WMG: Judgment | Lost Judgment
Despite being in Ijincho, there won't be any cameos by Ichiban's party or the Dragon of Rock Bottom himself
The most that will likely be there is skins for Yagami's drone like there being a Ichiban skin and a reference to a goofy guy in a red with hair like a bird's nest.- Confirmed. Judgment won't interfere with any of the mainline Yakuza games.
- In the game's demo, however, there is a Continuity Nod in the form of Yagami mentioning to a con artist that the Tojo Clan disbanded long ago (referring to the events of Like a Dragon, set two years prior) after he name-drops them, in an attempt to intimidate Yagami.
- Actually, jossed. We see Zhao
Conversely, there will be cameos from the Heroes of Tomorrow
Zhao will be a line cook for You Tian, and Joon-gi Han will be by Seong-hui's side if Yagami has to go meet her.- Jossed. Same as the above.
- Actually, partially confirmed. Zhao does appear as a cook for You Tian at one point.
The Ijin Three will have some role to play in the story
While the main characters of Like A Dragon won't be showing up, the organizations of Ijincho may still be there and playing a role, much like how the Tojo Clan was portrayed in Judgment despite no major figures showing up. The Liumang were mentioned in the reveal trailer, so perhaps Yagami's investigations also draw the attention of the Seiryu Clan and the Geomijul as well.- Jossed, more or less. While the Liumang and the Geomijul do play minor roles as collaborators to Kuwana's schemes, they're not major players in the overall plot compared to RK and the like. Heck, the Seiryu gets only a few brief mentions and the Geomijul are a One-Scene Wonder.
COVID-19 will likely rear its ugly head in the plot or a substory
Considering the time the game was being made in and released, going into stores in-game will have Yagami automatically put on a facemask, and a substory would likely see him having to beat the crap out of people who refuse to put on masks who are also covid deniers.- Considering that a courtroom scene features a crowded room filled with people not wearing masks, it's probably safe to assume that this universe was spared from a pandemic (or at least as of 2021). At the very least, the game being set in December of that year gives enough room for the pandemic to die down and life to return to some semblance of normal.
- In addition, the budget would be too high and it would take more efforts for devs to finish the game if they are just gonna put masks on everyone's faces.
- Jossed. Covid makes no appearance whatsoever in the plot. However, Infinite Wealth establishes that COVID did happen within the setting.
The ADDC will be torn down and remade into a new city block
Now that the secret of the ADDC's real function as a retirement home for government officials, and also showing that AD-9, the hopeful cure for Alzheimer's, is utterly incapable of working on human bodies, the place will be torn down and made into a Kamurocho-sized city block for Judgment 2 if not 3. Higashi will have a smaller role.
Higashi is tied to Kamurocho, whereas Yagami, Katio and Sugiura can move more freely through Ijincho. Kaito, Sugiura and Higashi will be playable characters in Judgment 2 or 3.
While Yagami is still the central character, the three of them would have their own chapters like Yakuza 4 and 5 before finally coming together in the end to take on the main conspiracy at the end. Each one would also have to deal with the Keihin Gang as well and also have to fight the Amon Clan as well.- Largely Confirmed. Kaito will be getting his own DLC Story for Lost Judgment, but not Sugiura and Higashi.
Judgement 3 will revolve around Yagami's father's last case.
Yagami will have to find the old defendant who's gone off the grid, as well as the family of the man who killed Yagami's parents.There will be karaoke!
One thing that was missed in this game as a Yakuza spinoff is that even though Karaokekan is on the map, you can't go in and sing. J2 better have Yagami's own version of Bakamitai... or Higashi singing Get to the Top!- As a former member of SMAP, Takuya Kimura is likely tied up in various contractual obligations to his talent agency that makes getting him to sing a lot more problematic than other voice actors.
- Jossed. But there is dancing.
- On a side note, there's still a chance Kaito might be getting karaoke for his DLC.
High school bullying is going to be a major theme in the game, along with the failures of the legal system
Mikoshiba will be revealed to be Ehara's son's bully.- Confirmed and then some. Not only is bullying at Seiryo High a major plot point (and yes, Mikoshiba was the bully that drove Ehara's son to suicide), earlier bullying incidents are what drove the main villain Kuwana to take the actions he did in the plot.
The assassination of Governor Aoki has led to a rise in violent vigilantism
As far as the public knows, Ryo Aoki was assassinated for his corruption. Assuming Kume was apprehended his fanaticism was able was able to inspire others to take action into their own hands (considering that the murder that kicks off the game was evidently a father murdering a Yakuza who tormented his son).- Not Jossed as the events of the game are one incident out of who knows how many possibilities, but Aoki's death has nothing to do with the murder. Mikoshiba was a school bully that tormented Ehara's son into committing suicide, an event which happened two years before the events of Like A Dragon when Aoki was still amassing power.
The implied dead person from the first trailer is Mafuyu
She doesn't appear in the trailer at all, the victim Yagami, Sugiura and Kaito find is wearing white and Yagami's words at the end where he says that she can't say her peace without a voice could be referring to her.- As a side note, I really hope this theory doesn't end up being true, as Mafuyu didn't really get much development in the first game, so her just dying would be just kind of lame.
- She could have A Death in the Limelight.
- Jossed. It's actually new character Sawa.
The dissolution of the Tojo Clan will play a role
.- As we saw in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, the Tojo clan along with the Omi Alliance were dissolved. While we may not get cameos from the Main Storyline characters, we may get an idea of some of the ramifications of this decision. This game could be used to foreshadow the lasting effects we will see in future installments of the franchise.
- At the very least, we can expect Toru Higashi or any other returning Matsugane Family related character to potentially make some references to the aftermath.
- Confirmed to be the case. The RK was created following the power vacuum caused by the disbanding of the Tojo Clan.
Yagami and the gang will end up in Hawaii in Judgment 3.
While there are still other cities from Yakuza 3 and even Yakuza 5 they could use, Hawaii is still a fresh asset, and it would be hilarious to see Tsukumo out of his element in the tropical sun. Kei will just as likely be Demoted to Extra like the Bartender of Survive.- Considering the finale of the Professor storyline has Koga literally swimming away from Ijincho and swearing his next empire will grow overseas, we may end up seeing the American branch of the Keihin Gang.
