#Kazama Clan

[yunawriter]

Jun has a good amount of official art with her in laws haha 😂😂

[knightscanfeeltoo]

This is the Best Tekken "Meme" I could Think of right now, sorry...

(Probably not Important but Why is there no Transparent Image of Jin's Tekken 3 Model????)

[venomomega196]

The Kazama Family 👨‍👩‍👧✨

The Kazama Family Bloodline between Jin Kazama (Red Dark Star), Asuka Kazama (Spirited Peacemaker) and Jun Kazama (Light of Hope)

[nothingtherefornow]

Hopefully Tekken 8 will finally manage the lore of Tekken better than the previous ones !! Even if Tekken 7 seemed to go toward the right direction with the introduction of the Hachijo clan, yet the story mode was dissapointing

So don't dissapoint us Tekken 8 ^^

It's pretty interesting how I think they're gonna manage to finally connect Azazel to the Hachijos/Mishimas and Possibly Kazamas

Like the creature in the murals at the end of the first chapter of tekken 8 is OBVIOUSLY Azazel, look at the purple skin color, look at the chest pattern and the green and blue jewelry, look at the head gear.

But if you're familiar with japanese mythology, the murals are also obviously a reference to the myth of Susanoo killing the eight-headed dragon Yamato-no-Orochi.

All Mishimas have the kanji meaning the number eight in their names, Kazuya is no exception.

In Arcade Quest, the guy who going to be your player character's rival and possibly finale challenge and who is obviously kazuya-coded (and mains kazuya, even) is named literally Orochi.

As for Susanoo, well he is dressed in white, for starters, tho I dont think it holds any real weight... BUT. Jun has moves called "Tsukuyomi", "Amaterasu" and her rage art is even called "Amatsu Izanami", all are goddesses relatives of Susanoo. Susanoo is also the god of storms among other things, and the name Kazama roughly means "while the wind is blowing".

[vergilberg]

shimano and kazama being bad for each other ... shimano and kazama being bad for their kids . you know how it is .

open in new tab for better quality sorry

[dirt-str1der]

Love characterising nishikiyama as a booze hound drug hound meth addict high every day body mass 75% alcohol hands constantly shaking literally spacing out while driving fifty over the speed limit using elderly folk as speedbumps one hand on the wheel and one hand free to do more drugs and coming into work while functionally deaf and blind and he is still leagues more competent at his job than kiryu

[supercityboys]

In my Nishiki fic I am trying to hone in on the fact that Kazama doesn’t necessarily actually love Kiryu more, but that he’s just an easier pawn. Like, as much as I love the jokes and even the fan art, the reality is that if you were to put Y3 Kiryu and on in the positions he was in with someone else in Kazama's place, he'd be angrier/more reluctant. Kazama is banking off of his position as the father of the trio in order to do his deeds, and that is his true evil.

I've said this in an earlier post, but I'll reiterate: Kazama sugarcoats using his kids, and because of that behavior he never addresses the root of his issue. To the sunflower trio, they believe they owe Kazama, even if they think of him as their father because of the undercurrent sentiment that they are costly. To Kiryu and Nishiki especially, to used is to be needed, even in precarious situations that could lead to their deaths. That, paired with the gokudo way that they so clearly idolize, it skews the way they can process their feelings towards Kazama.

[cryingcow]

The Like a Dragon TV series definitely falls under the "pretty good when you don't have an annoying bitch in your ear telling you it sucks" kind of show

They took a lot of artistic liberties, sure, but one of those was "Date walks up to the Tojo Clan Headquarters and starts smoking in their meeting room in front of the Head with no care" and another was "Kiryu fucks with Nishiki using a smart toilet" and yet another was "Kazama is hated by his orphans for trying to be their father" and hell if they didnt pop off with those

[rnn11203]

something i was thinking abt lately is Nishikis rise in the tojo clan. what we know abt him already is that hes a hard worker, he earns his own family, hes chastized about it though, being called an ass kisser and dismissing it as “favortisim”. but he GETS that 30 million for his sister in a futile attempt to save her life. i think its obvious to see that Kazama and Nishiki aren’t close, if he ever held affection for the younger man im unsure of it. I really dont think nishiki ever really saw him as a father figure anyways. its clear that kashiwagi is rather lienient with Nishiki, for nishikis sake im unsure of, it seems to be more for kazama than anything.

but i wonder how they felt, kazama and kashiwagi, as the nishikiyama family grew. Did he succeed their expectations? Did it worry them? Kazama was ashamed of his murders, he didnt want to be remembered as that sort of man, did he worry for nishiki? “There was nothing i could do” does that mean he tried to do something? Did they think he’d never get that far?

I like thinking about Kazama and Nishikis relationship alot, its so deeply important to the narrative considering that alot of nishikis ambitions come from a place of inadequacy, resentment, and rejection. yet its…. neglected. hardly even featured in the games. they obviously dont share the same father/son relationship kiryu and kazama do, i think kazama misguidedly thinks they do though. i really hate when people say kazama rasied the orphans like how kiryu does, its stated time and time again that he had other people there raising the children. i think awano even says its for taxes or whatever. (side note i saw someone say that kazama did everything he could to discourage people from swearing up but… did he? selfishly, he would visit those kids, wanting to play father, did he not think theyd feel indebted to him? that he would inspire them?

I wonder how strategic nishiki would be, he was beaten when he stepped on the kazama family’s turf, but did he push it again and succeed? I do sorta think kazama was rather fond of little nishiki. that he let his little hands dig into his pockets for candies, that he could swindle him out of his watches and maybe even cash, that he consoled him when nishiki would cry over yuko. but nishikis not crying anymore, hes a man now.

in the end, nishiki was more like kazama then kiryu ever was.

[nothingtherefornow]

But then he announced the King of Iron Fist Tournament 8 and stated that any participant who would fail to prove their strenth would be killed and their country eradicated from earth's surface T_T

But the fact that Kazuya adress everyone by calling them "humans" suggest that it is more Devil talking than Kazuya himself during that scene. As a demonic entity, I guess Devil would be the kind to apply the "the strong live, the weak die" moto to the extreme.

We could also argue that Kazuya created those stakes to motivate his future opponents, but it's clear that Kazuya really sees himself as a Devil and act according to his demonic nature, which is to spread death and destruction. Yet in a way Kazuya is still giving the world a chance to stop him, if Heihachi could beat Devil Kazumi, and the Kazama power can weaken that of the Devil's, surely Kazuya must know that humanity won't bend that easily to his reign of terror, and that among them may be fighters strong enough to pose a challenge to him or stop him.

I believe kazuya being pure evil doesn't make any sense because it contradicts his whole character.

He loves his mother,so much he didn't believe she'd sent akuma to kill him.

He respects jinpachi,bows to him as seen in tekken 5 and only kills him in ending when devil gene takes over him. You can see he is conflicted.

He hates heihachi much more than he hates anyone else and that's if he hates someone other than heihachi. But when he finally kills him,which was depicted as a dramatic scene showing a broken man who was traumized and abused in childhood,suffered and humiliated by the man who was suppossed to be his father,the one who is responsible for the deaths of everyone he loved. Kazuya didn't look happy,didn't even smile. Definitely not pure evil attitude.

Kazuya has saved bruce when he lost his memories,when he simply could've ignored him. Bruce kinda considers Kazuya his friend.

Kazuya respects Anna and when she asked him she wanted to take a break for a while, He accepted her request.

When he found out lars is his half brother, kazuya warned him about the curse of mishimas and stopped the fight. You know he could've mopped the floor with lars but chose not to(no lars did only beat jin who was holding back alot and even harada himself stated that 3 main mishimas aka heihachi,kazuya and jin are much stronger than lars is).

Don't want to talk about jun because their relationship is a mystery and kinda one-sided with some statements speculating kazuya might have been in love with her. But damn,kazuya died because angel and devil were battling inside him and that was why he couldn't beat heihachi as he couldn't focus on the fight and go all out. Jun had that much impact on him. (T8 might reveal just what was their relationship like,why kazuya didn't come to meet jun after he was revived,does he at least respect her,etc)

Kazuya doesn't particularly hate jin and only wants to compete with him and take the devil powers. Jin hates Kazuya though and believes everything is his fault(dude is so deluded,heihachi screwed everyone but got away with it).

I mean yeah,he is now continuing a world war and killing thousands but pure evil thing is just BS. Hope they show us his human side once again. My man has suffered way too much😭

[moophinz]

Do you have any idea the detrimental drama that would happen between these four parties would be after Kiryu goes to jail? Besides what we saw in canon

Shimano knows everything about Majima which is the worst fate for someone like him and there’s no way he wouldn’t have known his favorite is wildly obsessed with Kazama’s favorite. This could so easily be abused. I can just imagine the snide remarks about it coming up in the most timely situations. Like noticing how Majima is looking really down, bored, and fed up

Majima and Nishiki knew each other even if briefly in ‘88. What’s Majima thinking about what really went down while everyone is assuming Nishiki is useless? He would definitely see the shift in him. Would he ever confront him outside of any necessary job interactions before or after the switch? Or does he just watch from afar?

Kazama continues to not do anything for Nishiki while Kashiwagi does it all. Everything continues on as normal

The rest of the Tojo Clan: Aw shit this kinda sucks :/

These four bricks for the next ten years literally any time Kiryu comes up:

[scalproie]

Jun: I would be so good as your dead wife.

Kazuya: Jun...

Jun: Remember when we went on that walk in the woods and I ran a few paces ahead before looking back at you with a smile? Oh yeah you'll be thinking about that for years after I'm gone.

Kazuya: Jun go back to sleep...

[fabiansociety]

i don't share the wild affection for the man that a lot of the yakuza fandom seems to have, but the scene in yakuza 0 where nishikiyama tries to take kiryu out to the woods and murder him as a mercy and can't bring himself to do it is just a great scene for both him and kiryu. it's tragic, romantic, doomed, particularly coming back to the game after playing yakuza kiwami, it's great

it does really underline how *bad* these two are at being yakuza, how bad a fit they really are for the organization. nishiki's weakness is the more obvious hamartia — a real yakuza wouldn't have tried to kill kiryu; a mediocre one would have actually killed him — but kiryu's strength is *equally* flawed. he tells nishiki that they aren't sworn brothers anymore, that he doesn't want him getting involved, and kiryu's unwillingness to accept loyalty while simultaneously refusing to relinquish his own is what drives him out of the clan and ultimately dooms the tojo. the yakuza, at least in these games, are collectives — their strength comes from their group identity, the families making up the subsidiaries making up the clan. insisting that you're strong enough on your own is just as destructive as being too weak for the structure. a weaker kiryu would have accepted nishiki's help, would have actually walked away together; would have listened to kashiwagi, to kazama, to any of the many many people that tried to explain what was actually happening to him.

majima is a good foil for both characters, since he's stronger than nishiki, (but also unable to kill an innocent), and also weaker than kiryu (but willing to accept the torture and loss of dignity that kiryu's tragic pride refuses). majima, because of his flaws, pieces together the plot much more thoroughly than kiryu, but also figures out a way to reconcile himself to the demands of yakuza life. which, i mean, that's a tragedy in its own right, but it's mostly a personal one, at least

[anotherdragonbird]

Why I think the common perception of “Kiryu keeps running away” is incorrect

In this thread (or essay I guess) I will go through most of the games one by one to talk about the examples I've seen brought up for Kiryu's tendency to ‘run away’. 

My thesis boils down to: there's two different kinds of “running”. One is Kiryu thinking he's taking responsibility for something he's blaming himself for. The other is him taking responsibility for Haruka and his own happiness and basically an act of emancipation from Kazama.

Yakuza 0

So far I have not actually seen people bring up examples for Y0 actually. But Kiryu is a very different character here. At this point - at least at the beginning - he's still believing in the Yakuza. He doesn't feel like he has something to repent for yet. This changes through the game, especially with Tachibana’s death. If I'm missing anything here, let me know and I will add it to the list.

Yakuza (Kiwami)

Heads up that I only played Kiwami and not the original Yakuza, but since the story and the main plot points are the same, this shouldn’t really matter.

Kiryu taking the fall for Nishiki 

Personally I don't see this as running away at all, but I've seen Kiryu blamed for the consequences (especially Nishiki’s downfall and even his death and Daigo joining the Tojo Clan because he's so shocked by Kiryu supposedly killing his father) and it being called ‘running away’, so here we go, especially because it’s the first time we see Kiryu “running”. 

This is a very good example of Kiryu taking the blame/taking responsibility, because he basically thinks he's responsible - here for Nishiki (who's his kyodai and can't leave his sister behind) and Yumi (blaming himself, because he should have been there to prevent all of this from happening and probably even thinking this happened because of Yumi's connection to him). 

And in a way this is also a way out for him. For me the beginning of the game (I played it after 0) feels extremely depressing. Because Kiryu feels completely disenchanted with the Yakuza. To me it felt like at this point he was living this life because of other people and their expectations. He's climbing the ranks because he feels like he owes that to Kazama and he can't leave Nishiki. He gives Yumi the ring because that's what Reina and Yumi seem to expect him to do. Taking the blame for Nishiki is him taking action for himself, therefore an act of freedom (it's even the opposite of what especially Kazama would want him to do) and the very first example of Kiryu's self sacrificial nature when it comes to taking responsibility for others and the clan, thinking it's the only solution. It’s a pattern we see with Kiryu again and again: he’s taking the blame, thinking the only and best way out is to sacrifice himself. It’s not always what’s actually best for him, the situation or the people around him, but it’s the opposite of running, it’s facing the responsibility he thinks he has head on.

Kiryu resigning as chairman, giving it to Terada instead 

And here we go with a great example of “running” as a form of emancipation. It's one of the few times where Kiryu is actually selfish and not taking responsibility for the Tojo, but something more important and more personal instead. And I honestly think it's the best choice he ever made. Because while he's not taking responsibility for the Tojo, he's got something more important now: Haruka. He's responsible for a child and he obviously does not want this child to grow up the way he did. He knows he can't be a good father if he’s chairman. 

So why is it also a little bit selfish: it's literally his only way out of the Yakuza without consequences. It's not an organization you can simply *leave*. The people who held him in the Yakuza and in Kamurocho (Yumi, Reina, Nishiki, Kazama) are gone. And the only thing that's worth staying alive for is Haruka who needs him and she needs him *out of the Yakuza*. And it's his only way to be free from the Yakuza without making the Clan an enemy by being exiled or banished. Because he's the boss. You can argue about Kiryu's choice (Terada), but who else was he to choose? Majima to him was an extremely powerful man, but Kiryu has no reason to believe at this point that he would be reliable enough to lead the Clan. We see him as someone who abuses his underlings (including Kiryu, it's literally their first scene together), kidnapped Haruka and has an obsession with violence and chaos. The fact that this is a mask does not change it, because Kiryu has no reason to assume it is and even if he can't expect Majima to not use the mask as chairman. And he has no reason to trust Majima at this point. As far as Kiryu knows Majima’s loyalties lie with Shimano and/or himself. The other option could be Kashiwagi, but it's pretty safe to assume he wasn't interested. And to a degree Kiryu has some reasons to distance himself from Kashiwagi at this point considering he was just as involved with failing Nishiki and probably knew that Kazama killed their parents. It's nothing Kiryu would say out loud I think but subconsciously it's there. (And no, I don't think he magically owed it to Daigo to stay, but I already made a thread about Daigo's and Kiryu's relationship). And there’s also the very simple reason that Kiryu has no leadership experience, has been out of the Clan for 10 years and has to deal with a ton of survivor’s guilt, while he just learned that his father figure killed his parents. So that’s honestly not running at all. 

Yakuza (Kiwami) 2

Heads up again, I only played Kiwami 2 and not the original.

The only thing I can personally think of and I’ve seen brought up, is Kiryu being willing to die on the roof. And wonky writing aside, I think him being willing to die up there is a culmination of his survivor’s guilt mixed with the guilt he feels towards Kaoru, feeling responsible for her family’s death (even though he was a child himself) and also blaming himself for leaving the clan to Terada. It’s his first big “atonement by complete self sacrifice”. He’s not running, he thinks he’s solving the problem by taking himself out of the equation.

(Side note: it’s one of my least favorite scenes of the series because it feels extremely OOC. I think the writers/devs were going for some Hollywood action movie ending with Kiryu and Kaoru making out on the roof, etc, but do you really want me to believe he wouldn’t try to make Kaoru leave and get to safety and be totally fine with Haruka watching him die? Like, for real. It’s ridiculous).

If you squint, you could possibly count him not becoming chairman again, but my point from above still stands. That’s not running. It’s emancipation.

Yakuza 3

I think Kiryu leaving for Okinawa is one of the three times I see brought up the most as examples (the first being him running away from being chairman). And just like the first time I think it can count as running away, BUT just like the first time he actually does it for his own happiness and wellbeing and Haruka. It's him taking responsibility for his family. He's “running” from the Tojo and Kamurocho, but again: he doesn't owe it to anyone to lead a life of crime being unhappy, when he can have a happy life while his daughter has an actual happy life and childhood. Furthermore he assures that Daigo has people around him who have actual leadership experience (Majima, Kashiwagi, Yayoi), he has no reason to stay and sacrifice his and Haruka's happiness, especially considering Kiryu has no leadership experience and staying could also be seen as him challenging Daigo's power. So it’s not running, it’s once again emancipation.

Yakuza 5

The third big example I keep seeing brought up is Kiryu leaving the orphanage and start a new depressed life in Nagasugai. This, in my opinion, is another great example of him leaving = thinking he's taking responsibility and doing what's best for the people he loves, in this case Haruka and the other Morning Glory kids. And it's not that he's doing it because he wants to, but because Mirei Park successfully made him believe that the kids are better off without him, playing into a fear he very clearly already had before and that sticks with him for the rest of the games. I'm not saying Kiryu is doing the right thing here. In my opinion what he should have done was telling Park to fuck off and stay away from Haruka, but it is very Kiryu. Right until IW he feels like he has to repent for all the Tojo Clan ever did even though he hasn't been a part of it for a long time and they fucked up his life and keep dragging him back in. I think it's very smart of Park to get him out of the picture and completely isolating Haruka, so she can swoop in and manipulate her in this very fucked up Idol industry, making her think this was Haruka's dream. (Do you ever realize that if Kiryu told Park to fuck off a lot of sad stuff wouldn't have happened? Well). (Side note: I don't hate Park, she's a great and compelling character. But she's just like Arakawa: an abusive, manipulative parent grooming a kid for their own selfish reasons).

So: Kiryu's not running away. He's thinking he's doing the right thing by once again taking responsibility, taking all the blame and being self sacrificial. It's the wrong choice. But it doesn't mean he's running away.

Yakuza 6

Kiryu leaving for prison

in my opinion, another great case of him making a decision to take responsibility and atone for his Yakuza life, born basically out of what Park told him in Y5, that his past will ruin the kids’ future. I think none of the kids would agree, especially not Haruka and I'm not thinking it's the right decision, but it's very easy to see where he's coming from. And when Haruka leaves for Hiroshima (and then leaves Hiroshima when she learns she's pregnant) she's doing something very similar. I often saw “she's running away like she learned to run away from Kiryu”. No. She takes responsibility for others and her kid's safety the way she learned from Kiryu. Was it the right decision? Maybe not, but she is still very young and I will honestly fight for her right to make decisions that aren't perfect. And you can see where she's coming from, when she leaves Morning Glory. It's so much like Kiryu leaving in Y5 because he was convinced his past will ruin the kids' lives. It’s once again the opposite of running.

Kiryu faking his death

The top example of him taking responsibility and trying to repent for his life by condemning himself to loneliness, giving up everything he loves because he's convinced that's the only way to keep the kids safe, because they will never be safe as long as he's around. Mixed with his tendency to be self sacrificial and thinking he doesn't deserve to have happiness because of the people who died while he stayed alive, while he keeps endangering his loved ones. (I'm not touching the weird letter to Daigo here, because I already did that in a different thread).

Gaiden

I saw him not staying with the Jimas near the end brought up as an example of him running away, which in my opinion is just not working. He was basically forced out of hiding to help with the dissolution. That was a deal with the Daidoji. Why would he stay and endanger the orphanage when he just earlier saw that acting up could endanger the kids? I do think he cares about Majima and Daigo (and has respect for Saejima), but their feelings aren't worth risking the kids' lives for.

Infinite Wealth 

Kiryu not staying in the Jima-self-pity-shack

To say it bluntly: why would he? Coming there was already a huge risk. He's currently working on solving the mess the Jimas left behind, even though it should be none of his business. I see a lot of Kiryu hate for this scene, while I mostly was angry at Daigo, Majima and Saejima. Because time and time again Kiryu is dragged away from his civilian life to solve the mess of the Tojo Clan, that usually has nothing to do with him. At all. It's often started by Daigo being a weak chairman. (And no, I don't think Daigo is Kiryu's responsibility. Daigo at the point of becoming chairman has Yayoi, Majima and Kashiwagi with him. Why did Kiryu apparently fail Daigo, but they didn't?) But back to IW’s infamous 3Jima confrontation. Kiryu has every reason to be as pissed as he is. He had to help the dissolution during Gaiden, being basically sold by the Daidoji to the Yakuza cause. All of it wasn't his idea. Then the heads of the dissolution didn't see it through, flee into a fisher hut and it's once again Kiryu who suddenly has to solve the mess they left behind while being terminally ill. And then they have the audacity to ask him to abandon the cause and stay with them. Kiryu leaving with the Ichigang isn't only taking responsibility, it's also the right thing to do. And it's definitely not running away. 

Running from treatment instead of fighting 

Kiryu's lack of will to fight against the cancer is the culmination of his self sacrificial nature. It's on point. Because in the end he thinks that's what he deserves for his life and being alone with so many loved ones dead and people being added to the pile (like Rikiya, to his knowledge Kashiwagi, etc). He's just going full circle. He's alone and at this point he sees dying as being able to repent, join his loved ones and to a degree freedom from loneliness and the Daidoji leash. And in his mind the people who are still alive are better off without him, because as long as he's alive, he's a risk to their safety. With him gone, the Daidoji have no reason to threaten the kids anymore. It's very Kiryu. It's him on the roof in YK2 all over again. Finding his will to live again and fight is basically like him refusing to be chairman and leaving for Okinawa: because he's finally doing this for himself and his own happiness and not for the Tojo. And it makes so much sense that it happens through people who aren't Yakuza, but Date fighting for him, showing him all the people who love him and Ichigang as well, not the Tojo people.

But why the misconception?

Well, I feel like it's something that manifested as a belief in the fandom that a lot of people just stick to without actually questioning it. And a lot of times, it seems to be to make Kiryu responsible while taking responsibility from other characters (especially Daigo, Majima and Kashiwagi). In solidarity with one character another character gets the blame and that's - funny enough - usually Kiryu. He's magically ruined Daigo's life (I made another thread about why I think Kiryu's not as responsible for Daigo as some make it out to be) and responsible for basically every death in the series. If you read some takes, you could believe Kiryu's the true villain of the story. This is especially interesting because all those characters do similar things, but somehow that’s fine. Kashiwagi fakes his death and starts a new life. Majima drops Tojo responsibilities in Y2 to have a construction company (it’s not a civilian life though), he runs away from his (extremely young) wife, he leaves Kamorucho behind during the 3K-plan, he leaves the Yakuza grunts to hide in a fishing hut and he fakes his death in Y5. Daigo leaves the Tojo to drink his brains away with his nepo baby money, he basically vanishes in Y5 leaving the clan in disarray, he leaves during the 3K-plan and leaves with Majima once again when the dissolution isn’t easy. All of those characters have reasons for their behavior, Kiryu’s not more or less of an asshole for doing similar things. 

That’s my essay. It got far too long. Thank you, if you read all of this. 

I’m open to discussing my points. I’m not open to Kiryu being called an asshole just because a popular account says he is. 

[dirt-str1der]

I really expected kiryu to walk with a limp after the stabbing scene but hes literally fine he can run a marathon without breaking a sweat even with a hole in his stomach

[gamerism]

Kiryu Kazumi is an interesting exercise in fandom, in my opinion. And I wanna talk about that.

[Kazumi is the fan created drag persona for Kiryu. Often Kiryu is genderfluid or exploring identity through her.]

Kazumi places a few tiers down the "non-canon fandom iceberg". She exists in response to Goromi who is already a very minor thing in canon, and was written as a Bit/with the intent to make an offensive joke about drag/ect, the fandom were the ones who made Goromi mean more than that. So Kazumi is a layer down from all of that already.

Despite her existence being entirely fanmade, she's not a vehicle for the fandom to cannibalise the source material into something unrecognisable purely for fanworks' sake. Though she might look it on the surface.

If the fandom decided to make Goromi mean something because she's the most blatant moment of queercoding for Majima in a long history of queercoding for him, then her theme is ultimately masculinity in canon.

Which is absolutely what Kazumi is about. Kiryu sits at the very beating heart of Like A Dragon's themes about masculinity. Be it toxic, be it ideals, be it the kind of appearances you're expected to maintain in the yakuza. Kiryu shoulders the heavy burden of them all.

We see him exhibit both positive and toxic masculinity throughout the series. But what the games have rarely brought up for him, is the rejection of masculinity in any context, or at least, femininity in equal amounts.

This isn't really surprising, if they're unwilling to make Majima say he's gay with his own mouth after using queerness as a means to Other him and make him seem dangerous, untrustworthy and even scary...they're certainly not going to have their shining beacon of Honour, Kiryu, do that. (Majima's queerness and coding has changed role somewhat over time and is generally more neutral or positive in positioning now. But even as recently as Yakuza Kiwami, it was being used in a negative way.)

So Kazumi serves the purpose for fans who wish to delve more deeply into that thorny complex relationship to masculinity.

[Kazumi In Kiwami 2 On NexusMods] By kiryussideburns.

Personally I find the idea of Kiryu exploring Kazumi as a means of escape, as a means of fully free self expression (something Kiryu has never had), really really interesting. I also find the time frame she's generally written in interesting. Most people place her post-2005. Kazama is dead. This is a hugely important factor in Kiryu's willingness to take the risk to explore gender expression. Kazama is not the kind of man who approves of any (perceived) weakness in men. In Kiryu and Nishiki's lives he's who instills a lot of toxic aspects of masculinity in them. I'd also hazard a strong guess that he's homophobic, though we don't actually know that.

The next largest factor is that December 2005 is the point where Kiryu leaves the Tojo Clan permanently. Kiryu definitely still cares a great deal deep down about his image and public perception within the underworld after leaving, but his day-to-day is no longer dictated by the rules of that life.

(Some people, me included, also dabble in Kazumi in 1988. But the same things essentially apply there. Kazama is in prison & as far away as he can functionally be while alive. And Kiryu is out of the Tojo Clan temporarily.)

As someone so enamoured with this exploration of gender expression for the character, I was floored when LAD Gaiden allowed Kiryu to wear makeup. Seriously, I had to go lay down to calm down about it when playing Gaiden day of release.

(Gaiden's lighting is very contrasted, I did my best to find a screenshot where you can actually see the makeup.)

The makeup, nail polish and pearl earrings in the Boutique was kind of unbelievable to me. I know RGG didn't really mean anything by it, that they didn't make those customisation options because they were going to touch on these themes. But even the hint of that in canon, it was so much more than I ever expected....even if it did go nowhere, as I knew it would.

It kind of gives me hope that Goromi might mean something more than just an offensive joke (in canon anyway) in the future. Or if not Goromi than something else, in LAD9 or such. Either way Kazumi will continue to be fandom legacy for gender expression, presentation and what the expectations Kiryu & other characters have resting on them mean.