Fridge / Like a Dragon

aka: Yakuza Like A Dragon

WARNING: Spoilers Off applies to this page. Proceed at your own risk.

For entries in Like a Dragon's sister series, Judgment, go here.

Fridge Brilliance:

General

• The various fighting styles Kiryu has in 0 and Kiwami are slightly off-putting considering how they don't make any canonical appearances from those games onward. However, you can look at his Legend style as the culmination of the three styles he's used in those two games - the speed of Rush, a much more refined technique used in Brawler, and the power-oriented and weapon-based moves of Beast are all present with the Dragon of Dojima style. A similar comparison can be made with Majima's Mad Dog of Shimano style as well - Thug represents his underhanded way of fighting in general, Slugger represents his use of weapons and Breaker represents the blinding speed at which he attacks and his unpredictability.
• While the series' Western name, Yakuza, might seem a bit of a misnomer given that Kiryu himself spends next to no time actually in the yakuza apart from the prologue for Yakuza 0 and the first game, the western name for Ryu Ga Gotoku 7: The Whereabouts of Light and Darkness - Yakuza: Like a Dragon - makes a lot more sense when we're talking about Ichiban as a protagonist. Kiryu's irezumi was an actual dragon, and in Yakuza 4 in particular, he represented Seiryu, the Azure dragon. Ichiban on the other hand is a Legendary Carp in the midst of transforming itself into a dragon - a dragonfish as Ichiban himself said it. It's not actually a dragon, but rather it's like a dragon!
  
  With that being said, the game's Japanese subtitle (besides being a shout-out to Dragon Quest, of course) is also appropriate given that the light and darkness in question are Masato, the man who would grow up to have absolutely everything he could ever want in his life, including a loving father in Arakawa, and Ichiban, the man who would grow up with absolutely nothing in his life and would spend much of his childhood as a mere street rat, respectively. Yet, despite this, their roles actually end up reversed, with Masato having plunged into darkness after the events of New Year's Eve 2000, while Ichiban saw a ray of hope when he got out of jail in 2019, being the light.
• Daigo's Informed Ability of being a competent leader is a sore point for a lot of detractors — but the story perspective isn't exactly shining a great light. The entire resort deal in 3 where he refuses to go through with it despite the monetary issues of the clan seems recklessly stupid, though it makes sense in an honorable culture, but then the entire series of events were a giant trap, meaning whether he agreed or not there would've been trouble, and he ultimately turns this around entirely by the fifth game anyway. Everything in 4 was a bunch of schemers independent of him raising hell in a power struggle, and the same occurs onwards. Several of the people bemoaning his incapability are the ones scheming against him in the first place for their own personal gains. While he's far from a great leader by any means, arguably falling into the problem of 2 where he needed others like Kiryu to resolve the real threats for him, Daigo is beset repeatedly by multiple crises and half of the criminal underworld making all sorts of hell for him at every other turn while he's often unaware of the plots until it's too late, and being a more normal person in the series bound by honor and rules, he's too restricted to really accomplish what the bigger figures do.
• Let's take a better look at the the tattoos, shall we? They all serve as symbols of their respective characters:
  • Kiryu and Nishiki have a dragon and carp tattoo respectively. There's a legend of a certain waterfall that if a carp manages to swim up the waterfall, he turns into a dragon. They both started in the same place (the orphanage/bottom of the yakuza) but only one of them was able to make the journey to become a dragon.
  • Shishido has a Shishi irezumi, alongside some peonies. Shishi are said to be guardians of places they reside in, befitting Shishido's status as a lieutenant of the Watase Family (plus his name contains the kanji for lion), while the peonies represent great risks for aspirations, showing how Shishido is willing to catapult himself to becoming Chairman of the Omi Alliance even in the face of the dissolution of the yakuza. The specific combination of lion-and-peony imagery is known as Karajishi-Botan in traditional Japanese art, and symbolizes prosperity and power. It also serves for his status as final boss: he's a guardian for the Yakuza, and is willing to do anything to keep them alive.
  • Ebina has a tattoo of a Mugen Gokusotsu, a type of Oni which tortures the souls of the damned in Hell for eternity. This fits how is planning to send all Yakuzas to their deaths.

Yakuza 1/Kiwami

• Kiryu's Early-Installment Weirdness of being an impatient, rather no-nonsense Terror Hero makes sense here; he's just returned from prison after seemingly being excommunicated, his best friend has made a Face–Heel Turn in the meanwhile, the daughter of his Love Interest is in his protection and being actively hunted by yakuza thugs willing to murder everybody around her to get their way, and nearly the whole of Kamurocho is out for the both of them as friends and family die left and right. He straight up hasn't hit his Character Development yet that would mellow him out with Haruka and the Morning Glory Orphanage, and the situation at hand is severely time-sensitive and directly endangering Haruka in ways he has very little measures for, even with Date and the Florist's help.

Yakuza 2/Kiwami 2

• Terada ended up getting his revenge throughout the years as many believed the reveal that Terada was actually a Korean. After Nishiki killed Sohei to protect Yumi, Terada finally saw that Nishiki indirectly avenged him and helped him find the missing yen to get back at Kazama. Then when Shimano attempts to kill Kazama and Haruka with the grenade, Terada is slow enough to let Shimano kill Kazama and finally avenge the death of his comrades. This also explains why he doesn't go through with the plan to actually destroy the Millenium tower, as the sole survivor of the Massacre at the point, he had already long avenged the deaths of his comrades and only commit only so the cycle of revenge dies with him.
• When Kiryu and Ryuji meet for the first time, Ryuji asks if he's Kazuma Kiryu, the Dragon of Dojima, which Kiryu denies. While at first it comes off as Kiryu hiding his identity to avoid a fight, a central part of Kiryu's character is that he wants to shed his yakuza past and live a peaceful, nonviolent life. Him denying that he's the Dragon of Dojima is just another way of him trying to assert that the yakuza life is done for him, and he wants to move on to something better.
• The six New Japan Pro Wrestlers who lead JUSTIS in 6 show up as randomly recruitable characters for the Clan Creator minigame in Kiwami 2, which actually fit their MO as originally intended. Prior to their Face–Heel Turn, they banded together originally to defeat the color gangs of Kamurucho, which just so happen to be under the control of their real-life predecessors - the NJPW legends who work as part of Mutoh Realty. It's very likely that they join Majima Construction as a case of Enemy Mine; both have a common enemy, so working together to put them down would be the logical decision to take.
• Chronologically, the very first time we're introduced to Majima and the first time we play as him is at the Grand Cabaret in Sotenbori. Conversely, the final (both in release order and chronologically) time he's playable is in the same location we're introduced to him. At the same time, his and Makoto's arc also receives a full conclusion here, after 18 years in the series' chronology.

Yakuza 3

• While Kiryu and Richardson's dialogue near the end is a likely case of Bilingual Dialogue, Richardson does answer Kiryu's question of where Daigo and Mine are by pointing upward and replying in English, with Kiryu replying "The roof, huh?" Kiryu states throughout the series that his English isn't really that hot, so may have likely just made an educated guess.

Yakuza 4

• Akiyama allows pretty much his entire fortune to be blown into the wind. That's an insane amount of money and seems incredibly careless, wasteful, and/or dumb. But it makes sense for a couple reasons:
  • He had repeatedly said that he's "betting it all on Arai." Arai not making it to the top means he lost the bet, so he feels like he shouldn't have the money anyway.
  • Consider how he got his second chance in the first place: finding money blown off the tower during the ten billion yen incident. Stands to reason Akiyama, who is all about helping people in need, would want to give someone else the exact chance that he got himself. Times ten.
  • Another possible reason, slightly more simple; he just doesn't care. His habits at Sky Finance, such as having a poorly-hidden vault installed and he doesn't bother to keep it or his office properly locked most of the time, or his willingness to lend any sum to clients once they pass his test, and his reactions to his money being stolen (he's more angry at someone breaking into his office and making a mess than the fortune being gone). These all indicate that he simply doesn't care about money at all, as he has so much already, and is in a situation to easily make more. Being as rich as he is, he's lost all sight of the value of money.
• It's pretty clearly spelled out in 5, but "Sky Finance" is a reference to how Akiyama first got his money... from money falling from the sky.
• Yasuko seems like a Faux Action Girl that doesn't live up to the title everyone throws around about her as a Femme Fatale, being too demure and shy to fit the bill. Except Kiryu himself can easily notice the guilt in her mannerisms, and basically every interaction with Akiyama and Tanimura boils down to paranoia and fear until they wrap the conversation around to get her more confident in making a choice. By the point she met Akiyama, she's already murdered two men - and despite her best efforts to want to rescue her brother, this effectively broke her as someone that just couldn't handle the pressure and sins of what she committed. It also highlights how ineffectual she actually is at her supposed role, seeing as everyone sees right through the façade shortly after meeting her because she genuinely can't fulfill it.
• Saejima's title among the Tojo Clan is "18-Count Saejima" (referring to the number of people that he [supposedly] killed in the Ueno-Seiwa hit). His Leitmotif, "Massive Fire", is the 18th track in the game's official soundtrack. It's subtle, but the attention to detail is there.

Yakuza 5

• Kiryu can no longer stop himself from getting involved in the Tojo Clan's issue when he hears a news report of Majima's death. Daigo, who was reported to be missing earlier in the game, was someone Kiryu knew for many years as revealed in Yakuza 0. Kiryu has lost many of the people he knew over the games, and now with Daigo missing and Majima reportedly dead, what makes Kiryu unable to stop himself from getting involved is him seemingly losing the last two people he knew from before his decade in prison.
• In the music video for "Bakamitai", the singers look forlornly at a picture while drowning their sorrows. Why is Akiyama's picture himself from his time as a homeless man? Because back then, money still had value to him.
• Haruka's decision to resign on such a public stage in spite of how everything was prepared for her to conquer the idol industry - including having to deal with the messy fallout of her choice - actually brings to mind the actions of her own adoptive father.
  • Both enter their respective worlds wanting to reach the top, but primarily for the sake of their adoptive families who had helped them get there in the first place: Kiryu wanted to rise up the ranks of the Tojo to repay Kazama for taking him, Nishiki and Yumi in as orphans, while Haruka's idol career was a way to care for Kiryu and the new Sunshine Orphanage children that now serve as her younger siblings.
  • Both have had the peaks of their respective careers prepared in advance for them: Kiryu attains the role of the Tojo Clan's Fourth Chairman with the aid of Kazama and Sera, while Haruka's Japan Dome concert is planned for by Park and allowed to proceed in part thanks to Kiryu and the other playable characters attempting to prevent her assassination.
  • Both eventually come to the same conclusion, that their careers are not as important to them anymore due to finding a new calling in life, which take both back to the Sunshine Orphanage.
  • Their respective resignations - Kiryu relinquishing his status as Fourth Chairman and Haruka's sudden retirement announcement - are abrupt, which leads to both having to deal with the consequences of their actions harshly. On Kiryu's end, his desire to settle down with Haruka has caused him to neglect keeping the Tojo afloat, and his decision to put the relatively inexperienced Daigo in power without any guidance to impart - not to mention only intervening when plans are set in motion and only when his life in Okinawa is threatened - has led to the various slip-ups the Tojo Clan had suffered post-2. On Haruka's end, her mentioning that she was raised by a renowned yakuza as Kiryu led to her leaving Sunshine again to keep her and Kiryu's negative reputation from affecting them, later moving to Hiroshima and having a child that would kickstart the events of Yakuza 6 - a game that ends with her believing that her Uncle Kaz had died in front of her eyes.
• Keeping in line with Aizawa's desire to obtain the role of Tojo Clan chairman, it's rather fitting that his boss fight progressively gets to the point where he is not only metaphorically getting farther and farther away from his dream, but quite literally too: the fight spills out from starting in the clan meeting room, into the lobby and finally in the middle of the courtyard near the entrance gates, as if Kiryu is showing him the door and kicking him out of the building to prove Aizawa isn't ready yet.
• Even if he was only pretending to be a detective, Kurosawa ends up providing a clear reason why Sayama ended up leaving Japan and the series in general. It probably was true that the Osaka Police Department found out about her romantic relationship with Kiryu (who isn't just any yakuza punk, but the flipping former Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan), which would have sunk her career instantly (as what happened to a real life policewoman who got romantically involved with a yakuza man). Any attempt to transfer to another police department in Japan would have also uncovered this in their background checks and character references, so since she wants to continue working in law enforcement, she had to end her relationship with Kiryu and leave the country.

Yakuza 0

• The auras of the Dragon of Dojima and Mad Dog of Shimano fighting styles for Kiryu and Majima in Yakuza 0, respectively, have contrasting Battle Auras, Kiryu's aura being a pure white with a rainbow undertone, while Majima's is black and purple. Rather subtly, this is an allusion to the karate belt ranking system, with white (9th kyu) representing an inexperienced student while a black belt (1st dan, or Shodan depending on the dojo) is essentially the rank of master. In other words: even in his signature fighting style, Kiryu is still much less experienced and refined than his senior and eventual long-time friend, Majima, whose fighting style is almost identical to the techniques he goes on to use in the years following 0's events.
• Kiryu is especially lost this game because he doesn't get the Decadent Court elements of Yakuza culture, having been raised by the Noble Demon Kazama. This game disillusions Kiryu of a lot of the nicer elements of being a Tojo man and leaves him ready to do a Heroic Sacrifice in Yakuza 1.
• Majima is the true protagonist of the game while Kiryu is actually the Decoy Protagonist. This is due to the game having extensive focus on Majima's Character Development and his transition from a relatively sane person to the Mad Dog of Shimano we all know and love, Yakuza 0 is commonly seen more as Majima's origin story rather than Kiryu's. This is shown because Kiryu's own origin is in Yakuza 1.
• Kiryu and Nishikiyama in the woods is excellent Foreshadowing to their future relationship as well as setting up how it falls apart. Nishiki feels like a coward for not being able to pull the trigger and Kiryu is a Death Seeker who is kind of annoyed he won't. Kiryu also sours their relationship by refusing to let Nishiki help him save Kazama, which makes him feel even more doubly useless.
• Majima shows the ability to put on multiple personas as part of his job, including deferential cabaret host and hardened Yakuza killer while being neither. This is Foreshadowing that the Mad Dog Majima in later games is his attempt to be so crazy that other Yakuza can't manipulate him the way Shimano does. As we see by the time he runs his construction site, Majima is still perfectly sane. He just likes doing Obfuscating Insanity.
• Kiryu's Real Estate Billions, where did they go? Fridge Brilliance kicks in when you remember the era the game is set in, Japan's "Bubble" economy. Not 2 years later this bubble "burst", Yamanoi was the true owner of the real estate company, and probably had to sell off most of his property to stay afloat when the economy crumpled.
• On the subject of tattoos, when we get the shirtless battle between Kiryu and Shibusawa, a big amount of focus is put on how both have a dragon tattoo, but whereas Kiryu's isn't complete, Shibusawa's is. That's because Shibusawa's role in the story after 0 is finished, whereas Kiryu's role is just beginning.
  
  There's also a similar theme in Majima's final boss battle; Lao Gui and Majima are both associated with demons (the former via his name, the latter via his tattoo). In that sense, both of the game's final bosses have the protagonists fighting characters that represent the same mythological creatures as each other. Further similarities can be drawn from how Kiryu as a low-ranking yakuza is fighting one of the higher ups of the Dojima family, whereas Majima as a failed assassin who couldn't kill his one target is fighting the most fearsome and experienced assassin in China.

Yakuza 6

• It may seem odd that Haruka immediately chose to flee rather than try to clear her name so she can continue life normally, however, there a few factors to consider:
  • She has multiple years of first-hand experience of Kiryu trying to solve a problem by facing it, and she knows all too well how it harmed others around him when he did so.
  • She told everyone at the concert that Kiryu was a good person, but the fact that the press ignored that bit made her aware that trying to clear her name is pointless as the only thing that matters to the press is a yakuza connection.
  • The first thing she asks when she realizes the danger she poses is "Uncle Kaz... What am I supposed to do?" Sure enough, her answer mimics Kiryu's on two fronts. 1) Just like Kiryu, she chose to stay away from the others while she in the center of media attention, though in her own way since she isn't going to prison. 2) When Kiryu himself realized the danger his yakuza ties posed to the others, he chose to disappear. Good or bad, Haruka is taking after Kiryu.
• While Kiryu choosing to wait for the Hirose Family to tell him about Haruka rather than beating the answer out of them may seem like he's forgetting his mission, he may simply have realized that they are part of the reason Haruka was safe while he was in prison and violently interrogating them would just be unnecessary hostility. Additionally, she won't wake up sooner if he knows the answer faster.
• Tsuneo Iwami is a fitting final boss for Kiryu, despite his mediocrity compared to, say, Shibusawa or Mine, two comparable ambitious antagonists, because he acts as a twisted reflection of the Dragon. Both men went against their fathers' wishes to join the underworld, building their way to the top. However, while Kiryu made his way up through his own two hands, Tsuneo schemed and backstabbed everyone he could while leaving the dirty work to his men, in order to take the title of Takeru Kurusu. Whereas Kiryu has nothing but respect for Kazama, his foster father, for raising him the way he did, Tsuneo resented his father for preventing him from heading the Yomei, having nothing but contempt for him as a result. It's no wonder Kiryu ends up thinking very little of him, daring to call Tsuneo "Little Baby Iwami", and stating in the fight's objective that he meant nothing to him.
  
  Speaking of said fighting objective, "He means nothing to me" refers to more than just Kiryu's rock-bottom opinion of Tsuneo. All of Kiryu's previous final bosses were thematically tied to him through the irezumi tattoos on their backs. Nishiki and Aizawa both had the carp, a creature said to be able to become a dragon. Shibusawa and Ryuji both had dragons just like Kiryu, making them his direct equals. Mine had a kirin, which is said to be the only creature capable of outright slaying a dragon. Even Daigo, the last opponent Kiryu fought in Yakuza 4, has a dragon coiling around the sword of the deity Fudō-myōō, symbolizing Kiryu being a guiding hand for Daigo and the one who sets him straight at the end of that game. Tsuneo Iwami, however? His irezumi is simply of the Bai Ze, a creature that cannot become a dragon, let alone slay one. On its own, it has no significant relationship to the dragon whatsoever, nor does Tsuneo's irezumi create a connection to it like Daigo's does. To a dragon like Kiryu, Iwami the Bai Ze is indeed nothing of significance to him.
• Kiryu Faking the Dead is foreshadowed a bit through the ending, especially when Akiyama finds it convenient that Date is the only one of the main characters who can allegedly confirm it. It doesn't help his case that one of the other things he says to Akiyama (and by extension, the player) was about that Kiryu "has no living relatives". Key word being "has"; had he actually died, there would be no need to refer to him in the present tense as if he was still alive. A slip of the tongue would have been enough to tip off those who were skeptical of Kiryu's death that there was more to his story than meets the eye.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

• It seems a little odd that Ichiban, despite becoming a multi-millionaire thanks to Ichiban Confections/Holdings, would still prefer to live in what is essentially the slums not too far from where he was dumped and left for dead. That is until you realize that Ichiban, being the Humble Hero that he is, would have a hard time trying to live so lavishly as growing up in poverty was all he knew. Paired with his exuberance and selflessness, as well as being the underdog in his bid for the Kanagawa District against Kume, and it's not hard to see why Ichi much prefers to live in a small apartment.
• How come the Chef class, otherwise one of the weaker Classes in Like a Dragon, works very well with Zhao? Besides having the highest Attack stat in the game, Zhao also runs a very respectable establishment in Qing Jin, having the culinary experience to back it up.
• From a gameplay standpoint, not being able to call Omelette at night as a Poundmate in Like a Dragon makes perfect sense since hens in real life aren't exactly the most nocturnal animals and they usually lay their eggs at the crack of dawn.
• Kiryu being one of the hardest bosses in Like a Dragon is a very nice case of Gameplay and Story Integration.
  • After all, longtime players know exactly what Kiryu is capable of and just why he's called the Dragon of Dojima. Trying to take him on after all the previous games would naturally be impossible, even if Ichiban had much better combat training. Even his boss theme will be quick to remind you of this.
  • There's also some Fridge Humor to be had in the fact that, if Zhao is in your immediate party, Kiryu will attack (and thus down) him a lot. Maybe he was probably reminded of Lau Ka Long and especially Ed when he sees Zhao? Completely understandable given Zhao's Cool Shades are pretty similar to those of Ed's Sinister Shades.
  • In addition to Zhao, if Han is in your immediate party, Kiryu will also be gunning for him very often, too. Guess he hasn't completely forgotten about his misadventures with the Jingweon Mafia, either.
  • Why is Kiryu weak to Ice? Besides the obvious, it also has to do with the fact that dragons are typically portrayed as reptilian creatures. Reptiles in real life are cold-blooded and as such, their bodies become slow and lethargic when exposed to the cold. If you remember his Disney Death in Yakuza 5 took place on a snowy night, then this might also have something to do with it, too. Also, ice also makes it harder to use HEAT Actions. It's also a reference to Dragon Quest, where Dragons are weak to ice.
• Joon-gi Han is weak to fire attacks in his boss battle, is it because it makes him too hot?
• The Post-Final Boss, Masato Arakawa being very easy is, like the above, another excellent case of Gameplay and Story Integration. Masato had been bound to a wheelchair for the majority of his life, requiring surgery in the United States to be able to walk again. And even when he could walk, he's spent a majority of his time scheming and ordering other people to do his dirty work, usually killing them once they've served their purpose, nevermind being a politician first and foremost. Ichiban on the other hand, was a former Yakuza who, even as a teenager, got into fights a lot and survived the same conditions as an infant that would put Masato in a wheelchair. He also survived getting shot by Arakawa and getting dumped in the garbage for three days without dying from blood loss. Nanba even said Ichiban partly survived because he was so tough (and lucky, of course.) Is it any wonder why the final fight between the two is essentially a Curb-Stomp Battle on Ichiban's end?
  
  Relating to the above, in a bit of this crossed with Fridge Tearjerker, when Ichiban fights Masato, not only do we not get the warping effect that we see before every battle ever since Ichi acquired the Hero class at the beginning of the game, but the title card doesn't refer to Aoki by his public name, but rather by his birth name - Masato Arakawa. From Ichiban's point of view, not only is this a fight that he clearly doesn't want to take part in, but the man he sees before him isn't the man everyone knows, but rather the man that he used to know. Even if Masato treated Ichiban like complete garbage as he did everyone else, Ichiban never gave up hope in getting him to see the light after he'd fallen so far into the darkness. It took Ichi a lot of effort to get Masato to see that... but it came at a cost. It's even hammered down home by Ichiban forcibly reverted to his Freelancer job (albeit a fully-levelled one): this fight simply boasts too much importance to him that (actively or otherwise) he isn't even hallucinating this as any outlandish JRPG final boss, but as a proper one-on-one fist fight.
  
  Another way to interpret this fight is Ichiban either CAN'T imagine himself in a fantasy setting (like fighting Kiryu with a sword and shield) or is struggling to because of how emotional the fight is. The mechanics of the short fight are notably odd compared to other fights including past 1vs1 fights and are more like previous Yakuza games. Ichiban and Masato occasionally take double turns in violation of RPG turn based combat. Masato has wake up attacks after being knocked down that happen instantly without an attack name and without any prior build-up, stance or indication a counter move like Kiryu's Dragon's Gaze will happen. This fight has the only QTEs in the game, which are much more common in other Yakuza games. It's like the previous Yakuza style, what a normal fight looks like in this universe, can't be suppressed by Ichiban's imagination anymore.
  
  This is also driven home by the fact that the entire fight is a very nice parallel to the final boss of the original game and its remake - with Ichiban and Masato standing in for Kiryu and Nishiki, respectively. Between "ism" sharing some motifs from "For Whose Sake", the shared setting of the Millennium Tower (with both fights even ending near a bar - Ares in the original game, the Arakawa Family office in LAD), both Nishiki and Masato redeeming themselves only to die immediately afterward, and the two pairs being surrogate brothers, everything comes full circle for Ichi just as it did for Kiryu.
• On a more humorous example, assuming the Business Management portion of the game takes place sometime before Ichiban and his friends go to Sotenbori, one can't help but wonder how Arakawa, Mitsuo, Sawashiro, and even Aoki would all react to seeing Ichiban on TV, complete with his own business. Especially Aoki who, not too long before Ichiban makes the decision to meet Arakawa at Sotenbori, sees Ichiban as little more than an ant. No doubt Sawashiro would also be royally pissed since Ichiban was pretty miserable at earning for the Arakawa Family eighteen years prior and now he's suddenly a multi-millionaire!
  
  Sawashiro probably expects this, unlike the criminal business where the main bread and butter is demanding hush money from local storefronts they own. Ichiban didn't have to extort people and even make use of his skills in pleading for mercy from his shareholders. At the end of the day, Yakuza families like his are essentially cutthroat businessmen above all else if you ignore the murder, beatings, pinky cutting, and blackmail. The money and front-facing power he has is nothing compared to what Aoki and Sawashiro hold, however.
• "Ichibanka", by Shonan No Kaze and Yasutaka Nakata, besides serving as Like a Dragon's Real Song Theme Tune, has lyrics that are also a poignant reference to Masato's Last Request to Ichiban: "Keep living, Ichi. Starting from the bottom, huh? I'll take those odds." Alternatively, one can also interpret them as Ichiban's big welcome into the Yakuza series as a whole, more or less serving as his equivalent to "Receive You".
  ♫ Buttobe! Kuso atsui! ^English Taking flight! Heated as hell!
  Ikina matsuri! Itadake Ichiban! ^English For whom we celebrate! Welcome Ichiban!
  Yatteyare an hare na jinsei ichi kara! ^English Go forth and lead a wonderful life! ♫
• In the cutscene where Eri is recruited, only Saeko and Adachi are present welcoming her along with Ichiban. This may possibly avoid Gameplay and Story Segregation and/or creating extra cutscenes since Eri can join the party at any time, which includes the times where Nanba turns coat, and before Joon-gi Han and Zhao join.
• Daigo's Summon skill has him calling upon the souls of his deceased forefathers (Sohei Dojima, Kashiwagi, Kazama and Shimano) to gun down the enemy. However, if you pay close attention to the people summoned, Kashiwagi is the only person from the four that isn't surrounded by purple mist, hinting to his survival in what seemed to be his death.
• Shin Amon being an exile of the Amon Clan (as revealed in Lost Judgment) is portrayed as him losing to Yagami - a relative unknown in the context of mainline Yakuza games. However, take note that in 5, Noa Amon reveals that the Amon Clan have forbidden intergender fighting, which is why she takes on Haruka despite wanting to defeat Kiryu instead. Now, remember that Shin in this game already violates said rule, because two of the party members he can face and very much harm directly are Saeko and Eri.
• This game is the last in the series to retain the Yakuza name in the West. Fittingly enough, it's the game that hones in on how the age of the yakuza itself is about to end.

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name

• The final act takes place during the Tojo-Omi dissolution as depicted in the previous game, now taking place from Kiryu's point of view. Of note is that during the brawl caused by the Omi Alliance members distraught by Watase's sudden announcement, the Heroes of Tomorrow can be seen fighting the Omi - obviously not as the over-the-top JRPG party, as the fights aren't filtered through Ichiban's overactive imagination. However, what makes this hilarious is that despite being more relatively grounded, Kiryu in Gaiden also boasts a more over-the-top fighting style with his Agent moves, making it entirely possible that Ichiban's imagination leads him to somehow not notice that the mysterious bodyguard he's only met recently is fighting like he's James Bond.
• Agent being a fighting style Kiryu has in this game retroactively makes his boss fight in Like A Dragon even more hilarious because of how he's depicted as being near-unbeatable even while notably holding back in some areas like refraining from using the full extent of his major fighting styles; Kiryu managed to force Ichiban and his party to their limits without breaking a sweat and without using any of his Agent gadgets on top of that to boot.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

• With the revelation that Kiryu is dying of cancer in this game, his transition to turn-based combat is quite appropriate. Especially since what was once something that he could do normally (e.g., fighting enemies in real time), he now has as a Limit Break.
  • Actually, if you think about it - Dragon's Resurgence is essentially Kiryu's Extreme Heat mechanic from 6 to Gaiden ported over to the JRPG gameplay of Ichiban's entries. The fact that it's mapped to the same button as Extreme Heat (R2/RT; albeit requiring the button to be held down instead) and even uses the same rush combo animation by mashing the Light attack button (Square/X) since 6 only adds to this.
  • Why does "Bishop Violet Velveteen" in particular play whenever Kiryu activates Dragon's Resurgence? Because it also played the very first time Kiryu ever used Extreme Heat back in 6 against the Saio Triad.
• Meta Example: Kiryu's journey officially began in 1988, a year of the Dragon. It's slated to end in this game, which released in 2024.^note  Albeit taking place the year before, in 2023. Another year of the Dragon. Bookends, much?
• Adachi's security firm hiring an experienced thief like Sasaki to shoplift various stores is quite a smart business model. As Adachi himself points out, a lot of stores and businesses do have blind spots which are very easy to exploit, as Sasaki would note when he shoplifts a particularly expensive watch from a pawn shop.
• When Kiryu leads the party to the Daidoji safehouse they get guns drawn of them. The only character to seem disturbed by this at all is Tomi, who is still very much in a civilian mindset despite having fought two gang bosses and a LOT of extras at this point. But more interesting is the reaction, or lack of reaction, from Eiji. Strange how a nerdy kid in a wheelchair is completely unfazed by facing down secret agents with firearms, isn't it?
• Nanba being Ichiban's Number Two instead of Adachi makes plenty of sense if you consider that he was the first person that Ichiban redeemed. After all, Nanba's true motive back in Like a Dragon was to find his brother, whose disappearance he suspects the Geomijul had a hand in (which wasn't entirely unfounded given their reputation). And with Ichiban being nothing if not a stalwart ally in spite of his ulterior motives rewarding Nanba with a roof over his head, it makes sense he'd come to develop a genuine sense of camaraderie with Ichi.
• With the above in mind, it's also appropriate Nanba would be the one in charge of monitoring Kiryu's health. He was, after all, a former nurse, so there's no doubt he's had to take care of various patients with varying conditions, ranging from Alzheimer's (which is an all too common concern given Japan's aging population) to - of course - cancer.
• Ebina's tattoo being a symbol of how he wants to kill all yakuza and his bloodthirsty methods make him a fitting final opponent for the Dragon of Dojima. He's on death's door at this point, but he's making one last fight against it to save everyone.
• Ichiban's final battle in the game is against Bryce Fairchild, a megalomaniacal cult leader with a god complex. Considering Ichiban's love for JRPGs, it only made sense for his Final Boss to be a (false) god, as tends to be the case in games of the genre.
• Ichiban's new poundmate summon animation being a reference to the henshin of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid makes a lot of sense considering it's focused about videogames which is something Ichiban also enjoys. No doubt he would be a fan of Kamen Rider Brave for being an RPG-themed rider.
• Some major Bosses in the game don't have Boss Subtitles despite having established titles in-story - for varying reasons.
  • Yamai, for example, doesn't have the subtitle of "Yamai Syndicate Boss", or more commonly, "Yamai Family Patriarch", as his gang is not only the smallest of Hawaii's underworld, but it's also because it foreshadows Yamai's true nature. Adding in the fact that his gang don't have the usual Yakuza conventions like suits, irezumi, or commit yubitsume for the slightest of failures, and you have what is essentially less of a yakuza family and more of a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits.
  • Bryce, despite being the Palekana Sage, likewise doesn't have that subtitle when his name splashes on the screen. Because his true loyalty lies with him and him alone. This is, after all, someone who sends out suicide bombers on the Party, not caring the slightest about his disciples' loyalty to him at all. And, of course, the fact that he's not the true heir to the Palekana to begin with.
  • And finally, even though Ebina is the Acting Chairman of the Seiryu Clan, he isn't given that title at all, only being addressed by name, just like Masato in the previous game. Given he loathes the yakuza as a whole, the last thing he'd want is to be referred to as the Seiryu Clan chairman, even if he is exactly that in all but name, ironically.

Fridge Horror:

• Dojima's going after Yumi in Yakuza 1 has always been a rather nasty Establishing Character Moment, but after 0, it has the undercurrent of punishing two subordinates that helped bring down his position as the most feared and respected Patriarch in the Tojo clan.
• The conclusion of 3 is quite hectic, with several family's worth of forces all but wiped out or having turned coat and run for the hills. On top of all of this, Mine's a smear on the street after taking Andre Richardson with him, where their fortunes could've likely filled the Tojo Clan's coffers and prevented the entire bankruptcy problem in 4 that Mine was trying to prevent in the first place. And Daigo has to awaken from his coma and get the play-by-play of all of this to bring everything together in the messy aftermath. Then Kiryu nearly dies from a fatal stab wound shortly after. Is it any wonder that Daigo becomes a lot more pragmatic and a bit of a Manipulative Bastard down the line?
• At the end of Yakuza 0, Majima is revealed to be Obfuscating Insanity as the Mad Dog of Shimano. His depiction in 1/Kiwami seems to be much more than an act, with his high level of cruelty to those around him. In 5, it was revealed that between 0 and 1/Kiwami, Majima got married to Mirei Park, who aborted their child behind his back, causing him to leave her. Considering he allowed himself to be vulnerable again after the Trauma Conga Line he went through in 0 but got backstabbed for it, it is entirely possible that the event caused Majima to strengthen the Mad Dog persona either because he did not want to be hurt like that again, or because it needed to be stronger for the additional trauma he now had to cope with. Alternatively, the event caused him to genuinely fall into madness for a while, until his Heel–Face Turn by the main events of 2/Kiwami 2, by when he had gotten closure with Makoto in the Majima Saga side story.
• Mirei Park has shown herself to be manipulative and underhanded, not too concerned over her employees' well-being, and also a Determinator. With how much Akiyama made her endure for the sake of a hefty loan, it's made clear she would do anything to fulfill her dream. Anything. Haruka ultimately accepted Park's offer of making her a star, but with Park talking about how perfect a candidate Haruka is for carrying out her lost dream, it's all but explicitly stated that Haruka was bound to be an idol the moment she and Park met at that bookstore. There is no way Park would allow Haruka to reject her offer; would she really let her golden goose get away, or would she stoop lower and lower to take her in?
• Masato's murder at the hands of Kume was bad enough, but the worse part about it is that it is unlikely Kume would to face justice for what he has done as Masato had been known to be a firebrand in the political arena who did not hesitate to blackmail his fellow politicians to get what he wants and relied heavily on Horinouchi and his associates to cover his misdeeds. Kume actually made himself useful by accident by making a majority of Masato's secrets went to the grave for Horinouchi who would have made sure Masato couldn't testify against him. Had Adachi not found the information that incriminated himself in the act, the CLP would have easily washed themselves of the affair completely and promote Kume to being a puppet leader. Though this is somewhat softened by the fact that Kume got arrested sometime after Masato's murder, in spite of his body language conveying otherwise.
• The JRPG gameplay in Like a Dragon. Yes, you have plenty of fun fighting enemies, but since it's noted that it all happens inside Ichiban's head, who is to say that he's just not making split second decisions or make complex battle plans within a few seconds? Imagine that you're some street thug and decide to pick a fight with a guy who is dressed in red and has a funny hairstyle and his friends. You assume that they'll be easy pickings. But no, you and your allies are going down fast while the guy in red not only attacks, but seemingly gives well thought out orders to his friends that seemingly predicted your moves./// Gaiden at least takes us out of this perspective and shows us the Omi Alliance Feast (with Ichiban's party serving as the vanguard, while Kiryu handled the rear) through a more grounded perspective. And the result is... hilariously mundane. Ichiban is holding a goon by the collar, Nanba is trying (and failing) to pin a mook to the ground, Adachi is more successful and is flat-out choking a guy, Zhao and Saeko are tucked away in the corner with another mook, and Joongi is doing next to nothing. All the same, it definitely doesn't make Ichiban any less dangerous, since what he lacks in combat ability (relative to the other protagonists, anyway) he greatly makes up for in leadership and coordination, since he leads his friends in fights and works with them well enough to make any mooks cower in fear. Especially when two of his party members are the right-hand man of the dreaded Geomijul and the leader of the Yokohama Liumang himself.
• The antagonistic director from the "Samurai, Walk with me" substory is shown to be incredibly shallow, only caring about trends. It's especially shown in his disparaging comments towards Kurosawa films compared to modern sci-fi epics, given how without Kurosawa, there wouldn't be any modern sci-fi epics. George Lucas was heavily inspired by Kurosawa's works when creating Star Wars, which in turn turned science fiction from a niche genre into a mainstream juggernaut. Guy must not have been paying attention in film history class.

Fridge Logic:

• One must wonder how Masato can even walk properly when he takes the ephedrine injection during the prologue given that, up until that point, he's never gotten off his wheelchair at all. In real life, his legs would've still been useless even with the injection due to muscular atrophy. God forbid him even learning how to walk properly for the first time, either. Then there's also the fact that he still spends his time sitting down when him and Ichiban go to the hostess club to celebrate Yumeno's birthday. Why even bother with the injection if you're mostly going to be seated the entire time?
• In Judgment, if Yagami took too long to finish a fight, the police would eventually show up and arrest him. This is justified in that game partly because he's not as prolific as Kiryu is (despite the fact that he has access to EX Actions involving the townsfolk of Kamurocho much like Kiryu does in 6 and Kiwami 2) and partly because Yagami doesn't have any direct history with the Yakuza, unlike Kiryu. With that in mind, how come the police don't come after Ichiban and his friends if they take too long during a random encounter? Especially since, unlike Yagami, while Ichiban might also be ex-Yakuza, he's nowhere near as prolific to the Tojo Clan (and by extension, Kamurocho) as Kiryu, being a mere bottom-barrel grunt in comparison. This is especially baffling as the Kamurocho 3K Plan ensured that the Tojo Clan would be all but removed from Kamurocho, as well as there being more police enforcement of the streets even with the Omi Alliance taking over from the Tojo Clan. There's even a police station where Don Quijote used to be!
• Mirror Face in general. How is he able to perfectly replicate literally anyone's height and build? Is he also able to disguise himself as a woman? It doesn't take a lot to realize that Adachi and Tendo aren't exactly of the same height nor build yet, apart from not being able to replicate Tendo's Kansai accent, Mirror Face was such a perfect Doppelgänger of the two that, in the former's case, Ichiban had to resort to outright quizzing Adachi on basic traffic laws (as Adachi is too much of a Cowboy Cop to actually care about them while Mirror Face answered Ichiban's questions perfectly). And as for Tendo, even Aoki of all people didn't seem to notice Tendo's lack of a Kansai accent, since Mirror Face couldn't replicate Tendo's Kansai accent despite otherwise copying him flawlessly.
• In Chapter 12 of Infinite Wealth, Kiryu's party goes to visit the Tojo Legends (Daigo, Majima, and Saejima) to get them to help in stopping Ebina's plans. As Kiryu is talking to them in their cabin, the trucker that took Kiryu to their whereabouts records them without their knowing, and blows the whistle to Tatara Hisoka in the process. Seems reasonable - so why is this on here? One minor detail — Saeko, Seonhee, Nanba, and Zhao were all right outside, within viewing distance while the trucker was recording them. Did none of them (Seonhee especially, since she's the one who's keeping tabs on Ebina's moves) think to at least take a glance at Kiryu (who, again, has cancer - Nanba being the one monitoring his health) to see if things are okay and, in the process, realize he was being recorded... again?

---