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan and later The Paragon.
• Gang Initiation Fight: According to the Black Panther spinoffs, he is the fight; gangs around Kamurocho will send their new initiates to go fight Kiryu as part of a hazing ritual, and survivors are the ones who get in.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Him being a playable party member on par with everyone else in Infinite Wealth despite single-handedly defeating the entire party in the previous game is justified by having cancer, and when he briefly regains his past strength to protect his allies, this is reflected in gameplay by having him literally escape the boundaries of turn-based combat and fight in real-time action as he did in his prime.
• Genre Refugee: Kiryu is the romantic ideal of a yakuza: one who works outside the law to protect the common man from those who would prey on them. Unfortunately, he's in a crime drama with a far more cynical and realistic take on Japan's criminal underworld. No wonder he spends so little time actually in the yakuza.
• Gentle Giant: Kiryu is 6' 0" and a very well built man. He's also one of the most peaceful, gentle and friendly people you'll meet provided you don't have any ill intentions towards him, his loved ones or anyone in general.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man:
  • Kiryu's boss fight in Yakuza: Like a Dragon comes as a result of him trying to forcibly snap Ichiban out of his Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
  • In Infinite Wealth, he does this towards Daigo, Saejima and Majima, who have become severely dejected after their private security firm failed, actively picking a fight with them rather than the other way around.
• Good Is Not Soft: Kiryu's allies and enemies alike find him just as trustworthy and reliable as he is a tough and dangerous force to be reckoned with. However, in Yakuza 5, after he's beaten a legion of Tojo Clan members, Aoyama thought Kiryu would simply show him the same mercy and compassion he had heard so much about, and would be easily spared due to Kiryu's unwillingness to kill. He didn't expect to be beaten within an inch of his life.
  Kiryu: Listen... I'M NO KIND HEARTED SOUL! I can take another name, and build a new life... But on the inside I'll always have that instinct, no matter how much I hate it... I'm Yakuza through and through.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: His fighting style is generally fairly straightforward and no-frills aside from fancy wrestling moves and creative use of his environment, particularly compared to other playable characters.
• Good Parents: Kiryu loves all his children, gives sage advice, cooks and cares for them and is overall the coolest dad you could ever hope to have. Nothing brings out the best in Kiryu like his kids. Nothing brings out THE WORST in Kiryu like hurting one of his kids.
• Good Samaritan: Kiryu is pretty much made of this trope. If you don't know who he is, you'd swear he's the nicest guy around. If you DO know him, he's still the nicest guy around, but you know what to do for him to STAY that way.
• Good Wears White: Kiryu always wears white or at least very light-grey colors and is a pretty Nice Guy, so long as you don't piss him off.
• Grin of Audacity: His lips occasionally curl into a very slight smirk when he's about to have a good, friendly fight with somebody he doesn't hate: Usually Majima. Most notably in 0 during The Stinger.
• Guest Fighter: He and Majima appear in the crossover series Project × Zone. Prior to that, his Dead Souls incarnation appeared as a DLC character for the Japanese version of Binary Domain, and he appeared as a DLC character for Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational.
• Hairstyle Inertia: A flashback in 2 shows that he's had essentially the same messy slicked as a 12-year-old kid.
  • Averted in 0 with a 20-year-old Kiryu who has a unique, very short haircut that's only slightly longer around his crown. That said an early flashback does show that 3 years earlier as a 17-year-old, he had the same exact haircut.
  • Averted in Infinite Wealth, where he has a completely new messy bowl haircut with gray hair.
• Hard Head: He's capable of no-selling a direct punch just by headbutting the fist as well as taking a bottle to the back of his head without flinching. He also reacts the same to a big slug to the cheek by the likes of Daisuke Kuze towards the end of 0.
• Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist: Dresses this way whenever he's in Okinawa though without the sunglasses and sandals. To his credit, most of the population there dresses the same way.
• Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: In Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Ichiban and his team fight Kiryu late in the game. Regardless of how you do in-game they lose badly, but Kiryu is impressed enough to help them anyways.
• The Hero: Of the series until Like a Dragon, where Ichiban took over.
• Heroic BSoD: He suffers from a Despair Event Horizon at the end of the first game, having lost everyone he grew up with and was important to him, and is more than willing to return to jail for it. Thankfully Date snaps him out of it and reminds him that he's all Haruka has left and vice versa. He goes through a proper one in the fifth game, after Kurosawa shoots Katsuya and reveals that since he failed to kill Kiryu, he intends to have Haruka killed instead at her DREAM-LINE concert instead, leaving Kiryu to wonder why terrible things always happen to those closest to him. Thankfully his friends are there for him and have his back.
• Heroic Neutral: Kiryu would like nothing more than to leave his bloody past behind and live in peace with Haruka and the rest of his kids, but he always comes back to save the Tojo Clan in their darkest hour.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Understandably so— he is a former crime lord, an ex-con, frequently gets into public fights, has a face like he'd beat the shit out of you if you looked at him wrong, and doesn't care about glory so he does nothing to fix his bad PR. To the public, he's pretty much Public Enemy No. 1; only his close acquaintances know that he's actually a kind and heroic fellow. In 5, this forces him to relocate to a different city since Park only agreed to give his orphanage some much-needed funding and a celebrity career for Haruka if Kiryu agreed to disappear somewhere, and in 6, once the connection between him and Haruka is made public, she chooses to run away so as to not soil the reputations of the orphans by association with her.
• Hidden Depths:
  • While Kiryu's fists bring justice to men, his voice will shake your soul.
  • He's also quite open and accepting of other people's sexuality and lifestyle choices, even as a young man, and in multiple instances he chides people for being judgmental of the sexual preferences or choices of others.
  • Somewhat related to the above but he's surprisingly knowledgeable about S&M and how a proper dominatrix should act in a substory in 0. May overlap with Covert Pervert depending on how you interpret that.
  • Despite his Doesn't Like Guns status, the moment Kiryu picks up a firearm he suddenly gains Improbable Aiming Skills and knows exactly how to avoid vitals with his shots in the process. It's to the point that later games give him efficient and downright professional Heat takedowns with handguns, and he's even canonically a crack shot in Gaiden cutscenes, showcasing that he's certainly fluent in their use on a personal level and probably one of the most terrifying major characters in the series with a firearm next to Daigo.
• His Own Worst Enemy: Poor Kiryu, despite surprisingly having a lot of talent, there are some aspects of himself that he dislikes about himself. One of them being his lack of education, which doesn’t give him a lot of opportunities as a normal civilian.
• Honor Before Reason: A large part of his character. Kiryu often tries to take the higher route whenever he can, but sometimes it backfires, ends up getting him shot or seriously injured, causing others to question his judgment. He also tends to get into fights when completely unnecessary in a refusal to back down from a challenge. In Yakuza 0, his unwillingness to break a promise takes him so far as to buy a porn magazine for a kid.
• Hot Blooded Sideburns: He has prominent sideburns that adds to his presence.
• Humble Hero: Subverted. Kiryu comes off this way at first, considering he's not very boastful about his accomplishments or some of the things he's capable of, whether it's golf, fishing or karaoke. But when it comes to his strength and fighting abilities in the presence of thugs or other yakuza, he'll remind everyone who the biggest person in the room is.
• Hunk: Roguish good looks? Check. Chiseled jaw? Check. Sharp, piercing eyes? Check. Smooth, gentle voice? Check. Tall, imposing physique? Super check.
• Hypocritical Humor: An unintentional example in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Towards the end of the game, he stops an enraged Ichiban from beating an Omi Mook to death and chews him out for going too far. While he is perfectly right, it's a little funny hearing this from him of all people considering all the (at least gameplay-wise) violently over-top heat moves he's used against similar mooks over the years.
• Iconic Outfit: His greyish suit over his maroon dress shirt. You know something's going down when he changes into this in the later games.
• Identical Grandson: Yakuza Kenzan all but directly says that Miyamoto Musashi was Kiryu's ancestor. There is also the detail that Musashi chooses to hide under the fake identity "Kiryu Kazumanosuke", which is the medieval version of "Kiryu Kazuma", which means that Kiryu not only resembles his famous ancestor, but also shares (one of) his name(s) with him.
• I Have Many Names: Kazuma Kiryu, The Dragon of Dojima, The 4th Chairman of the Tojo Clan, The Legendary Dragon, Taichi Suzuki, Judgment Kazzy, Codename: Joryu...
• Ink-Suit Actor: Partially. Starting with Kenzan!, the PS3 titles onwards have been 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.
• Invincible Hero: 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 ^note To date, the only person who Kiryu cannot soundly defeat in a 1-1 battle, and likewise for Saejima. Owing to their mythological counterparts, the Dragon and Tiger, they are equals. can get close to a stalemate, but never can they have a full victory. This becomes most evident in "Like a Dragon", where he single-handedly takes on Ichiban and (ignoring the Arbitrary Head Count) his entire crew (including another Han) and beats them with little trouble while likely holding back.
  • His uncanny track record in combat extent not only to humans but to apex predators as well. He has fought lions, tigers, bears (oh, my!), and even a shark. Three of these four instances happened in side content rather than the main story, meaning that for Kiryu, beating up huge beasts with his bare hands is just a distraction.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Kaoru's Life Link encounter in Infinite Wealth shows that although Kiryu still greatly cares about her, he doesn't see himself as having a place by her side anymore, not the least of which because of his now-shortened life, and would rather not get in the way of her pursuing her dreams, despite both of them still clearly holding a torch for one another.
• I Was Quite a Looker: Not that he's by any means unattractive at his current age, but many people noticed he was quite handsome back in Yakuza 0. In and out of universe.
• It's All My Fault: Often shoulders the blame and takes responsibly for a lot of the unfortunate circumstances that has followed him since he joined the Yakuza.
  • He feels responsible for Nishiki's Start of Darkness, believing that him taking the fall the killing of Sohei Dojima was just a failed attempt by Kiryu to defy Nishiki's unfortunate fate. Even though it's already become common knowledge by the time of 2 that Nishiki was the man behind Sohei Dojima's death, Kiryu insists on taking responsibility and making up for all the trouble Nishiki's ambitions have caused.
  • In both instances of a talent scout noticing Haruka, he's been persuaded to hand her over though this. In 2, he is shown to have kept track of how many times Haruka had been kidnapped and feels he is why she ends up in trouble, while in 5 Mirei Park tells him that he is the reason Haruka and his other kids don't pursue greater things in life.
  • He feels that it's his fault that Haruka left the Morning Glory Orphanage due to her Yakuza ties only to get put into a coma after getting in a hit-and-run incident.

J-R

• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: While he'd much prefer to talk things out or negotiate some sort of mutually beneficial deal, he will resort to violence to get answers should the need arise. Chances are he learned such tactics from when he used to be a full-time Yakuza under Sohei Dojima's command.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His behavior in 0 was more impulsive, brash, and would often banter with his Best Friend Nishiki and even had a few more perverted tendencies than he usually does. He gets over this with a Character Development, and softens considerably in the second game and it's remake and by the time of the third game, he's a borderline saint as long as you're not acting like a bad person.
• Knight Errant: Very much so, though he often tries to settle down. It never works.
• Leitmotif:
  • "The Myth" in 4. As a boss fight, he shares "Smile Venomously" with Akiyama and Tanimura.
  • "Isolated fight" in 5. As a potential boss fight in the same game's story "The maximum ill luck" will play either while fighting him as Saejima or fighting Saejima as him, meaning they share this leitmotif.
  • "Receive You ~Tech Trance Arrange~" in 0. It makes its glorious return whenever Ichiban summons Kiryu in Like a Dragon. Receive You in general is frequently used as his theme when it's not the theme of the franchise as a whole (or remixed for Majima).
  • "Rolling Eyes Fall Down the Dragon Wall" in Like A Dragon.
  • Besides the returning (and original iteration of) "Funk Goes On" from the very first entry in the series playing in Kamurocho, he gets "Stigma" in Infinite Wealth, which scores his Party's regular encounters in Yokohama.
• Large Ham: In 0, every extracurricular activity he does is performed with over-the-top flair, from playing arcade games to answering phones at the telekura.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: When he dons that gray suit of his, expect him to start cracking skulls. When he takes the suit off and goes topless, expect his enemies to start praying.
• Licked by the Dog: Kiryu LOOKS intimidating, to be sure, and he certainly is the bogeyman of mafiosi the world over, but animals adore him, and he returns the favor. Throughout the games, there's been multiple moments in which animals are being victimized, only for Kiryu to jump in fists flying, and he let his kids adopt a stray dog as their pet. And in Yakuza 6, cats get some love too, with Kiryu helping a cat cafe owner pick up stray kitties from the street to give them a loving home.
• Light Is Good: A fundamentally good person in a white suit.
• Lightning Bruiser: Not only can he withstand a LOT of punishment, but he hits like a truck, and can move incredibly fast. Especially while using this heat move.
• Like a Son to Me: Kiryu has always considered Daigo Dojima to be his own, which he admits in a heartfelt letter at the end of Yakuza 6. One of his biggest regrets is how he never really gave Daigo the fatherly affection and guidance he could've had as both a man and leader, since Kiryu was too busy trying to distance himself from the Yakuza's activities for much of Daigo's formative years. Nonetheless, Daigo returns the affection, proudly referring to Kiryu as "my father" once he finishes reading the letter.
• Limit Break: His Climax HEAT attacks in 5, all of which are recycled old HEAT moves:
  • Essence of the Dragon King: Formerly known as one of his old Red HEAT attacks (the Komaki Dragon Kick), it's a simple yet painful jumping overhead spin kick. It's followed Kiryu for almost all of the games thus far and uses it for his shared Special Attack with Majima in Project X Zone 2. It's also his Poundmate special in "Like a Dragon"
  • Essence of Drunken Thrust: Another old HEAT move which Kiryu can only perform while intoxicated where he mimics Akira Yuki's Tetsuzanko.
  • Ultimate Essence: A near One-Hit Kill attack, which usually takes the form of a powerful punch.
  • Hell's Gauntlet: Exclusive to the third game, where Kiryu can unlock and perform this move on a weakened boss. It's a straight-up No-Holds-Barred Beatdown where Kiryu hits a German suplex, transitions into a cross armbreaker, a triangle choke, an Anaconda and guillotine choke and a final mounted punch to the face. In the fifth game, Shinada has this as a regular HEAT move.
  • Essence of Remembrance: One of his Kiwami Attacks for the Dragon of Dojima class in Infinite Wealth. Invoking his memories of Mine, Ryuji and Nishiki, Kiryu delivers a vicious three-hit combo.
  • Essence of the Dragon God: Another Kiwami Attack in Infinite Wealth. Kiryu summons a massive dragon with his fist to devastate his foes.
• Literal-Minded: Not usually but he does occasionally show signs of this in certain side content usually as dialogue choice. A substory in 0 in which he fills in as a TV Show Producer has him have to contend with their show biz lingo with incorrect choices diving into this trope with comical results i.e. Being asked to bring over an "erasable" and handing over a literal eraser for pencil marks, being told to "grocer the erasable" and bringing onto the set a grocery store employee, and finally being told to "jeer the props" and "strike the set" with two of the incorrect choices being to either literally insult and jeer at the props or to assault and "strike" at the set.
• Living Legend: Especially in the later games, where almost everyone who knows his name regards him as such. When enemies in the later games initiate random battles, they'll recognize Kiryu and believe that their reputations will skyrocket should they beat him in a fight.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Implied to be one to his Best Friend and blood brother Akira Nishikiyama. Nishiki's shown in 0 to be very much lacking in self-confidence underneath that smug, smarmy attitude and even calls himself useless without Kiryu at one point. Later on, after deciding to stick it out with Kiryu to the bitter end, he admits that he feels "invincible" when fighting side-by-side with his brother. After Kiryu goes to jail for a crime Nishikiyama committed in the first game, the bravado he's shown around Kiryu in 0 and even the new brief prologue flashback in Kiwami has effectively vanished. Even after he becomes a cold-hearted ruthless crime boss in modern times, he's very clearly far from a stable man. He's also genuinely disappointed that Kiryu's not willing to work together with him in modern times and from that point forward, he seems to double down on increasingly heinous actions to further his single-minded pursuit of power.
• Lonely Bachelor Pad: Played With in 5. His new living space in Nagasugai is pretty stark and simple and he initially comes across as pretty damn lonely living so far away from his kids back in Okinawa. It doesn't help that his boss Nakajima discusses his apparent lack of a love life in the first chapter. However, it's quickly revealed that he's often visited by Mayumi, a local hostess he had defended from thugs six months earlier. While they're not really in a relationship, she tends to take care of him, cooking for him and treating him as if the two of them were married. Even after it's revealed that her father is a yakuza boss who sent her to spy on him, Kiryu still thanks her for making his life in Nagasugai less lonely than it would have been otherwise.
• Made of Iron: In a world where almost everyone is Made of Iron, Kiryu is Made of Titanium. He can not only withstand a lot of punishment, but he tends to survive things that would easily cripple or kill anyone else. It's not uncommon for him to get shot in the story and recover within the next day, and he gets shot in just about every game.
  • In the first game alone, he can get hit by a speeding car during his 2nd fight against Shimano and still get up to keep fighting.
  • Amusingly, there's an actual sound effect of clashing iron when Kuze slams a steel pipe into his arm in 0. And this is right after blocking said pipe while Kuze was charging into him on a goddamn motorcycle, sending Kiryu flying; this would've killed or at least permanently crippled any ordinary man, but Kiryu is no ordinary man. Then again, neither are his enemies; Kuze was also impressively unscathed after crashing his motorcycle pulling off the aforementioned maneuver.
• Magically Inept Fighter: His default Dragon of Dojima job in Infinite Wealth, in exchange for its versatility in combat and damage output, gives him only physical-element skills (Blunt, Blade, and Gun) and one of the lowest MP pools in the game, requiring him to make disproportionate use of his (thankfully excellent) normal attacks.
• Man of the City: One of Kiryu's most admirable traits is that, no matter where he lives, he quickly becomes a pillar of the community. He is a gracious and friendly neighbor, is always helping people in need around him no matter how petty the problem is, invests and helps out in local establishments, and is quick to let the fists fly on anyone abusing or taking advantage of his neighbors. In Kamurocho, Okinawa, and Fukuoka and even in his brief time in Osaka and Hiroshima, he instantly makes friends and earns respect and admiration from the townsfolk.
• Mandatory Unretirement: This trope sums up Kiryu's life starting from 2. Each single time, he always tries to do an honest job and forget about Yakuza, but problems in the Tojo Clan and/or his friends forces him out of retirement into the organized crime world.
• Martial Pacifist: If given the choice, Kiryu would absolutely prefer to avoid fighting as much as possible. Unfortunately, fights tend to come to him anyway, and if pushed far enough, he won't hesitate to send a fool to the hospital.
• Master of All: In games with multiple playable characters, Kiryu fits this role, having a well-rounded moveset without any of the other characters' weaknesses, though with an emphasis on power and the HEAT gauge, having some of the NASTIEST HEAT Actions and exclusive use of the Red HEAT mode.
• Meaningful Name:
  • His given name "Kazuma" is written with the kanji for "one" and "horse", referring to the lone horse that leads a cavalry unit into battle.
  • Subverted with his family name, believe it or not. While "ryu" is usually spelled with the kanji meaning "dragon" (and "kiryu" usually with the kanji for "great dragon"), and Kiryu has dragon motifs out the wazoo, he actually spells the "ryu" part of his name using an arcane reading of a kanji meaning "life". Or possibly "raw".
• Mercy Kill: Kiryu was forced to do this against the zombies in Dead Souls when it dawns on him that he simply can't put them down with his fists alone. This hit home when Kiryu had no choice but to shoot a zombified Nagahama in the head.
• Metronomic Man Mashing: He's had the ability to grab downed enemies by the leg and then swinging over his shoulder since the second game but it wasn't until Yakuza 3 where they removed the requirement of having Heat to perform this attack, making it very easy to repeat this attack against generic enemies thus providing this trope. In 0 and Kiwami, he has to switch to Beast Style in order to be able to grab enemies by their legs while downed. While the unlockable "Legend" style in 0 retains the ability to do the same thing, this ability is missing from the "Dragon" style in Kiwami for some reason, perhaps due to how again he doesn't chronologically learn the technique until the next game. Minibosses and Bosses tend to automatically break free from attempts to grab their legs while they're downed though in 0 and Kiwami it seems to work on them at least a few times before they become immune to such a tactic.
• Mistaken for Gay: Rumors to that effect spread amongst his taxi company co-workers in the fifth game, especially since he didn't frequent the hostess clubs until his boss took him out to one.
  • Played for laughs in 3, where in order to infiltrate a couples hotel, Rikiya pretends that he and Kiryu are a gay couple wanting to get a room for some action. Kiryu was not amused.
  • It comes back in Kiwami; Kiryu gets an interest in a 'martial arts' flick by the name of "Passionate Manly Bathhouse Battle" and swings by the DVD store to check it out. Majima, being Majima, gets the worst possible idea, nonplussing Kiryu enough to start a fight with him outside the store. This is one of the few times Kiryu suggests a fight with Majima instead of the other way around.
• Moveset Clone: Specifically with regards to his katana technique:
  • In 3 and 4, his basic katana technique is identical to that of his historical counterpart Miyamoto Musashi from Kenzan. While he's missing most of the moves like the combo finishers, he can still perform quickstep attacks. By reading ancient texts implied to be written by Musashi himself, he can also learn some unique heat actions as well. Technically, he still has the same katana combo in 5, but he loses the quickstep attacks and there aren't any ancient texts to read any more, though by default he still retains "Hidden Blade: Raging Bull" which is usable only at flashing red health.
  • In Kiwami, Kiryu's katana technique after training with Komaki is now lifted from that of his other historical counterpart Sakamoto Ryoma from Ishin though he basically only has the three basic light attacks before ending with the combo finisher as well as the basic heat action. He doesn't have any of the other more skills, not even other combo finishers.
  • Also worth noting is that in 0 and Kiwami, his technique with pole weapons is borrowed from Masayoshi Tanimura's improvised technique from 4. He even uses the same Heat Action, "Essence of Bo Coiling" though he has to be in "Dragon Style" first oddly enough.
• Mr. Fanservice: To a mild degree. Aside from being shirtless often, he's also had a couple of shower scenes and one of his Premium Adventure outfits in Yakuza 5 exposes his rear.
• Mr. Imagination: Typically subverted, but in Infinite Wealth after spending enough time with Kasuga, when the two eventually split off he starts imagining enemies as weird monsters. He attributes it to the idea that being in charge of a group makes him feel more like a hero, and thereby see his opponents as monstrous.
• Multi-Melee Master: As the series progresses, his ability to use weapons progresses from a mere pragmatic Improvised and Improbable Weapon User to this trope, which can be chalked to the various combat training mentors he encounters as the years go by. By the time of 4, he's the playable character with the largest selection of weapons to choose from while also being the only one able to use an automatic machine gun curiously enough.
  • In the first game and its remake, he learns how to properly swing a katana from Komaki. This sticks in 2 going forward where the game's first long battle can have him snatch wooden katanas from enemies and demonstrate his retained mastery. Technically, he can acquire tonfas to be used in battle but his technique is very basic and he clearly isn't trained in their usage. Through the Majima Everywhere system of the Kiwami remake, Kiryu can also learn how to use nunchaku, tonfas, and kali sticks apparently via being inspired by Majima's skill in battle thus allowing Kiryu to replicate the weapon skills Majima learned from Fei Hu in 0 albeit with his nunchaku and tonfa skills missing Majima's heat actions and his kali sticks heat action being different and simpler than Majima's. In any case, these skills Kiryu learns unconventionally don't seem to stick in the next game which is surprisingly consistent with how Kiryu learns how to use new weapons in later games.
  • In 2 and its remake, he can learn more complex weapon techniqes than before. By clearing a substory involving weapon merchant Renji Kamiyama, he can purchase martial arts video tapes, from which he can pick up how to fight with a tonfa and kali sticks properly. Interestingly, the Kiwami 2 remake lets him learn how to use tonfas earlier due to the Kamiyama substory being available earlier but not for kali sticks. Kiryu can't buy a video tape to master kali sticks until after he fights Hiroshi Hayashi implying that he was inspired by the way Hayashi was dual wielding lead pipes. As for the last new weapon technique, he Kiryu learns how to more skillfully utilize pole-based weapons from Granny White, the martial artist who taught Lau Ka Long how to fight in one of her substories. His mastery of pole weapons sticks in 3, with the mandatory extendable staff he receives from Renta Kamiyama which he can then skillfully demonstrate in the long battle sequence that occurs in the story right after.
  • In 3, he learns how to fight with nunchaku from the local weapons guru Yonashiro. From Yonashiro, he has to re-learn how to fight with tonfas and kali sticks from in contrast to the way he retains his skill in swords and pole weapons but then again he only watched video tapes to learn how to fight with those weapons rather than a proper weapons mentor. This difference in learning seems to be enough to make those skills stick since by the next few games, he doesn't forget how to use any of these weapons. Between the games and the remakes, it's implied that Kiryu doesn't retain mastery of a weapon between games unless he's learned how to use a weapon from an actual physical mentor.
  • 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 knuckle dusters, hammers and large two-handed swords. With brass knuckles, he can retain his 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.
  • In Infinite Wealth his "Dragon of Dojima" Job makes use of various weapons, including Kali Sticks, Tonfas, a dagger, a bowling ball and even a gun.
• Mundane Made Awesome: As a comment on a video of it points out, the super move he uses as a summon in Like A Dragon, Essence of the Dragon God, putting aside the giant dragon for coolness factor, is just a basic combo consisting of an uppercut, the Tiger Drop, and two kicks (the iconic "Cover Art Side Kick", and the Heat Action "Dragon King Essence"). That said, it's a basic combo emphasizing how immensely powerful Kiryu is compared to the average mook (and possibly compared to Majima and Saejima, since a basic fighting combo is more mundane than creating a tornado full of debris, or unleashing a storm of lightning and daggers). It even comes with a chance to instantly KO normal enemies.
• My Greatest Failure: In 6 his final letter is addressed to the person he considered to have failed the most: Daigo Dojima, the kid he brought in the Yakuza world only to immediately cut ties with him. He realized that while he saw him as a son and trusted him with everything, he never spent any time together as a family would, which led to a lot of problems.
  • Infinite Wealth, meanwhile, has him start to think of his lacklustre tenure as the fourth chairman of the Tojo Clan as his biggest regret. Especially as it relates to him not having done anything to push the yakuza in a better direction, meaning he feels responsibility for much of their sins, as he tells Ebina.
• Mythical Motifs: The dragon, naturally. He wears a tattoo of a silver dragon on his back, which couldn't be more appropriate for his character. He's not just the strong and powerful Curb Stomp Battler who is manly, but he's also a Warrior Poet who possesses the wisdom of a sage. He's also punched out multiple tigers. In Like a Dragon, his status as a Dragon means that as a boss fight he's weak to Ice element because that's their weakness in the Dragon Quest series.
  • The specific breed of dragon his tattoo depicts, which is referenced in several of his attacks' names, is an ouryuu (known in Chinese as a Yinglong, or "responding dragon"). This particular dragon was known to serve the mythical Yellow Emperor before being banished from the heavens and exiled away after committing the act of murder; this mirrors Kiryu's introduction to the series in the prologue of the first game, where he was arrested and expelled from the Dojima Family after (seemingly) killing its patriarch. Bonus points for the scene taking place during a heavy rainstorm (the ouryuu is a rain deity).
• Neck Snap: One of his HEAT moves in Kiwami, taken from Majima who first had it in 0. Non-fatal, of course.
• Neighborhood-Friendly Gangsters: Mostly apparent in Yakuza 3 when the setting switches to Okinawa, and most of Kiryu's neighbors clearly hold a lot of respect for him.
• Nerves of Steel: He barely blinks when put into frightening situations, and it takes a lot to get a reaction out of him. Surrounded by people with weapons seeking to beat him to a pulp? He calmly finishes his drink before kicking some ass. Faced with a pair of rockets flying towards him? One Death Glare later, he dodges them like any other attack. Got a Corrupt Cop pointing a gun at him? He coolly strides towards him, dishing out a "The Reason You Suck" Speech before shoving the gun towards the ceiling the second the trigger gets pulled.
• Nice Guy: Kiryu missed his calling in life as the Patron Saint of Niceness. He helps any innocent bystander no matter how big or small the problem, rescues young girls, pets, old women crossing the street, and forgives men who try to kill him on several occasions at the slightest hint of their redemption. This makes his status as the entire underworld's Butt-Monkey so far as picking fights go all the more hilarious.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • He impulsively takes the fall for a murder he did not commit to protect his friends, but it ends up creating even greater problems than he intended. Nishiki eventually betrays him, and Yumi has a child with Jingu, and is forced into a life of secrecy to protect Haruka from him. Kiryu eventually realizes if he had just let Nishiki take proper responsibility for his actions earlier and work to protect him from the outside like Nishiki was supposed to do for Kiryu, many of these problems would not have happened.
  • When he was younger, he ruined Kazama's chance at trying to stop the Jingweon massacre, believing he was in danger when he was negotiating with its leader at gunpoint. It was only after Kazama shot the man that poor Kiryu realized what was really going on.
  • His decision to make Terada the Fifth Chairman of the Tojo Clan for his aid to him and Kazama at the end of the first game really comes back to bite everyone in the second, because Terada is a survivor of the Jingweon Massacre who, while grateful to Kazama for many things, wanted vengeance against the Tojo Clan. Terada was no doubt kicking himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming when Kiryu inadvertently handed him the reins of his revenge with no strings attached.
  • His relationship with Daigo is also like this, despite being a role model. He never helped Daigo through his time as a chairman, always putting him in difficult situations that had done lasting damage to the Tojo by Kiryu's absence, from getting nearly killed by Joji Kazama to handling the mess by himself against the Ueno Seiwa which leads to a fight to the purge in leadership that leaves the old generation of Tojo families all dead. By the end of 6, his final will to Daigo is that he cannot call himself a father figure of the Tojo for all he has done and tells Daigo not to fight the Yomei to avenge him and the Tojo.
• Noble Top Enforcer: Considering what we know about his former patriarch, Sohei Dojima, he was likely one of these when he still used to be a Dojima Lieutenant prior to the prologue of the first game. The very first thing we see Kiryu do is perform some violent debt collection due to a hostile client but he's quickly established to be a polite, caring, and selfless man despite his criminal occupation, propensity for violence, and infamy.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: This is basically his default fighting style and what he usualy subjects many of his oppoents too, so listing examples would be a bit redundant, but there are some particulaly notable beatdowns, such as the Final Boss of 0 during which Kiryu keeps swinging a bloodied fist at Shibusawa's face over and over again to the point where Nishiki has to restrain him so that he won't kill him. It's implied that Shibuwasa was exactly one punch away from actually dying.
• No-Sell:
  • In Yakuza 2, when he first meets Ryuji Goda, one of his mooks breaks a wine bottle over the back of Kiryu's head. Unfazed, Kiryu simply turns around, grabs his arm from an oncoming attack, and throws him off the balcony. This is after Ryuji had already broken a wine bottle over one of his subordinate's head and said subordinate is shown bleeding for it.
  • In the same game, Kiryu encounters a fake Kiryu using his name and image to throw his weight around. When the fake tries to intimidate Kiryu by threatening to beat him up, Kiryu calls his bluff. Hesitantly, the fake throws a punch at Kiryu's face, who didn't even flinch at all, as if saying, "was that it?". He calmly removes the fist from his face before pounding the fake's in.
  • In Yakuza 3, the Final Boss fight has a lengthy QTE that ends with Mine managing to land a punch on Kiryu's forehead. If you fail the button prompt, Kiryu will be sent flying onto his back but if you do it correctly, Kiryu will hold his ground against the punch while his opponent will reel back clutching their injured hand in agony before Kiryu responds with a dropkick.
  • His dynamic intro in Like a Dragon has him taking a punch from new protagonist Ichiban without budging — even swatting the other dragon's arm away. And he's in his 50s at that point.
• Not So Above It All: In one of the new substories for Kiwami, Haruka tasks him with finding a present for a young girl to give to a boy she likes. Pocket Circuit Fighter reveals a new limited edition racing car that would be perfect for him, and even though Kiryu wins it for the boy, it's obvious he really wants one for himself. He's seriously bummed to find out it's the only one, even more so if he gives it away. He doesn't believe Haruka at all when she tells him he'll find another one.
• Not So Stoic:
  • Try taking Haruka out for karaoke to see Kiryu gushing like a hysteric schoolgirl over his adoptive daughter singing.
  • In Yakuza 3, when Rikiya dies, he sheds Manly Tears for him whilst yelling out his name.
  • In Yakuza 0, he cries Manly Tears when Tachibana dies, just moments before he could have been reunited with his long-lost sister.
  • He also completely loses it in Yakuza 6 when he's told that Haruto is Haruka's son, and demands to know who the father is. He is visibly very distressed and/or frustrated at many points throughout the game. There's also his sheer heartbreak over having to fight Someya. When you pause the game in 6, you see Kiryu's thoughts on his current objective; his thought on "Defeat Someya" is simply "Why?!"
  • In Like a Dragon Gaiden, when Ayako and Taichi are talking to a hidden camera after they suspect Kiryu is watching them, updating him on how everybody in the orphanage is doing, and leave a drawing that Haruto made, Kiryu completely breaks down into tears and laments how much he misses them.
• No Social Skills: Played with and subverted in various ways. Kiryu can be very socially awkward sometimes, but, to be fair, he's spent a lot of his life in prison (and for crimes he did not commit, to boot), which has stunted a lot of his knowledge on pop culture and social trends, and he obviously has ZERO social skills when it comes to thugs getting on his business. However, he has a natural talent for making lifelong friends (even if he has to beat the snot out of them first), and people in need always feel he's someone they can ask for help and depend on, which he totally is.
• Oblivious to Love: He has a tendency to miss the signs when a girl has feelings for him, which happens pretty often.
• Odd Friendship:
  • Notably with Date, his Friend on the Force. Although Date tends to deny they're good friends, Kiryu seems to hold him in higher regard and they never fail to support each other to the best of their abilities.
  • With Goro Majima. For all the times they've traded blows throughout the series, it's never been personal on either end and they each have a tremendous mutual respect for one another.
• Oh, Crap!: Expresses this if the drag queen Michiru tries to "give him some thanks".
• Older Than They Look:
  • In Yakuza 6, he can ask the five hostesses to guess his age. Only one of them correctly guesses 48; one guesses 40 and the others guess mid-late 30s.
  • He's 50-51 by the events of Like a Dragon (set in 2019), yet he doesn't look a day past his early 40s. If that!
  • By the time of his possible last game alive, ''Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth", he's pushing 60 along with dying of cancer, but he barely looks older than before, with the only sign of aging being gray hair.
  • Though if you started with Yakuza 0, then all of this would be rather exaggerated; Kiryu wouldn't look even barely older than 20!
• Old Shame: A downplayed In-Universe example. While he doesn't regret joining the yakuza, he's willing to admit that he's done things that he's not proud of though he doesn't explicitly elaborate.
• One-Man Army: Over the course of the series, Kiryu has proven that yes, he is most definitely the king of the food chain. Demonstrated best in Yakuza 5 when he alone goes up against a small army of Tojo clan yakuza in the climax of Part 1. In Like a Dragon he's capable of defeating Ichiban and his entire party, which includes another Han, all by himself without breaking a sweat (and gameplay-wise serves as a fairly tough fight).
• One of the Kids: Whenever he gets involved with hobbies meant for children such as Pocket Racing or Mesuking, he quickly ingrains himself into the local group of kids, who treat him as as a mix of a peer and a older brother figure.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Kiryu avoids killing and is a very patient and forgiving man in his 40s and onwards, believing in redemption and forgiving even Arase and Hamazaki, who killed two of his friends and almost stabbed him to death, respectively. Nothing shows how despicable and irredeemable Tsuneo Iwami and Katsumi Sugai are more than the fact that Kiryu had run out of patience with them and decided to kill them to ensure they don't harm his family.
• Opt Out: In Like a Dragon, after giving Ichiban and his gang info about Mirror Face, he's forced to go back into hiding once again in order to protect his family.
• Out of Focus: In Yakuza 4, Kiryu is out of the spotlight throughout much of the story so it can explore the three new playable protagonists, but this is subverted when he returns in the last part, after it's revealed that the events taking place are related to him and the missing ten billion yen incident of the first game. He's not even the one who gets to fight the Final Boss; that honor goes to Tanimura.
• Papa Wolf: Don't mess with his kids, especially Haruka, if you value your life.
  • Messing with Daigo Dojima also seems to be a good way to motivate him to get involved with the Tojo Clan and Yakuza in general despite his retirement.
  • Messing with his grandson Haruto is undeniably the stupidest (and last) mistake you will make.
• Paper-Thin Disguise:
  • 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. Gets Exaggerated with one of the responses to the mook overseeing the funeral guestbook. Kiryu can enter a false name, or sign his real one, and claim he's a different Kiryu when called out on it. The mook believes him.
  • In Infinite Wealth he comes to Seonhee's aid wearing a plain wooden mask of the kind used by Geomijul mooks (which Seonhee knows is behind the bar at Survive) so he won't make her look weak in front of rebellious subordinates. He doesn't change anything else about his appearance. Even so, Seonhee doesn't notice anything odd until she hears his voice.
• The Paragon: By Yakuza 5, he's gained the reputation as one within the Tojo Clan, due to his eagerness to help others and unwillingness to kill. Not everyone is pleased about this.
• Parental Substitute:
  • For Haruka after she loses her real parents in the 10 billion yen incident, and are considered father and daughter by many. In Yakuza 5's Premium Adventure mode where he can bring her to tag along, not only does he still think of her as a kid (to her chagrin), but he's clearly torn that she's already thinking about boys, though the canonicity of this is uncertain as the prologue of Yakuza 6 establishes that Premium Adventure in 5 could not have happened.
  • While not touched upon as often, he's also this for Daigo. By the end of 6, he expresses regret that he wasn't there as the father Daigo needed, especially when Daigo took over as chairman of the Tojo Clan. Daigo considers the feeling mutual, since he considers Kiryu more of a father than his actual father Sohei.
• The Perils of Being the Best: His reputation as a living legend means that it makes him a target for the powerful and ambitious such as Ryuji and Aizawa. It also means that Haruka is a priority target for villains.
• Perpetual Frowner: To go with his stoic tough guy attitude, he almost never smiles when he's out and about in town or investigating the latest criminal conspiracy.
• Platonic Life-Partners:
  • He was this with Nishiki as kids and through the era of Yakuza 0 until the events the of 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 Worthy Opponent around.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Kiryu comes off as such in the first game's dub due to extended usage of Spice Up the Subtitles. In one instance, he accuses Yuya of being retarded when Yuya refuses to let him into Stardust. The Kiwami localization omitted this due to better direction.
• Previous Player-Character Cameo: Makes a short but pointed appearance in Like A Dragon and then becomes a party member in Infinite Wealth.
• Punny Name: Word of God says that his family name, Kiryu, is taken from the English phrase "kill you". It gets lampshaded by the hostess Riku in the fifth game.
  • 'Kiryu' is also a homophone of 'self' (ki) 'dragon' (ryu), or 'I am a dragon'. Though, funnily enough, he doesn't actually spell his name with any of the kanji meaning "dragon".
• Purposely Overpowered: 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 Stance System 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 Limit Break 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 built around offense, leaving no room for Healing and Support without going to other jobs, and his Agility stat is more on the slower side.
• Rage Breaking Point: It takes a lot to get Kiryu from general disgust and contempt to absolute seething hatred, but when it happens, you can practically feel his enemies shaking in terror from what's about to happen to them. For instance, in Yakuza 3, when he is informed Tamashiro and his goons demolished the orphanage while all the kids are there, Kiryu is visibly shaking with rage and he looks like he's about to pop a blood vessel. He then goes on to beat the shit out of many, many thugs and at least several oxen. Yes, oxen.
  • He gets absolutely furious many times throughout 6's story as well, mostly in response to Yuta not acting like a proper father to Haruka's kid, and later on to Iwami and Sugai in general, the first villains in the series who earned his wrath enough for him to ditch his Thou Shalt Not Kill policy and try to actually murder them.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: His Rush Style's ultimate move in Kiwami, complete with "ORAORAORAORA!"
• Real Men Wear Pink: The shirt he wears with his suit is a rather stylish old maroon, not to mention he's the chief chef at the orphanage.
  • He also learns some of his techniques in the third game by blogging.
  • Like Majima in 0, Kiryu can also swing around a fluffy pink fan while Disco Dancing though only if he's a good sport after defeating Kan Ogita in a Dance Battle related substory.
  • And of course, he makes for a perfect karaoke buddy.
• Red Baron: "The Dragon of Dojima", as well as "The Fourth Chairman".
• Red Is Heroic: He typically wears a maroon shirt underneath his white suit, and he's a noble character for whom there is no good deed too small or insignificant, or too grand and vast for him.
• The Redeemer: Not always intentionally but a substantial amount of the bad guys he meets turn a new leaf after experiencing his "delicate touch" especially in substories. It helps that he's generally an All-Loving Hero. This tendency nearly gets him killed in the ending to 3 when his attempt to reach out to a now-impoverished Hamazaki gets him a knife in the gut instead. Even as he bleeds out, he resolutely tells Hamazaki that he still believes it's possible for him to redeem himself.
  • The entire premise of the "Hitman Missions" in 3 revolves around the "Honest Living Association" established by Osamu Kashiwagi. Its goal is to take in ex-yakuza, struggling to reintegrate back into society, and give them the support they need to be successful as civilian and make an honest living, things like getting them jobs and low-interest loans. When this HLA finds itself targetted by a mysterious group of former yakuza hitmen calling themselves "Reapers", Kiryu's thankfully around to help via tracking down individual members to not only get more information on these Reapers, but to offer them a chance for rehabilitation. Naturally, Defeat Means Friendship is in full effect here for just about every target.
  • 0 shows he's been like this as far back as the late 80's when he was 20 years old when a substory involving a telephone club and a child hostage ends with him encouraging a kidnapper to turn himself in, promising to take him to a telephone club once he's done his time.
  • Infinite Wealth implies that he managed to do this with Andre Richardson, who after miraculously surviving the events of 3 apparently retired from being a terrorist to become a bartender in Hawaii, with Kiryu treating him as an old acquaintance.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Curiously enough, switching to his classic "Dragon of Dojima" style in Kiwami seems to make his eyes actually glow bright red for a few brief initial seconds like his heat aura in said style. It's especially noticeable if you make usage of his abilities to "quickswap styles" since there's no transition animations as well as less particle effects to obscure how bright red his eyes briefly become.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Majima, Nishiki, Ryuji, Rikiya, Shinada and Saejima's red and Haruka's purple.
• Reluctant Warrior: He becomes this in the fifth game, refusing to get involved in anymore of the Tojo Clan's affairs, but it's when a friend goes missing and another is reported dead that he realizes he can't escape what he is.
• Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: You can bring up Kiryu's heroic exploits as topics of conversation in 6's cabaret club, such as the time he beat up over a hundred yakuza members by himself or the time he punched out a tiger. Some of the hostesses will think he's joking, while others will be at a loss for words.
• Renaissance Man: Besides his legendary reputation as a fighter and former yakuza boss, the minigames and various side content allow him to become well-versed (sometimes to the point of being a local legend) in many, many different fields, such as golf, dancing, darts, baseball batting & team managing, fishing, underwater fishing, acting, voice acting, ramen cooking, private investigating, a wide variety of board games and video games, cabaret club managing, taxi driving, street racing, modelling, wrestling, foremanship, photography, animal rescue, singing, womanizing, blogging, gambling, parenting, real estate management, pissing, bounty hunting, Pocket Circuit, bowling, chicken raising... point is, if it's a thing that exists, odds are Kiryu has done it before, and done it well.
• Retired Badass: Due to the deal he made at the end of Yakuza 6, he is unable to do anything too extreme that would compromise his identity since he is supposed to remain legally dead by the time of Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Only a handful of people are even aware he's still alive.

S-Z

• Say My Name: "Shinji!!" "Haruka!" "YUMI!!!" "NISHIKIIIIIIIIIII!!!" "RIKIYAAAAAAAAAA!" "KUZE!!!"
• The Scapegoat:
  • In 0 Kiryu gets set up for a murder of a person he collected money from, so that Kazama will have to take responsibility for his actions and get demoted.
  • In the original game, after Nishikiyama killed Sohei Dojima to protect Yumi, Kiryu decides to take the fall instead because Nishikiyama has his sister to take care of.
• Serious Business:
  • Pocket Racing is this for him. So much that when Majima stumbles upon him at the Pocket Race building, Kiryu states completely straight-faced that he will not allow Majima to sully the scared ground of Pocket Racing by initiating a fight in the building and attempts to force him outside, until Pocket Fighter tells him to resolve their differences through racing. It's even serious business in gameplay, where should his car go off road, he has an overdramatic reaction when his car goes off-track.
  • The same could be said for the way he handles a lot of other mundane activities like karaoke, arcade games, mahjong, and so forth, clearly giving them his 100%. It is rather endearing in a way and can provide quite a bit of humor at times.
• Shipper on Deck: Downplayed. He quickly figures out that Date has a thing for Mama, the new owner of Serena. While he's rather amused to have his suspicions proven later on in a substory, he spends the rest of the substory trying to support him to the best of his ability.
• Shirtless Scene: A lot of them in each game, usually before an important fight. Dead Souls averts this for obvious reasons.
• Signature Move: Among several, there's the iconic Komaki Tiger Drop, one of, if not the most powerful moves in virtually every game it appears in. And unsurprisingly, one of his most dreaded if he (or Komaki and Amon) is fought as a Boss, as Saejima and Ichiban can attest.
  • 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 first game, 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 Iwami for the last time in Yakuza 6 and when called upon in Yakuza: 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.
• Silver Fox: Despite being the third oldest protagonist after Saejima and Majima, the dude is a bonafide Chick Magnet.
• Skyward Scream: Unleashes this when one of Kazuto Arase's underlings drag along Reina's corpse and finding Shinji lying on the ground coming close to death.
• Small Steps Hero: While his ability to partake in substories where he assists random people at any point during the story suggests this, it's notable that in the first game he dedicates a decent amount of time taking care of Haruka after first meeting her. This is before even he learns that the mother she's searching for is Yumi, the woman that he's also looking for.
• Smoking Is Cool: He smokes often, and even has a HEAT action that revolves around this in some of the games. This ends up being somewhat deconstructed in Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, as while not the primary reason, he ends up getting cancer that is strongly implied to be partly driven by his smoking.
• Socially Awkward Hero: As charismatic as he is, Kiryu is pretty clumsy when it comes to more mundane social customs. He's really out of his element when it comes to doing business with Oda, and he's at a total loss for ideas for what he should buy for Yumi's birthday; to say nothing of forgetting to buy something in the first place. Losing 10 years in prison only seems to have exacerbated these issues.
• Spanner in the Works: He proves to be this to Chitose's plans in Infinite Wealth. The reason she drugged Ichiban and left him naked on the beach was to keep him focused on staying out of jail and away from the search for Akane. And if Kiryu hadn't tracked him down and gotten him out of his cuffs, it would've worked.
• Spontaneous Weapon Creation: His Dragon of Dojima job in Infinite Wealth is all about showcasing the many, many different forms of hand-to-hand combat he's been trained in over the years, and while its normal attacks use his bare hands (plus any Improvised Weapon lying around), most of its skills involve weapons made out of his glowing blue Battle Aura, including tonfas, a dagger, a pistol, and a Martial Arts Staff.
• Stance System:
  • 0 gives him different styles to use. He retains the system in Kiwami as well as in Like A Dragon in his boss fight.
    • Brawler is an underdeveloped version of Kiryu's original fighting style. It thoroughly puts him as Unskilled, but Strong as his moves have longer recovery times and he's unable to pick up downed enemies. He's also a bit flashier in his execution compared to how straightforward he usually fights throughout the series. Perhaps the most unique aspect of the style is that he can respond with counterattacks if you press any attack button while taking hits light enough to not knock Kiryu off his feet. You can also perform a running punch to start his basic rush combos making it a surprisingly mobile style for closing the distance between enemies or flanking them to hit a vulnerable spot in their defenses.
    • Rush emphasizes speed and agility with Kiryu's blows doing less damage individually but also having him pile them up in rapid succession solidifying it as the Fragile Speedster style. His block has a special weaving animation when you first press the button allowing him to duck under attacks, giving him shorter recovery times in order to go back on the offensive ASAP. Also, his grab is replaced by a simple guard-breaking kick and repeated combos with Rush can stun enemies, opening them up to other HEAT actions.
    • "Beast" turns Kiryu into a Mighty Glacier, enabling him to pick up heavy objects or enemies to use as weapons and he has faster execution of weapon-based attacks. His taunt can actually be used to knock opponents away and instead of a block he has super armor, turning him into an Implacable Man. With certain upgrades, he also gets very Saejima-esque.
    • Finally, his Legendary "Dragon of Dojima" style in 0 is his classic moveset minus the Komaki-style moves. To compensate, he's got several improvised techniques completely unique to this younger iteration of Kiryu. In Kiwami, Kiryu lacks the unique skills in 0 but can learn not only the classic Komaki skills but also several of Majima's unique skills and moves from 0. That said, the style is tremendously nerfed for a good portion of the game.
  • In Gaiden, Kiryu uses two different styles:
    • Yakuza a refinement of his original fighting style merged with the style from 6. It emphasizes brute force, and is overall more simple to use in comparison to Agent; these factors lead it to overall having less skills to buy, but with a variety of old moves already unlocked for use.
    • Agent, in which Kiryu uses a combination of focused strikes and various gadgets such as electrified wires or drones to immobilize enemies. This style is more extensive than Yakuza, and in turn has more skills to purchase from.
  • Infinite Wealth sees the return of his three stances from 0, albeit updated:
    • Yakuza style is the most balanced, but puts an emphasis on Heat Actions.
    • Rush style gives a wider range of movement and allowing Kiryu to attack twice per turn at the cost of doing significantly less damage.
    • Beast style has a narrower range of movement, but also provides high damage (especially with weapons around the area) better defense, and guard-breaking grapples.
• Sore Loser:
  • Downplayed since he never takes it out on others but the way he reacts when losing at certain minigames such as Pocket Circuit Racing suggests shades of this. He seems to admit that this is the case in a substory in 3.
  "I guess I just hate to lose. So I do what it takes to come out on top."
  • Potentially goes a long way in justifying why he usually ends up The Ace in various activities and ventures in life no matter how inexperienced he is when he first starts out. This all makes him something of a rare positive example of this trope.
• Still Wearing the Old Colors: While Kiryu no longer considers himself a yakuza, he's often seen sporting the same gray suit that he wore back when he was in the Dojima family. Naturally, just about everyone mistakes him as an active yakuza, and despite Kiryu insisting that he's no longer one, hardly anyone believes him considering the clothes he's wearing. Often times people think he's taking them for a fool, initiating a fight.
• The Stoic: Kiryu's a very reserved individual, usually very stone-faced and serious no matter what. Although there are moments where even he's stumped or his emotions slip through the cracks.
• Strong and Skilled: Many players refer to him as the most balanced protagonist in the series. In terms of his fighting ability, he may prefer Good Old Fisticuffs to make the most of his incredible strength but it's also heavily implied that he's just as agile and flexible as Majima, outright replicating some of his attacks while having a number of acrobatic techniques of his own. Storywise he has been taught many fighting styles and martial arts from different masters like Bacchus and Komaki who saw that he has great raw potential.
• Super-Reflexes: He's been shown to dodge gunshots that are fired pointblank at his face. His fight against Andre Richardson in Yakuza 3 has the barrel right between his eyes before ducking behind him.
• Supreme Chef:
  • A minor characteristic, but Kiryu does do much of the cooking himself for the kids under his care, occasionally being assisted by Haruka, and to him it's Serious Business. Considering the games, this also means he overlaps with Chef of Iron under the "Ordinary" classification. The trope is zig-zagged however, as he relies on convenience store food and restaurants almost all of the time, and with him being shown cutting onions slowly with the same intensity as defusing a bomb, and he drops the raw onions straight into a pot of stewing curry without frying or caramellizing them first, suggesting that he is quite inexperienced. This doesn't stop his cooking from being delicious though.
  • One of the minigames introduced in the fifth game involves him cooking noodles for customers, where he even dresses the part.
• Survivor's Guilt: Following the deaths of Kazama, Yumi and Nishiki in the first game. Early in the second game, when he's praying at Kazama's grave, he wonders why he's the only one who's still alive. While it's Haruka who keeps him from giving up on everything, this also plays a large part in why he's a Death Seeker.
• Sworn Brothers: Sworn brothers with Akira Nishikiyama. In 3, he also becomes one with Shigeru Nakahara, Patriarch of the Ryudo Family in Ryukyu, Okinawa. The process is even shown on-screen with Daigo Dojima officiating.
• Sympathy for the Devil: His All-Loving Hero 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: Akira Nishikiyama, Yukio Terada, Ryuji Goda, Yoshitaka Mine, Goh Hamazaki, Daigo Dojima, Masaru Watase, Naoki Katsuya, Masato Aizawa, Jun Oda (who he refers as an asshole he never liked in Infinite Wealth), Toru Hirose, Takumi Someya, Kosei Shishido, and Masataka Ebina.
• Taking the Bullet: He takes one for Haruka in the first game when her father Jingu attempts to shoot her the first time. He does this again in Yakuza 6 for Yuta, Haruka, and Haruto.
• Taking the Heat: A defining moment for Kiryu and the series as a whole: after seeing his patriarch Dojima dead as a doornail, with Nishiki holding a smoking gun, he decides to take the blame for murdering Dojima and tell Nishiki to run away with Yumi.
• Tattooed Crook: An appropriate Chinese dragon (an ouryuu / Yinglong to be exact) on his back, which is absolutely iconic and legendary both in-universe and out.
• Technologically Blind Elders: Kiryu doesn't do a good job on keeping up with the latest trends in technology and types via finger pecking. This can be owed in part to his having spent ten years in prison, during which time technology advanced very quickly. Even after however, the only high-tech gadgets Kiryu really bothers with are cellphones, barring his other inventions he finds as a Daidoji agent.
• Terror Hero: His often brutal methods of dealing with enemies may cause them to cower in fear mid-battle. Some games even give him access to special heat actions while they're panicking.
  • Story-wise as noted above in The Dreaded, his foes try to plan around avoiding him in later game and frequently lose their composure completely when he beats them within an inch of their lives. Frankly, even random civilians seem to fear him since he looks like the perfect yakuza.
  • Justified since he's ex-Yakuza. He may have been aiming to be an idealized man-of-the-people but he was still very much encouraged and expected to intimidate victims into giving into his demands by any means necessary, including direct violent action should the need arise. Even after leaving the Yakuze, he never managed to drop their methods of "persuasion".
• There Can Be Only One: He agrees with Ryuji Goda that there can only be one true Dragon in Japan, a view he's apparently held since Yakuza 0.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Zig-zagged; While the series likes to treat him as having never taken a life to the point that even if he uses guns and blades enemies always end up getting back up, Kiryu has also gotten into gunfights where he's not only shot people but blown them up with explosives, which would seem like a case of Story and Gameplay Segregation.
  • ...And yet there have been times where he considers having to resort to killing someone like in 3, where he seriously considers killing Majima if he had in fact went back on his promise to protect Daigo and instead not only had him shot, but also killed Kiryu's friend and mentor Kashiwagi. Hell, Kiryu's Character Catchphrase has him threaten death upon any enemies that step up to oppose him.
  • His speech to Aoyama in 5 suggests that he's actually a Subversion, never once saying or properly establishing that he ever had a hard rule against killing. Instead, he's simply built up a reputation as someone who never kills due to having a rare aversion to it among contemporary Yakuza and believing that a proper punishment for the worst criminals he meets is to have them rot in jail cell for the rest of their days. He'd much rather avoid killing if given a choice but it's not like he ever thought of himself as above the act of murder if only as a last resort. It helps that while there's a solid chance that the weaker henchmen might have died in the midst of his brutal one-man rampages, he never kills "in cold blood" once things have settled down and he finally has some important named villain at his mercy.
  • Tellingly when in 6 the stakes are much higher than ever, he's pushed to the breaking points of his anger, and many innocents and Kiryu's loved ones are being hurt due to the work of enemies who are utterly ruthless and seek solely to fulfill their ambitions, Kiryu finally displays that he can and will kill. Han Joon-Gi only survives being beaten up by him in their last fight because he doesn't want to kill him in front of Haruto, though at least with him, it's never confirmed whether or not Kiryu would have really killed him, as at least Han was a Noble Demon, and he implies he would have severely beat him but never states that he would decisively kill him. He clearly only doesn't try to kill Kurusu after he reveals just how evil he truly is because at that point Kurusu is already a dead man. In contrast with Tsuneo Iwami being a complete and utter scumbag, he stops considering the man human and actively tries to kill him in their final confrontation. Iwami only gets away with his life due to Kiryu having to perform a Heroic Sacrifice to save Haruka's family.
• Tiger Versus Dragon: Seems to be theme that happens from time to time in some of his fights. In the first Yakuza he fights against Shimano, who has a tiger tattoo. In Yakuza 2 he fights actual tigers. In Yakuza 4 he fights against Saejima who also has a tiger tattoo, which notably ends in a draw. He fights against Saejima again in Yakuza 5 to the same outcome.
• Tragic Hero: Yakuza is in many ways the story of how Kiryu, for all the good things he does and tries to do, ends up being forced to face how his existence has done nothing but hurt and endanger the people he cares about most, especially Haruka. By the end of his story, he cuts ties with everyone and goes into hiding to protect the remaining people he loves... and as Gaiden shows, even that isn't enough.
• Tragic Keepsake: As revealed in Gaiden, Yumi's engagement ring. He was going to use it to propose to her, but he couldn't spit it out until it was too late.
• Tranquil Fury: Aside from rare occasions where he truly loses it, when he's angry it manifests as this. It doesn't make him any less terrifying when he's mad.
• Trauma Conga Line: Oh boy.
  • Yakuza 1/Kiwami sees him take the fall for a murder committed by Nishiki resulting in him spending ten years in prison. When he gets out he discovers that his sworn brother has become a Fallen Hero and his enemy. Over the course of the game he loses his father figure (Kazama), is betrayed by a longtime friend (Reina) and loses other friends (Shinji). In the finale he loses both the love of his life (Yumi) and Nishiki after being forced to fight the latter. He's fully prepared to go back to prison until he's reminded that Haruka has nobody else to take care of her.
  • While not quite as bad, the trauma piles up over the course of the remaining games. At some points it's made clear that Haruka and the other orphanage kids are the only things keeping Kiryu going.
  • Yakuza 5 is another one for him, though not to the extent of 1/Kiwami. Before the events of the game, his deal with Park entails he leave the orphanage. He supports them from another city under an alias, but it's clear how lonely and depressed he feels without them. When trouble strikes, he tries hard to avoid being dragged back into another yakuza war, but news of Majima's death drags him back in anyway. Much later, he witnesses Daigo being severely wounded trying to save him from Kurosawa, who then tells Kiryu he has Haruka to worry about. He falls into a Heroic BSoD, lamenting how everyone around him is hurt because of him. He finally gets some happiness at the end when Haruka gives up her career and reunites with him, but, as Yakuza 6 shows early on, that happiness was short-lived.
• Tragic Mistake: You may have noticed several tragic tropes by now. All can be traced back to him deciding to follow Kazama’s footsteps.
• Turns Red: He is the only playable character who can gain Red HEAT, which can be used for more powerful attacks. It can also prevent him from losing health.
• Turn to Religion: Gaiden shows that after the events of 6 he took on the pseudonym of Joryu and became a monk at Daidoji Temple. Subverted when it turns out the temple is actually a cover for the Daidoji Faction, and he's actually under their employ as a government agent, which is how he became involved with the events of 7.
• Underestimating Badassery: Many in 0 including the Dojima lieutenants dismiss him as a rookie thug and a wannabe trying to stake a claim on the Empty Lot. Kuze lampshades the catastrophic consequences of underestimating Kiryu after their fifth fight. By 1/Kiwami and subsequent games it escalates into Bullying a Dragon as Kiryu's reputation becomes legendary but people continue provoking him anyway.
• Undying Loyalty: To Shintaro Kazama, the man who raised him. Kiryu idolizes him and joined the yakuza in hopes to help him and repay him for everything he's done for him. His loyalty is one of the plot points behind 0 as the other Dojima lieutenants try to use Kiryu to bring down Kazama to achieve their own goals. Not even learning that Kazama is the one who killed his parents could shake his faith in the man, tearfully calling Kazama his father figure as he passes away in his arms.
• Unexpected Virgin: Maybe. Series writer and lead producer Masayoshi Yokoyama stated that in his opinion Kiryu is probably a virgin, and that while he frequents hostess clubs he never goes further than flirting since he usually has someone else on his mind in most games^note He has gone into love hotels in numerous substories, but while it's obviously expected that one would go there to have sex, it's anyone's guess whether or not the Dragon of Dojima goes past first base. If nothing else he definitely isn't one to Virgin Shame; he makes it a point that he thinks no less of Pocket Circuit Fighter for his virginity. A trailer for Infinite Wealth indicated via a conversation between himself and Ichiban that this may have ceased to be the case at some point, but follow-up interviews were quick to clarify that it was Kiryu's attempt at going with the flow of the conversation.
• Unskilled, but Strong: When using the Brawler Style and Beast Style, he has almost no form or finesse. That said, as Bacchus points out, he's "built like a bear on bearoids." The former in particular is called "Chinpira" in Japanese, the same derogatory name used to refer to the common low level thugs you constantly run into, suggesting Kiryu isn't much higher up the totem pole than they are early on in his career.
• Unstoppable Rage: It takes a lot to get him to lose it, but when he does, run for the hills. One of the most notable examples is in 0. When he discovers Tachibana tortured to death at the hands of Kuze and his thugs, he's beyond livid.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Kiryu's decisions throughout the first game have severe repercussions for the rest of the franchise, affecting not only himself but the Tojo Clan and even Kamurocho. To his part, he's very much aware of some of these and just feels more guilty with each new revelation before trying to set things right.
  • 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-negotiations, 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.
  • Considering how Sohei Dojima's victory over the Jingweon would result in him leading the single most powerful Family in the Tojo Clan, it's likely that the events of Yakuza 0 would have played out quite differently if he didn't have the immense power and influence he had at the time he had to try and take control of the highly lucrative Kamurocho Revitalization Project.
  • Kiryu's actions in 0 and 1/Kiwami unwittingly contributed to the long term destabilization of the Tojo Clan by 2/Kiwami 2. Proving his innocence and preventing Dojima from becoming the Third Chairman had the unintended consequence of decimating the Dojima Family, one of the strongest families in the clan. Kiryu's taking the fall for Nishiki left the Tojo Clan without one of its rising stars and saddled with an incompetent patriarch, inflaming the infighting over the stolen 10 billion yen. Then of course there was Kiryu's retirement as Fourth Chairman and handpicking Terada, a mole for the Jingweon Mafia, as his successor, setting the stage for the second game. Had some of these events played out differently the Tojo Clan would have been far better equipped to combat the Omi Alliance and Jingweon Mafia, or the events of the second game may not have happened at all.
• Vigilante Man: While it's not a profession or anything Kiryu generally spends a lot of time beating down street criminals and rescuing their victims as he encounters them about his usual business.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Akira Nishikiyama in 1's prologue and 0, best demonstrated in the latter as they have no problems roasting on each other. Also with Goro Majima, in a sense.
• Vocal Evolution: After a whopping 14 years since the first game got an English dub, Darryl Kurylo's return as Kiryu marks a drastic improvement thanks to the much better voice direction in modern times. To the point where comparing the two performances is like night and day. Especially notable, since Kurylo had expressed interest for a long time in coming back.
• Waistcoat of Style: His taxi driver uniform in 5 features a charcoal waistcoat over a white dress shirt. When he's out and about in town he wears a grey jacket over it.
• Warrior Poet: Kiryu is very much the Samurai, and frequently displays a very sensitive, cultured side. He even starts a photography blog in the third game!
• Warrior Therapist: He plays this role in "Like a Dragon", where he helps Ichiban deal with his Heroic BSoD after Arakawa and Hoshino's deaths causes him to be more reckless by challenging him to a fight. After knocking some sense into him, Kiryu teaches him how keeping a level head will let him plan against Aoki.
• Weirdness Magnet: The substories get Kiryu into all sorts of zany and wacky scenarios that would ruin anyone else's sense of reality, pushing his Comically Serious tendencies to their limit.
• When He Smiles: Although he's typically a Perpetual Frowner he WILL smile for his children and friends, and it is a very warm and honest smile. The more light-hearted side-content in general has him more willing to offer those rare subdued grins when the situation calls for it.
  • He has a warm, beaming smile throughout the music video for 6's "Today is a Diamond", which only further amplifies that song's Lyrical Dissonance.
• White and Red and Eerie All Over: His iconic clothes are more like a light grey suit over his red shirt, though his snake-pattern shoes are white. Of course while he may be a good guy, he still looks and dresses like a scary yakuza member who terrifies his enemies and even puts civilians on edge until they learn how nice he is.
• Wife-Basher Basher: Yeaaaaah, be nice to your girl in front of Kiryu or else you'll be in for a world of hurt.
• Willfully Weak: Literally, there are many times where Kiryu decides to hold back against an enemy, especially when fighting people he is on good terms with.
  • While fighting Nishiki, his brother commented that while Kiryu was taking him seriously, he was still holding back, as he still considers him a brother and can't bring himself to truly kill him. Sure enough, when Nishiki provokes Kiryu too much, he responds by using all his strength and takes him down with a single hit.
  • It's obviously clear that his second one-on-one fight with Yuta has him greatly holding back. While before he easily wipes the floor with all the Hirose Family members, this time Yuta alone is noticeably harder. Even if Yuta had grown stronger, he still would not have been able to fight Kiryu that well had Kiryu not just been giving him the kid gloves, as displayed by how the cutscenes and action sequences depicted: He spends the entire time pushing Yuta away from the burning room's dangers and the attacks he dishes out are nowhere near as brutal or forceful as the ones he would normally use and seems intent on just knocking him out. Justified, as by then he doesn't want to injure him too much at all and just wants to restrain and snap him out of his suicidal goals and as he's come to view himself as a fatherly figure to Yuta and Yuta is Haruka's lover and Haruto's father, he really would rather not damage him too badly.
  • Though he never outright states it, it is apparent Kiryu was holding back in his boss fight in Like a Dragon. Those who played the previous games can notice that in addition to not using his most devastating attacks, his basic combos are also incomplete; he does not use finishing blows. Everyone's condition after the battle shows Ichiban and co. are hardly able to push Kiryu back, which does nothing to him. His full strength would have been too much for simply teaching a lesson. Not to mention that they have previously been unable to truly beat Saejima and Majima while they were both holding back and whether or not Kiryu knows about it, he certainly uses a more direct level of strength but still holds back, simply outlasting them into submission rather than dealing any lasting damage. This gets even more pronounced in Gaiden, where it's revealed he has access to a greater plethora of martial art techniques and gadgets as part of the Daidoji Faction, but he doesn't use that at all in the fight with Ichiban and his party, making it clear just how he could have completely stomped them to the ground rather than just simply outlasting them if he really wanted to.
  • Infinite Wealth plays with this. Kiryu has a unique Limit Break move where he stops holding back, destroying the Turn-Based Combat mechanics of the game and shifting back into his usual creative Beat 'em Up style against opponents to utterly wail on them. However, whilst Kiryu is no longer holding back, he's suffering from cancer in the game, and is thus weakened and less able to hurt opponents with his resolute might like he could before, preventing him from easily stomping opponents he could casually handle in his heyday.
• Wrestler in All of Us: A lot of Kiryu's throws incorporate many wrestling moves, including but not limited to giant swings, suplexes and chokes. His Hell's Gauntlet move from 3, probably takes the cake as he puts his enemies into a gauntlet of several wrestling moves.
• Worf Had the Flu: Him suffering cancer as of Infinite Wealth also helps justify why he's now weak enough to fight as part of a JRPG party rather than being able to simply mop everything up himself.
• Wolverine Publicity:
  • Despite Yakuza 4's story focusing more on the new playable characters, he still appears in front of them on the game's cover. His image has also been used to market and advertise various products in Japan.
  • With the Yakuza games becoming much more popular in modern times, a Chibi version of Kiryu was announced to be a playable Guest Character for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania. It's less surprising when you remember how both Super Monkey Ball and the Yakuza series were created by the same person, Toshihiro Nagoshi.
• World's Strongest Man: Legendary through the underworld for being unstoppable in a fight, Kiryu is both the most physically powerful man and 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, once caught a charging bull by the horns without being pushed back an inch then threw it across a ring, and handily defeated a huge shark. 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 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, ironically, also has an encouraging effect, in that many of the great fighters of the Yakuza world want to test themselves against him.
  • Jo Amon, one of the strongest and most dangerous characters in the entire series certainly seems to think so by the time of 3, considering him to be the ultimate lifeform who he must finally defeat once and for all to become the strongest. Neither he or any other members of the infamously dangerous Amon Clan ever succeeded in beating him even once.
• Would Not Hit a Girl:
  • Together with children, Kiryu has a huge soft spot for women, and will never hit a girl, no matter what. Although he does slap Haruka in the first game and accidentally knocks her down in his fight against Saejima in the fourth. Word of God even states that Kiryu would not be included in fighting games because it would be out of character for him to hit women.
  • Subverted in the first game's "The Truth About Her" sidequest. Kiryu almost falls victim to a brother/sister pair of con-artists — whose modus operandi involves tricking random men out of their wallets by having the brother (disguised in drag) seduce them before leading the unsuspecting men into a remote location, where the sister (dressed like a male Yakuza) then proceeds with the mugging. Kiryu, not knowing any better, subjects the sister to the same treatment he gives any other thug, followed by her brother when he tries to retaliate. The Kiwami version, "Truth About Beauty", adds more to this: Kiryu bluntly makes it clear that attempting to scam him earned both siblings a taste of the dragon's wrath, regardless of their gender.
  • Actually becomes a case of Gameplay and Story Integration in Like a Dragon when he's fought as a boss. He'll never directly attack any female member you have in your party (though he will counter them if they melee him).
  • Technically averted in the gameplay of Project X Zone 2 in which he has no problem punching, kicking, stabbing, slicing, or shooting at any of the female characters alongside Majima.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: One of his HEAT moves when he is knocked down. Kiryu will quickly roll onto his back and kick at his opponents shins with both feet before quickly wrestling them to the ground off their injured legs and slugging them in the face.
• You Are Worth Hell: Not matter what life throws at him, no matter how impossible the odds, Kiryu will give all his strength just for his adoptive family to be happy.
• Younger Than They Look:
  • It's easy to forget that, with how Kiryu carries himself in this game as well as his general appearance, he was 20 years old during the events of Yakuza 0 despite not looking much different than in subsequent games where he was approaching his forties (though if you started with 0 you get the opposite trope instead). It gets taken to humorous levels in 0 when he's referred to as "pops" by people clearly older than him.
  • Despite being merely 12 years old in 1980, he looked old enough to be mistaken for a Yakuza grunt when he tried to intervene on a tense conversation at gunpoint between Shintaro Kazama and the current leader of the Jingweon Mafia in Kamurocho.
• Your Days Are Numbered: By the time of Infinite Wealth, he developed cancer, and only has about half a year left. Nanba suggests he retires for good to live his final days in peace, but Kiryu prefers to make his twilight years count. He does survive the events of the game, but is ultimately wheelchair-bound while he seeks treatment to at least extend the time he has a bit more, and he'll at least be able to do so while surrounded by loved ones.
• You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: Oh so much. You do NOT want Kiryu to get angry with you, lest you want a brutal pounding.
  Kiryu: Today's been a very bad day, and it's put me in a real shitty mood.

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