Memes / Like a Dragon

For memes pertaining to Like a Dragon's sister series, Judgment, go here.

♫ dame da ne, dame yo, dame na no yo ♫

Yakuza/Like a Dragon is known for being the very epitome of It Makes Sense in Context, and the memes on this page are no exception.

• The meme. ^Explanation The explanation behind the meme.
  • Further mutations and successor memes, if any.

---

Series-Wide

• Kiryu has never killed anyone. ^Explanation Although Kiryu has Thou Shalt Not Kill as part of his moral code, fans have a field day pointing out the many things he does that should prove otherwise, such as using a gun in the car chase shooting sequences, using a waiter as a human shield in the first game, or heat actions that would easily kill someone in real life, such as throwing people off buildings, shoving nails into their mouths and many more. This meme is often coupled with the infamous twist in Yakuza 4 and you get people talking about "rubber nails", "rubber knives", and "rubber explosions" to explain away his definitely-not-lethal escapades. Incidentally, this is a shared meme with the series' Japanese fandom, where Kiryu's line "I swear I never killed anyone" from an early 0 cutscene is often jokingly brought up whenever Kiryu is shown doing stuff that very much looks like murder.
  • Kiryu didn't kill that guy, [X] did. ^ExplanationA variation of the above meme, where people replace the "X" with whatever somehow not-lethal method Kiryu used to dispatch his enemies, such as: "Kiryu didn't kill him, gravity did." "Kiryu didn't kill him, the bullets did." Or "Kiryu didn't kill them, the explosion did."
  • Majima has never killed anyone. ^ExplanationYakuza 0 is a prequel set before Majima's first kill, with the onus of his plot being his reluctance to go through with a hit. That said, his Heat Actions are as brutal as ever, including one where he graphically snaps his opponent's neck, and the other where he jams a baseball bat's handle to a mook's mouth and violently kicks it so hard that said mook has their gums and blood fly out, leading to the appropriation of the "Kiryu's never killed" meme.
  • Yakuza/Like A Dragon humans are immortal.^ExplanationAnother take on the meme is that Kiryu and Majima are using what would be lethal force on a regular human, but the NPCs and mooks are much tougher than regular humans. This is further supported by the cutscene in Yakuza 4 where one guy gets kicked off the fifth floor, smacks the back of his neck on a railing on the way down, and yet he's still alive when he hits the ground.
• Yakuza is a serious crime drama ^ExplanationYakuza main plots are very serious crime dramas, but side activities and substories are invariably goofy as all hell. The meme is used whenever something gets a little too wacky for comfort.
• KIRYU-CHAN! ^ExplanationA phrase Majima says whenever he encounters Kiryu. This reached a peak with Yakuza Kiwami, with the Majima Everywhere system basically making this Majima’s catchphrase.
• Waiting for localizations ^Explanation It usually takes a while for Western releases of the Yakuza games to release. The Remastered Collection was a big example of this, with the remaster of 3 releasing in the West after the whole trilogy was released in Japan. Up to eleven with the Kenzan and Ishin games, which have received the No Export for You treatment for years. Lost Judgment getting a simultaneous release worldwide suggests this will no longer be the case going forward.
• Kiryu will never get into Tekken 7 ^Explanation Kiryu has been a big fan request for Tekken 7 as a Guest Fighter. Sadly, that has not happened. This meme reached a all time high when Negan was announced as a DLC fighter and likely won't happen since the devs state that being in a fighting game would mean that Kiryu would have to fight women, though this makes his appearance in Project × Zone an oddity as it features female opponents for him and Majima to fight.
  • This has invariably led to fans hoping for Majima instead as, unlike Kiryu, he doesn't have such problems as shown during his fight in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. In fact, due to Negan being a baseball bat-wielding fighter this has inevitably led to mods of Majima replacing him.
• Bicycles ^ExplanationOne of the best-known battle mechanics is picking up objects that happen to be there and whacking enemies with them. Bicycles are extremely common for this purpose, to the point where it's joked that a bike is Kiryu's weapon of choice. This actually has basis in real yakuza street fights, apparently.
• DAME DA NE ^Explanation From the series staple karaoke song Bakamitai (as can be performed by Kiryu, Akiyama, Saejima, and Nanba). Roughly translating to, "I'm no good" or "I'm such a mess", it's basically said whenever there's something sad or when something doesn't quite go as planned. Negan making it into Tekken 7 over Kiryu as mentioned above? Dame da ne. Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan and Ishin not receiving an export? Dame da ne. New Game Plus being locked behind a paywall in Yakuza: Like a Dragon? Dame da ne. And so on.
  • Bakamitai deepfakes ^ExplanationUsing deepfake technology to have various real people and fictional characters sing Kiryu's version of the song from Yakuza 0. There's been Yandere Dev, the Halo brute, Isabelle, Queen Elsa and many others. Now officially acknowledged by Kiryu's voice actor, Takaya Kuroda himself, as well as the song's original writer, Horii Ryosuke.
  • "Dame Dame" Guy^ExplanationBakamitai's sudden entrance into internet culture outside of the Yakuza fanbase has led to a lot of people making references to Bakamitai, but with little to no understanding of the series besides that (and sometimes not even spelling "Dame Da Ne" right). Mocking this, Yakuza fans have started making ironic memes about the Dame Dame Guy, often involving Kiryu crossing over into other works, incredibly pained references to the song's lyrics, and a use of the word "eeyikes".
  • "I sing for you" ^ExplanationKiryu says this line, in full English before he begins the song in 0. It's caught on a bit with the fanbase and it's not uncommon to find people reference the line when commenting on other videos.
• Oatmeal My Life ^ExplanationHaruka's signature song, Otometal My Life, which is usually considered a Brutal Bonus Level for karaoke completionists, makes people joke that Haruka is singing about her Trademark Favorite Food in the most girly yet metal way possible.
• Millennium Tower ^ExplanationIn almost all the games, the Millennium Tower always serves as the final battleground for Kiryu and his friends against the final boss. This turns into a joke by players that the building suffered too much misfortune (eg. blown up) inflicted from the characters.
  • The Millennium Tower is haunted. ^{Explanation (Yakuza 0 spoilers!)}In the climatic chapters of Yakuza 0, Tachibana is tortured, killed, and buried at the Empty Lot that would serve as the foundation for the Millennium Tower. This led to the joke that the various misfortunes that either inflict the Tower itself or happen to people while inside the Tower are a result of Tachibana's ghost haunting the place.
• Haruka's multiple dads/uncles ^ExplanationKiryu's closest allies are sometimes seen as uncles to Haruka, most notably when discussing the Passionate All-Stars mixes of her karaoke songs. Reaches its logical peak in Yakuza 5, where Kiryu, Akiyama, Saejima, Shinada, and even Majima are all risking their lives to ensure she doesn't get assassinated by the main villain's plan.
• Real Yakuza use a Gamepad. ^ExplanationEvery time you start the games on Steam, you're always greeted with this splash screen, which is mostly there as a friendly reminder that some of the side content is best experienced with a controller (e.g., the arcade minigames, Dragon Kart, etc.).
  • Real Yakuza don't get a heart attack ^ExplanationBefore that splash screen, the very first thing you see when you boot the game is a black screen, followed by the SEGA screen - which is pure white and plays a very loud noise. This can catch even players who know about it off guard, especially late at night. Intro skipping mods are consistently some of the most popular on each game.
• Wide Kiryu. ^ExplanationThe character models, particularly Kiryu's, in the games prior to Yakuza 5 give them extremely broad shoulders which many players poke fun at.
• People only die in cutscenes^ExplanationRelating to the "Kiryu never kills" meme, there seems to be a universal form of Cutscene Incompetence where people end up dying to things such as gunshots or impalement that random thugs end up surviving in gameplay.
• Cutscene guns!^ExplanationGuns in cutscenes are about as lethal as they are in real life. In-game, guns are an annoyance. This has led fans to joke that cutscene guns are somehow different entities from game guns.
• The Aniki curse ^ExplanationA reference to the fact that those who call Kiryu their "aniki" usually end up with a bad fate.
• Smiling with Faceapp. ^ExplanationSimilar to the Bakamitai deepfakes, many fans have used Faceapp to give everyone a ridiculous and uncanny grin on par with a Slasher Smile or the The Un-Smile, even when they're in the middle of getting struck by a vicious attack. This has been used for many memes and even thumbnails just for laughs.
• Final chapters take forever^ExplanationJokes about how the endings to most Yakuza games take forever, mainly due to being Marathon Levels and/or having long cutscenes that can that last up to half an hour each. Even Judgment poked fun at this in its warning before the Point of No Return, saying "It could take a while, so if you need sleep, continue at your own discretion".
• Mahjong.^ExplanationThe bane of many a would-be 100% completionist. While the requirements are usually not that difficult if you know how to play mahjong, the problem lies with, well... knowing how to play mahjong. There are a few other minigames required for 100% completion that a western player may not necessarily be familiar with, but they're generally either easy to pick up or have obvious western board game parallels. Not so much with mahjong, whose rules can seem like a tabletop version of Calvinball to the uninitiated. To make things worse, the version used in the series is specifically riichi mahjong, which is more complicated than the original. Overcoming this is kind of like a rite of passage for people looking into 100% completion of Yakuza games.
  • Don't mess with us Yakuza/Like a Dragon fans. We kinda know how to play mahjong.^ExplanationBecause of Western fans' typical unfamiliarity with mahjong, most who do end up going for 100% completion tend to rely on guides and tutorials, never really internalizing the rules and not playing it outside of the games. Naturally, they've turned this hazy kinda-sorta knowledge of the game into a Badass Boast.
• Nishiki Crying^ExplanationGiven how the series is famous for most of its characters remaining dry-eyed, and stoic during even the most emotional, and heart-wrenching of situations, the fact that Nishiki subverts this, and has cried more than any other character despite only being in two games (three if counting Ishin, which he also cries in) has been noticed by the fandom, and is often meme'd upon by joking about him crying at the drop of a hat, and saying a Yakuza game with him in it isn't complete unless he breaks down in tears at least once.
• I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. R1+Triangle.^note  That's RB+Y for Xbox players or Space+Right Mouse for PC players. ^Explanation Holding down the Fighting Stance button and then pressing the Heavy Attack/Finishing Blow button before an enemy's attack connects nets you the (in)famous Tiger Drop, one of Kiryu's Signature Moves and far and away the most overpowered Counter-Attack in virtually every installment it appears in. And yes, if fought as a Boss, Kiryu (and by extension Komaki and Amon, who also use Kiryu's own moveset against him) WILL use the move against you, as Saejima and Ichiban would find out the hard way.
  • Tiger Drop negates all damage^ExplanationAny given Hypothetical Fight Debate involving Kiryu will have several people arguing in Kiryu's favour due to this particular property of Tiger Drop.
• Daigo With A Gun ^Explanation Sixth Chairman Daigo Dojima has an 100% accuracy rating whenever he picks up a gun. Whether he's injured, sick or comatose, Daigo will hit his target. This reached Ascended Meme Status with Daigo's summon in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, which has him empty a magazine to the enemy with previous deceased or otherwise Tojo head honchos, his own father included.
• Nishida needs a raise.^ExplanationIn people's honest opinion, no salary is high enough to deal with what Nishida deals with daily - that being, being Majima's Butt-Monkey.
• Essence of _______ ^ExplanationThe official name for Heat Actions, like "Essence of Momentum", "Essence of Slapstick" etc. Often snowcloned to describe other "extreme" actions, like "Essence of Real Estate" or "Essence of ten years in the joint".

Yakuza series

Yakuza/Yakuza Kiwami

• Yakuza’s English Dub ^Explanation The entire English Dub of Yakuza 1 is a meme goldmine, due to its overabundant swearing, cheesy voice acting and delivery, and butchered sound editing. Even moreso with how Majima being the provider of (most of) the lines and being voiced by Mark Hamill in that version.
  • "Kill this arrogant mo-ther-fuc-ker!"^Explanation The command, oddly stilted due to the pre-fight lag, given by Hiroshi Hayashi.
  • "Excuse you? No, FUCK you."^ExplanationA member of the Majima clan who gets really pissed with Kiryu for accidentally bumping into him.
  • "This is the part where you're supposed to laugh! LAUGH YOU STUPID MOTHAFUCKA!" ^ExplanationMajima braining someone for not laughing with him after getting hit with a baseball.
  • "Your mother is-" "SHUTTHEHELLUP DON'TYOUDARE"
  • "Kill this ..................... DUMB MOTHERFUCKER!
  • "I suggest you listen to me." "I suggest you blow me."
  • "How many times I gotta tell you I'm not Yakuza? You retarded or just deaf?"^ExplanationThe flat delivery and poorly-aged absurdity of Kiryu calling somebody a retard makes this one of the dub's more infamous lines.
• Thanks to the dub, the original game's iteration of Nishiki is a Fountain of Memes.
  • "BRING THAT SHIT, KAZUMA!"
  • "TEN YEARS IN THE JOINT MADE YOU A FUCKING PUSSY!"
  • "WERE YOU SOMEONE'S PRISON BITCH?!"^ExplanationAll three of these are yelled out by Nishiki during the final boss battle.
  • Also relevant is a specific portrait render◊ of him, which is frequently posted/displayed whenever one of his quotes shows up.
• "I'd fuck anything with two legs."^Explanation One of the things Kiryu says to a hostess in the Hostess Minigame back in the original Yakuza. Given how Kiryu himself is the Launcher of a Thousand Ships in the LAD fandom, the line works a little too well in that context.
• Majima Everywhere ^Explanation People had a field day with the announcement of the "Majima Everywhere" system and photoshopping him into other completely unrelated series. When you consider the kinds of places Majima will actually show up in Kiwami...
• Kiryu kicking the door open ^Explanation Just before fighting Shota and rescuing Date from him, Kiryu kicks the door open which sends a mook flying. It really caught on, due to the whole ridiculousness of the whole scene. Kiwami kept the entire scene in, ragdolling and all.
• Kiryu slapping Haruka ^ExplanationKiryu gets fed up at Haruka for saying that he and Date are Only in It for the Money and don't care about her at all and ends up slapping her. An example of bad parenting skills that fans will never forget, and often edited so that the slap is a response to Haruka making other statements the OP disagrees with.
• NOW MOW THE LAWN ^Explanation A Mondegreen of the opening sample from "Scarlet Scar" (which actually says, "You're all alone", but it's so muffled that it's hard to tell), the leitmotif of the Shimano Family in the original game, as well as Amon's theme before it was replaced by "Lunatic Warrior" in Kiwami.

Yakuza 2/Yakuza Kiwami 2

• Kiryu slamming the desk ^ExplanationA video clip of Kiryu banging his fist against a table in frustration after learning that Sayama is going after Ryuji on her own, which got a life of its own, with people using it to convey shock upon learning about sex or racism. Sometimes the clip is paired with the "Kiryu kicking the door open" meme above to form a continuous clip.
• Ibuchi is Dio Brando.^Explanation The JoJo References came flooding in once fans learned that Kei Ibuchi and DIO shared the same voice actor, Takehito Koyasu.
• "I peacocked your mom." ^Explanation Early on in the game a thug comes to threaten Kiryu with "Quit struttin' like a damn peacock!" This is the second response.
• MILF hunter Shindo ^ExplanationKoji Shindo, the second Nishikiyama Family Patriatrch, is revealed to be lusting after Daigo's mother, Yayoi Dojima, who is likely in her fifties.
• Everyone is Korean / Secret Koreans ^ExplanationThe large number of characters revealed to be Korean tends to be a source of mockery
• Kiryu at the bar ^ExplanationA scene where Kiryu nonchalantly finishes his drink after a bunch of citizens barge into Bantam (the bar in question) looking to beat him has been used as an exploitable image. It was popular enough to where the UK Xbox Game Pass Twitter account posted their own version
• [X] was at the Jingweon Massacre. ^ExplanationThe game's opening cutscene shows Kawara and Kazama at the Jingweon Massacre. As the story goes on, further flashbacks to the Massacre reveal that no less than five named characters (Shimano, Kiryu, Kurahashi, Terada, and baby Ryuji) were also there to varying degrees of secrecy, leading to many jokes about who else could've secretly been there.
• Not using weapons for the Final Boss. ^{Explanation (Spoilers!)}Using weapons for the final battle against Ryuji is a good way to have other fans pissed at you. While this also applies to some of the other final bosses in the series to a lesser extent, it's particularly prominent with Ryuji due to the context of the battle being an honorable and fair duel to the death and Ryuji himself ditching the katana he used during earlier fights.
• The Slap Heat Action ^Explanation This heat action involves Kiryu slapping his opponent after being stunned by the Komaki Parry and getting hit by that heat action results in a One-Hit Kill (With the exception to some of the bosses who will have the transition to the next phase like Hayashi or Shindo)
• "So I cried. Doesn't make me less of a man." ^Explanation Stated by Kiryu in the original PS2 release of this game after watching a movie at the video parlor with a plot that's curiously very similar to what Kiryu had to go through a year earlier in the first game. It just happens to also perfectly fit the numerous examples of Manly Tears throughout the series.
• The Silly Mod. ^Explanation A mod for Kiwami 2 released in 2023 that stuffs the game full of assorted wackiness. Highlights include a combo finisher which has Kiryu shove his ass in his enemy's face, a heat action where he turns into a giant Among Us crewmate, Kiryu blowing up a thug with Hokuto Shinken and then twerking over his corpse, the soundtrack during the first fight with Ryuji being replaced with Linkin Park, a QTE during the final boss fight that has Kiryu break down in tears over a Cirno fumo, and arguably most notably, a heat action where he casually holds up a bomb next to his enemy as it detonates and damages them both.

Yakuza 3

• Blockuza 3^ExplanationOne of the biggest complaints of Yakuza 3's combat is how often enemies block.
• Dadzuka/Dad Simulator^ExplanationFatherhood is one of the central themes of the game, and a significant portion of time is spent on Kiryu looking after all the orphanage kids and tending to their day-to-day issues. This has led to the meme that Yakuza 3 is a dad simulator that happens to have some yakuza shenanigans on the side.
• MINEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ^Explanation Daigo's Say My Name moment to Mine at the end of the game, combined with some over the top Narm voicework.
• The amount of English in this game has spawned a few:
  • Beautiful Eyes ^ExplanationJoji Kazama commenting on Kiryu's appearance caught on with fans because of the Gratuitous English on display and also because, well, Kiryu is pretty damn handsome. Becomes an Ascended Meme in Yakuza 6 where it's one of the things you can say to cabaret club hostesses, Engrish and all. Sometimes you can follow it up with "Perfect Nose" and "Marvelous Mouth".
  • Mine's Engrish/"Aru? Okay gor it. No. Zere is no change in ze pran."^ExplanationAt one point, Mine gets a phonecall from Richardson and replies in heavily accented but perfectly legible English. Of course it got memed similarly to Jin Kazama speaking English in Tekken 4.
  • Hey, sweet cheeks ^ExplanationA substory involving learning English has this as an option to say to a woman. This quickly caught on with fans in relation to Kiryu's poor English or possible virginity.
    • I'm straight as an arrow ^ExplanationAnother line from the same set of substories used in similar contexts.
  • Andre Richardson ^Explanation He's become an infamous meme in the community for his bizarre pronunciation of certain words and sentences, his absurdly Ham and Cheese and Narm voice acting, that he's only character in the entire series to speak American English, and the fact that he looks like Albert Wesker or Liquid Ocelot with a shaved mustache..
    • “If I’d known it would come to this, I’d have killed you when first we met.”
    • "If you’re looking for Daigo, Minay’s taken him up to the ruff!"
    • "What... the fuck!?"
    • "ARE YOU NUTS!?"
    • "Die, goddamn you! DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"
    • "This is the end of the line for you... Kazuma Kidryu!"
    • "LET ME GO! UAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"
• "I just can't see myself dating a black guy!" ^ExplanationRiona's reason for not dating Mitsuo. Learning to accept others for who they are was part of her character arc, but that hasn't stopped players from bringing her up in discussions of racism.

Yakuza 4

• RUBBER BULLETS ^SpoilersIt's revealed that Saejima actually didn't kill anyone in the Ueno Seiwa hit because his guns were actually filled with rubber riot bullets, whose existence was highly classified at the time (ignoring the fact that even rubber bullets can be lethal). Considered one of if not the most ridiculous plot twist in Yakuza history, it's become a two-word summary of the goofier aspects of Yakuza 4's story. It's also invoked as a tongue-in-cheek explanation for the more nonsensical aspects of other completely unrelated plots in Yakuza or the surprisingly low canon killcount of the protagonists. Sometimes substituted with other words (e.g. "plastic projectiles" or "elastic munitions", or with "bullets" replaced with other things like "fists" or "helicopters" as appropriate).
• THE SELFISH DEED IS NOT FREEDOM ^ExplanationThe main theme for the game, "For Faith", features English lyrics sung by a Japanese man who clearly doesn't understand what he's singing, leading to hilariously garbled pronunciations ("justify" as "justifee" being the worst offender). That said, the quality of the song and the singer's passion have put it squarely into Narm Charm for the majority of the fanbase. Not only will the lyrics inevitably crop up in any Yakuza 4 context, but they're one of the fanbase's go-to's for music-related memes.
• "You gotta go balls out." ^Explanation A line said by Saejima to Kido just before the latter's boss fight. Note that Kido is Saejima's Final Boss, by the way. Yeah, it's not that surprising that such an odd thing to say before a final boss would be so memetic.
• Kyodai ^Explanation After the fans played through Saejima's chapter where he and Hamazaki plot an escape from prison, a meme had spawned among the fans where any character that helps Saejima or interacts with him long enough will become his "kyodai" (Japanese for "sworn brother"). The same thing even happens to Baba in the very next game.
• Majima putting an object on a table. ^Explanation Majima putting a watermelon on the table during his flashback in Saejima's chapter, which is often replaced with other round objects, became an easily exploitable meme. In Japan, watermelons are expensive enough to be a luxury item, so a gift of one is genuinely gracious, but in most of the world it just looks silly.
• Yakuza 4's old, shitty English trailers
  • "These guys are nasty, bad, bad people"
  • "Kazooma Kiryu" and "Taiguh Saejimuh"
• Exhausted Akiyama falling on the couch. ^ExplanationAfter a rough day fighting Shibata goons and evading the police, Akiyama returns to his office in a completely wiped out state. This clip's usually used for those exhausted by current events.
• Grooving Akiyama. ^ExplanationDuring an endgame substory, Akiyama pretends to be a "Creepy Scout" aggressively trying to recruit women for his hostess club. It's part of an elaborate Secret Test of Character by The Florist to test his unwitting son, Takashi and see how he reacts to this scenario. What really matters is the incredibly goofy dancing animation Akiyama performs as the Creepy Scout, which has gained some notoriety among fans. Technically the animation existed in previous games but it's never been focused on like this so it's become associated with the rather popular Akiyama who already has other similar memes due to his dancing antics in the next game as detailed below.
• The Yakuza Four^ExplanationThe game's four protagonists are often nicknamed "The Yakuza Four", with plenty of jokes about supposed in-game conversations cumulating in corny Title Drops. This sometimes gets extended to other games whenever the number of characters being discussed happen to match the number in the game's title.
• Beyblade Majima^ExplanationIn the second phase of Majima's Boss Fight, Majima suddenly stands on his tiptoes on one foot like a ballerina and starts spinning around the room at ludicrous speeds with his dagger extended. Cue jokes about Majima being a beyblade.

Yakuza 5

• "Yume" ^explanation The giant amount of times that they say the word yume (meaning "dream" in Japanese), and how the whole game is almost absurdly centered around dreams and aspirations, definitely has gotten a giggle out of fans.
• "They said you never kill. That you're merciful." ^explanationSaid by Aoyama in hopes of not being killed after Kiryu already bloodied him up hard — and immediately after Kiryu just proved himself a brutal One-Man Army against hundreds of Tojo goons directly in front of Aoyama. Given the "Kiryu has never killed anyone" meme for the series, more than a few montages of Kiryu's improbable pacifism slip this line in just to underline the absurdity, and Kiryu himself questions such a statement.
• "I got screwed by Vietnamese Dong!" ^Explanation Shinada said this exact line in a substory when he realizes what currency he's being paid to play bodyguard for a music artist. Of course, with the rather risque nature of the word "dong", the fans naturally ran wild with it.
• Dancin' Akiyama ^Explanation Two of Akiyama's substories involve him getting down and funky with a self-proclaimed best dancer and a grandma. No, seriously. It has to be seen to be believed.
• "To be honest... I'm not really sure myself." ^ExplanationWhen Kiryu asks the very unexpected Final Boss (Masato Aizawa) what he's doing there, he replies with this line. Fans have used this line to mock Yakuza 5's messy story, saying that even the writers were confused by it.
• "HEY YOU WHAT'S UP MAN! GIVE ME MONEY PLEASE" ^ExplanationSometimes when encountering enemies, they will yell out this hilariously Engrish line.
• "Only children believe in dragons." ^explanationA Pre Ass Kicking One Liner uttered by Baba before fighting Kiryu, which, while pretty badass, is infamous for being an extreme case of Woolseyism (in Japanese he simply says "ikimasu", meaning "here I come", which is much shorter and still audible in the voice track). The fact that this is immediately followed by the opening course of Baba's Leitmotif blaring "I BELIEVE IN YOU!" is simply the cherry on top.
• Encounterkuza ^ExplanationThe encounter rate in Yakuza 5 is ridiculously high compared to other games.

Yakuza 0

• That’s rad! ^Explanation Kiryu saying this whenever he learns a new fighting style. People have taken it as his default reaction to anything cool.
  • Holy Shit! ^Explanation Majima's quote, in the same vein as the above. A common meme involving this is having it appear at the end of a clip involving someone breakdancing, a reference to how he learns his "Breaker" style.
  • I'm rad! ^Explaination Modified to reflect Kiryu learning the Dragon of Dojima fighting style, which is his canon fighting style in future games.
• "Heyyyyy, boyyyyy!" ^Explanation Bacchus' greeting towards Kiryu. Some fans have adopted this as a greeting.
• "How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man!?" ^ExplanationDue to Kuze's persistence on fighting Kiryu throughout the game, some fans had this to say, in reference to the SpongeBob episode "The Bully".
• "Alright, here's the 411, folks. Say some yakuza is dissin' your blind girl. You just give 'em one of these!" ^ExplanationMajima's Breaker style drew comparison to Moe's "Funk Dancing for Self-Defense" class, featured in the Simpsons episode "Secrets of a Successful Marriage".
• 24 Hour Cinderella ^Explanation One of Majima's karaoke songs, which became popular due to how absurd the Imagine Spot sequence is compared to the rest of the game. The scene got many people hooked on the game. From quoting the lyrics (SUNAO NI I LOVE YOU) to proposing it as appealing to the male fantasy in response to an already memetic Buzzfeed clip, the song itself became a meme just as much as its cinematic.
  • "This is why I started playing Yakuza." ^ExplanationDue to the sheer popularity of the "24 Hour Cinderella" Imagine Spot, this is many people's first exposure to Like a Dragon, and consequently any video of the scene will have torrents of comments declaring that they started playing the games on the basis of this scene alone.
• MASSIVE MAN ^ExplanationNot long after Majima is introduced as the secondary protagonist of 0, he is tasked by Sagawa to kill a man named Makoto Makimura in order to rejoin the Tojo Clan. When we finally meet the man that Majima thinks is Makimura, rather than being greeted either by the latter name or by "God Hands" (being his title as a masseuse), the game decides to have "MASSIVE MAN" as the title card of the character. Fans immediately found this title card absolutely hilarious thanks to how simple it is despite the awesome dynamic intro. Which is somewhat justified since Makoto is actually revealed to be the young blind girl that gave Majima a massage beforehand.
• Nugget ^ExplanationIn another instance of a meme scene having a big part in getting people to try out the game, Kiryu winning a chicken in a bowling game, choosing to make it one of his managers and naming it Nugget helped emphasize the crazy nature of Yakuza's side quests. So much so that he's been a Ensemble Dark Horse that's made appearances in other Yakuza and related games. If that wasn't enough the survey of the game has Nugget being one of the possible reasons for buying the game.
• Sagawa drinks piss ^Explanation Sagawa at one point makes an off-hand comment that he drank urine, in confirming to Majima that the latter would not enjoy doing so instead of eating with him. Yakuza fans had a field day with this one.
• Japanese Man Attempts to Quit Job. ^Explanation In order to try to find out who framed him, Kiryu, at this point in his career just a rank-and-file errand boy for the Dojima clan, decides to quit the Yakuza so he is free to demand answers and investigate as he pleases without worrying about rank-related repercussions. What follows is an entire building worth of Yakuza toughs getting brutalized as Kiryu battles his way through them, intent on beating information out of Kuze. The sheer titanium balls it took to pull a stunt like this immediately made this scene a meme.
• Ryuji Goda wants your pants. ^Explanation During one of Majima's Substories, he can run into none other than a much younger version of Yakuza 2's main antagonist, Ryuji Goda... And his sub-story is about stealing bontan pants. This naturally has become a Never Live It Down moment for the future antagonist due to the absurdity of it (granted despite his size, he was very young back then) and has been meme'd to hell and back. Doesn't help that in Kiwami 2 Majima outright makes reference to the substory, when talking about Ryuji.
• "It's Free Real Estate." ^Explanation A very obvious joke to make especially considering the real estate part of Kiryu's story.
• Friday Night^ExplanationThe intensely catchy first song of the Disco Dancing minigame and said minigame itself has proved to be immensely popular among fans. Often accompanied with edits and gifs of Kiryu and Majima dancing together during the non-canon multiplayer version of the minigame, usually used to celebrate that it's Friday night, as well as being conflated with the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure "It's finally a Friday..." meme comic.
• Various memes and jokes about how Kiryu and Majima got their legendary fighting styles through real estate or managing a cabaret club, due to just how out of the blue it is. it’s even weirder for Majima, since his style includes a completely different, unhinged personality and a knife, both of which he doesn't technically have until after the main story.
• Kiryu singing in Tachibana's shower ^ExplanationFans have made videos adding the vocal track from various karaoke songs in the game to the cutscene where Kiryu takes a Shower of Angst at Tachibana's apartment, applying effects like muffling and reverb depending on where the camera is. This ends up working well because there are plenty of shots that never show Kiryu's mouth and therefore, if you only use those in the video, you can't see that he's not actually singing. A common joke is to have Majima get involved in some way, such as appearing out of nowhere and singing 24-Hour Cinderella or aggressively pounding on the bathroom door as if he desperately needs to relieve himself while Kiryu is in the shower.
• Kiryu punching Kuze/KUZEEEEE! HRRRRRRAAAAAA!! ^{Explanation (Spoilers!)} When Kiryu finds Tachibana after being taken by Lao Gui, he also finds Kuze and his cronies, who did quite a number on Tachibana. Kiryu, with seething fury, responds to seeing Tachibana's lifeless body by giving Kuze one of the crunchiest Megaton Punches he's ever given to someone. It's common for memes or edits for Kiryu to end up punching someone else than Kuze.
• Trans ally Kuze. ^ExplanationIn 2022, Kuze's voice actor Hitoshi Ozawa posted a video on his YouTube channel discussing how he had become a strong advocate for transgender rights after he'd fallen in love with a trans woman following a sexual encounter. Fans were quick to latch onto this and started portraying Kuze as a symbol of anti-bigotry, only strengthening the character's position and popularity in the fandom.
• "I'll make an offer... IN CASH!" ^ExplanationKiryu's main side story involves him purchasing local businesses, which is sometimes precipitated by a cutscene of him hammily declaring this while pulling out a briefcase full of money. Used to refer to people with lots of money, or to refer to buying something highly prized.

Yakuza 6

• Kiryu's thumbs-up pose.^ExplanationIn the cinematic for "Today is a Diamond", there is a scene where Kiryu is giving a thumbs-up to the camera with a smile on his face, which has been used as a reaction image and/or exploitable image in various contexts.
• Due to Pocket Circuit Fighter's much more older appearance in this game, especially in comparison to Kiryu and Majima, fans make jokes that either he's the only character that actually ages or that in order for everyone to keep the Older Than He Looks thing going, he's the one that has to actually age for them.
• Baby Rugby^ExplanationThe scene of the Hirose family playing football with Haruto while being harassed by the Jingweon mafia has become rather memetic due to how darkly hilarious and mind-boggling it is out of context. Mixed in with Haruto obliviously having the time of his life as he does so.

Like a Dragon series

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

• Like a Dragon: Like a Dragon ^ExplanationThe inclusion of the Japanese title in the English version brought on a few jokes about redundancy. Became Hilarious in Hindsight when the series' name was fully changed to Like a Dragon overseas as well.
  • Like a Dragon 7: Yakuza ^ExplanationJokes have also been made due to the similar naming convention as Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
• Yakuza: Like a Dragon Quest ^ExplanationA combination of Dragon Quest getting name dropped in the trailer (complete with the revelation that Sega even got permission from Square Enix to do so,) and the game being a turn-based RPG.
• Japanese Eric Andre ^ExplanationMore than a few people noted that Ichiban's afro makes him look like a Japanese Eric Andre, and making lots of edits and parodies combining the works with each other. It certainly helps that Ichiban is shown to be rather odd and eccentric at times in the game, although granted not to the level of Eric Andre.
• Yakuza Kart ^Explanation One of the new minigames is a straight-up go-karting race. Fans had a field day comparing it to Mario Kart.
• Bread Tech^Explanation During the scene where Ichiban is informed of his extended sentence, Ichiban takes a bite out of a bread roll that is animated in extremely fine detail. Considering it was shown out-of-context in the reveal trailer and the absolutely remarkable level of animation and detail to the real thing, fans quickly latched onto it and joke around that it's most likely the RGG devs flexing their animation..
• Ichiban headbutting a goon out of the box ^ExplanationEarly on in the game, Ichi and Nanba set a trap for the Liumang Loanshark Zheng, and his second-hand goon gets the unfortunate treatment of getting a friendly greeting from Ichi and then getting headbutted as Ichiban jumps out of the box immediatly afterwards. It became popular to be taken out of context due to how hilarious the cutscene is.
• FUCCINTENDO ^Explanation Shortly after beating Mabuchi for the second time, we're introduced to Yosuke Tendo, who starts out as a minor antagonist in the plot only to play a huge role in the climax of the game, being the one to kill Arakawa after the latter disbands the Omi Alliance and the Tojo Clan with the help of Daigo and Watase. When he leaves Qing Jin, saying that Ichiban is hardly worth fighting, Ishioda (albeit in the English dub) says, "Fuckin' Tendo", lamenting that he shouldn't be so quick to leave since there won't be anything left by the time he comes back. Rino Romano's delivery of the line in this case makes it sound like he said "Fuck Nintendo" instead. Cue the memes and nostalgia of Sega's and Nintendo's rivalry back in the 90's.
• Ichiban being a snitch/"Snitchiban"^Explanation Players noticed that a lot of Ichiban's tactics against his enemies frequently involve informing their bosses or someone else important of the crimes they were committing behind their back, hence him being a snitch.
• Big Baby Blues^Explanation One of the summons in Like a Dragon sees Susumu Gondawara, the patriarch from Yakuza 2's "Be My Baby" substory make a return as an offensive summon that has him sharply lower the defense of every enemy present through the power of crying like a baby. It's essentially a stand-in for whenever someone has a meltdown or a tantrum on places like, say, Twitter or Discord. It's also been exploited for all its worth as can be seen here and here.
• The Business Dimension^ExplanationEri's status as an Optional Party Member tied to the Business Management minigame means that she's completely absent in story cutscenes that feature the party. As such, people tend to state that she's off in "The Business Dimension" during said cutscenes. This is also used as an explanation for why Ichiban can make billions of yen in the minigame while still struggling for cash in the main story - what money is made in the Business Dimension stays in the Business Dimension (this aspect of the meme is also sometimes applied to Kiryu and the business management game in 0)
• Ichiban's Imagination^ExplanationDue to most of the RPG mechanics in-game being handwaved as Ichiban's wild imagination fans were quick enough to make jokes about the whole thing, mostly relegated to the fact that he might be even crazier than Majima, although this has also lead to jokes that due to Majima's Crazy Is Cool reputation, some of the more crazier stunts the Mad Dog does are passed off as him actually doing it instead of something Ichiban imagined.
  • The Power of Friendship and my raging undiagnosed schizophrenia. ^ExplanationThe common conclusion of the above is that Ichiban might just be genuinely delusional.
• Certified Liumang Classic^Explanation Akira Mabuchi's theme, "War Maker", or more commonly known by its previous Fan Nickname, "Cold-Blooded", is commonly called this simply due to being such a memorable and amazing track for a side villain in the game's story.
  • "I spent all of it on PERKS." / "My blood is a controlled substance in 39 states." / "I have personally killed twelve TRILLION people!"^ExplanationMax0r used this track as the backing music for the Minos Prime fight in his "An Incorrect Summary of ULTRAKILL | Act 2" video. These are some of Minos Prime's quotes, and needless to say they spread to the LAD fandom.

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name

• "Joryu looks cool, but I hope you get to play as Kiryu!"^ExplanationAfter going into hiding after the events of 6, Kiryu discarded his old name and is rechristened "Joryu". The joke evolved into pretending that Joryu and Kiryu are separate characters.
• Playing as Lightning McQueen^Explanation On November 6, 2023, IGN put up a post on X that was meant to showcase the review of the game in a video, but they accidentally posted the reveal trailer for Lightning McQueen appearing in Rocket League. Jokes flew about Lightning showing up in the game or even Kiryu becoming Lightning.
• Yakuza 5 done right^{Explanation (spoilers)}Or, rather, "Aizawa done right". The Final Boss of this game, Kosei Shishido, is commonly seen as a substantially better take on Yakuza 5's infamously out-of-nowhere Final Boss, Masato Aizawa, for a myriad of reasons.
• Peter Griffin, Patriarch of the Quahog Family^{Explanation (spoilers)} Watase's threads when meeting with Tsuruno and Joryu in the game's final chapter are almost a one-to-one replica of the aforementioned Peter's Iconic Outfit, complete with the white shirt and green trousers (with the brass belt buckle, to boot!) Cue Family Guy-related jokes and Cutaway Gags.
• Joryu clapping (then crying)^Explanation Kiryu's rather... extreme reaction to losing in Pocket Circuit very quickly became an exploitable template that perfectly encapsulates the attitude of a Stepford Smiler.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

• Kiryu's hair/Yee yee ass haircut^ExplanationKiryu's new hairstyle in the game's announcement trailer has led to fans comparing him to a K-Pop star, Gerard Way in his Black Parade look, or characters who also have silver hair, such as Yu Narukami from Persona 4 or the leads of Devil May Cry.
• Balls out, Kasuga-chan!^Explanation The teaser reveal features Ichiban waking up in an as-of-yet revealed location (being in Honolulu, Hawaii, as it turns out), buck naked with Scenery Censor aplenty. The Saejima jokes all but wrote themselves here.
  • The Man Who Erased His Clothes ^ExplanationThis trailer for Infinite Wealth released around the same time as the gameplay trailer for Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name.
• Ichiban and Cloud riding Segways. ^ExplanationOne of the newly introduced vehicles is a Segway known as the "Street Surfer". Coincidentally, previews for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth show that Cloud can also ride a Segway around town. Naturally, two major JRPG releases featuring Segways (an inherently silly vehicle) has led to fans linking the two together, often by photoshopping Ichiban and Cloud riding their Segways together.
• "bro think he walter white 😭😭☠️☠️☠️☠️" ^ExplanationKiryu catching cancer out of nowhere brought in a litany of comparisons between Breaking Bad's Walter White, who also caught cancer from nowhere, and is now living life on the edge by making drugs to pay off his cancer treatment.
• "I AM A YAKUZA, DOCTOR HAN" ^ExplanationDaniel Dae Kim voicing new character Masataka Ebina in the English dub and giving his likeness to the leader of the Ganzhe, Wong Tou, naturally inspired a lot of The Good Doctor memes to be thrown around, with perhaps Kiryu trying to convince Ebina that he's still a yakuza.
• "We're IchiBACK!!!!/It's Kiryover..."^ExplanationThese phrases are used to describe the situations of both protagonists, with Ichiban having fun in Hawaii while Kiryu is dealing with his own mortality. Both phrases are typically represented by Ryan Gosling's roles as Ken being Ichiban's story with Officer K summarizing the mood of Kiryu's situation.
• Kiryu's skill Dragon's Resurgence has become a Fountain of Memes, as it allows him to briefly turn the game back into a Beat 'em Up so he can deal a ton of damage to large groups of enemies at once.
  • Kiryu not understanding turn-based combat.^ExplanationThere are plenty of jokes among the lines of "what do you mean by "turn-base"" that boil down to Kiryu honestly not understanding how RPGs work.
  • Kiryu is so strong he broke Ichiban's schizophrenia.^ExplanationDragon's Resurgence is depicted as Kiryu punching the ground so hard it shatters the battle menu. Cue the jokes about Kiryu being so badass he snaps Ichiban back to reality. Ironically enough, in-game it's inverted where Ichiban's "imagination" affects Kiryu to the point that he starts imagining his enemies as weird creatures.
  • Kiryu not putting up with this shit.^ExplanationAnd another meme is that Kiryu does understand the turn-based system but simply doesn't have the patience to put up with it. Occasionally justified with him having cancer.
    • "It's turn-based. It's Kiryu's turn to be based."
  • Not even SEGA can tell him what to do.^ExplanationKiryu shattering the combat menu has led to a bunch of The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You memes where not even SEGA and the programming of the game itself can make Kiryu succumb to the rules. He has become too powerful.
  • And there are also jokes that now Kiryu is so badass that he will beat his own cancer to death.
• Nanba Fortnite ^Explanation Fans have joked that the render of Nanba wearing his new outfit and crossing his arms looks like a Fortnite collab.
• "Quit playing game" ^ExplanationA pretty abrupt and hilarious mishap cut-off from Eiji's dubbed character trailer, which is mainly a meme thanks to Eiji's dub actor, Aleks Le, making jokes and memes about it like he usually does
• "That Man is No Thief!/Officer help, I'm being robbed!/I'm pissing myself over here!" ^ExplanationRefers to a cutscene where Tomizawa attempts to frame Ichiban for robbery, with Eiji appearing at the last minute to explain that the inverse is true. The heavily accented Engrish brings to mind such classics as Mine's "zere is no change in ze pran" and Yakuza 5's "hey you, what's up man????"
• I didn't know he was chill like that. ^{Explanation (spoilers)}The reveal that Yamai was Good All Along and his character quirk of always feeling cold led to fans declaring him to be the epitome of this phrase.
• "This ain't a show, dipshit!" ^ExplanationA canned line for enemies in Hawaii who spot Ichiban, indicating that they're close to starting a fight. There are other lines, but this one in particular stuck with players the most. Not only is it a common line, but it can repeat multiple times if the player repeatedly runs back and forth in and out of the enemy's sights.
• I bought a new dishwasher/Kiryu's Dishwasher ^ExplanationDuring the karaoke song "If I Could Love The One I Love", Kiryu will occasionally interject with lines about how his dishwasher broke, his landlord won't fix it, and so on, ending in a whole verse about how he bought a new dishwasher but has to go back to the store because it's not the right kind after the song. This quickly caught on with fans for how out-of-place and random it seemed.

Other Spin-offs

Like a Dragon: Ishin!

• Akiyama got the drip ^Explanation For the remake of Ishin, Akiyama's expy, Katsura, got a remix of the former's Leitmotif from Yakuza 5. The kicker, however, is that the remix incorporates elements from - of all things - Trap Music. Despite this, the soundtrack is beloved enough that most people would go on to say that Akiyama's… got the drip. Trap Music is commonly associated with swagger, among other things.
• For his neutral special, he wields a GUN^Explanation In a hilarious case of Unexpectedly Realistic Gameplay, the Gunman style is far and away the best of the four styles in Ishin!, both in the original and the remake. Considering the setting, you can probably imagine why. The Smash Ultimate jokes (even more amusing since Persona and Like a Dragon are both under the Sega banner) write themselves here.

---

Real Yakuza head back to the main page here.