These are the characters that debuted in the fourth game of Sega's long-running Like a Dragon series.

For Kazuma Kiryu, see his page.
For Goro Majima, see his page.
For Haruka Sawamura, see her entry on the Character Index page.

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New Playable Characters

Shun Akiyama

Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera (Japanese), Stephen Fu (English)

Akiyama as he appears in Yakuza 5.

"Money changes people's lives. I just like to see it happen up close and personal."

The first of the three new playable characters starting from Yakuza 4. A moneylender known as "The Lifeline of Kamurocho." He's famous for helping those nobody else will, and uses strange tests for applicants in lieu of charging interest or collateral. Once an up-and-coming financier, he was betrayed by his bank and left homeless, until he got caught in a literal rain of money related to the events of the first game. After some clever investing, he opened Sky Finance and became the man he is today. He's also friendly with the Tojo Clan and generally just a nice guy. He returns in Dead Souls to witness and take part in fighting the zombie outbreak, and in Yakuza 5, where he opens a new branch of Sky Finance in Sotenbori only to discover the death of a colleague, and helps Haruka discover the truth behind it.

See the main series character page here.

Taiga Saejima

Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (Japanese), Ron Yuan (English)^{Other Languages} Feng Sheng (Chinese)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/taiga_yakuza7.jpeg

Saejima as he appears in Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

^{Click here} to see Saejima as he appears in Yakuza 4.

"Which one of you lunatics said killing a guy's no big deal?! Was it you? Or you? Ya sit up there chantin' "kill, kill, kill." But how many of ya have taken a life with your own two hands!?"

New playable character number two debuting in Yakuza 4. An ex-yakuza who infamously gunned down 18 yakuza in a noodle shop, and has spent 25 years in death row. After he learns he was set up, he breaks out of prison and returns to Kamurocho to find out what happened to his old family and why he was abandoned on that fateful night before the police catch up to him again. He is the oldest and strongest of the four protagonists, and by the game's end, he's brought back into the Tojo Clan and made the boss of the Saejima Family.

He also returns in Yakuza 5, turning himself in for the events of the previous game, but near the end of his sentence, learns that there are forces out there trying to prolong it, and escapes once again. In Yakuza 6, he returns to jail again to fulfill his previous sentence.

See the main series character page here.

Masayoshi Tanimura

Voiced by: Hiroki Narimiya (PS3 version), Toshiki Masuda (PS4 remaster)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tanimura_5.png

Tanimura as he appears in the remastered version of Yakuza 4.

^{Click here} to see the old version.

"I've got my own brand of justice!"

The last of the new playable characters who only appears in Yakuza 4 and Online. A corrupt cop called "The Parasite of Kamurocho." He takes bribes, tickets anyone who looks at him funny, and ignores his beat to go gambling, drinking, and visiting hostesses. The death of his father at the hands of the Tojo family has left him with a venomous hatred of yakuza. Despite his flaws, he does genuinely care about the people of Kamurocho.

Adaptational Ugliness: Downplayed. As can be seen in the photos above, the remastered Tanimura, while far from ugly, is definitely more rough and rugged-looking than the teenage-looking Bishōnen from the original.
Affectionate Nickname: The residents of Little Asia, who have known Tanimura since he was a child, call him "Ma-chan", a cutesy shortening of his first name. The original localization didn't translate honorifics, so there he was called "Masa" instead.
Ambiguous Situation: In the aftermath of Little Asia burning down and being renovated in 6 by the Saio Triad, it's uncertain whatever happened to Tanimura and his adoptive family living there.
Anti-Hero: Has a very lackadaisical approach to enforcing the law, often gambling viciously while on the job, is prone to as much excessive violence as any other Yakuza protagonist, and is a Dirty Cop who extorts and accepts bribes from places hiring illegal immigrants. That said, his heart's still in the right place, as he uses those ill-gotten gains primarily to support the community of poor immigrants in Little Asia, particularly the children separated from their parents due to deportation.
Arbitrary Equipment Restriction: For some reason, he's not allowed to equip guns, despite owning a snub-nosed revolver as part of his police equipment and being able to fire off any guns he grabs from his enemies like every other character.
Arc Hero: Does not show up again after 4, barring his role in Online.
Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: For a Yakuza protagonist, he's relatively open about how good of a fighter he is, and he can get pretty smug about it while also being surprisingly undisciplined and apathetic about using his skills for good. Admittedly he does still try to do good anyway. Most of the time.
Asians Love Tea: A consequence of growing up in a pan-Asian community is that Tanimura is very particular about his tea. It's briefly seen in the main story when he claims that all other teas taste like dishwater compared to Zhao's blend, and crops up again when talking about his tastes to a hostess.
Battle Strip: He and Akiyama are the aversions among the male playable cast, as they don't strip off their shirts at any point. Then again, it's not like he's a yakuza with a tattoo to show off.
Big Brother Mentor: Plays this role to the immigrant children in his neighborhood, particularly Mei Hua. The first sign we get that Tanimura isn't as much of a scumbag as he seems is when he returns to Little Asia and greets a group of children with an affectionate head tussle and a promise to play with them later.
Blue Is Heroic: Wears a blue jacket and is one of the protagonists of 4.
Boss Rush: Played With. He technically doesn't get many actual boss fights against important named characters like the other protagonists, but in turn has multiple "Long Battle" sequences against hordes of mooks with a number of them being mini-boss strength, if not stronger. This is most noticeable if you engage in his post-game Ultimate Match Boss Rush: two of the three "bosses" he fights are just combat encounters taken from major portions of said Long Battles, in which he's up against a mob of throw-away goons with one or two of them having health equal to that of boss fights. This also applies to his Final Boss encounter against Munakata.
Brilliant, but Lazy: When he applies himself, Tanimura is shown to be both an impressive sleuth and a powerful fighter capable of taking down a small army. Arai and Sugiuchi both consider him to be the ideal detective and a true embodiment of justice. The problem is that he rarely puts any effort into his work, and would rather spend his days gambling or otherwise taking it easy.
But Not Too Foreign: His biological mother is a Thai woman, which is as much a surprise to Tanimura as it is to the audience.
Celibate Hero: Much like Saejima and Kiryu, there's no romantic angle to his character arc in the main story of 4. In a couple substories he only pretends to show interest in women for the sake of helping others. While he can go to hostess clubs like other protagonists, one conversation has him claim that it's mainly because talking to the pretty girls there works as stress relief and helps him relax and wind down, rather than any sort of romantic or sexual desire. Of course that doesn't stop him from checking out out a woman to build his Heat Gauge while playing ping-pong at the Hot Spring.
Chekhov's Gunman: Pops up early on in Yakuza 4 at the tail-end of Akiyama's introduction chapter, gives a haphazard assessment of Ihara's murder, casually warns Akiyama about how brutal the cops of Kamurocho can be, and then walks away. He doesn't make another appearance until more than halfway through the game where he becomes the third playable protagonist.
Chick Magnet: Most women he meets will at least appreciate his looks, if not outright flirt with him. One substory has him sub in for a mixer, and it's entirely possible for him to steal the heart of the girl that he's supposed to be trying to hook up with one of the other men. In another substory he rustles up two million yen to save a restaurant in Little Asia, and the wife of the owner says she should just dump her husband and marry him instead.
Combos: Perhaps his most powerful tool unique to him in 4 is his "Essence of Combos" series of heat actions. Getting this upgrade gives him access to 5 different new heat actions that can be used after every single combo finisher, making it immensely simple for him to deal heavy damage. Every one of them except "Essence of Combos V" - which requires the "Increase Rush Combos" upgrade for the extra combo finisher - can be developed even further for extra damage if you repeat their usage enough times.
Counter-Attack: The meat of Tanimura's fighting style involves parries and counters, resulting in probably the most defensive fighting style amongst any of the protagonists in the series.
Cowboy Cop:
- If his page quote above didn't clue you in, he's not above straying from standard police procedure to get answers. The climax of his part has him using his firearm where every other detective on the scene is forbidden to by law; the suspect even praises him for it as they escape.
- During the Nair arc, he subverts it since she and Marcos are foreign officers that can't rush in without a warrant, telling them that if they prove their killer GG is there, he'll do the paperwork.
Culture Equals Costume: Two of his post-game costumes put him in a tangzhuang, traditional Chinese garb to show his upbringing in Kamurocho's pan-Asian neighborhood.
Custom Uniform: He wears the standard police uniform of dress shirt, tie, slacks, and dress shoes, but switches out the suit jacket for a more stylish blue bomber. This shows him to be lax towards his work, distinguishes him from other detectives like Sugiuchi and Hisai, and is also plainclothes enough that the citizens of Kamurocho don't immediately clock him as a cop.
Cutscene Incompetence: During his confrontation with Katsuragi, he manages to get restrained by two nameless mooks despite having already proven himself as a One-Man Army while rescuing Yasuko from Shibata and then continuing to show such prowess in the immediate next gameplay segment after the cutscene. Hell, he can learn "Release Throw" from his training with Nair that allows him to immediately throw off enemies grabbing him.
Deadpan Snarker: Less snark than Akiyama, but it's there and generally more acerbic in comparison.
Tanimura: [when a gun is pulled out] Ever heard of the "Firearms and Swords Control Law?" It's still a thing, you know.
Degraded Boss: A bizarre example. He's a playable character in 4 foremost, but is still fought as a Dual Boss with Akiyama during Kiryu's part of the story. Later on he's absent in 5, but mooks and minibosses sharing his fighting animations and some of his combos appear uncommonly throughout the course of the story. Thankfully none of them have his unique parry.
Difficult, but Awesome: He starts off feeling about as slow as Saejima, if not moreso, but with the smallest health bar in the playable cast. His only specialties are his parry block and being able to put enemies in an armbar when grappling. Getting used to parrying, along with upgrades to make them easier as well as build heat, along with his unique "Essence of Combos" can make him practically untouchable while dishing out tons of damage. His armbar grapple's also decent for dealing crowd control damage on top of having invincibility frames and building heat quickly.
Dirty Cop: He occasionally demands bribes in exchange for tipping off business owners about police raids. A good chunk of his Police Scanner missions also end with him taking cash from petty criminals in exchange for letting them go. He even has a reputation as the "Parasite of Kamurocho" for his habits.
The Dreaded: He seems to have built up an image for himself in terms of how violent he'll get with people who tick him off. His superior officer Hisai makes it a point to not tell him who snitched on his gambling on the job, saying that he can't imagine what Tanimura would do to the man if he knew. When he starts questioning some mahjong players about the snitch, they make it a point to mention how they would never snitch on Tanimura themselves since they know how badly he'd beat them up in return.
Dueling Player Characters: He teams up with Akiyama against Kiryu in the latter's fourth chapter, when they mistake him for an enemy.
Establishing Character Moment: Casually dropping in on a crime scene, handling a corpse without gloves, and warning Akiyama to run before Sugiuchi interrogates him. When he's seen next he's being lectured by Sugiuchi on his prior behavior, but he doesn't care and is too busy listening to horse races to pay attention. Upon realizing that someone snitched on him gambling on the job, his immediate first goal as a protagonist is to hunt down the man who snitched on him, giving thinly veiled threats to anyone suspicious and finally serving an asskicking once he locates the man responsible. He then extorts a guy hiring illegal immigrants for work but shortly after gives said money away to the Asian Gateway. Tanimura's every bit the lazy, violent, Corrupt Cop he's accused of being, but we also see that he has his reasons and still has a sense of justice despite his unorthodox behavior.
Fair Cop: He's a policeman and he's also considered very pretty, either in a Bishōnen way in the original or a rugged way in the remaster.

Foil: To Akiyama. He wears blue to Akiyama's red, fights with punches and grabs vs kicks, and they have opposing views on money. Tanimura will extort shady business for money and is willing to risk his life in a Russian Roulette game on a 3 million yen payout to gather money for the Asian Gateway while Akiyama could care less about throwing away millions of yen on a whim. They even have opposing titles with Tanimura being known as the 'Parasite of Kamurocho' while Akiyama is known as 'The Lifeline of Kamurocho'.
The Friend Nobody Likes: His lazy, corrupt work ethic does not endear him to the rest of the police force. This is emphasized in the remaster, which slightly alters one of his substories: in the original, Tanimura happens across a crime scene and the officer on watch fills him in on the details, while in the remaster, he's rudely called to the scene by a colleague who just wanted to make a dig at him for being associated with criminals. Online also shows him interacting with his co-workers, who either make snide remarks about his extortion bracket or express frustration at his slacking off.
The Gambling Addict: He often goes out gambling during his shifts though to his credit, all of his gains are implied to be for the sake of supporting poor the immigrants of Little Asia through Zhao's "Asian Gateway". His only mention in Yakuza 5 is when the Amon Clan returns and seeks him out as well, and when the others fail to contact him, they suspect he's out gambling and unaware of the situation. They have Shinada take his place. There's even a trophy revolving around this, requiring players to obtain 3,000 casino chips specifically as Tanimura.
Generation Xerox:
- His father was a police detective for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. He would later become one as well, quite some time after his father was killed in the late '80s.
- His biological father was also a former police detective who would later profit off of illegal activity, making him even more similar to Tanimura.
Glass Cannon: Hits like a truck (especially after he gains the ability to chain his combo finishers directly into Heat Moves), but can't take a hit to save his life. Downplayed at higher levels; while he has the least health of all the player characters, he still has almost as much as Akiyama.
The Grappler: He's not strictly one, but compared to other characters, it's a fairly effective way to play as him. One of his unique characteristics is his Arm Grab technique, in which he restrains an enemy by their arm if you press the grapple button again on an enemy he's already grabbing. While he can perform a unique grapple combo (with an upgrade) or a single heavy blow that ends the grapple like any other character's grapple, it's most useful to toss the enemy away with his Arm Grab technique. Not only is it treated as an Invulnerable Attack, clever usage of the prolonged animation in which he drags the enemy to-and-fro by the arm and what direction he's facing in the midst of it can allow him to knock away and clear out enemies crowding around him with ease. It's almost necessary to use this tactic during his Final Boss fight. A certain Revelation also lets him use the "Essence of Ball and Chain" heat action while using Arm Grab, which allows him to flip enemies using their own momentum against them. Developing this heat action through repetition has him kick enemies while they're being flipped for extra damage.
Guile Hero: Has shades of this. One of the ways he can deal with a thug harassing a shady barker in a Police Scanner mission is to calmly use his head and convince him to leave rather than simply flashing his badge and call him a scumbag, provoking him. He also goes out of his way to extort money from shady business owners who exploit illegal immigrants instead of giving them a proper salary. Later on, when there's an opportunity to help bail out fugitive Ueno Seiwa Clan Mishima, he chooses to purposefully call it in to the police station, knowing that there's most likely some sort of Mole on the force that probably wants to silence him. He's effectively using Mishima to set up a trap despite how risky it is. He succeeds but Mishima gets shot down by Sugiuchi in the process.
Guns Are Worthless: Tanimura carries a revolver, apparently for no other reason than to shoot it into the air every now and then. While the police aren't supposed to use deadly force unless absolutely necessary, Tanimura shows himself willing to bend that rule when chasing down Sugiuchi, which is the only time in the game he bothers to use it.
Happily Adopted: He was essentially adopted by the people of Little Asia after his father's passing, and he's shown to have a deep love for the community that raised him. He's also aware that Taigi isn't his biological father, but he doesn't care and still considers Taigi to be a true parent to him.
Healing Factor: "Bodhisattva Spirit". A unique upgrade exclusive to him that allows him to recover HP just by standing still.
Heroic Bastard: The circumstances surrounding his conception between his father, who was covertly profiting off of an illegal prostitution ring, and his illegal immigrant prostitute mother make it highly unlikely his parents ever actually got married. All we know for sure is that his father died to ensure that the newly born Masayoshi Tanimura was safe and that his mother escaped the prostitution ring for her home country of Thailand.
A Hero to His Hometown: Everyone living in Little Asia appreciates his efforts to support the immigrant community and those who've been separated from family members with the Asian Gateway funds. Outside of that part of town, he's got a far shakier reputation.
Hero with Bad Publicity: He's become infamous for his gambling habits and extorting money and taking bribes from all sorts of seedy businesses around town. It's to the point where he's been called "The Parasite of Kamurocho" for being the most openly corrupt cop in town, leeching off of the work of Kamurocho's dark underbelly. This even culminates in a substory where a group of vigilantes gang up on him for being such a blatant Dirty Cop. It's ultimately downplayed since his efforts can still attract the gratitude and support of several people throughout town like any other Yakuza protagonist.
Akaishi: Working in the area has made me really knowledgeable about the local police. And boy, have I heard a lot about you!
Tanimura: I'm almost certain it's nothing good.
Hidden Depths: His Revelation sketches show an impressive amount of artistic talent for someone who has no known history with the arts.
Humble Goal: When asked by a hostess what his goal is for the future, Tanimura tells her that he'd like to settle down with a cozy job in a small town. This fits with what seems to be a general preference for a leisurely lifestyle (his other hobbies include mahjong, dog-walking, and slacking off work).
Improvised Weapon: When Katsuragi sics his men on him, he's still carrying around the briefcase full of Lily's 100 million yen, so he spends most of the following combat sequence slamming that metal briefcase into the faces of Ueno goons until it briefly gets stolen.
Informed Attractiveness: While he’s definitely not bad looking by any means, in the PS4 remaster he was redesigned to look older with noticeable facial hair rather than his previous Bishōnen appearance. However, dialogue from NPC’s still refer to him as a handsome Pretty Boy and various women comment on his looks appreciatively as if he still had his old design. One NPC even states that he looks like he should be a host or a boy band member. To his credit, there's plenty of more masculine-looking hosts throughout the series, and Tanimura's still more babyfaced than a host like Yuya.
Inksuit Actor: His character design in the PS3 version is modeled after Hiroki Narimiya, his voice actor. By the time of the PS4 remaster, Narimiya retired from the entertainment industry entirely and the dev team had to change both his appearance and voice actor.
In the Blood: One of his last substories reveals his real biological father is Yusuke Kaga, referred to simply as K in the notebook of his foster father, Taigi Tanimura. He was a former detective and partner to Taigi turned coffee shop owner. However, while he had a tendency to help the prostitutes around Kamurocho and support them, he was also apparently profiting off of an illegal prostitution smuggling ring that was exploiting them, not too dissimilar to what Tanimura's been doing to several seedier businesses around town. Still, he personally named his son Masayoshi because he wanted him to be a better man than he was, and he gave his life to protect the lives of the prostitute he fell in love with and her child, so he wasn't completely corrupt either.
Ironic Name: His name "Masayoshi" means "righteous" or "just", but he's a Dirty Cop. However, his heart is in the right place, as he spends the bribe money towards helping immigrant orphans, which also makes this a Meaningful Name.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: A money-focused Dirty Cop who comes across as rather cocky, apathetic, and jaded when dealing with others. He's still very much selfless and doesn't hesitate to help others and do the right thing.
Knight in Sour Armor: Well aware that the police department is full of shady people, himself included, and he doesn't seem to be all that interested in actually doing his job, but he'll still do it and is a selfless person at the end of the day. Strip away his corrupt habits and indifferent attitude and he's surprisingly idealistic underneath, which is partly why he reacts so badly to Sugiuchi being a yakuza spy instead of the honest cop that he seemed.
Lawman Baton: He's a cop and one of the only two characters in 4 that can equip and wield tonfas which inspired the nightsticks that American officers tend to carry.
Leitmotif: "Infinite Handcuffs". As a boss fight, he shares "Smile Venomously" with Kiryu and Akiyama.
Manly Tears: After beating down Sugiuchi, who affirms that he was indeed the one who killed Tanimura's father, he starts crying while angrily demanding how an honest cop could betray the trust of his partner like that.
Martial Arts Staff: He grew up in a Pan-Asian part of Kamurocho and his self-taught fighting style takes a lot of inspiration from Taiho-Jutsu, the standard martial arts of Japanese Officers, influenced by Aikido and Jiu-Jitsu. Thus, it's not that surprising that he's one of the only two characters in 4 that can equip and wield all sorts of staves and polearms. He even has a completely unique fighting style with them along with a unique Heat Action whose name "Essence of Bo Coiling" and the attack technique itself references the Okinawan Bō staff weapon. Admittedly, it's a bit downplayed as Tanimura's style of pole fighting while effective is clearly improvised and on the rough side, especially compared to Kiryu who bases his graceful techniques off of the White Lotus School's teachings in 2
Meaningful Appearance: Each of 4's protagonists is themed after a member of The Four Gods, with Tanimura representing Genbu. His clothing plays into this: a padded bomber jacket and a snakeskin belt to represent a tortoise intertwined with a snake.
Meaningful Name:
- "Masayoshi" means "justice" in Japanese. While at first blush seeming to be an ironic name, given that Tanimura is a Dirty Cop, he does genuinely work to protect the people of Kamurocho, and his plotline has him following the case through to the very end in the name of finding justice for his father.
- His unique skill, "Bodhisattva Spirit", refers to a Buddhist figure who seeks enlightenment while also being driven by their endless compassion to save others. This symbolizes both his pursuit of his father's killer and his dedication towards helping the residents of Little Asia.
Melee Disarming: Not only can he learn Kiryu's "Komaki Firearm Flip", allowing him to relieve an opponent of their gun, but he also gets the unique Heat move "Essence of Seizing", where he'll disarm an opponent by dislocating their arm and stealing their one-handed weapon.
Moveset Clone: As stated before, he's one of the only two characters in 4 that can equip tonfas as a weapon but his fighting style with it is completely identical to Kiryu's with a single exception: His Heat Action which is completely different.
- Also much like Akiyama if you snatch a sword off a random enemy, his sword skills are identical to Kiryu's aside from lacking any of his unique Heat Actions and just using the same basic heat action he'd use if he had a simple one-handed weapon like a blackjack or a crowbar.
Mr. Vice Guy: He comes across as the greediest protagonist, gladly taking bribes and being a vicious gambler, but almost all of his dirty money goes on to support immigrant orphans.
Murderous Thighs: His "Essence of Combos I" Heat Action involves using a hook kick to grapple an enemy to the ground with his right thigh wrapped around their neck. He then twists it to perform a Neck Snap complete with a Sickening "Crunch!". Nonlethal of course. Developing this Heat Action through repetition will have him follow it up by punching the poor guy in the gut.
Muscles Are Meaningless: He's one of the lankier playable protagonists in the series, with a stalker in one substory calling him skinny. While his jacket obscures his build somewhat, you can see more of how lean he is if you take him to the Hot Springs and play Table Tennis. This even seems to be supported by his claims that he prefers to rely more on using his enemy's strength against them rather than his own. That said, he doesn't have issues performing heat moves that are dependent on brute strength like throwing a thug bodily off of a roof or swinging a goon horizontally into a lampost by the neck.
Nerves of Steel:
- Always calm and composed without being emotionless. Whether it's facing off against armed crooks or playing Russian Roulette, he always keeps his cool. This also seems to affect the way he is when he fights, with even his combat vocalizations being fairly low-key compared to the other playable characters. Downplayed with his new voice actor in the remaster, who retains the subdued tone in most cutscenes but tends to be louder and far more hot-blooded in certain others and especially in the heat of combat.
- Averted in a single instance in 4 during his first Long Battle sequence at the nearby docks. When he finds himself in a narrow passageway filled with oil, and a man from atop a shipping container tosses a cigarette lighter into the vicinity, he visibly panics and slips across the ground as he tries to escape from the sudden rush of flames.
Not Helping Your Case: He's garnered an unflattering reputation as a parasite who exploits the vulnerable for ill-gotten gains. While this isn't entirely unfounded, Tanimura makes a point to only target predatory businesses, and in fact uses the funds to help support Kamurocho's community of illegal immigrants. However, he's too lazy to actually explain this when he's confronted over his actions, something that Mei Hua grills him for once the misunderstanding is cleaned up.
Older Than They Look: He's 29, but his original design could almost pass for 18 with his youthful looks. He looks closer to his age in the remaster, which gives him facial hair and an overall more masculine appearance.
Omniglot: Due to having grown up with non-Japanese speakers in Little Asia, Tanimura knows just about every language you'd hear in Southeast Asia, including Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Thai, and Tagalog. Part of his introduction to Nair and her training is that he overheard her speaking in Tagalog to a cop that didn't understand a lick of it, owing to Nair's unfamiliarity with Japanese. Because of this, when the police department has to deal with foreign cops like her, they'd usually assign Tanimura as their interpreter.
One-Hit KO: His "Essence of Arrest" skill has him handcuff an enemy, taking them out of combat, though they first have to either be stunned (via an attack like his backwards quickstep kick) or reeling in pain on the ground (usually after half of their healthbar has been drained and they get knocked down).
Oppose What You Suffered: He lost his foster father at a very young age while growing up in "Little Asia", a packed little district filled with immigrants from all around the continent of Asia; thus, when he became older, he took to gambling and extortion so that he could provide funds for the Asian Gateway, a group that supports children who have lost their immigrant parents to deportation. It gets a little deeper since Tanimura's mother was from Thailand meaning that he's technically also a child of an immigrant. Ironically he wouldn't learn this fact until a series of substories exploring his foster father's history.
Overshadowed by Awesome: In a similar fashion to Akiyama. He's capable of fighting his way through entire hordes of vicious thugs with nothing but his bare fists, and a steel briefcase in one instance. Yet the one time he teams up with the aforementioned moneylender to take down Kiryu, the two of them get their asses handed to them while their opponent is barely winded.
Pay Evil unto Evil: Being a Dirty Cop who abuses their authority to extort money from people isn't righteous by any means, but he only targets business owners who are implied to be abusing and exploiting illegal immigrants with nowhere left to go. He makes it a point to tell them to treat their workers better lest he remind them how hiring illegal immigrants in the first place gives him the right to have the cops raid their businesses.
Police Brutality: If you thought being a cop would discourage him from engaging in the same over-the-top violence against random street thugs as the other Yakuza protagonists, you've got another thing coming. Considering how Kamurocho is though, it's hard to argue against his methods and results.
Pretty Boy: Several characters remark on how pretty he is. A couple of guys even capitalize on it to pick up some girls. His redesigned appearance retains some of the same soft facial features but is overall older-looking and more masculine, especially with the addition of facial hair. Even his voice sounds deeper, rougher, and more hot-blooded than it did before, particularly during combat. That said, he's still pretty enough to get mistaken for a host or an actor.
Professional Slacker: He's slothful at work and will take any opportunity to slack off on patrols, mostly so he can go gamble or hang out in Little Asia. An NPC in Dead Souls comments that they saw him getting dragged out of a mahjong parlor after the police started to crack down on truancy. This is also shown in Online where he repeatedly skips work to play mahjong, which eventually invites Date's wrath.
Put on a Bus: Unlike the other new playable characters, Tanimura hasn't made any onscreen appearances outside of 4 and Online. He isn't forgotten entirely, as other characters mention him in Dead Souls, 5, and Infinite Wealth, but it's unknown if he'll ever make a proper re-appearance.
Raised by the Community: His father died when he was a young child, and he was raised instead by Zhao and the other residents of Little Asia — one memo even refers to him as the "adopted son of Little Asia". Growing up in a community of immigrants allowed him to learn multiple languages, and he's fiercely protective of the people who raised him. Later in life he took to gambling and extortion in order to give back to his community, in particular supporting other children who lost their parents like him.
Red Baron: The Parasite of Kamurocho. The Japanese version is closer to "The Tick of Kamurocho". Neither version is particularly flattering, to say the least.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Saejima's red. Whereas Saejima is gruff, ill-mannered, and brutally violent in 4, Tanimura instead is collected and lackadaisical.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: At the end of his chapter in Yakuza 4, Tanimura exacts revenge on Sugiuchi for what he did to his father, chasing him down in a speedboat and then shooting him in the shoulder when he seems about to escape.
Say My Name: "Sugiuchi!"
Schrödinger's Gun: An example involving an actual gun, no less. One of his sidestories has him playing a game of Russian Roulette with an old man with ¥3,000,000 on the line, with the player being prompted to pull the trigger either fearlessly, listlessly, or nervously twice during the event. Tanimura wins the game if he pulls the trigger fearlessly then listlessly, going off on a hunch that the revolver was loaded with a blank — which the old man promptly disproves after paying him the three mil by firing it into the ceiling. On any other combination of choices, though, the bullet really is blank, much to Tanimura's confusion.
Secret A.I. Moves: Inverted. The data based on him in the IF7-R in 4 has a powerful and tight fighting style but it lacks his signature ability to parry hits.
"Shut Up!" Gunshot: His taunt has him firing his revolver into the air to intimidate aggressive thugs. Sometimes it's effective but other times it's only as good as any other taunt, filling your heat meter if you happen to have gotten the upgrade for it. It isn't used in his and Akiyama's fight against Kiryu, due to having given the gun to Yasuko for self-defense beforehand. Instead he does a more traditional taunt.
Sickening "Crunch!": Having so many of his Heat Moves involve breaking the limbs of bad guys means you'll be hearing this a lot if you're playing him right.
Signature Move: While parrying in itself is hardly a unique move in the series, Tanimura's specific ability to parry while blocking is one of his most iconic traits. Yagami's Snake style in Lost Judgment employs a similar move that is often known colloquially as "the Tanimura parry."
Smug Smiler: He's a pretty cocky guy and has a smug smirk on his face by default, though he's a lot better about taking tense situations seriously compared to Akiyama, dropping into a frown often.
Spotting the Thread: He states that he always knew something was off about Sugiuchi despite being seen as a hero by many, including himself. While it began as a gut feeling, Tanimura started to notice his expensive looking shoes and watch that didn't seem like the sort of luxuries a homicide detective in Tokyo could afford, while also noting how impractical fancy shoes would be when you're dealing with the sites of murder all the time. However, he never suspected that he was actually an Ueno Seiwa yakuza the entire time he was on the force.
Standard Cop Backstory: Never knew his real parents and his foster father was a cop who got murdered when he was only 4 years old. All he had left of his adoptive father was his detective notebook, later inspiring him to become a police officer himself. He was also raised in an impoverished part of town known as Little Asia, full of foreign families struggling to live in a discriminatory society, as well as immigrant children separated from their parents due to deportation. His experiences would push him to abuse his authority in order to extort certain illegal businesses for money as well as gambling incessantly on the job. All these ill-gotten gains would be used almost exclusively for supporting those living in Little Asia.
Strong Family Resemblance: During one of his last substories, when Tanimura finally arrests the politician who ordered the hit on his biological father Yusuke Kaga, he remarks that Tanimura is the spitting image of him.
Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Younger looking and considered one of the more handsome members of the playable cast in 4 while garbed in a dark blue jacket and black slacks. Although he's a bit on the smaller side compared to the other playable characters, he still clearly towers over much of the population of Kamurocho, including most of the goons that he regularly runs into and beats down.
Troubled, but Cute: A Bishōnen (or, in the remaster, a Pretty Boy) with all sorts of issues involving his foster father and the environment he was raised in.
Weak, but Skilled: Has the lowest health of all four characters, but he can counter any strike thrown at him and has powerful grappling moves. He makes use of a unique fighting style that resembles taiho-jutsu, a Japanese police martial art with influences from aikido and jiujitsu, along with a few moves from judo and kendo that he also learned in police training. The way he describes his style to Nair implies that he threw it together as a way to fight defensively on the streets.
Would Hit a Girl: He's the only protagonist that can knowingly fight a woman. Granted, it's a friendly sparring match, but neither one pulls any punches. He can also hit Saki-chan during their chase sequence, which is a lot less friendly.
You Killed My Father: He's been searching for clues behind the murder of his father for 25 years by the time of the game's events and it's his primary motivation for his actions in the main plot. Even after he deals with the man behind it, he continues to work to take down the killer's superior who ordered his father's death in the first place, Chief of Police Seishiro Munakata.

Unaffiliated

Lily / Yasuko Saejima

Voiced by: Majyu Ozawa

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yasukoy4.jpg

First introduced in Akiyama's chapter, she approaches him asking to borrow an astronomical amount of money. A mysterious and beautiful woman who much of the plot revolves around.

The Atoner: She takes a bullet for Taiga in the climax, and since he never actually killed anyone and his hands were free of blood, she makes one last stand to kill Katsuragi herself since she had already gone off the deep end and killed many others at that point.
Big Brother Worship: To her stepbrother Saejima, to the point where she visited the prison where he was being held every day for 25 years, and was willing to take out a loan of 100 million yen and kill members of the Shibata family in order to have a chance at freeing him/seeing him again.
Died in Your Arms Tonight: To be precise, in her brother's.
The Dog Bites Back: After she's shot by Katsuragi, she stands defiant against him to let him know he's no longer in control of her, which suddenly triggers his Villainous Breakdown. He's left desperately pleading for his life before she ends it.
Dude Magnet: Wins the affection of Akiyama, and many men are drawn to her looks.
Fatal Flaw: She's told that she lets her raw emotions get the better of her, causing her to make poor choices and irrational decisions. Naturally, after Kiryu tells her this, this is the reason she's captured shortly afterward.
Faux Action Girl: Despite being revealed as an assassin for Katsuragi after killing members of the Shibata family, she's a very demure woman who's constantly on the run and in need of protection. She gets herself captured at the end in spite of Kiryu's advice, and aside from killing Katsuragi herself, anything that shows she's a dangerous person happens entirely off-screen.
Femme Fatale: She plays up this angle to murder Katsuragi's targets. Countless characters also comment on her beauty, and Akiyama is clearly thinking of her when describing the concept of a femme fatale to Kido.
Honey Trap: It's heavily implied that she's been killing Shibata's men by seducing them into completely letting their guard down before stabbing them in the back of the neck, based on how Kanemura's corpse was shirtless and covered in lipstick marks. Same goes for the owner of the Marimba bar whose corpse is in his underwear.
Identical Stranger: What catches Akiyama's attention at first is her resemblance to his ex-girlfriend Eri.
Inksuit Actor: Looks like an older version of her voice actress.
I Owe You My Life: This is the reason why she's so desperate to find her brother Taiga. She needed a kidney transplant when she was younger, and a fifteen-year old Taiga sought out her lowlife biological father, who was a yakuza and wanted 30 million yen for it. Taiga gave up his dream of being a schoolteacher and fought thugs on the streets to get the money. It was then that Sasai found him and agreed to pay it off under the condition that Taiga join his family, which ultimately saved her life.
Leitmotif: Butterfly City, the opening song for the Japanese version.
Love Makes You Evil: Or at the very least it's led her to make several very morally questionable choices in her life. She's murdered countless yakuza goons on Katsuragi's orders even though she knows that he's not a trustworthy man, simply because of the slightest chance that she could be reunited with her beloved brother who she hasn't seen in 25 years since he was imprisoned for 18 counts of homicide. Lampshaded by Kiryu.
Kiryu: I understand why you feel so strongly, but that emotion has led you to some bad decisions. It's not a stretch to say it's completely clouded your judgement.
Meaningful Name: White lilies are the traditional flowers used in Western funerals. Does this foreshadow her status as a killer, her death at Katsuragi's hands, or both?
Moral Myopia: She's hesitant to help Tanimura with his plans to contact Katsuragi, accusing him of only being involved for selfish, personal reasons relating to his dead father instead of worrying about her. She says this even though she herself is only involved for the sake of a family member, to such an extent that she's willing to murder countless Shibata Family affiliates under the orders of Katsuragi because he claims that he'd be willing to testify for her brother Saejima's innocence.
- Somewhat justified as it's implied that she's having a desperate moment and is breaking into tears though it merely being an in-game voiced cutscene with canned animation makes it difficult to tell. As much as she admits to hating Katsuragi, all she wants to do is reunite with her brother and only remaining family member that she hasn't seen in well over a decade. In any case, after calming down and listening to Zhao pointing out how similar her situation is to Tanimura's, she looks the detective in the eyes, wipes away her tears, and finally agrees to cooperate with him.
Mutual Kill: She's shot by Katsuragi, but she manages to shoot him dead before she bleeds out.
Older Than She Looks: As commented on by Tanimura, she hasn't a day in the 25 years after the Ueno Seiwa Hit.
Protectorate: The bad guys are all out to get her, while all of the good guys are out to protect her.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Taiga's red.
Satellite Character: Almost everything about her character and motives revolve around her stepbrother, Saejima.
Serial Killer: Implied to be the one mentioned in the magazine Akiyama's reading at the start of the game. Considering how it's Katsuragi who's coercing her to target people with connections to the Shibata Family, she'd be more of a hitman or assassin but without the monetary gain.
Spanner in the Works: As Arai points out, her death ends up screwing up Daigo's plan to acquire the 100 billion as it would only spur Kiryu and Saejima to bring down Munakata's conspiracy.
Taking the Bullet: For Taiga when Katsuragi tries to shoot him.
Too Dumb to Live: With Katsuragi's men after her, Kiryu informs her of her Fatal Flaw and tells her to stay put in New Serena under the watchful eyes of Date while he goes on the streets to find her brother for her. He comes back shortly after to find that she ran off anyway, having drugged Date to escape, and is shortly captured by Katsuragi's men. She doesn't live much longer after that.
- Granted, she went along with Akiyama and Tanimura who could have protected her, but they had her run ahead on her own while they tried to stall Kiryu not knowing who he was, that he just wanted to protect Yasuko, nor that Saejima's location has been compromised by Katsuragi.
Took a Level in Cynic: She's rather quiet and jaded when Akiyama first meets her and she turns out to be ruthless enough to resort to personally assassinating yakuza affiliates if she has to. It can be surprising to see how cheerful and friendly she used to be in a flashback to when she lived with her step-brother Saejima.
Walking Spoiler: She's the step-sister of Taiga Saejima and the serial killer who's been taking out Shibata's associates.

Kamurocho Residents

Hana

Voiced by: Aya Hirano

Hana as she appears in Yakuza 4 and Dead Souls

Akiyama's personal assistant and office manager at Sky Finance. A reliable employee who takes care of things at the office for the laid-back and disorganized Akiyama. She starts out as little more than a comic foil, but she eventually shows some very cool Hidden Depths.

Action Girl: Another of the few female characters in the series with any sort of combat skill. She can easily take out a group of yakuza targeting the office. Later, however, more men with guns come in and she ends up taking a beating instead. You actually get to see her in action if you do the first Ultimate Skill Challenge Match, where Akiyama has to defeat more thugs than her.
Beautiful All Along: She comes Back for the Finale, minus dozens of pounds. Subverted since Akiyama, while rather stunned by her dramatic change in appearance, still ends up treating her in the same lackadaisical manner as before, even offering to buy her more food since she's gotten so skinny due to "stress". For reasons unknown, she slips back into her old body type by the time Dead Souls comes around, but since that game is non-canon, they were probably reusing art assets. Ishin! uses her slim version.
Beware the Nice Ones: She's as much of a sweet girl as she is a force to be reckoned with.
Big Beautiful Woman: She's very cute despite being on the heavier side and claiming that men don't date fatter women. When she starts to go on a severe diet as part of a substory, Akiyama tries to assure her that she's fine the way she is. He ends up going out of his way to find someone with certain taste in women and upon meeting Hana, the guy decides that Hana's the most beautiful woman he's met.
Big Eater: She loves kalbi, and can eat at least two deluxe plates of it per meal. Usually she just goes for the all-you-can-eat deal.
Brawn Hilda: Hana is a big girl, but she's also a martial arts expert that surpasses Akiyama. In contrast to the usual type, she's cute as a button.
Cannot Spit It Out: She's clearly carrying a torch for Akiyama. Even he realizes it, but she just isn't his type, which makes it all the more painful when every other girl in Kamurocho apparently is. It isn't even her weight that's the problem; even after she returns after slimming down considerably, he still doesn't seem interested in her romantically.
Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: She constantly complains about Akiyama's laziness and messy habits, but when she finally quits, she comes back after a few weeks of boredom. In an earlier substory, she clarifies that she does enjoy working at Sky Finance.
Continuity Cameo: Appears in Kurohyou: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinsho as a random customer in a ramen-making minigame.
Faster Than They Look: Despite her heavy build and short height, she can run just as fast as Akiyama, if not faster.
Fiery Redhead: Her hair is a lighter shade of brown, and she's clearly the red oni of the Sky Finance duo.
Formerly Fat: As of the ending of 4, due to her being so worried of Akiyama's wellbeing that she couldn't eat properly and lost much of her weight as a result. 5 leaves it ambiguous due to her not making an on-screen appearance, which isn't addressed in 6. Dead Souls, being a non-canonical work set in an alternate continuity, doesn't acknowledge her weight loss despite taking place one year after 4.
Glass Cannon: Despite her fighting ability, she gets taken out in a cutscene by a single blow to the head. Later, she seems to be able to run faster than Akiyama during a chase segment, but after about a minute she's out of stamina.
Growling Gut: Hers does this in Akiyama's "Lonely Hana" substory by saying she's not hungry even though he brought in her favorite kalbi from Kanrai. Turns out she's trying to starve herself to lose weight.
Hidden Depths: She's a martial arts expert with the singing voice of an angel. Having Aya Hirano (aka Haruhi Suzumiya) as her VA helps.
Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Although Akiyama owns Sky Finance, she's the one keeping the place from falling apart, much to her annoyance.
Leitmotif: Dead Souls gives her "Hana Run", which is heard when talking to her in Yakuza 5.
Mighty Glacier: Her one appearance in gameplay in the first Ultimate Skill Challange Match gives her the same fighting style as the generic heavy enemies: hard and sluggish hits that will easily knock thugs off their feet.
No Full Name Given: She's only ever referred to as just "Hana" in all of her appearances. Her Ishin! counterpart Ikumatsu likewise uses the same naming style.
Put on a Bus: She doesn't appear in Yakuza 6, as Akiyama had sent her back to her hometown once the Chinese mafia started looking for him.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Akiyama's blue.
Satellite Character: To Akiyama. She's his personal assistant, after all.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Near the end of Akiyama's chapter in 4, she's fed up with how he's handling the business due to his attraction to Lily. Even after he chases her down and tries to convince her to come back, she refuses and leaves him. She comes Back for the Finale after having lost a lot of weight.
Stout Strength: At least prior to her diet. Being a physically-large woman does Hana a lot of favors when it comes to fighting, and she actually uses the same sumo-based moveset as heavy enemies in the Trial Ultimate Challenge mode, with all of the high damage it entails.
Tsundere: Type B. She's a sweet girl, but all sorts of things can set her off.
Too Unhappy to Be Hungry: The cause of her weight loss after leaving Sky Finance; she's too worried about it to eat as much as she used to.
The Voice: In Yakuza 5. She doesn't make a physical appearance in the game at all, with her presence being limited to a few phone calls where, unlike the other characters, she has no photo. Her profile image consists of a picture of a desk.
Weight Woe: Played with. The "Lonely Hana" substory has her trying to lose weight while claiming that men don't date heavier women. Akiyama'a attempts to assure her that she's fine the way she is has her issue him a challenge to find a man who does in fact like fat women. While he succeeds, she then claims that she was only interested in slimming down due to a fashion magazine stating that the slim look was in that season. Apparently, if the article had focused more on hair styles or clothing, she would have changed those instead. The situation is ultimately resolved when she decides it isn't worth the effort and eats the Kalbi Deluxe Akiyama tried to give her earlier.
What Happened to the Mouse?: In Yakuza 5, she's not present in the Sky Finance office when Akiyama returns to Kamurocho, making him think she's simply gone out. She doesn't return by the end of the game.

Hideki Sasai

"Sa...e...ji...ma..."

Former patriarch of the Yakuza family to which Saejima once belonged. On his orders, Saejima carried out an attack on Yoshiharu Ueno, chairman of the rival Ueno Seiwa Clan. However, as Saejima failed to take Ueno's life, the relationship between the two clans worsened. The Sasai family disbanded after Sasai took responsibility for the incident and stepped down.

Classy Cane: His character profile render in the pause menu depicts him using one. It's much less impressive when he finally appears and he never gets a chance to use it properly. Considering how said render is depicting his current older, senile, homeless self, it probably has less to do with looking classy and more to do with how old and decrepit he is now.
Continuity Cameo:
- In 4, he's seen for a couple of minutes after Saejima returns to Kamurocho.
- It's mentioned in Online that Saejima, while arrested after the events of 5, is able to arrange for his brief release just to meet with Sasai again to see if he's recovered any of his mental faculties in the time that's passed. Unfortunately he still doesn't seem to have recovered, though to what extent he's still troubled isn't specified.
Fall Guy: Shibata accuses him of being the traitor in the Tojo Clan colluding with an Ueno Seiwa mole for better info in an attempt to start a war at which point, Sasai could step in as a peacemaker working alongside the Ueno Seiwa mole in order to ensure that both gain prestige and power from this. In truth, Shibata himself is the traitor and by working with Katsuragi, he literally does what he was accusing Sasai of planning, playing peacemaker over a scheme he had concocted. With Sasai forced to take the blame, his clan was disbanded and he had become a senile hobo.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: Downplayed. He was only ever the patriarch of a third-string yakuza family but he was still respected and handed Saejima his ass back when he was a 15-year-old street punk. Hamazaki even states that if he had stayed in the Tojo Clan, he probably would have been head of the one of the top families by now. Instead he's a homeless and senile old man with barely any cognizance.
Minor Major Character: A formerly prominent yakuza patriarch in the Tojo Clan heavily responsible for Saejima becoming a yakuza in the first place, and apparently instilled a lot of his beliefs of a chivalrous and dutiful yakuza upon Saejima that made him the man he is today. However, his family disbands prior to the plots of any of the games and by the time he actually makes a physical appearance, he's become destitute and senile and doesn't make any further appearances.
The Quiet One: The only dialogue he gets is very slowly saying Saejima's name once in recognition. Justified as he no longer has the mental capacity for much else.
Scatterbrained Senior: By the time Saejima reunites with him, he learns time has not been kind to his former patriarch, who's barely even there mentally until he finally sees Saejima.
"Shaggy Dog" Story: Saejima would have gladly died for his boss, but his actions turned his life into a living hell. The worse part is that Saejima never suspected a thing until he escapes prison 25 years later.

Zhao

Voiced by: Hirohiko Kakegawa

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yfour3.png

"I really can't believe you sometimes. Still, I should be thanking you, too. Just don't do anything stupid."

Owner of the Chinese restaurant "Homeland" that Tanimura uses as a hideout and the central figure of Asian Gateway, a group that provides support to illegal immigrants and helps children who have lost their parents.

Ambiguous Situation: In the aftermath of Little Asia burning down and being renovated in 6 by the Saio Triad, it's uncertain whatever happened to Zhao, his daughter, and Tanimura, who all lived there.
Gentle Touch vs. Firm Hand: Zhao is shown to take a stern approach to parenting, often berating Tanimura for his bad habits and not holding back even against the young children of Little Asia. Tanimura's gentler approach proves to be more effective with getting the children to listen when they misbehave, and Zhao at least is shown to appreciate that they learned their lesson.
One-Steve Limit: By a funny coincidence, Yakuza: Like A Dragon also has a Chinese chef called Zhao that is of no relation to this one.
Papa Wolf: He becomes a man possessed when Mei Hua is taken by a criminal, rushing off without thought and facing down two gangs of thugs in order to save her. The second one manages to overwhelm him, but that's what Tanimura is for. Even afterwards, when he's badly beaten and barely conscious, Mei Hua is all that he's concerned about.
Reasonable Authority Figure: He disapproves of Tanimura using gambling and extortion in order to fund the Asian Gateway; that said, it's mostly out of concern for Tanimura's well-being and fear that he'll become a gambling addict, and Zhao never tries to outright stop him and instead offers him information or support when he needs it.
Supreme Chef: He runs a Chinese restaurant, and both his food and his tea-making skills are highly regarded by the other citizens of Little Asia.
Team Dad: He's the adopted father of Mei Hua, and also takes on a paternal role towards Tanimura, who he's helped to raise ever since he was a child.

Mei Hua

Voiced by: Akemi Sato

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yfour2.png

"You know you're always welcome here. After all, we wouldn't be called Homeland if we weren't your home away from home!"

A girl working as a waitress at Homeland. She adores Tanimura as if he were her real brother.

Ambiguous Situation: In the aftermath of Little Asia burning down and being renovated in 6 by the Saio Triad, it's uncertain whatever happened to Mei Hua, her father, and Tanimura, who all lived there.
Adoption Angst: She harbors a lot of frustration at not knowing who her real parents are, and is confused why Tanimura doesn't feel the same way when he's also an adoptee. Tanimura explains to her that he doesn't care who his biological parents are because Taigi was the one who took care of him, thus making him Tanimura's true father. Tanimura's pep talk helps her overcome her angst, and she comes to embrace Zhao as her real father.
Big Brother Worship: Like the other children of Little Asia, she sees Tanimura as a big brother figure, and clearly cares for him a lot.
A Day in the Limelight: "Letter to Mei Hua" is a substory centered around her, focusing on her relationship with Zhao and her frustrations with being an adoptee.
Gene Hunting: She receives a letter from a mysterious person claiming to know her biological parents, and immediately sets out to find them. This causes a fair amount of angst for her adoptive father, Zhao, who didn't want to believe that Mei only saw him as a substitute. The letter turns out to be fake, though, and the two of them reconcile after Zhao does his all to protect her from the imposters.
Wise Beyond Their Years: Seen best at the end of the "Stolen Funds" substory. She grills Tanimura for resorting to fisticuffs instead of trying to talk out a misunderstanding, and then takes the group of grown men he was fighting under her wing as understudies working for the Asian Gateway. The implication seems to be that helping her father with the charity has given her a level of maturity beyond her age.

Daijiro Saigo

Voiced by: Ichi Fujiya (4-6), Tatsuhiro Kikuchi (Online)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yfour5.png

^{Click here} to see his appearance in Yakuza 5.

A former mercenary whose rough experiences in the Middle East taught him that anything could happen to anyone at any time. To alleviate the dangers of "peace addiction" that are afflicting Japan, he's taken to the streets of Kamurocho to give others physical training and lectures for the sake of risk management. He serves as Akiyama's training master.

Returns in 5 on the streets of Sotenbori having recently returned from the frontlines with new skills to teach Akiyama.

Present once more in 6 in Onomichi to test his ultimate self-defence techniques on Kiryu.

Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Has some incredibly bizarre things to say at times, but the techniques Akiyama learns from him are no joke. He also demonstrates some rather skillful and graceful unarmed techniques against Kiryu in 6.
Continuity Cameo:
- Appears in 0 in the form of a particularly pricey field agent to send out to search for equipment searches at Fei Hu's restaurant, "The Dragon and Tiger". He's referred to as a "Japanese Mercenary" and his photo depicts his design in 5. His description comments on the ambiguous practicality of his unique combat skills.
- He appears in Kiwami 2 as a paid DLC employee for the Majima Construction sidequest.
Cool Shades: To complement his tough military aesthetic.
Drill Sergeant Nasty: Has the loud, insulting, militaristic attitude and harsh training sessions down pat.
Dodgy Toupee: Suddenly has hair in 5, though a combat training session will quickly reveal the deception. It also serves as his weakness since knocking it off during training sessions will cause him to panic and focus entirely on retrieving it, leaving him completely vulnerable.
Ice-Cream Koan: Chock-full of them if you try to listen in on his lectures as anyone that isn't Akiyama.
Leitmotif: "Theme of Saigo". It's also in 5 when Saigo reappears to further give Akiyama more physical training.
More Dakka: For combat training, he carries around a submachine gun, filled with non-lethal rounds of course.
Moveset Clone: In 6, once he's come up with the "Ultimate Fighting Technique", he uses the moveset of Bruce Ebinuma from the Purgatory Coliseum in 3 and the next couple games.
The Münchausen: Everytime Akiyama successfully completes his training with him, he'll describe an excerpt from his past experiences that often paint him as impossibly badass. Akiyama never falls for them.
Training from Hell: Probably one of the toughest training masters in the series both in terms of concept, and from a gameplay standpoint. What other training master uses (non-lethal) automatic weapons and explosives as part of their regimen?

"The Master"

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yfour4.png

An old man excavating a tunnel in the sewers beneath Kamurocho. He's searching for "something important" his father had buried in a certain underground location and his efforts over 25 years have made him somewhat famous among the low-lifes of Kamurocho. Unfortunately this has attracted the attention of young punks who are convinced that there's buried treasure stashed in his tunnels causing them to threaten the old man with physical violence if he doesn't give them a cut forcing Saejima to step in and defend him. His friend Ken-Chan convinces Saejima to help The Master locate his father's last gift to which Saejima agrees for the sake of a "work-out". Thus, The Master serves as Saejima's "training" master of sorts.

Leitmotif: "Theme of The Master"
Made of Iron: Some of his "training" involves Saejima smashing huge rolling boulders to defend The Master while he breaks down rock walls with his pick axe. Despite his frail looks, he's got two health bars and can survive getting hit by a lot of boulders before running out of stamina.
Training from Hell: His "training" mostly just amounts to breaking down huge stone walls with a pick axe or defending him by beating up greedy thugs or smashing huge rolling boulders, at one point having to do both. It mostly just amounts to intense muscle training for the likes of Saejima. After every session, Saejima also always finds conveniently placed underground notebooks full of martial arts knowledge to give him new techniques and abilities.

Shibata Family

Kazuo Shibata

Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shibatay4.jpg

Patriarch of a Tojo Clan affiliate family, but lacks any real power or influence. He takes an interest in Arai from Kanemura Enterprises, an umbrella organization of his Shibata family. Shibata has Arai under his wing and involves him in business dealings such as his recent inspection of the Kamurocho Hills construction site.

Asshole Victim: He gets murdered by Arai just as he's about to have his way with Yasuko, so it's hard to feel bad for him
Attempted Rape: He tries to rape a captured Yasuko, but he gets shot by Arai before he has the chance.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The scene where he offers a pinky finger to Katsuragi shows him as a mild-mannered man willing to take responsibility according to yakuza protocol. However, his later scene with Arai and the flashback with Majima show a nastier side of him.
Blackmail: Shibata used the incident from 25 years ago to extort money from Katsuragi, which didn't really sit well with him.
Dirty Old Man: Tries to have his way with Yasuko.
Disc-One Final Boss: Most of Akiyama's chapters are spent fighting yakuza from the Shibata Family. Then Saejima's arc ends with the reveal that Shibata is responsible for Majima not being there to help Saejima take down the Ueno Seiwa Clan as well as Majima losing an eye. In Tanimura's first chapter, he gets betrayed and killed by Arai, paving the way for Katsuragi to take center stage as the main threat.
Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Wears glasses, and an unpleasant man to boot.
He Knows Too Much: A reason why Katsuragi had him and the rest of his family pegged for death. Shibata was one of the conspirators behind the Ueno Seiwa hit, and for years had exploited this to blackmail Katsuragi into doing favours for him.
I Have You Now, My Pretty: When he has a captured Yasuko brought to him, he tries to rape her.
Karma Houdini Warranty: He managed to get away with his part in the Ueno Seiwa hit as well as taking away Majima's eye for over two decades. Only to be betrayed and killed on the orders of his former collaborator.
Killed Off for Real: Gets killed by Arai (under Katsuragi's orders) after the latter has no more use for him.
The Plan: Collaborates with Katsuragi to stage the Yoshiharu Ueno hit Saejima pulls, in which 18 Ueno officers died. As a result, his family was promoted within the Tojo Clan after the incident, who recognized his role as a mediator who brokered a truce with the Ueno Seiwa Clan.
Small Role, Big Impact: While his cronies present an antagonistic force to Akiyama and to a lesser extent Tanimura, his role as Katsuragi's co-conspirator gives him direct responsibility for Saejima's 25-year imprisonment as well as Majima losing his eye. In retrospect, every conflict Majima had to deal with in the prequel 0 can also be connected to Shibata's manipulations.
The Unfought: Causes a lot of grief for several major characters, and Tanimura's first battle sequence seems to be leading up to some sort of confrontation with him. Instead, he gets shot multiple times by Arai and bleeds out before Tanimura can interrogate him.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Arai kills him for this reason under Katsuragi's orders. Shibata's knowledge of the truth behind the Ueno Seiwa hit made him a liability to Katsuragi.
Yubitsume: Offers his pinky finger to Katsuragi to amend for the killing of his future lieutenant by Arai. It was a fake pinky.

Hatsushiba Clan

Hatsushiba

Chairman of the Hatsushiba Clan, a third-tier family in the Tojo Clan and subsidiary to the Shibata Family of which he's a lieutenant. Something of a rival to fellow Shibata lieutenant and third-tier family chairman Hiroshi Kanemura. He also runs several loansharking businesses in Kamurocho, putting him at odds with Sky Finance. He has Akiyama's debtor ledger stolen on orders from Shibata.

Bald of Evil: A smug, bald criminal that has his goons wreck Akiyama's office.
Dirty Coward: After his captain gets defeated, he attempts to sneak out with Akiyama's ledger. Upon being spotted, he immediately proceeds to hand the ledger back while begging for mercy and forgiveness. Akiyama agrees but only if he tells him why he stole it in the first place.
Gangbangers: The Hatsushiba Clan as a whole has more of this aesthetic, since they wear more casual wear like jackets, jeans, tracksuits, and hoodies compared to the suits that most other Tojo Clan affiliates wear.
Implausible Deniability: When confronted by Akiyama, he denies having his ledger stolen and instead claims that Akiyama was the one who lent the ledger to him. This despite Kido being in the same room, having been kidnapped during the theft of the ledger and the assault on Hana.
Informed Attribute: Prior to confronting him, one of his underlings is rather confident about Hatsushiba "wrecking [Akiyama's] scrawny ass". Makes it rather odd when he simply lets Midorikawa do all the heavy lifting and then tries to bail when that plan fails.
Smug Snake: Completely underestimates Akiyama and isn't at all worried about how Akiyama managed to get past all his goons. This changes fast once Midorikawa goes down.
The Unfought: Too much of a gutless coward to try and fight Akiyama after he humiliates his henchman Midorikawa.

Takumi Midorikawa

The Captain of the Hatsushiba Clan. A savage brute who leads an attack on Sky Finance while Akiyama's out of the office. Hana gets knocked out, Kido gets kidnapped, and Akiyama's debtor ledger gets stolen, forcing Akiyama to track them down.

Ax-Crazy: He's got a big, wild smile on his face when he busts out the chainsaw and his idle stance has him hunched over with his head twitching wildly like a madman. Oddly unnerving for such a minor character.
The Brute: Not much to him aside from being a violent asshole who does all the heavy lifting for his boss. At most, he vastly underestimates Akiyama even though he's managed to fight his way through the rest of the Hatsushiba Clan with his only back-up being an old hobo.
Chainsaw Good: Busts out a chainsaw in the second half of the fight against him.
Combat Pragmatist: Never attempts to fight anyone unarmed. Not even Hana. The fight with him immediately starts with him shooting Akiyama before any of the game's UI has even loaded in. It's extremely difficult to avoid this opening shot, but thankfully it's not too damaging. When using a gun fails, he retreats to the backroom while more Hatsushiba goons enter the room. After the flunkies are taken out, he returns with a chainsaw.
Dark Is Evil: Ruthless and violent with a black leather jacket and black suit pants with pinstripes.
Delinquent Hair: His somewhat messy hair is clearly dyed blond since you can see the black roots.
Dirty Coward: Takes much less hits to defeat in the first phase with a gun and immediately runs away in a rather pathetic fashion while the rest of the clan takes up the fight against Akiyama. He doesn't return until after finding a chainsaw, because apparently a gun wasn't enough to even the odds againt a single man.
Golf Clubbing: Suffers this at the hands of Akiyama if you succeed at the Quick Time Event.
Hellbent For Leather: Wears a leather jacket over his standard yakuza attire
Immune to Flinching: Once he grabs the chainsaw, none of Akiyama's attacks will have him react and he can't be grappled either. Thankfully he leaves himself quite open between chainsaw swings, and certain heat actions will still prove effective against him.
Pistol-Whipping: Poor Hana. Against Akiyama, he also has a close-range combo that has him swing the pistol quickly at him 3 times.
Real Men Wear Pink: His pinkish shirt kinda sticks out compared to the rest of his clothes.
Red Baron: The IF7-R data based on him is referred to as the "Deadly Demon".
Stance System: The IF7-R data version of him switches between fighting with a gun and fighting with a chainsaw periodically.
Would Hit a Girl: Doesn't have any problems pulling a gun on an unarmed woman, as poor Hana found out. He knocks her out by smacking her hard with the butt of the gun.

Kanemura Enterprises

Hiroshi Kanemura

Voiced by: Yasuhiko Kawazu

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kanemuray4.jpg

"No need to rock the boat."

Patriarch of a third tier group of the Tojo Clan. Shows little potential for advancement, and has problems collecting tribute money. He gets by with money that's borrowed from Akiyama under special loan terms that requires him to retire and make Arai his successor. Kido discovers him stabbed to death on the night of the incident with the Ueno Seiwa Clan at Club Elnard.

Dismotivation: According to his official profile, he'd rather stay in Kanemura Enterprises rather than rank up. It's practically his defining personality trait.
Killed Off for Real: He's found dead in his office less than an hour after the game starts. We don't find out who did it until much later though.
Plot-Triggering Death: His death starts the plot barely after the first chapter.
We Hardly Knew Ye: He has barely two or three lines before he dies.

Hiroaki Arai (Unmarked Spoilers)

Voiced by: Ikki Sawamura

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/araiy4.jpg

"What's done is done. No sense in regretting it."

Manages Kanemura Enterprises for the unambitious Kanemura. Has the trust of Kido and others due to his honesty and intergrity. He is a close friend of Akiyama and a high-ranking member of the Shibata family. Akiyama has him pegged as the next successor to the Tojo clan. He's actually an undercover cop.

The Ace: A respected high-ranking yakuza whom Akiyama believes to have the strength, skill, charisma, and set of morals to climb to the top of the Tojo Clan and finally bring order to Kamurocho, even comparing him to Kiryu. Sadly it's all an act and he's actually a very dangerous and duplicitous Knight Templar.
A Father to His Men: Has a very strong reputation to those working under him.
Affably Evil: Continues to have a polite, dignified demeanor long after it's become apparent that he's bad news. His shooting and subsequent murder of Shibata in which he continues to behave in a serene, respectful manner would probably mark him as Faux Affably Evil if Shibata wasn't an Asshole Victim to begin with.
Anti-Villain: A major antagonist who acts respectfully towards everyone, and all the terrible things he does are for the sake of doing good for Kamurocho.
Battle Strip: Removes his shirt when facing Akiyama. As a cop working undercover as a third-tier family captain, he completely lacks an Irezumi back tattoo.
Becoming the Mask: Ironically ends up becoming attached to the Yakuza lifestyle because they showed more moral scruples than the actual enforcers of justice, which is why he opts to betray Munakata and use Akiyama's 100 billion to steer the Tojo Clan towards a more benevolent direction.
Big Bad Friend: He's a close friend of Akiyama, and is also one of the Big Bads of the game.
Blue Is Heroic: Wears a blue shirt and tie and once told Akiyama that he vows to rid Kamurocho of crime and bring peace to it. Double-subverted as his tendency towards murdering criminals at gunpoint and other rather deplorable actions doesn't stop the fact that he's holding true to said vow, making for one of the series' most benevolent main antagonists.
Broken Pedestal: He's one to Akiyama, who had looked up to him for saving his life years ago, once it's revealed that Arai is working for Munakata.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: To start, he betrays Shibata and deals him a fatal blow under Katsuragi's orders. Later he has his oath-brother Kido turn on Katsuragi for him, only to seemingly betray Kido as well. Turns out he's loyal to Munakata. Then he tries to kill Munakata because he crossed a line that Arai wasn't willing to. It then turns out that while he didn't kill Kido, he suspected that he was secretly treacherous in a similar manner to himself and had him survive solely to observe him report back to his true superior, Daigo. By the end, all he cares about is using Akiyama's stolen 100 billion yen to bring justice to Kamurocho, apparently by first taking over the Tojo Clan. This would mean usurping the seat of Chairman from Daigo who was technically his highest-ranking superior.
Counter-Attack: Several. From a block, he usually performs a "Knockback" type counter followed up by a stunning strike. If he's knocked off his feet, he can perform the Knockdown Reversal technique to roll away before rushing back at Akiyama with a stunning gut punch. When his Heat Aura turns orange, he may hold his hands up to catch Akiyama's next attack and throw him to the ground. It's actually completely identical to Daigo's, but Arai uses it far more sparingly. Trying to grab him in this mode will also have him respond by kicking Akiyama's feet out from under him, sending him to the ground.
Cruel Mercy: Persuades Tanimura to spare Munakata's life, so that Munakata could be properly punished for his crimes in the very prisons he had built.
The Cynic: Witnessing the constant corruption in the police force has jaded his worldview on justice. It's to the point where he concludes that he's better off becoming a real yakuza rather than continuing to work for the corrupt police force. However, seeing Tanimura restores some of his faith in the system.
Dark Is Evil: Dark charcoal suit, dark blue shirt and tie, and is a Big Bad you'll be facing at the end of the game.
Defector from Decadence: Shoots Munakata and later discards his police badge in front of Daigo and Kido to signify him turning his back on the Dirty Cops in order to take control of the Tojo Clan as a full-time yakuza. Unfortunately, his Knight Templar tendencies still make him a menace to be dealt with.
Didn't See That Coming: For all of his intelligence and skill in managing to stay one step ahead of all of the heroes for the entirety of the game, his attempt to take control of the situation from his boss Munakata by murdering him falls flat because he didn't anticipate Munakata handing him a pistol loaded with rubber bullets, allowing Munakata to survive the attempt on his life.
The Dragon: To Kanemura and Shibata. He's actually one to Munakata, and then Arai betrays him as well once Munakata was willing to cross the line by threatening children.
Dragon-in-Chief: He's the guy truly in charge of Kanemura Enterprises. Might qualify as one to Munakata as well since he's the primary enforcer of his will, at least until he turns on Munakata. Not to mention he can actually put up a decent fight all on his own unlike Munakata.
Even Evil Has Standards:
- Visibly has second thoughts when Munakata insists that he should have taken Akiyama's stolen money when he was in a position to do so easily. He finally has enough when Munakata asks him to kidnap the children from Kiryu's orphanage to use them as leverage against him.
- While he always planned to betray Shibata on Katsuragi's orders, the fact that he enacted his betrayal just as Shibata was about to have his way with Yasuko implies that he partly did it out of disgust.
- He seems to express genuine disappointment in Daigo for his dishonorable actions.
Extremity Extremist: Much like Akiyama, his fighting style primarily relies on fast and powerful kicks.
Failed a Spot Check: Despite having personal experience with firearms in killing Ihara, plus his presumed police training, he shoots Munakata in the head near the climax - and apparently doesn't realize in his indignation that he didn't inflict any visible blood or wounding on the man due to the gun being pre-emptively loaded with rubber bullets, and doesn't bother to check either.
Final Boss: Akiyama's in 4.
Foil: To Sugiuchi. Arai is a cop who went undercover as a yakuza member of the Tojo Clan years ago and he conducts himself in a polite, dignified manner. By the end of the game, he tries to turn his back on the Dirty Cops and realize his ambitions of justice in Kamurocho by taking control of the Tojo Clan. Sugiuchi on the other hand is an Ueno Seiwa Clan yakuza member who infiltrated the police department decades ago and has a rude, casual attitude. Before his death, he admits that his ambitions as a yakuza have faded over the years and he feels more pride in his work as a police detective.
Graceful Loser: He accepts his loss against Akiyama rather well.
The Heavy: His murder of Ueno Seiwa Captain Masaru Ihara kickstarts a massive conflict, and most of the game is spent trying to capture Arai whether it be to save him or to take him down.
Heel–Face Turn: After being defeated by Akiyama and seeing Tanimura's dedication to justice, Arai has a change of heart and decides to turn himself in to atone for his crimes.
Ink-Suit Actor: Looks just like his voice actor.
I Owe You My Life: He helps Akiyama get his stolen money back before the events of the game, helping Akiyama get his life back on tract. This earns him Akiyama's friendship and gratitude.
Killer Cop: An undercover cop responsible for personally executing at least two unarmed criminals at gunpoint by the end of the game. He also tried to kill Munakata when he crossed the line.
Knight Templar: He follows Munakata's goal to control Japan's criminals and has no problem executing criminals at gunpoint to reach that goal. Unlike Munakata, however, his intentions are genuinely well-intentioned. By the time of the endgame, he's turned his back on Munakata and the police in order to subjugate Kamurocho using the Tojo Clan.
Leitmotif: "Four Face".
A Lighter Shade of Black: Even though he's a Knight Templar like Munakata, he acquits himself as having more moral standards and being less fixated on exerting complete control over the city and more focused on actually enforcing justice and protecting civilians. Also unlike Munakata, he's no Smug Snake and is able to reflect upon his past mistakes and even atone for them.
Lightning Bruiser: Boasts the sort of strength and durability you'd expect from one of the Final Bosses of 4. By mirroring the fighting style of Akiyama, he might actually be the fastest of the bosses fought in the storyline.
Mirror Boss: When fought, he uses a lot of kick attacks in the same vein as Akiyama.
The Mole: He's actually a cop working undercover in the Tojo Clan for Munakata. Had he continued to follow Munakata's plans, he would have become the Tojo Clan's captain while secretly acting as Munakata's liaison.
Nice Guy: It's an act. He legitimately cares about justice but will sacrifice lives to get to it, though he draws the line at harming children.
Not So Stoic: His calm demeanor breaks in the finale when he reveals himself as an undercover cop to Daigo and Kido and explains how he's turned his back on the police force. He starts ranting about taking Munakata's life with his own two hands and how he'll bring proper justice to Kamurocho by any means necessary.
Number Two: He's the second-in-command to Kanemura Enterprises and Shibata.
Pay Evil unto Evil: Murders Shibata on the grounds that he no longer had any use for him and that his knowledge of the Ueno Seiwa Hit made him a liability to Katsuragi. However, considering what Shibata did to Majima in the past and that he was currently on the verge of having his way with Yasuko, he frankly had it coming. Shooting and betraying Munakata later would have counted too considering how he had arranged the death of a fellow officer, and had just ordered Arai to kidnap Kiryu's children, even handing him a gun to presumably use on them if they resisted. Sadly, Munakata survived that encounter since he handed Arai a gun loaded with rubber bullets.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: Captain of Kanemura Enterprises and strong enough to be Akiyama's Final Boss. Considering how he's merely the captain, rather than the patriarch, and it's merely a Tojo Clan 3rd-tier subsidiary under the Shibata Family, he's actually pretty underranked for a guy that Akiyama believes to be on par with Kiryu.
Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Similar to Akiyama, he can throw out a series of lightning-fast kicks in the blink of an eye.
Rebuilt Pedestal: Once Arai undergoes a Heel–Face Turn, Akiyama gives him a smile, indicating that he forgives Arai despite all that he had done. Even prior to that, he remarks that he's glad that Arai's got good intentions but he can't let him go through with his plans if he thinks it justifies all the terrible things he's done and will do later.
Say My Name: "Akiyama!" Does so twice in the finale actually.
Sequential Boss: The first to be fought as part of the Final Boss sequence of Yakuza 4, followed by Takeshi Kido, Daigo Dojima, and Seishiro Munakata.
Spotting the Thread: Figures out that Kido must be working for Daigo since Kido's somehow aware of Arai's connection to Munakata, despite Arai not telling him about it and no one else possibly being aware of that fact.
The Stoic: Always calm and professional regardless of the situation.
The Starscream: He apparently shoots Munakata dead and tries to take the 100 billion yen for his own ambitions of twisted justice. Unfortunately, Munakata foresaw Arai's betrayal and came prepared.
Three-Point Landing: Performs this during his dynamic intro after Akiyama tosses him several dozen feet through the air from the Millenium Tower rooftop helipad to a lower platform. He even manages to backflip through the air before landing it.
Too Clever by Half: He's clever enough to keep his allegiances secret from everyone, but his own moral compass ends up screwing him over. His inner conflict prevented him from getting away with the hundred billion (something Munakata points out), and he later betrayed Munakata himself out of disillusionment with his boss's corrupt acts.
The Unfettered: Subverted. He may have no problem ending the lives of miscreants or stealing countless billions from the civilian Akiyama to fulfill his ambitions of justice, but he refuses to endanger innocent civilians, especially children, pushing him to turn on the ultimately more reprehensible Munakata.
Villain Has a Point: He understandably calls out Daigo for selling out Majima to the police.
Walking Spoiler: His true allegiances are a major spoiler.
What the Hell, Hero?: Accuses Daigo of spitting on the legacies of Kazama and Kiryu by working together with Munakata to the extent of handing Majima over to the Corrupt Cops on a silver platter.
Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Betrays Munakata when he orders Arai to use the orphans of Sunshine Orphanage as leverage against Kiryu.

Takeshi Kido

Voiced by: Kenta Kiritani

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kidoy4.jpg

"C'mon man. I'm a nobody - practically still a street punk. Hell, I've got my own family on my ass."

Member of Kanemura Enterprises. With an affable personality that lacks the affectations of a typical yakuza, he has complete trust of his superior, Arai. He's Arai's underling and a sort-of little brother to Akiyama. He seems more like a non-threatening punk rather than a yakuza.

Affably Evil: Generally a rather friendly guy though his current predicament clearly stresses him out. Even after it's revealed that he's spying for other characters and partaking in some nasty plans, he's still pretty polite and he comes to respect all the heroes by the end of the game.
Almighty Janitor: Not really much more than a foot soldier working under a bottom-rung family in the Tojo Clan. ...And yet he's a veritable One-Man Army in his own right, with stats on par with the chairman Daigo Dojima, and the fighting ability to be Saejima's Final Boss. Even Akiyama vouches for how seriously tough he truly is. Deconstructed as it's shown multiple times that he's clearly unhappy with how low he is in the hierarchy of the Tojo Clan despite his physical prowess. It drives him to start betraying his friends and allies when the opportunity presents itself.
Ambition Is Evil: He wavers on this, but is told by Saejima that most yakuza of his age only get "one shot" to move up the ladder, and that he should live without regrets. This ultimately leads Kido to follow through on his plan of stealing one hundred billion yen from Akiyama seemingly for the sake of Katsuragi, then seemingly for Arai's sake, before it's revealed that he was actually working directly for Daigo. After all, what better way to climb up the ranks of the Tojo Clan than to answer directly to the Chairman himself?
"It's just like you told me, Saejima-san. You only get one shot in this line of work. And my time is now. Never felt so sure of anything."
Animal Motif: Foxes. He wears a jacket with a kitsune-themed logo on both the front and the back. It shows his shifty nature, as well as to show he's strong enough to keep up with the likes of Saejima in the final battle.
Anti-Villain: Less so than Arai, but at the end of the day he's a friendly guy who's ultimately loyal to the non-villainous Daigo and by extension the Tojo Clan, even if only for the sake of furthering his career as a yakuza. Saejima also opts to not fault him for any of what he did and simply puts his ambitions to the test.
Attack! Attack! Attack!: While he's certainly strong, a large part of the danger he poses in battle against the likes of Saeijima is due to being the most aggressive fighter amongst the final bosses. Especially true when he goes into heat mode, where he can charge up a flurry of quick and powerful attacks that can't be interrupted until he's done, leaving him exhausted. Even the Quick Time Event during his boss fight has him constantly on the offensive until Saejima either slips up and gets knocked on his ass or breaks the assault with a counter attack. Three times.
Battle Strip: Rips off his jacket when facing off against Saejima, revealing an impressively muscled upper body and the fresh bandages to cover up his non-fatal gunshot wound. Just like Arai, he lacks an irezumi tattoo, which isn't too surprising since he's only working for a third-tier family.
The Brute: Generally treated as nothing more than a typical punk despite the implication that he's much stronger than he looks. He's well aware of this and is even implied to invoke Boss in Mook Clothing based on the way he talks about himself and how Akiyama describes him late in the game. By the time of the finale, he completely lacks the loftier intentions of the other Final Boss characters and his support of Daigo seems to be primarily to increase his own standing in the Tojo Clan hierarchy. He also boasts the most brutish, direct, and aggressive fighting style of the Final Boss fight characters and is facing off against Taiga Saejima.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Let's see. He seems first loyal to Arai, then he seems like he betrays Arai for Katsuragi, then at the end of the 4th chapter he reveals it was a fluke and he never betrayed Arai. Arai supposedly shoots him. The last chapter reveals that he's alive and that his loyalty lies with Daigo rather than Arai after all.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: He's comparable to Akira Nishikiyama from the first game, as he has slicked back shoulder-length hair, betrays most of his allies for the sake of power and status, and even starts wearing a white suit when it becomes clear how treacherous he is. However, he's not nearly as murderous as Nishiki, nor does he ever manage to achieve the sort of notoriety that Nishiki does. The one time Kido tries to kill someone is Isao Katsuragi and it doesn't even take since Katsuragi was wearing a bulletproof vest. Kido also aligns himself with the sympathetic Daigo Dojima to achieve his ambitions, unlike Nishiki whose final ally is, well... Kyohei Jingu. The tone of their Final Boss battles also contrast greatly. Kiryu and Nishiki have a long and storied history of friendship and brotherhood that has turned into the bitterest of rivalries, resulting in their highly emotional and brutal final showdown. Saejima and Kido, on the other hand, don't know each other that well, having only met each other recently though Kido starts looking up to Saejima once he realizes who he is. Part of the reason Kido turned to treachery was due to Saejima encouraging him to fight for his goals without regrets, and Saejima in the end doesn't fault him for his ambitions and simply chooses to test his resolve with his own bare hands, to which Kido eagerly accepts.
Covert Pervert: Subdued to the extent of being a mere throwaway line, but when Akiyama describes to Kido a Femme Fatale and how alluring yet dangerous that sort of woman can be, Kido admits that he wouldn't complain if he ever found that sorta woman.
The Dragon: To Arai. He's actually Daigo's.
Easily Forgiven:Boss Fight aside, Saejima goes pretty easy on him considering how his betrayal of revealing Saejima's location to Katsuragi was what led to the death of Saejima's beloved sister Yasuko. Then again, Saejima does seem to acknowledge that Kido was spurred to do all this primarily because of Saejima's own advice to him earlier.
Et Tu, Brute?: Shot from behind by his boss Arai and can barely utter out his name in anguish before he seemingly dies. Subverted when it's revealed that not only did he survive the gunshot, he was spying on Arai for Daigo, meaning that he was the one who had betrayed Arai. The only reason he's still alive was because Arai wanted to determine who he was working for. Still, when Arai then reveals that he was actually an undercover cop the whole time, Kido is shocked and apparently genuinely didn't know or ever suspected.
Face–Heel Turn: Spends the first half of the story as a friend and ally to Akiyama and Saejima. Around the time Kiryu enters the scene, he steals all the money from Akiyama's hidden vault despite the two being friends and greets Saejima having apparently teamed up with Katsuragi. He then goes on to shift between two different antagonistic factions before being revealed to be working under Daigo, who's an Anti-Villain this time around.
Final Boss: Saejima's in 4.
Healing Factor: He'll always heal himself at least once before going down for good during his boss fight.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: Laments his low status and lack of reputation in the Tojo Clan pretty often. So much that when he realizes the legendary hitman Taiga Saejima asks for his help, his first reaction is to freak out a bit before asking how a nobody like himself could possibly be of help to him.
- Drops the "heroic" part late into the story though.
Hidden Badass: Kido seems like kind of a wimp at first, but there are constant teases of his fighting ability throughout the game. Then he goes toe-to-toe with Saejima for the finale.
Ink-Suit Actor: Identical to his voice actor aside from the auburn-coloured hair, which he likely dyes.
Leitmotif: "Four Faith".
Lightning Bruiser: A resilient and aggressive fighter who can heal himself and can also consistently avoid Saejima's attacks if you try to attack him wildly. That said, his defensive abilities tend to falter in the face of tactics such as using Saejima's "Knock Back" ability when blocking Kido's combos and then using Saejima's double finishers on him when Kido's trying to block your combos.
Made of Iron: While it's later revealed that Arai had intentionally shot him in a non-fatal spot, he nonetheless acts as Saejima's Final Boss with a bandaged up gunshot wound to the lower torso and will still end up taking a colossal amount of punishment before finally conceding defeat.
The Mole: Seemingly defects to Katsuragi's side before turning on him, revealing him to be a mole for Arai. In the finale, it turns out that he was Daigo's mole, sent to spy on Arai and, by extension, Munakata.
Mr. Exposition: When an unnamed fellow member of Kanemura Enterprises asks him who Akiyama is, he offers a fairly succint summation of Akiyama and what his deal is.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: One of his heat moves he can use on Saejima if he knocks him to the ground is to perform the "Essence of Wreckage".
Not Quite Dead: Despite being shot by Arai, it's later revealed that he survived. This was intentional on Arai's part.
Red Is Violent: He wears a bright red varsity jacket, and while he comes across as a reserved and sensible guy, one scene implies that he has the strength to beat down a decent-sized mob of yakuza without breaking a sweat. By the time Saejima fights him as the Final Boss, he turns out to be a fierce, brutal fighter with a reddish Battle Aura.
Sequential Boss: Along with Hideaki Arai, Daigo Dojima and Seishiro Munakata.
Shadow Archetype: He's a reflection of Saejima's younger self, being a young and ambitious Yakuza who is capable of great physical feats. Due to Saejima's advice, Kido chooses to betray Akiyama and steal the 100 billion yen for Daigo in hopes of climbing up the Yakuza totem pole. Part of the reason why Saejima battles him atop the Millenium Tower is to prevent Kido from going down the same dark path as Saejima did.
Stronger Than They Look: Lampshaded after taking out a group of eight yakuza without injury.
"I get it. I look like your run-of-the-mill punk. So everyone think I'm some kind of pussy. But come on. Some little shit working directly under Arai-aniki? Well that'd never happen."
Undying Loyalty: Again, to Arai. Or not. Apparently, he's been allied with Daigo at the very least prior to telling Arai about the one hundred billion dollar yen in Akiyama's vault, all to fuel his ambitions.
Villain in a White Suit: Switches to a crisp white suit over a purple shirt once he betrays Saejima and starts working with Katsuragi. He's no longer wearing it during the finale, where it's revealed that he's working for the much less villainous Daigo.
Villain Respect: After all the last remaining major antagonists have been dealt with, including him, he remarks upon how the four protagonists of Yakuza 4 are "on another level".
Walking Spoiler: Similar to Arai, with regards to where his true loyalties lie.
What Happened to the Mouse?: He's alive and well after his defeat and highly impressed by the main protagonists, but it's unclear what happens to him afterwards. There's a chance he got arrested along with Arai for his involvement in the unsavory schemes of all of the antagonists, as well as personally stealing 100 billion yen from Akiyama. His ultimate loyalty to Daigo, who was also able to get Majima pulled out of jail, still means there's a chance he avoided such a fate, but if so he's yet to make any further appearances in the series.
Wrestler in All of Us: Has a unique Grapple Move in the form of a facebuster.

Ueno Seiwa Clan

Yoshiharu Ueno

Voiced by: Koji Yada

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/uenoy4.jpg

"Someone help...!"

Chairman of the Tojo Clan's former enemy, the Ueno Seiwa Clan. Due to his advanced age, he can't lead the clan anymore. Instead, Katsuragi is the acting leader in his stead.

Death Faked for You: It's unclear if Ueno knew his man Katsuragi staged the Yoshiharu Ueno hit. But he survived the hit, like Katsuragi wanted him to.
Minor Major Character: Downplayed. He's the real Chairman of the Ueno Seiwa Clan and Saejima's failure to finish him off 25 years ago in the past plays a major role in the criminal conspiracy that our heroes are entangled with. However he only appears in one scene in a flashback, only gets a short line of dialogue in said scene, and by the time of the plot of the game itself, he's become too old and bedridden to properly lead the clan, requiring captain Isao Katsuragi to lead in his stead.

Isao Katsuragi

Voiced by: Fumihiko Tachiki

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/katsuragiy4.jpg

"Rising up the ranks at our age meant decisive action had to be taken."

Effectively reigns over the Ueno Seiwa Clan as its leader in place of his ailing chairman, Ueno. He's officially the lieutenant of the Ueno Seiwa clan. He is a bad, bad man.

Ambition Is Evil: Essentially all of the conflicts in 4 are the results of his overly ambitious schemes.
Big Bad Wannabe: Despite being built up as the game's Big Bad, he's clearly out of his depth as he eventually gets outsmarted and outplayed by Munakata, Arai, and Daigo.
Boom, Headshot!: Courtesy of Yasuko, who he had shot earlier.
Bottomless Magazines: He's depicted with a properly-armed revolver killing everyone but Ueno himself in the aftermath of the Ueno Seiwa hit, and then taking a shot to the shoulder from his own gun by the hands of Sugiuchi to pretend to be a survivor. For a well-suited man seemingly never stopping to reload, Katsuragi apparently stocked up on around eleven rounds to use, compared to Saejima's revolvers realistically counting how many rounds they had and thus carrying extra guns to drop as needed.
Dark Is Evil: Very, very evil.
Dirty Coward: For all his smug talk and overconfidence when confronting Kiryu, he's shown to be pretty cowardly once things don't go his way. When Yasuko prepares to shoot him, he's left begging for his life.
Did Not Think This Through: The Ueno Seiwa hit that he staged had many glaring flaws and discrepancies that an experienced police officer like Munakata was able to quickly see through. This ultimately enabled Munakata to blackmail Katsuragi from a position of strength.
Do Well, But Not Perfect: Played with as an in-universe case. He was so cocksure in his plans that he proceeded to shoot every single intended victim of the Ueno Seiwa hit in the head. But when Sugiuchi has to wound him, it's a shoulder wound, leaving Katsuragi suspiciously as the only one inexplicably alive in a massacre of perfect headshots. Munakata recognizes this immediately and screws them over for it, and had Katsuragi at least bothered to shoot them in their non-lethal wounds or elsewhere, this part of the plan could've gone a lot smoother.
Evil Sounds Raspy: Has a rather gravelly and intimidating voice to compliment his evil nature.
Fatal Flaw:
- He overestimates his own plans, leaving them vulnerable against superior thinkers (like Munakata) and superior fighters (like Kiryu). This is demonstrated most effectively when Munakata picks out the numerous flaws in his staged Ueno hit.
- Ambition. Arguably what triggered the entire plot of the game was Katsuragi, a young and callous yakuza seeking to climb the ranks, deciding to concoct a dangerous plan that would easily secure him a promotion. But his plan was also sloppy and had too many discrepancies, which results in Munakata blackmailing him to become his crony. Even his death can be considered a consequence of his overly ambitious attempts to assert himself and break free from the power Munakata has over him.
Faux Affably Evil: He's polite and well-spoken and his introduction gives the impression of a man who's aware of his relatively low standing in the yakuza world and considers Yubitsume to be a painful and obsolete form of making amends. However, it doesn't take long to see how power-hungry he is as he sends Kamurocho into a state of chaos. Then you see how many lives he's willing to sacrifice for the sake of more power, even those of his own allies and collaborators.
Forehead of Doom: Has a rather large one.
The Heavy: The driving force behind the plot for most of the game, collaborating with Munakata until he is betrayed once he outlives his usefulness.
Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy:
- During Saejima's attempt on the Ueno Seiwa clan, Katsuragi was the only one with a pistol. He fires at Saejima several times, yet only manages to hit him a couple of times (and minor wounds at that) before running out of bullets. Justified, as Katsuragi needed Saejima alive as the fall guy and thus had no intention of killing him. It's also deconstructed because Katsuragi foolishly averted this; when he got back up to kill the rest of the men himself, he murders each of them with revolver shots to the head that comes off as Saejima having somehow waltzed in and perfectly headshot everyone. When Sugiuchi has to wound Katsuragi in the shoulder to make it look real, it instead makes him come off as an intended survivor since it now looks like Saejima inexplicably had the trope in effect for this one man.
- While Yasuko has already been fatally shot by him, his follow-up attempts miss until his gun is empty, despite her not taking any actions to dodge and merely slowly walking toward him.
Karmic Death:
- He killed off all of his fellow clan members in the staged hit with headshots. It's only fitting that he meets his death the same way when at Yasuko's mercy.
- He betrayed and killed off his fellow clan members in his pursuit of power, so it's rather fitting that Kido and Arai betray and try to kill him for similar ambitions, even if their actual attempt doesn't take and leads to Yasuko actually putting him down.
Manipulative Bastard: How easily he manipulates some people and gets away with it is impressive.
Mutual Kill: He shoots Yasuko, which eventually kills her, but not before she puts a bullet in his head.
Not Quite Dead: It's easy to lose track of how many times he gets shot, to no effect. He's either wearing bulletproof armour or the bullets are fake. That last one is real, though.
Obviously Evil: Dressed in all black, and his face clearly gives off an evil vibe.
Smug Snake: Not even Kiryu confronting him directly is enough to make him lose his cool. Frankly, his confidence is rather laughable considering he'd never get as far as he did with his schemes if it wasn't for Munakata co-opting his plan for his own benefit. Ultimately, he was never as in control of the conflict as he seemed to think he was. The moment it becomes clear that Munakata considers him a liability, Katsuragi's schemes quickly go up in smoke and he's left pleading for his life once he's completely run out of options.
The Starscream: The entire plot of the game; him using Yasuko to eliminate members of the Shibata Family who know of Katsuragi's hands in the Ueno Seiwa hit, his demands for possession of Kamurocho Hills and the profits it entails, were all a desperate attempt by Katsuragi to break free from Munakata's control.
The Unfought: Despite being the major bad guy for the first three quarters of the game, you never get to fight him. Justified, as he's more of a thinker.
Villainous Breakdown: He suddenly suffers from this hard after he shoots Yasuko in the back. She appears unaffected and defiantly approaches him, causing him to suddenly break down and empty his gun on her, and misses every shot. Since he told Kiryu earlier that he's no Death Seeker and wants to live, he's left whimpering and pleading for his life.
Villainous Widow's Peak: It's subdued but fitting for one of the most evil characters in the game. He didn't always have one though.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He gets betrayed by Kido, who betrays him on Arai's orders.

Masaru Ihara

Voiced by: Takahiro Fujimoto

One of two goons from the Ueno Seiwa Clan who cause a ruckus within the territory of the Tojo Clan's Kanemura Enterprises, at Club Elnard. He's drawn into battle with Akiyama as a result and defeated a few seconds later. He then dies at the hands of Arai, which is an issue since he'd been promoted to Captain on the day of his death.

Boom, Headshot!: After being beaten by Akiyama and fleeing the scene, Ihara goes out this way at Arai's hands.
Bring It: Uniquely makes a cocky beckoning gesture whenever he's strafing. Also present during his taunt.
Continuity Cameo: Ihara makes an appearance in Yakuza 6 as one of several ghostly Easter Eggs by taking photos with Kiryu's camera in certain locations.
Counter-Attack: Ihara can use the Knockdown Reversal skill, allowing him to roll when getting knocked down before rushing back at Akiyama with a gut punch.
Moveset Clone: Downplayed. Most of his moveset is unique but he borrows some moves from Tetsuo Tamashiro and Tsuyoshi Kanda from 3.
Oh, Crap!: After shooting Arai, it dawns on Ihara how bad the situation has become and he quickly grabs Mishima and books it.
Plot-Triggering Death: Arai kills Ihara, forcing him into hiding. As a result, Daigo offers a massive sum of compensatory funds while Shibata, Arai's superior, apologizes himself in public to Katsuragi, Ihara's boss, even offering his pinky. Apparently, Ihara had been promoted to Captain and was vital to the future of the Ueno Seiwa Clan and this would not be enough to compensate for the "major loss". If they're unable to locate Arai, Katsuragi gives the Tojo Clan two other options, hand over the life of someone in the Tojo Clan of the same apparent ranking, which he concludes would be Goro Majima, or hand over Majima's greatest asset, ownership of Kamurocho Hills. Considering the Tojo Clan's already dire financial situation, this is why the Tojo Clan and especially the Shibata Family is gunning so hard for Arai and anyone associated with him, bringing Akiyama and Kido into the conflict.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: Played With. He's strong enough to be a boss fight against the likes of Akiyama, with his Quick Time Event having him lift Akiyama off his feet and trying to chuck the man against a wall, but the cutscene after his defeat clearly shows that he's outmatched, with Akiyama barely breaking a sweat in dealing with him. While he's later revealed to be Captain of the Ueno Seiwa Clan, with Katsuragi even claiming him to be equal in significance to the likes of the Tojo Clan's Goro Majima, Ihara was literally promoted the day Akiyama met him. The reality is that the "death of such an important member of the Ueno Seiwa Clan" was planned for in advance to be able to coerce the Tojo Clan into handing over control of the highly lucrative Kamurocho Hills project to Katsuragi.
Red Baron: Ihara is also referred to as the "Thunder's Shadow" by the IF7-R machine. However this may just simply describe how the fight against his data enhances his moveset so that his kicks have an electric effect.
Shock and Awe: Apparently the data based on Ihara in the IF7-R machine is wearing electric shoes since getting hit by its kicks is like getting hit by a taser.
Starter Villain: Ihara is the first boss fight in 4 and, along with Mishima, they're the first named characters to cause trouble for Akiyama, or more specifically his friends.
Unwitting Pawn: Turns out, Ihara was promoted to Captain solely to be sacrificed as part of Katsuragi's power play against the Tojo Clan.
Use Your Head: One of his stronger attacks involves a big lunging headbutt identical to that used by larger, brawnier wrestler-type fighters like Hamazaki in 3.
Warm-Up Boss: As the first boss fight in 4, he's got better blocking skills and stronger, trickier attacks than the average street punk, but he really shouldn't be too much trouble against a low-level Akiyama.
We Hardly Knew Ye: Ihara gets a boss fight and two cutscenes before he gets shot by Arai.

Yutaka Mishima

Voiced by: Yoshihiro Kanemitsu

One of two goons from the Ueno Seiwa Clan who cause a ruckus within the territory of the Tojo Clan's Kanemura Enterprises, at Club Elnard. After Ihara is killed by Arai, he goes into hiding.

Grievous Bottley Harm: Mishima gets cracked in the head by Akiyama, taking him out for the fight against Ihara. Him being unconcious ended up saving his life since Ihara stashed him away in garbage in the Champion District to be picked up later, only for Ihara to get shot in the head later that night.
Hope Spot: Mishima went into hiding after Ihara's death because he learned that the Ueno Seiwa Clan wanted him dead. Eventually he comes into contact with Tanimura, who he explains the situation to. He begs him to keep him safe even if it means arresting him. Tanimura opts instead to have him crash with him at Little Asia, but instead Mishima gets shot and killed by Sugiuchi.
Not What I Signed on For: From the look on his face, it's clear Mishima didn't expect the shit to hit the fan that hard.
Unwitting Pawn: Mishima reveals to Tanimura that he and Ihara were explicitly ordered to cause trouble at Club Elnard that night. Ihara was promoted to Captain solely to be sacrificed as part of Katsuragi's power play against the Tojo Clan, which Mishima accidentally overheard alongside the order to kill him.
We Hardly Knew Ye: Mishima gets two cutscenes, one of which he's mostly unconscious for and the other one ending with his death.

Majima Family

Daisaku Minami

Voiced by: Hideo Ishikawa

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/minamiy4.jpg

"Hang on a sec. This number right here's my jam."

A young yakuza who has gained recognition in the Majima Family in Yakuza 4. He possesses a quirky personality, as evidenced by his Japanese and western tattoos, and became a yakuza out of admiration for "Mad Dog Majima". Like his patriarch, he is tough, aggressive, crazy, and can't carry a tune when singing karaoke.^note

Affably Evil: He comes across as relatively friendly and reasonable for a yakuza lieutenant, so long as you don't provoke him. The few times he commits violence are either in self-defence or at the behest of his boss Majima... except for the one time that Akiyama stops his karaoke. Even then, he quickly accepts Akiyama's obviously fake apology, stating that it's "no biggie".
Baritone of Strength: Zigzagged. He's got a fairly smooth and deep singing voice, and he sometimes speaks in a low menacing tone when he's really trying to sound intimidating. However, his usual speaking voice is rather nasally and, when he's fighting, it gets even more high-pitched. This all serves to make him even more similar to his boss Majima.
Berserk Button:
- The only thing that really seems to get under his skin is having his karaoke completely interrupted. He chucks his microphone at Akiyama with deadly precision when he uses the remote to shut off Minami's favorite song before he can even start singing.
- In Online, he flies into a drunken rage when Ichiban points out how fake his Kansai accent sounds. His patriarch, Majima's Kansai accent was what inspired Minami to speak that way in the first place so he takes it very personally when he thinks Ichiban's insulting it. The current state of the Majima Family and Tojo Clan as a whole probably wasn't helping either
Beware the Silly Ones: He's rather eccentric and the protagonists generally don't take him too seriously, but he's still the lieutenant of a yakuza family run by Majima. He can always give a decent fight, and when a group of homeless men jump him for trying to get into Saejima's underground hideout, he lays them all out easily.
Booze Flamethrower: Wields one against Saejima.
Borrowed Catchphrase: Borrows his boss Majima's phrase "Ain't that a kick in the dick." in response to learning that the woman he was ordered to look for, Lily, was no longer working at Akiyama's hostess club.
The Bus Came Back: Online shows what he's up to in 2018, after eight years of having been missing from the series. Ichiban meets him drunk at a ramen shop, fights him a few times, somehow gets dragged into singing karaoke with him, and eventually befriends him after a confrontation with some Omi Alliance members.
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He hasn't made another appearance in the main series despite being a lieutenant of Majima's Family.
Confusion Fu: While he's not quite on Majima's level, he's still an agile, acrobatic, unpredictable fighter with some unconventional methods of fighting.
Counter-Attack: When he's heated up from alcohol, pressuring his block can have him react with a two-hit combo consisting of a backhand followed up by a dropkick. When he's in his rapid quickstep phase, grabbing him will have him immediately break out of it with a maneuver that damages you and sends you to the ground.
Drowning My Sorrows: Shows signs of this in Online well after the Omi Alliance took over Kamurocho and the Majima Family disbanded. He makes a ruckus in a ramen shop and after Ichiban sobers him up a bit violently, he starts to get wistful over how much Kamurocho has changed since said Omi Alliance occupation and uses that to explain why he's becomes so fixated on alcohol and karaoke lately.
Drunken Master: Uses a drunken fighting style whenever he takes a swig of alcohol mid-fight. During the IF7-R fight against data based on him, he uses his drunken skills for the entire fight and moveset clones of him in later games follow suit as well.
Early-Bird Cameo: Makes a minor appearance in Nishida's storyline in Online where it's revealed that he had joined the the Majima Family sometime around when Kiryu was still being stalked by Majima in the Kiwami remake. During Majima's birthday, he tries to sing a song he had composed for Majima as a gift with expected results.
Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Not even the others in the Majima family enjoy his singing. He's introduced "singing" Kamurocho Lullaby in Club Elise to show how bad he is while his underlings can only glumly listen in silence and cheer half-heartedly once he finally finishes.
Large Ham: Not one for subtlety.
Laughably Evil: A violent thug who antagonizes some of the heroes, but he's just so goofy and expressive, especially once he starts fighting. While he's acknowledged as pretty strong, none of the game's major players take him all that seriously.
Leitmotif: "All my Pride". Notably one of the few in the entire series to have vocals. Set from his perspective, the lyrics focus on his love of singing, his "crazy" unconventional demeanor, and his dedication and admiration to his boss Majima.
Mood-Swinger: He's yelling angrily one moment, making thinly veiled threats in a cold tone the next, before quickly mellowing out and accepting Akiyama's obviously fake apology for interrupting his singing.
Non-Standard Character Design: Has somewhat exaggerated facial features with his narrow eyes, large buck teeth, thin long head, and facial piercings, on top of his tattoos being far more western-influenced than most major characters.
Pride: His Fatal Flaw. His theme song is even named after it.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: While he ends up losing to Akiyama and Saejima, they both comment on how tough the lieutenant is.
Recurring Boss: He's fought at the end of both Akiyama's and Saejima's portions of the game.
Red Baron: The "Flaming Jester" according to the IF7-R machine.
Replacement Flat Character: Has several of the same violently quirky and unstable character traits that Majima usually displays, but he appears in the game in which Majima's taking the situation more seriously than ever before. It's especially noticeable since right after beating Minami the first time, Majima shows up fully dressed in a crisp suit as opposed to his usual duds and then proceeds to have a completely serious conversation with Akiyama. Later downplayed since Majima's still the same as ever once he decides to fight.
Sequential Boss: Saejima gets into a fight with Majima right after dealing with his lieutenant.
Small Name, Big Ego: Dude may be a lieutenant, but he's not a match for guys like Saejima and Akiyama. And Majima isn't shy in telling him that his singing sucks.
Smug Snake: He's young and very full of himself. Majima has to tell him to give up when he insists on continuing the fight with Akiyama after he's clearly been defeated.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Between the shirtless look, his violent yet amusing Mood-Swinger personality, his accent, his agile fighting style, and poor karaoke skills, it's clear he takes after his boss Majima. He's even fought twice in 4 much like Majima was in the original game.
Tattooed Crook: A stand-out example in the Yakuza series due to having a mix of Japanese and Western tattoos. He has a tattoo of a serpent and a skull on his back while his arms have tattoos of another skull with a knife through it, a curly-haired woman, and a black panther. He also has the English word "HONOR" tattooed across his abdominals.
Undying Loyalty:
- Heavily implied by the lyrics of his Leitmotif to have this for his boss Majima. In the game itself, his only interactions with Majima are saying "Boss!" to him in a forlorn manner on two seperate occasions in which Majima walks in on Minami having just gotten the tar beat out of him by the protagonists. Still, it would go along with how he's clearly trying to imitate Majima to an extent.
  Anything for the guy I love and respect!
- With his Early-Bird Cameo in Online revealing that he's been part of the Majima Family since the first game, we can conclude that just like Majima's Number Two Nishida, he's quit and re-joined the Tojo Clan just for the sake of following Majima who's done the very same.
- His substory in Online confirms that he definitely has this for Majima. When Ichiban mocks him for how fake his accent sounds, he immediately lashes out in a drunken rage thinking that he's disrespecting Majima. He later tells Ichiban that he has to take back Kamurocho from the Omi Alliance for when Majima eventually returns. Also yes, he is just trying to imitate Majima's Kansai dialect right down to sounding fake to Ichiban.
Walking Shirtless Scene: Never seen wearing a shirt of any kind. He's one of the few Yakuza members in the entire series to never rock the standard Badass in a Nice Suit look, with the only article of clothing coming close being his brown dress shoes.

Police

Saito

Voiced by: Masato Obara

The sadistic guard leader of Okinawa Penitentiary No. 2, known for brutalizing prisoners and killing many of them.

Ax-Crazy: While he presents a cold, dignified demeanor initially, he's quickly shown to be violently unhinged as he punishes Saejima for getting into a fight by beating him over and over with a baton in a barely contained rage. Note that Saejima is being held from behind by another guard and isn't even resisting. It's said that many prisoners have lost their lives to his methods of disciplining them. He even seems to be indignant when another guard reminds him that he's had three prisoners reported to die under his watch and that he can't keep beating them to death. Later on, when Kiryu tries to intervene to keep him from capturing Hamazaki and Yasuko, he unsubtly threatens to beat him to death even though, to his knowledge, Kiryu's a complete civilian. All this said with an evil-looking grin. Even in combat he's very aggressive, with a number of fierce looking attacks that involve jumping strikes, some uncontrolled-looking baton swings, and even a flipping attack that you would expect more from a wild criminal like Majima.
Cold-Blooded Torture: Frequently inflicts this on many of his prisoners, with some of them even dying under his watch.
The Dreaded: He has an infamous reputation for the brutal treatment of his prisoners.
Evil Laugh: His taunt contains this.
Flunky Boss: Brings around an entourage of fellow prison guards to help subdue escaped prisoners.
Hate Sink: Saito is a cold-blooded sadist through and through, and the cruel treatment of his prisoners for no reason other than he can shows that he's meant to be loathed by the players as much as possible. It is immensely satisfying how many times he gets beaten up.
Jerkass: A psychotically violent brute who even mocks and insults his victims as he's laying into them.
King Mook: He wears the exact uniform as his peers and leads them all with an iron baton.
Lack of Empathy: He frequently brutalizes prisoners, justifying his actions because no one would care what would happens to the criminals he's been victimizing.
Lawman Baton: Uses what appears to be a collapsible baton to beat and often outright kill misbehaving prisoners. After he and a group of prison guards fail to take down Saejima barehanded, he'll carry one around in every ensuing fight with him and proves to be far more dangerous with it.
Lightning Bruiser: One of the reasons that Saito is such a tough boss, aside from being fought with an underleveled Saejima or Kiryu with little healing items available, is his actual combat capabilities: he is extremely aggressive and quick on his feet along with having powerful, sometimes unblockable attacks that can link up to lengthy, damaging combos.
Moveset Clone: His unarmed moveset is a simplified version of Futoshi Shimano's from the original PS2 version of the first game. It's identical to the way certain heavy generic mooks fight actually.
Obviously Evil: He's certainly very fierce-looking. When Kiryu hears the way he talks when he confronts Hamazaki, he figures out very quickly that him and his men aren't ordinary prison guards.
Recurring Boss: Saejima has to tussle with him multiple times during his escape from prison. Kiryu also has to deal with him later.
Red Baron: The "Guardian of Rage" according to the IF7-R machine.
Sadist: Given that he gets a kick out of beating the tar out of his prisoners, it's safe to say that he's one.
Starter Villain: The first major antagonist Saejima faces after being introduced to the series as a playable protagonist, but unimporant in the grand scheme of things.
Sword and Fist: Can seamlessly weave kicks into his baton combos and his Grapple Move uses more punches than actual baton bashing.
Wake-Up Call Boss:
- For Saejima's chapters. He's a quick, vicious fighter with multiple health bars, guard-breaking, and guard-piercing attacks as well as a Grapple Move that's difficult to break out without upgrades. He's a tough fight for any other protagonist but because Saejima's both the slowest playable character and suffering from Early Game Hell, Saito ends being a huge difficulty spike.
- For Kiryu's chapter. Kiryu starting off with several useful upgrades from the previous game already unlocked may make him an Experienced Protagonist, but he still starts at Level 1. Combining that with Saito already being a tricky enemy and how, at this point, the only possible healing items available are salvaged from the area or fallen enemies, and the player's in for a real bad time if they don't work out his patterns fast or remember them from the Saejima battle.
Wardens Are Evil: While he's merely a prison guard rather than the warden, he still fits the criteria.

Satoshi Hisai

Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hisaiy4.jpg

Tanimura's boss. Has a gentle demeanor and is troubled by Tanimura's unprofessional attitude, but overlooks it in light of his impressive arrest rate. Known as an expert marksman in contrast to his mild personality.

Anti-Villain: Revealed to be working for Munakata despite his meek demeanor. While he shows a more sinister side later, as he has Tanimura's family tied up and ready to be executed, it's made apparent that not only did he lie to Munakata about Tanimura being dead, he also ended up sparing his family, though he ended up committing suicide not long afterwards. Tanimura theorizes that he protected Tanimura and his family not only out of a sense of justice, but to give Tanimura a chance at doing what he couldn't do; taking down Munakata once and for all.
Cool Old Guy: He's pretty lenient with Tanimura, even when he's up to his usual antics.
Dirty Cop: Willing to take out a fellow police officer on the Dirty Cop chief's orders when he reveals his deep ties to criminals. However, he draws the line at taking out civilians.
Driven to Suicide: He commits suicide rather than killing Tanimura's family in Little Asia.
Due to the Dead: After Hisai's suicide, Tanimura places his and Sugiuchi's badges on a table in Homeland and gives out a silent prayer.
Scary Shiny Glasses: When it's revealed that he's working for Munakata and has been ordered to take out Zhao and Mei Hua, who he already has tied up, his glasses are suddenly for more opaque than usual. Later subverted when it turns out he killed himself rather than Tanimura's family.

Junji Sugiuchi

Voiced by: Kenichi Endou

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sugiuchiy4.jpg

"You see a lot of shit go down when you've been on the force almost three decades."

A capable detective who has been on the force for more than 30 years in a division focused on murder cases, and something like a (very harsh) father figure to Tanimura.

Alas, Poor Villain: As he reveals that he was a yakuza member the whole time and unveils the truth behind the Ueno Seiwa hit, he feels a great weight lifted from his shoulders at freeing the secret he kept for 30 years. He also admits that he enjoyed being a cop and felt awful for being called a hero when he was a fraud the whole time. He's then shot in the back and dies telling Tanimura about there being another traitor and finally thanking Tanimura one last time.
Becoming the Mask: Despite being a yakuza mole, he grew to take pride in his job as a cop and was guilt-ridden whenever someone praised him for helping others.
Big Damn Heroes: When it looks like Tanimura is about to get mobbed by an entire army of Ueno Seiwa grunts when his negotiations with Katsuragi goes sour, Junji barrels in with a patrol car to make the crowd disperse and bails Tanimura out so he can run off and save the owner of Homeland.
Broken Pedestal: As much as Tanimura shows little respect to him, he still considered Sugiuchi to be a good honest cop. He's outright driven to tears when Sugiuchi affirms that he really did kill Tanimura's father despite the two of them working together as partners. When he reveals that he was also a spy for the yakuza the entire time he was on the force, Tanimura is almost speechless.
Climax Boss: He's Tanimura's penultimate boss fight, the single strongest enemy he faces in the story as well as the only boss that he fights one-on-one. Not to mention, he's the antagonist that he has the most personal connection to. After his defeat, he also comes clean about the truth behind Saejima's botched Ueno Seiwa Hit.
Da Chief: Not the actual chief, but he fulfills this role for Tanimura.
Deadpan Snarker: Has a very sardonic sense of humor, particularly in his interactions with Akiyama.
Dead Partner: For him, it was Tanimura's dad, which explains why Sugiuchi looks out for him. It's later revealed that he murdered Tanimura's dad because He Knows Too Much.
Didn't Think This Through: He's the one that had to present the doctored report of the Ueno Seiwa hit to Munakata, which presumably includes the details of how every assassinated yakuza present was shot in the head, yet Katsuragi inexplicably was only given a shoulder wound, one that Sugiuchi himself had dealt as part of the cover-up of the plan. Given how difficult it would be for any low-rung punk to have such Improbable Aiming Skills yet botch one of the key targets, and they likely can't just lie about the autopsies with new lead holes in their craniums, Sugiuchi foolishly spelled out to Munakata the whole farce.
Disc-One Final Boss: To Tanimura, whose entire character arc revolves around trying to avenge his father's death by finding his killer and taking him down once and for all. After defeating Sugiuchi, who confesses to the crime, he learns that he did so on Munakata's orders and refuses to be satisfied until he pays back Munakata as well.
Tanimura: My father's out there somewhere, telling me to see this thing through. It's not over yet. Not until I drag Munakata to his knees.
Duel Boss: The only major enemy Tanimura faces in the main story that will fight him one-on-one.
Due to the Dead: After Sugiuchi's death, Tanimura puts his and Hisai's badges on a table in Homeland and gives out a silent prayer.
Evil Counterpart: To Tanimura, made very obvious in their final confrontation. They're both cops and skilled hand-to-hand fighters, but Tanimura's flagrant abuse of his police authority is all for the sake of helping the disenfranchised in the immigrant community while Sugiuchi's more outstanding track record on the force hides heinous misdeeds that only help power-hungry monsters like Katsuragi or Munakata.
Evil Laugh: Chuckles to himself when the police corner him, believing that they'd never be able to take him in due to the connections he has. When Tanimura's willing to defy police protocol to take him down, he chuckles again. He also gets more energetic laughter during the ensuing boat chase sequence if he gets far away enough, usually occuring if the player accidentally crashes Tanimura's boat into an obstacle.
Evil Sounds Raspy: Has a gruff and gravelly voice.
Foil: To Arai. Sugiuchi is an Ueno Seiwa Clan yakuza member who infiltrated the police department decades ago and has a rude, casual attitude. Before his death, he admits that his ambitions as a yakuza have faded over the years and he feels more pride in his work as a police detective. In contrast. Arai is a cop who went undercover as a yakuza member of the Tojo Clan years ago, and he conducts himself in a polite, dignified manner. By the end of the game, he tries to turn his back on the Dirty Cops and realize his ambitions of justice in Kamurocho by taking control of the Tojo Clan.
Good Feels Good: Admits to have enjoyed being a cop and receiving praise for his success while simultaneously feeling immense guilt since he was secretly a yakuza member the entire 30 plus years he was on the force.
Heel–Face Door-Slam: After his defeat and revealing the truth behind the Ueno Seiwa Hit, he reveals that he much prefers working as a legitimate police Officer than being a mole for the yakuza. He willingly accepts being arrested by Tanimura but is unfortunately fatally wounded by a gunshot from Hisai and he dies before he can atone for his crimes in jail.
Hidden Depths: It's heavily implied that decades of working for the local police have been taking its toll on him, to the point where he briefly wonders aloud what he's even doing anymore. It would go a long way in explaining his unpleasant attitude. It's a bit more complex than that.
Inksuit Actor: Looks near identical to his voice actor.
Inspector Javert: Akiyama's investigation of Arai's murderous actions puts him into conflict with Sugiuchi, who believes he's somehow connected since he's been so supportive of Arai before. Subverted when he ends up having to "babysit" Akiyama, putting him under Witness Protection since members of the Tojo Clan, specifically the Shibata Family, are aware of his ties to Arai and keep targeting him.
Jerkass: Gruff, rude, and snarky. Of the two protagonists he interacts with, he doesn't get along with either of them. He seems to get over his poor attitude and gets a lot more sincere after finally confessing everything to Tanimura.
Kido: That guy really puts the dick in detective. What an asshole.
Akiyama: No joke. But hey, if I were over 40 and still stuck as a beat cop, I'd probably have a chip on my shoulder, too.
Leitmotif: "Teufel Mit Liebe"
Lawman Gone Bad: Inverted. Despite being on the force for over 30 years, he was secretly still a yakuza when he first joined with the mission to spy and keep tabs on the police. While he never really considered himself a real cop, he actually grew to legitimately enjoy helping people.
Lightning Bruiser: Starts the battle with a fairly large health bar and he's got the strength and speed to bypass Tanimura's defensive fighting style, especially if you let him get into Heat Mode.
Meaningful Appearance: Tanimura focuses on his expensive-looking shoes when he's getting lectured by him. He was actually thinking about how weird it was for him to have them since they'd be difficult to afford on a homicide detective's salary, not to mention impractical for his line of work when he's constantly dealing with murder scenes. It's his first clue that there's something off about Sugiuchi.
The Mole: He's actually a yakuza undercover as a cop.
Motive Decay: Used to have ambitions and dreams as a yakuza, but they faded after nearly 30 years of infiltrating the Kamurocho Police Department. It's to the point where he enjoys acting like a legitimate police officer more than being The Mole for the yakuza.
The hell have I been doing with my life? For decades now... Ever since the day I introduced Munakata to Katsuragi... I've been a goddamn lapdog. For cops and yakuza alike. And my own dream? It fizzled out years ago.
One Last Smoke: After telling Tanimura about the Ueno Seiwa hit, Sugiuchi manages to smoke one last cigarette a few seconds before he is fatally shot by Hisai.
Orange/Blue Contrast: Has a reddish orange Battle Aura compared to Tanimura's blue.
Police Are Useless: Lampshaded when he's outed as working with Katsuragi and then cornered by Tanimura and the rest of the Kamurocho Police Force. He claims to be untouchable despite the evidence against him and even dares the officers to shoot at him and stop him from walking away, mocking Japanese police protocol in the process. Unfortunately for him, Tanimura isn't exactly a conventional Japanese officer of the law.
Anyone pulls the trigger and you're through. Japanese police can't shoot. And you damn well know it. Prove me wrong... See what the "justice" everyone loves so much chalks up to? Absolutely nothing.
Red Baron: The "Cold-blooded Fist" according to the IF7-R machine.
Say My Name: "Tanimura!"
Strong and Skilled: Has the combat skills of a veteran karateka and is strong enough to pull a Killer Bear Hug on Tanimura if he grabs him from the front while in Heat Mode.
Unblockable Attack: Unique to him, is that when he goes into Heat Mode, his attacks will nullify Tanimura's parry ability.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His inability to properly keep the truth of the Ueno Seiwa hit away from Munakata not only got him and his co-conspirators blackmailed for 30 years, but set the game's events into motion.
Villain Teleportation: The data based on him in the IF7-R machines has the ability to fade away and appear somewhere else in the arena, usually behind you.
Walking Spoiler: Definitely not what he seems.
Worthy Opponent: Remarks that Tanimura's the only honest cop he's known for the 30 years he's been on the force, for better or for worse, and invites him to try and take him down once it's been made clear he's working together with Katsuragi.
Sugiuchi: I always knew you'd grow into your uniform. You're the first one in my 30 years who's really deserved it. So congrats.
Tanimura: Wow. I'm honored.
Sugiuchi: Alright, kid. Let's see how far your justice takes you. Hope you're up to the challenge.
You Killed My Father: He was the killer of Tanimura's dad. Seeing as he's somewhat of a father figure to Tanimura, he doesn't take too well to the revelation.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He's shot dead by Hisai on Munakata's orders, as part of a move to betray Katsuragi.

Seishiro Munakata (Unmarked Spoilers)

Voiced by: Kinya Kitaoji

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/munakatay4.jpg

"We and the yakuza have always been two sides of the same coin."

A legend in the force who rose to deputy commissioner despite lacking a formal background in civil service. He has big plans for cracking down on crime. He's the true Big Bad behind everything in not just the fourth game, but all the way to the first.

Archenemy: To Tanimura, as he's the one who ordered his adopted father's death years ago, making it fitting that he is Tanimura's final boss.
Big Bad: The main antagonist of the game, and ultimately the one calling the shots for Katsuragi.
Call-Back: His role of authority, ambitions and being a Flunky Boss and "Get Back Here!" Boss are not dissimilar to Kyohei Jingu of the first game. Fitting, since he was the one ordering Jingu in the first game.
The Conspiracy: He's the mastermind of a conspiracy to turn Japan into a Police State, and it's later revealed that Kyohei Jingu, the Big Bad of the first game, was a part of that conspiracy.
Cowardly Boss: His boss fight primarily has him hiding in the corner and leaving the fighting to his mooks.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He practically betrays everyone who works for him. This is what screws him in the end.
Crazy-Prepared: Anticipates that Arai would betray him, and thus gave him a gun loaded with rubber bullets on the off chance that Arai turns the gun on him.
Devious Daggers: Not him, but rather half of his bodyguards who carry around what appear to be combat knives. This gives the impression that, despite being suited up like riot cops, they're more like government assassins or hired mercenaries, which suits how ruthless Munakata is in his ambitions of exploiting incarcerated criminals and establishing control through any means necessary.
Dirty Cop: A major one in the Yakuza series, as he's high up in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and has been blackmailing and exploiting yakuza for over two decades.
Driven to Suicide: Once his corruption has been exposed, he commits suicide rather than face punishment for his crimes.
Engineered Heroics: Part of his plan for Penitentiary No. 2 in Okinawa involved releasing inmates to generate artificial crime to make the police look better and solidify their power.
Even Evil Has Standards: Zig-zagged. The only single positive thing Munakata technically displays in the entire game is that when he gives Arai a loaded revolver for the sake of kidnapping the children of the Sunshine Orphanage, they're revealed to be rubber bullets, meaning even if Arai went through with it there should've been no serious risks to anyone involved... but the major reason he did this was in case Arai betrayed him in his own case of the trope, so it's arguable if it was for the children's safety or entirely his own.
Evil Laugh: Performs a subdued one whenever Tanimura gets knocked down from either his bodyguards or his gunshots. He also breaks into laughter even after he's defeated, confident that the system will protect him. Of course, his gloating becomes short-lived when Date exposes his corruption to the public.
Evil Old Folks: One of the oldest characters to be both a main antagonist and a Final Boss.
Evil Plan: One that has spanned three decades, in which he plans to monopolize both the law and the criminal underworld in order to maintain his seat of power.
Final Boss: Fought by Tanimura in 4's climax following Arai, Kido and Daigo.
Flunky Boss: Tanimura has to fight lots of heavily armed bodyguards to get to him. Like Jingu, he also doubles as a "Get Back Here!" Boss due to being armed with a handgun and running about to get a good vantage point. Practically lampshaded by Tanimura.
Tanimura: I hate people like you. Can't survive without others to do your dirty work.
Good Old Ways: He prefers the days when the yakuza were small-time and helped Japan from the shadows because they didn't have the power to influence the government.
Greater-Scope Villain: It's later revealed that he's Jingu's co-conspirator, and that the missing 10 billion yen from the first game was meant to be used in Munakata's plans.
Inksuit Actor: Looks near identical to his voice actor.
Knight Templar: Very convinced about his own self-righteousness, and believes his plan will cleanse the city.
Leitmotif: "For Faith (Instruments)".
The Man Behind the Man: For both Katsuragi and Arai, and Kyohei Jingu.
Necessarily Evil: How he views the yakuza.
Non-Action Big Bad: Despite being the game's biggest antagonist and the last boss faced in the story, he displays no combat ability beyond pointing and shooting at Tanimura with his handgun. His bodyguards will be doing most of the heavy lifting for him during his boss fight.
Oh, Crap!: He becomes increasingly panicked during the final boss fight as it becomes more and more clear that his army of bodyguards can do nothing to stop Tanimura.
Smug Snake: Even when he's beaten, he's convinced nothing will happen to him because of his position on the force. His bravado collapses when Date lets loose his newspaper report across the skies of Kamurocho revealing Munakata's deep connections to the Yakuza with uncontestable evidence from Hamazaki's file to back it up.
Spotting the Thread: He instantly deduces that Sugiuchi is covering up or intentionally ignoring key details in the Ueno Seiwa hit when the detective doesn't realize there's nothing fishy about Saejima supposedly doing perfect headshots on everyone there but Katsuragi.
This Cannot Be!: Has this reaction during a couple cinematics in the final battle in response to Tanimura somehow gaining the upper hand against him and his team of personal bodyguards.
Villainous Breakdown: When Date exposes his corruption all over Kamurocho by spreading all of his newspaper headlines by helicopter, he freaks out and tries to murder Akiyama on the spot since he's the one who called Date to do so. When he gets completely subdued and handcuffed, he still gets his hands on a handgun and apparently decides killing himself would be better than going to jail for police corruption.
Visionary Villain: His goal is to turn Japan into a literal Police State with the yakuza as mere controlled opposition.
Walking Spoiler: His involvement in Yakuza 4 and the first game are major spoilers that are revealed at the tail-end of the game.
Wolfpack Boss: While he's mostly a Flunky Boss, the Bodyguard Captain and two Elite Bodyguards who try to personally defend him are tough enough to qualify as boss fights on their own right, and they all have to be taken down before the fight is considered over.
Would Hurt a Child: He tries to have Arai kidnap the children of the Sunshine Orphanage. Thankfully Arai doesn't go through with it.
You Killed My Father: Tanimura's father was murdered on Munakata's orders.

Nair

Voiced by: Ryoko Kataoka (4), Nanako Mori (Online)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yfour1.png

A Filipino policewoman who is in Kamurocho to investigate the whereabouts of a notorious criminal. She serves as Tanimura's training partner.

Action Girl: She will mess Tanimura up if you don't take her seriously during sparring.
Beauty Is Never Tarnished: When she's defeated, she never has any blood on her face compared to the punks fought in the street. Justified though, as she and Tanimura are only sparring.
Expy: Of Kaoru Sayama, a Fair Cop investigating a crime ring who ends up realizing that the leader of said crime ring is her half-brother. Ironically, Kaoru Sayama in Kiwami 2 would resemble her even more when they gave her the same fighting style sans the ability to parry.
Leitmotif: "Theme of Nair"
Moveset Clone: Of Tanimura. She can even parry melee attacks like him. Overlaps with Mirror Boss since she fills the role of his training master.
My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: Visiting her as any of the other playable characters results in them trying to speak to Nair in Tagalog, but they end up butchering the language as a whole; from her reactions, Akiyama ends up pissing her off, Saejima makes her cry, while Kiryu somehow ends up making her feel happy.
Translation Convention: She has no knowledge of Japanese to fall back on, and is only able to get help from Tanimura since he's fluent in Tagalog. As an interesting point, she was not directly identified as Filipino in the original PS3 release, and text boxes used various special characters to represent the language she was speaking^note By the time 4 was remastered, said text boxes explicitly point out that she is indeed speaking in Tagalog.
Weak, but Skilled: Much like Tanimura, she prefers to use the enemies strength against them through parries rather than rely on her own strength.
Would Hit a Girl: Is one of the only female combatants that can be fought in the history of the series, when she and Tanimura agree to spar.

Sodachi Dojo

Yasuo Sodachi

Voiced by: Takahiro Kageyama (6)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sodachi6.jpg

Sodachi as he appears in Yakuza 6

The "master" of the Sodachi Dojo who recruits Saejima to help train up new fighters into champions.

Armored But Frail: A peculiar Inversion as a recruitable fighter in Gaiden. He boasts one of the largest Health stats on your team but has an utterly pitiful Defence stat in turn, making him more frail than he should be.
Boxing Battler: Once he works on his fighting form in 6, he gravitates towards boxing and kickboxing techniques.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He starts off as a complete weakling and is always pretty goofy but his strategies for coaching and training fighters are pretty solid overall and he manages to develop into a certified asskicker himself from 6 onwards.
Butt-Monkey: The fighters with rougher personalities openly insult him, he always mopes whenever Saejima takes the fighters out drinking while he stays behind, and he's primarily used as the training dummy for said fighters to test their new heat finishers on, and considering Saejima's punishing Revelations...
Cerebus Retcon: Ishin retroactively reveals the reason he's so fundementally weak is because his very powerful ancestor, Sodachi Nobuyasu, was attacked with an enchanted sword by that era's Amon, which cursed not only Nobuyasu but his entire family line with perpetual weakness. The modern Sodachi has been pretty good about overcoming this hurdle, though.
Continuity Cameo: Appears in Kiwami 2 as a scoutable employee for Majima Construction. The canonicity of said appearance is questionable considering how he reuses his slightly buffer appearance from 6.
- Reappears in Gaiden as a recruitable fighter for the Joryu Clan in the Coliseum. Kiryu's conversation with him implies that he still remembers Kiryu despite claiming that he "definitely doesn't know him".
- Reappears as the main focus and Ichiban's 'partner' for the Sujimon tournament sidestory in Infinite Wealth.
Costume Evolution: Originally wearing a yellow traditional martial arts gi in 4 and 5, he reappears in 6 with the shirt replaced by a simple dark green tank top exposing the new muscles he developed thanks to training with the RIZAP program. Zig-Zagged as of Gaiden as he's returned to his old gi though his fighting ability and build suggests that he still keeps in shape.
Hidden Depths: In Yakuza: Like A Dragon, he holds the top score for all of the karaoke songs, indicating he's a really good singer.
Iron Butt-Monkey: Considering the kind of heat skills Saejima can teach his students, he's definitely Made of Iron. Even moreso in 6 when he becomes a recurring opponent against Kiryu.
Lightning Bruiser: In 6, mostly by virtue of developing into using Kuze's quick and brutal boxing techniques and boasting the sort of stats to threaten even an endgame Kiryu.
- Also applies to his showing in Gaiden as a recruitable Fighter. Quirky defensive stats aside, he's still fighting the same way while boasting potentially one of the highest Health and Attack stats of any member of your team. That his Heat Skill lets him further boost the Attack of his team while reducing staggering to enemy hits accentuates this.
Moveset Clone: In 6, after he's sparred with Kiryu enough times, he develops into using the same brutal dirty boxing techniques of Daisaku Kuze from 0. He retains this moveset in Like a Dragon Gaiden.
Please, Don't Leave Me: Played for laughs at the end of the Dojo storyline in 4 when he's begging Saejima to stay.
Plucky Comic Relief: Consistently a pretty light-hearted character
Promoted to Playable: He's controllable in the Coliseum in Like a Dragon Gaiden retaining his perfected fighting techniques from 6.
Screams Like a Little Girl: Expect high-pitched shrieks when he really gets hurt.
Starter Mon: In Infinite Wealth, he's one of the first three Sujimon Ichiban gets.
Took a Level in Badass: He goes from having no combat abilities at the beginning of his arc with Saejima in 4 to being able to go toe to toe with even a fully maxed out endgame Kiryu in 6, having also put on some muscle mass as well. Somewhat exaggerated in Gaiden as he apparently has a higher Attack stat than his old friend and hero Saejima of all people.
Zero-Effort Boss: Can be fought in a substory at the very beginning of Saejima's portion of the game in 5 as part of a training session with his students. While his students will put up a struggle, he will go down in one hit despite claiming to have made some progress in his own personal martial arts training.

Hideo Sugiyama

The first student that Saejima takes on. He fights in karate style.

Heartbroken Badass: After seeing Mayako with her boyfriend and running away, Sodachi thought he was gonna be so depressed for two months at best or quit fighting at worst. Inside the dojo, he's actually training harder than before. He knows crying about it won't change anything, so he'll train harder to further boost his confidence and get a better girl.
Hopeless Suitor: Regardless of how fast it takes you to train Hideo to win the tournament, he sees he never had a chance with Mayako as she's already got a boyfriend.
I Just Want to Be Badass: He joins the dojo and trains under Saejima so that he can not only get a girl named Mayako to notice him, but also be strong enough to protect her.
Jack of All Stats: His starting stats are all perfectly equal and so are his maximum stats. He verges on being a Master of None when you compare max his stats to other characters, but it'll be enough to let him win just about any match, especially if you take advantage of Finishing Moves.

Takehiro Ehama

The second student. He fights in a pro wrestling/lucha libre style.

Cool Old Guy: He's apparently around Saejima's age and with proper training, he can weave around enemy attacks and toss 'em around the ring with ease. One of his conversations with Saejima has them discuss music and dancing from when they were younger.
Fragile Speedster: Has worse overall stamina and power compared to the younger Hideo, but has the potential for much higher speed. Overlaps with Weak, but Skilled since he can also get a higher technique stat.
George Jetson Job Security: According to the Opponent Info on him in the Coliseum, he was fired from his job for giving the boss a caffè latte instead of a caffè mocha.
Heart Broken Badass: Before he joined the Dojo, his wife left him and even took their child since he lost his job and was really struggling to get his life together for the family. If Saejima hangs out with him after training, one of the correct options is to convince him to get stronger so he can try and win her back somehow. If he wins the tournament, Sodachi reveals that he had located Ehama's wife and kid and had them secretly watching the tournament. With Ehama's newfound confidence and skill in lucrative combat sports, they decide to come together to be a real family once more.
Heroic Build: Has the most muscular build out of all apprentices. Rather ironic since his power stat is on the lower end in comparison.
I Just Want to Be Special: Lived an ordinary, uneventful, married life until he was fired one day. He never recovered from the shock and it only got worse when his wife quickly took the kid and left him since he couldn't get his life together to properly support a family. With his life in shambles, he decided he wanted to try and become stronger and special so he joined Sodachi's Dojo.
Masked Luchador: Sodachi gives him wrestling gear including a Tiger-themed mask. He really takes to the uniform in general since he used to love watching another masked tiger-themed wrestler named Ferocious Tiger. He continues to wear said mask even when in civies.
Wrestler in All of Us: His moveset uses wrestling moves like body slams and frankensteiners.

Fukushi Ochiai

The third student. He fights in a boxing style (mostly).

Boxing Battler: Downplayed. He wears boxing gloves and specializes in heavy punches, but his moveset uses a variety of moves illegal in boxing such as running tackles, double axehammers, spinning clotheslines, kicks, or grabbing the opponent to throw them. Not to mention, he'll use any Finishing Move Saejima teaches him.
Early-Bird Cameo: He's introduced early in the questline just sleeping away throughout the first two students' training.
Establishing Character Moment: In his proper introduction, he insults the two previous fighters because he's shocked that they've apparently been trained into champions. He then calls Saejima "shabby" and "old", but remarks that he seems more reliable than Sodachi ever was and then cheerfully tells Saejima that he hates training.
Hidden Depths: According to the Opponent Info on him at the Coliseum, he's a famous writer for a popular magazine column but no one at the Dojo is aware of this.
Jerkass: Manages to insult just about everyone at the Dojo and even his own father tells Saejima over the phone that he's a rather difficult person.
Lazy Bum: He spends the first two fighters' training sessions sleeping. He also starts off with the worst mood and trust because he dislikes physical training. Soon as his arc is done, he goes right back to sleep until he's woken up for tag bouts in the Colisseum.
Mighty Glacier: Starts with higher stamina and strength and has a fairly easy time improving those stats to high caps, but his speed stat lags behind that of other students. Proper training should alleviate this to the point where he can outmaneuver Saejima.
Otaku: He's one for mecha anime, which Saejima says he used to watch back in his day.
Stout Strength: He may be fat, but he's got quite a muscle gut under his shirt.

Makoto Tokita

The fourth student. He fights in a street fighting style with some influence from Muay Thai. He reappears in 5 in Tsukimino as an entrant in the Victory Road tournament.

Always Someone Better: During Saejima's third meeting with him after training, he starts to worry that if he becomes the strongest fighter ever, he won't have any goals to strive for and could lose his motivation in life. A good way to motivate him is to have Saejima offer to be this trope to him.
Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He has this attitude like he's the hottest shit around, especially after he wins the tournament.
Blood Knight: He's someone who utterly loves to fight, especially in the Purgatory Coliseum. He's still just as much of one in 5 in Saejima's side of the Victory Road until the former teacher knocks his student down a peg or two.
Break the Haughty: It's no surprise that by the time of 5, his success in martial arts tournaments has solidified his ego. Naturally, when he tries to show Saejima how unstoppable he's become over the passage of time during the Victory Road Qualifiers, he receives a veritable humbling.
The Fighting Narcissist: He's a pretty boy fighter and also boasts about looking at himself naked in the mirror.
Sodachi: Looks like he's refined his skills and his ego! Keep this up and he'll be the most famous narcissist - oops, I mean, champion - ever!
Inferiority Superiority Complex: Manages to surpass Ochiai in terms of having an inflated ego but after his 5th training session, a group of students from his previous dojo spot him outside of the dojo. They mock him, claiming that despite him trained longer than any of them, he would always lose to them in matches despite his best efforts. He's unable to refute those claims, becoming rather sullen about it and he'll only cheer up if Saejima opts to ignore his apparent past failures as a martial artist and move on in life to help him realize that potential and talent he keeps saying he has.
Vengeance Feels Empty: He invites the bully students from his former dojo over so he can teach them a lesson, but when they suddenly turn about-face and cheer for him and treat him like a celebrity, he feels like he wasted his time trying to get get back at a bunch of shallow idiots. Saejima and Sodachi assure him that despite the questionable motives and anti-climactic result, he still became a stronger, better man after the experience and that he shouldn't waste any thoughts on those guys.
Weak, but Skilled: Specializes in Technique with his street-fighting style having shades of Muay Thai, but he has a harder time improving his Strength. Subverted in 5 where he relies more on brute strength with moves like spinning clotheslines and headbutts.

Masataka Watanabe

The fifth and final student. He fights with a mix of pro wrestling and street fighting.

Acrofatic: He's insecure about being overweight but he can get a surprisingly high Speed stat as well as pull off some pretty agile attacks in combat.
Beware the Nice Ones: He might be the nicest, gentlest student at the dojo but once he gets better at fighting, he's just as capable of brutal tactics as the other students and then some. In fact one of his unique attacks is to perform a combo that ends with a Neck Snap, identical to the one used by the Mysterious Agent/Andre Richarson.
Extreme Doormat: He learned to suck up to bullies just to keep them from harassing him so much. The end result is his current overly passive and submissive personality, constantly afraid of hurting or even offending others. He joined Sodachi Dojo primarily to help build up his confidence and stop feeling so pathetic.
Gentle Giant: He's the largest student but is afraid of wanting to hurt others, which sorely pisses off Tokita.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: Accidentally knocks champion fighter Tokita to the ground during training despite having no experience. Sodachi himself states, that he's naturally strong and has the potential to be a great fighter. However, he has a very low sense of self-worth due to bullies and has always considered himself a fat loser.
Lightning Bruiser: At max stats, he has the best Strength and Stamina stats along with rather high Speed.
The Rival: After he completes his arc, he becomes this to Tokita.
Strong and Skilled: Has very high Strength and Technique which is reflected in some of his moves having some surprisingly graceful kicking techniques.
Weight Woe: He's very negative about being overweight since he's been bullied about it for so long.
Wrestler in All of Us: He uses suplexes and can even bust out a stunner.

Characters / Yakuza 4

New Playable Characters

Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera (Japanese), Stephen Fu (English)

Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (Japanese), Ron Yuan (English)^{Other Languages} Feng Sheng (Chinese)

Voiced by: Hiroki Narimiya (PS3 version), Toshiki Masuda (PS4 remaster)