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This isn't just the Dragon of Dojima crying once more, rather just a father who yearns to be with his kids again...
The penultimate adventure for the Dragon of Dojima, now a member of the Daidoji Faction, is gonna be a pretty emotional trip for sure. Especially given how this game ties into the End of an Age from Like a Dragon.
- While the game's opening is visually stunning, it's quite dreary to see Kiryu sitting alone in a bar. He has never been so alone in his life ever since he erased his name to protect his kids at Morning Glory, especially Haruka and Haruto. Now, all he has to him are the clothes on his back, and as far as the world knows, Kazuma Kiryu is dead and gone, and in his place lies a man with no name.
- Kiryu lighting a smoke here is gonna hurt real bad when you realize what he's gonna go through in the next game...
- The ending scene, where Kiryu breaks down in tears. The Morning Glory kids have all grown up, and not only do they know they're being watched (thus, they suspect Kiryu is still alive), but they made sure to leave one last update for their Uncle Kaz. Not only have each of them moved on with their lives, they've become productive members of society in their own right and left him with one last parting gift: a picture drawn by the now four-year-old Haruto.
- Kiryu is normally very reserved about his life, so it's quite shocking to see him breaking down and opening up about something so personal to him — particularly when he tries to show Hanawa how proud he is of Haruto's drawing. And yet, he'll never get to express the joy he feels to the kids themselves. Adding on to this is that Hanawa is actually Morinaga under an alias, meaning he knows Kiryu has long been hurting away from them.
- Kiryu's feelings regarding the disbandment of the Tojo Clan are also shown clearly here: He might have wanted so badly to get away from it all and just live a normal civilian life before, but in the end, the Tojo Clan was still where he grew up to become the man that he was, and he, along with most of his friends, be it alive (Daigo, Majima, Saejima) or dead (Kazama and Nishiki), had worked together so hard to keep the Tojo Clan alive. The fact that he could do nothing for the Tojo clearly eats him up, even admitting it whole-heartedly to Hanawa. Even when he's resolved himself to helping see it through, when Majima muses on how the Omi and Tojo will both disappear now, Kiryu visibly looks crestfallen. He even looks like he actually sympathizes with Shishido for his grievance against the idea of disbanding the Tojo and Omi, his tone as he admits how he still holds the mindset of a Yakuza nothing but understanding. In comparison to his usual rejection of his last opponents way of thinking, here, he speaks softly and clearly, showing how he truly hoped there could have been another way for the Yakuza to survive, but he just has to see this through for the greater good.
- While the first few phases of Shishido's fight were scored by the intense and angry "Deadly Struggle", the final fight is instead set to the much slower and more somber "Fleeting Dream", as Kiryu and Shishido finish their fight on the roof of the Omi Alliance HQ at sunset. One particular shot sees Shishido standing directly under the Omi's emblem, as a firm reminder of him being the very last obstacle not just to Kiryu, but to the end of the old ways as a whole.
- Kiryu insists on allowing Shishido to finish his Rousing Speech to rally the remnant Omi Alliance forces against the old Legends, not for one last chance to enjoy fighting alongside his old friends, but because he soberly admits it's a form of Catharsis Factor for those opposed to the dissolution. Those who can't accept that it needs to happen one way or another may as well be faced here and now, allowed to throw everything they have against them to stop them, so they can be fairly stopped after giving everything they've got to defend the only way of life they know. The final segment of Shishido's fight illustrates this best, with Kiryu not dodging a single attack the Omi Lieutenant throws at him, but knocking back every punch or kick with his own fists, taking everything Shishido has to throw at him and overcoming it with greater force and conviction. When he finally goes down, not even the Omi Lieutenant has it in him to keep struggling against the inevitable anymore.
- Kiryu's new karaoke song, "Sayonara, Silent Night", is effectively Kiryu's version of "As Long As You're Happy". In true series fashion, it's a case of Lyrical Dissonance where the song sounds like your typical cheesy holiday ballad, while the lyrics describe a man who parted ways with a loved one, but still has fond memories of the holidays they spent together and still wishes them the best despite being lonely and regretful over their parting. The background video is also a bit depressing, showing Kiryu dressed as Ono Michio in a Santa outfit doing his usual performance for people, before his shift ends and he looks up longingly at the winter sky while smoking. As the song ends, he quietly puts on the Ono Michio mask once more and walks off into the night. Factoring in the context makes it worse, since just like how "As Long As You're Happy" was a song about Majima's love for Makoto, this is Kiryu expressing his regrets about Yumi, and now that she's dead he can now only wish that she's found happiness in the next life. It also suggests that in his current state of mind, he believes his second love interest, Kaoru Sayama, has already moved on. But while the sequel reveals that she hasn't, the man she fell in love with is both legally dead and terminally ill.
