"Chairman Goda, Kiryu-san... It's impressive how faithfully you've followed my script. [...] This is the tapestry I set out to paint... And it took me 26 years to see it realized."
— Yukio Terada/Daejin Kim, Yakuza 2
The streets of Kamurocho contain many powerful figures from the Japanese criminal underworld. While most get by through brute force, others have risen through the ranks by combining cunning plans, smart thinking and their charm.
All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
Main Games
- Masaru Sera founds the "Nikkyo Consortium" to carry out assassination missions for the Tojo Clan and vies for leadership of the Empty Lot to become the Tojo Chairman. Allying with Shintaro Kazama to locate the missing owner of the Empty Lot Makoto Makimura, Sera saves Makoto and arranges for her to be reunited with her brother Tetsu Tachibana in return for Sera gaining the Lot. Though Tachibana is murdered and Makoto nearly killed, Sera manipulates Goro Majima into passing the Lot to Sera, agreeing to save Makoto in return. Sera also convinces Majima to spare a Dojima Family's hired assassin, knowing the assailant's testimony would destroy the family, imprisoning the assassin as leverage over Dojima. Winning position of Third Chairman with the Lot, Sera leads the Tojo Clan to two decades of peace and prosperity. Initially colluding with Kyohei Jingu, Sera eventually conspires against his treacherous ally to orchestrate the theft of ten billion yen from him alongside Kazama, even at the cost of Sera's own life.
- Yukio Terada, real name Daejin Kim, is a survivor of the Jingweon mafia massacre orchestrated by the Tojo Clan. Spared and given a new life by Tojo captain Shintaro Kazama, Terada became a leader of the Omi Alliance, and began to secretly plot the downfall of the Tojo in retribution for the Jingweon massacre. Acting as Kazama's informant and spy, Terada aids hero Kiryu Kazuma during the events of the first game, which earned him the position as the Tojo's Fifth Chairman. Terada acts as an incompetent leader in order to weaken the Tojo from within. In the second game, Terada enacts his revenge scheme by faking his death at the hands of Omi members so as to instigate a war between the Tojo and Omi. To weaken the Tojo even further, Terada plants bombs across the city of Kamurocho where Tojo assets are located. Meanwhile, Jingweon agents began infiltrating Japanese society, including the police force, planning to swoop in and fill the imminent power vacuum in Japan's criminal underworld. Despite being betrayed and fatally shot by his Omi blood brother Ryo Takashima, Terada pulls a fast one on Takashima by pretending to activate the final bomb planted right where they're located before dying with grace. A master of subterfuge and deception, Terada conceals his loyalties from all sides, with Kiryu still considering him a friend despite everything.
- Shintaro Kazama is the adopted father of Kiryu Kazuma and the Patriarch of the Kazama Family, earning his stripes as a hitman for the Tojo Clan. As brilliant a schemer as he is an assassin, Kazama constantly pulls strings from behind the scenes towards what he believes to be the Tojo Clan's best interests, even conspiring in prison against his overly ambitious boss Sohei Dojima so as to maintain the Clan's balance of power. In spite of his criminal ties, Kazama always adheres to a strict code of honor and morality, starting an orphanage for the children whose parents he murdered as well as a clinic to treat illegal immigrants with little to no charge. Kazama's final scheme was to engineer the theft of 10 billion yen from Kyohei Jingu and later sacrifices his life to save Haruka from a grenade, using his final moments to apologize to Kiryu for the death of his parents. Whether in life or death, Kazama continues to be respected by both ally and enemy alike as the prime example of what it means to be the ideal Yakuza.
- Yakuza 0:
- Keiji Shibusawa is one of the three lieutenants of the powerful Dojima Family, and runs its business operations. Son of a disgraced political aide forced to be The Scapegoat for his boss's crimes, Shibusawa became convinced the only way to succeed in life is to rise to the top. With family Captain Shintaro Kazama's recent arrest, whoever succeeds in locating the owner of the Empty Lot, Makoto Makimura, will become the new Captain. Framing Kazama's adopted son, Kiryu, for murder, Shibusawa uses Kiryu an Unwitting Pawn to edge his fellow lieutenants out of the competition. Shibusawa finally emerges from the shadows as the victor in the race to get the Empty Lot, and thus wins the vacant position of family Captain. When Dojima orders Makoto killed to keep silent the existence of the Empty Lot, Shibusawa secretly begins to act against his orders and kept her as a hostage instead, planning to use her as leverage against his boss and bait to draw his enemies out of hiding. Thwarted by Kiryu in their climactic battle, Shibusawa urges Kiryu to finish him off, hoping to turn Kiryu into a ruthless man like him as a final act of spite against his rival Kazama.
- Homare Nishitani is the hedonistic patriarch of the Omi Alliance's Kijin Clan. Using his connections, Nishitani set up his hideout inside a prison cell, granting himself free protection from rival crime gangs while ensuring he can leave whenever he desires. After being hired by Shibusawa to kidnap Makoto Makimura, Nishitani murders a woman to serve as Makoto's body double, tricking the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance into believing the real Makoto is dead. Desiring to fight Majima, Nishitani leverages information about the Nikkyo Consortium in exchange for a fight, and later decides to help Majima attack their HQ to rescue Makoto. When it's revealed that Shibusawa bribed a jailer to kill Majima and Nishitani, Nishitani sacrifices his life to save Majima while encouraging him to form his own path in life. A loose cannon who enjoyed life to the end, Nishitani served as Majima's inspiration for his Mad Dog persona.
- Yakuza 6:
- Kazuchika Okada, also known as "The Rainmaker" is the leader of JUSTIS, a group formed to fight back against gangs that terrorize Kamurocho. After he and his girlfriend were kidnapped and tortured by the yakuza Satsuki, Okada sought vengeance, recruiting violent thugs and criminals for the sake of increasing JUSTIS' power, leading JUSTIS to be little different than the gangs it fought against. When his friend and co-founder Joe leaves JUSTIS due to what it's became, Okada provokes Joe to take down JUSTIS by repeatedly having members of JUSTIS attack him. Dissolving JUSTIS after Kiryu and Joe defeat him, Okada is betrayed by his advisor, Komei, who reveals that he's been working with Satsuki to take control of JUSTIS away from him. Okada then reveals that he is well aware of Komei's intentions, and that all of his actions from changing JUSTIS to leading Jo to fight against it were done for the purpose of drawing out Satsuki to get his revenge, gladly lending his aid to Joe and Kiryu to take down JUSTIS once and for all.
- Soji is a sentient vacuum robot, given to a young man named Fujita as a gift from his girlfriend, Kotomi. Finding out that Fujita has bought a ring to propose to Kotomi, but has been too scared to go through with it for sixth months, Soji takes matters into its own hands. Stealing Fujita's ring when he drops it into the ground, Soji has Fujita and Kiryu chase after it throughout all of Kamurocho. Stopping at a park with several thugs, Soji provokes them into starting a fight with Fujita for the purpose of getting Fujita to build up courage. When Kotomi arrives, Soji drops the proposal ring near her and, with help from Kiryu's words, lead Fujita to build up the courage to propose to Kotomi, Soji happily saying that it completed its task.
- Lost Judgment: Jin Kuwana, formerly Yu Kitakata, was a classroom teacher fired after one of his students committed suicide for bullying. As a local handyman, Kuwana contacted his former students and blackmailed them into kidnapping other bullies involved in suicides so that the loved ones of the victims could exact their revenge. Creating an alibi for Ehara as a sex offender so that he could spite the justice system, Kuwana keeps the corpse of one of the bullies hidden as a leverage to blackmail his former students. Kuwana teams up with Takayuki Yagami on several occassions when fighting the criminal organization RK while managing to evade both RK and the police, only feeling remorse over Yoko Sawa's death as collateral damage. Charming and ruthless, Yagami and the others were unsure whether bringing Kuwana into justice was the right thing to do, and eventually let him go due to insufficient evidence in exchange for the rest of the victims' locations.
- Like a Dragon: Ishin!:
- Kondo Isami is the cunning chief of the Shinsengumi. Planning have the Emperor of Japan and the country's capital move from Kyo to Edo by setting fire to Kyo so that the Tosa Loyalists have less power, Sakamoto Ryoma hears of his plans and rejects in taking part, after which Kondo baits him into fighting him by implying he may be his adoptive father's murderer. When Ryoma's impostor attempts to spark a civil war by taking advantage of the Satcho Alliance, after hearing a suggestion from the real Ryoma, Kondo writes a letter for the shogun containing his ideas for a Great Restoration, which he eventually receives, agrees to and accepts. When Kondo is fatally attacked by Loyalist Okada Izo in his party's plan to cause a civil war, Kondo initiates his "final move", which is to have his deputy chief Hijikata Toshizo host a meeting in the Shinsengumi, in which Ito Kashitaro, who is clearly a power-hungry traitor, outs himself by accidentally revealing he was aware that Kondo was murdered. After this, it is revealed that Kondo further outplayed Ito by having Todo Heisuke get close to Ito in order to find out what his true motivations are and who he is affiliated with, which ends up being Ryoma's impostor, who plans to meet with Saigo Kichinosuke and Katsura Kogoro, meaning that Ryoma and his allies know of all the players all thanks to Kondo's planning.
- Takechi Hanpeita is the ambitious leader of the Tosa Loyalist Party, and adoptive brother of Sakamoto Ryoma. Originally planning to remove the class system in Tosa for the better, even having his adoptive father Yoshida Toyo assassinated, he eventually evolves his plan to reform Japan as a whole after teaming up with Tosa daimyo Yamauchi Yodo. He fakes his death and takes Sakamoto Ryoma's name in order to conspire with the leaders of the Satsuma Domain and the Choshu Loyalists so that he can use them to start an anti-Bakufu civil war. When Ryoma interrupts his plan by having the shogun initiate the Great Restoration, Takechi orders the Shinsengumi to light the city of Kyo ablaze to provide a distraction while his fellow Tosa loyalist Okada Izo murders the Emperor and frames Shinsengumi chief Kondo Isami for it, in hopes of it igniting a war between the Bakufu and the Imperial Court. When Ryoma and his allies attempt to hold a meeting between the Satcho Alliance and "Sakamoto Ryoma" in order to bait him out, Takechi manages to see through this plan. Challenging him to one final duel in Tosa, Takechi is eventually defeated by Ryoma, who decides to spare him, which in turn leads to Takechi pulling a Heel–Face Turn, intending to fix his mistakes. After Yodo arrives and attempts to kill Ryoma whilst revealing his ultimate plans, Ryoma murders him and Takechi takes his name, working from behind the scenes to assist in Japan's rebirth.
