History VideoGame / YakuzaLikeADragon

** All of the arcade games at Club Sega are playable during the prologue set in 2000... including ''[[VideoGame/VirtuaFighter Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown]]'', which was released in ''2010''.

* YouAreTooLate: A heroic variation. During TheStinger, [[spoiler:Adachi]] finally gets his chance to take down [[spoiler: Horinouchi]], confronting him with hard evidence of his corruption. When [[spoiler:Horinouchi]] is about to have him arrested, [[spoiler:Adachi]] tells him he's already sent the evidence to both the inspector general and the media before even confronting him; the police officers then proceed to arrest [[spoiler:Horinouchi]] instead.

** One scene has Namba hide in a box with Adachi watching. The latter is voiced by Creator/AkioOtsuka, who is also the Japanese VA for [[VideoGame/MetalGear Solid Snake]]. Snake's English voice, Creator/DavidHayter, voices the bartender of the ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSurvive Survive]]'' Bar.

** One scene has Namba hide in a box with Adachi watching. The latter is voiced by Creator/AkioOtsuka, who is also the Japanese VA for [[VideoGame/MetalGear Solid Snake.]] Creator/DavidHayter is also the English voice for the bartender of the [[VideoGame/MetalGearSurvive Survive]] Bar... yeah, both of Solid Snake's voice actors are present and accounted for.

* BatmanGambit: The final chapter revolves around Ichiban pulling one off. [[spoiler:He suggests to Aoki that there's a recording of Aoki giving orders to yakuza somewhere in the Arakawa office, knowing that Aoki would be unable to rule out the possibility and send somebody (Tendo) to search for the recording. Ichiban and friends defeat Tendo and have Mirror Face impersonate him, and then allow Aoki to give Mirror Face orders to kill Ichiban and all of his associates -- thereby creating material for the very recording he was seeking to destroy, all because Ichiban knew Aoki wouldn't ''not'' call his obvious bluff.]]

* {{Phonymon}}: The whole Sujimon sidequest, where Kasuga has to help a "Sujimon Sensei" research Sujimon, his term for suspicious people (''sujimono''). He can even pick out which of three similar Sujimon the professor brought for him to fight first.

* PottyEmergency: A series of Part Time Hero quests has you help out an unlucky fellow who keeps ending up in bathrooms with no toilet paper.

* WhamLine: In Chapter 12, [[spoiler:Daigo Dojima]] delivers one that has huge implications for the series as a whole.

* BilingualBonus: The English version leaves UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics untranslated, giving a bonus to people who know the significance of -kun, -chan, -sama and so on.

** And then there's the son, Masato Arakawa. [[spoiler:Or as he is actually known, Ichiban Kasuga. Due to a ContrivedCoincidence on the night on Masumi and Akane's escape attempt, Ichiban was accidentally SwitchedAtBirth with Jo Sawaoshio's own son, who was in the coin locker next to him. Growing up in a soapland, the young Ichiban eventually got into trouble with a Yakuza family after he picked the wrong fight, only being saved by claiming he was connected to the Arakawa family. When Masumi showed up to save him and even sacrificed his pinky despite not knowing Ichiban, or that he was his own son, it cemented his lifelong loyalty to his own father, falling into the Yakuza lifestyle out of admiration for him. This loyalty would see Ichiban suffer numerous hardships and misfortunes, being betrayed by allies, spending decades in prison for Masato's sake, and apparently nearly killed by Masumi's own hand, on top of discovering their true familial connection only after Masumi's passing. Ichiban's determination to do right by his father's wishes leads to him eventually stopping Masato's ambitions and exposing the truth of his past publicly, nearly driving him to suicide in despair, only for Ichiban's heartfelt pleas to finally get through to him and convince him to atone for his misdeeds....before Masato is fatally stabbed to death in front of him by his fanatical follower Kume, broken by the fact everything about "Ryo Aoki" was a lie. And despite all the tragedy and suffering he and his family line have endured, Ichiban [[HopeSpringsEternal still holds onto hope]] that he can climb up from "Rock Bottom" regardless at the end]].

** Then the father, Masumi Arakawa, who arguably gets the worst of the lot. In addition to the above tragedy and being resultantly orphaned at a young age, he wound up inevitably falling into the Yakuza lifestyle to support himself whilst also trying to investigate his father's death, joining up with the Hikawa family. Masumi's boss eventually valued him enough to ask him to marry his daughter, but Masumi was already secretly in love with a woman named Akane during this time, and even got her pregnant. When the boss found out, he ordered a hit put out on all of them for the "disgrace" and Masumi spurning his generosity. Though Masumi managed to escape this own execution, he was unable to reunite with Akane, and in desperation, she hid their son in a coin locker for Masumi to find whilst she lead their pursers away, apparently to her death. Whilst Masumi was able to recover his son, the time spent in the freezing cold locker nearly killed him and left him confined to a wheelchair throughout his life, leaving him feeling ostracised from others in addition to the stigma of being the son of a Yakuza boss. Despite Masumi's best attempts to care for Masato, this bitterness would poison him growing up, [[spoiler:eventually leading to him becoming power-hungry once he managed to get surgery in America to overcome his disability and created a new identity of "Ryo Aoki". Masato returned to Japan and blackmailed his own father into providing insider information on the Tojo clan to enact his "Kamurocho 3K Plan" to drive the Tojo clan out, resulting in Masumi having to bear the stigma of being known as a power-hungry traitor to the Tojo himself. Masumi only went along with this in order to become TheMole for Daigo Dojima, as part of his and Watase's plan to dissolve both the Tojo and Omi clans together, as Aoki's anti-Yakuza laws meant the end of the Era of the Yakuza. On top of this, Masumi had to twice over betray his most loyal subordinate, Ichiban Kasuga, who was [[LikeASonToMe like a second son to him]] firstly having him take the fall for Masato's own murder of an Omi Yakuza, resulting in him rotting in prison for 18 years, secondly by [[FakingTheDead seemingly shooting him dead]] once Ichiban burst into an Omi alliance meeting to demand answers. And after the dissolution plan finally came to pass and ichiban affirmed he was still willing to remain Masumi's loyal subordinate despite it all, Masumi is then betrayed at the last moment by ambitious Lieutenant Yosuke Tendō, who allied with Masumi's side only because the situation would allow him to reform the Omi Alliance underneath his control, and kills Masumi to gain the support of the scattered Omi forces, leading to him dying with Tendo's smug smile being his last sight]].

** Then the father, Masumi Arakawa, who arguably gets the worst of the lot. In addition to the above tragedy and being resultantly orphaned at a young age, he wound up inevitably falling into the Yakuza lifestyle to support himself whilst also trying to investigate his father's death, joining up with the Hikawa family Masumi's boss eventually valued him enough to ask him to marry his daughter, but Masumi was already secretly in love with a woman named Akane during this time, and even got her pregnant. When the boss found out, he ordered a hit put out on all of them for the "disgrace" and Masumi spurning his generosity.

** This is {PlayedForDrama in the "Forget Me Not" substory. Ichiban meets a sickly woman named Kaede he once rescued before going to prison. They then go on a date together, which ends with Kaede confessing her love for Ichiban. [[spoiler: However, it's then revealed that only Ichiban was able to see her and everyone else thought he was alone and talking to nobody, indicating that she passed away during Ichiban's absence. It's never made clear if Ichiban's guilt and longing for closure made him hallucinate her, or if her ghost actually visited him from the beyond]].

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The Enforcer job's weapons are ''much'' harder to find in stores than other jobs, as the others wield {{Improvised Weapon}}s like wine bottles, umbrellas, and baseball bats, while you wouldn't expect shops in a modern-day city to casually sell riot shields. You'll need to look in underground casinos or black markets.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: {{Downplayed}}, but the universe of ''VideoGame/LikeADragon'' can be a surreal place at times. Combined with [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness Ichiban]] daydreaming about everything being an RPG, this sometimes makes it hard to tell what is ''actually'' happening and what isn't.
** This is {{Played for Drama}} in the "Forget Me Not" substory. Ichiban meets a sickly woman named Kaede he once rescued before going to prison. They then go on a date together, which ends with Kaede confessing her love for Ichiban. [[spoiler: However, it's then revealed that only Ichiban was able to see her and everyone else thought he was alone and talking to nobody, indicating that she passed away during Ichiban's absence. It's never made clear if Ichiban's guilt and longing for closure made him hallucinate her, or if her ghost actually visited him from the beyond]].

** This is [[PlayedForDrama]] in the "Forget Me Not" substory. Ichiban meets a sickly woman named Kaede he once rescued before going to prison. They then go on a date together, which ends with Kaede confessing her love for Ichiban. [[spoiler: However, it's then revealed that only Ichiban was able to see her and everyone else thought he was alone and talking to nobody, indicating that she died during Ichiban's absence. It's never made clear if Ichiban's guilt and longing for closure made him hallucinate her, or if her ghost actually visited him from the beyond]].

''Yakuza: Like a Dragon'', known in Japan as 龍が如く7光と闇の行方 (''Ryu ga Gotoku 7: Hikari to Yami no Yukue'', meaning ''Like a Dragon 7: The Whereabouts of Light and Darkness''), is the eighth major entry in the long-running ''VideoGame/LikeADragon'' series. It released in Japan on January 16, 2020 on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, with a Western release on the UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS, [=PS4=], UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows, and UsefulNotes/XboxOne on November 10, 2020, and UsefulNotes/PlayStation5 release on March 2, 2021.

** In one coversation, Zhao mentions his strict parents would only allow him to play a hour of video games each day. He decided to play past his allowed time one night, but the battery in his VMU was dead, which gave him away. Ichiban mentions the UsefulNotes/{{Dreamcast}} by name.

* FromBadToWorse: Ichiban's situation after the New Year's celebration in a nutshell. First, he's asked by his Patriarch to [[TakingTheHeat take the fall for Sawashiro]], a man who loathes him, in order to save the entire family from retribution from the Omi Alliance. Ichiban nonetheless agrees and gets 15 years in prison. Then whilst in prison, he's attacked and harassed by belligerent inmates, and in the process of defending himself (especially after they insult the Arakawa family) he gets an additional 3 years added onto his sentence. Then when he gets out, he finds the world has seemingly forgotten about him, [[StrangerInAFamiliarLand the Kamurocho he knew has drastically changed]], the Tojo clan has been forced out and replaced with the Omi alliance roaming the streets, and it's all due to his own Patriarch, who seemingly betrayed the Tojo Clan after the death of his son (whom Ichiban regarded as a brother despite his horrible treatment of him). Then in the process of trying to get answers, Ichiban not only find that Captain Sawashiro is [[UngratefulBastard utterly uncaring of the prison time he served in his place]], his attempt to get answers from Arakawa has him try to shoot Ichiban dead, which him only surviving apparently through sheer luck. Ichiban then wakes up buried in a trash pile on the streets of Yokohama without any money or options after being discarded by those he sacrificed so much for. It's not for nothing that the trophy for competing chapter 2 is "Rock Bottom".