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rosewaterconley · 1 year ago

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rgg just keep creating games that are like a handful of fatal flaws away from being perfect

my favorite genre of video game is "utter perfection in every regard except one fucking thing that makes you wonder if the dev even knows what a video game is" and RGG just won't stop doing that. love em for it.

Yakuza 4: +Incredible quantity and quality of side content - Tanimura's substories and master are the peak of Yakuza. Especially love the one substory with him that really sneaks up on you - it looks like normal police blotter but then oh shit it's a murder?? Love stuff like that, it really makes the setting feel bigger, wilder and more unpredictable not to mention lived-in. +Solid combat. No character isn't fun to play which is amazing since this is the first game with multiple distinctive fighting styles +Compelling main story +Best Kamurocho. Objectively think the Dragon Engine ones are better but this one has the best vibes. The sound design on the roofs is unparalleled -Story has too many moving parts for its relatively fast pace (0 and 7 both have similarly complex plots but knew to decompress so we had time to get to know everyone), and the fast pace also means there's really not much time to engage with all the side content

Yakuza 5: +Ridiculous breadth of content +Best combat in the series +Only game where the idea of characters having a secondary mode/storyline is explored to its full extent +I'm a huge sucker for the 4/5 era of "Kiryu, Akiyama, Saejima and some dude who never appears again" and Shinada is just absolutely perfect +Haruka's section really worked for me -That being said Akiyama has like nothing to do and his combat sucks -Ridiculous encounter rates -Main story feels like a D&D session where the DM had 1 cocktail napkin worth of notes prepared and forgot the napkin at home.

Yakuza 0: +Engaging and believable setting +Fun side activities including like half of the all time great substories +A plot that really understands how to balance complex conspiracy narratives and satisfying character writing +A bunch of memorable characters throughout both cities and a great feeling of never quite knowing what's around the next corner when guys like Kitajima are inhabiting parts of the map that you'd swear have never even HAD a purpose before +IMO the best implementation of befriending NPCs in any Yakuza game +Yakuza 5-ass encounter rates but also an easy way to get around street fights?? Why did no subsequent games do that. Seriously Yakuza 0's best innovation -Side content is top-heavy, with most substories available by their characters' second chapters. Cities feel dead by the end -Kiryu's side activity is a super lame grindfest -All the villains aside from Kuze are underwritten or just kinda weirdly written especially on Majima's end (though Kiryu's final boss is IMO the worst singular offender) -The combat is too easily cheesed to be engaging

Yakuza 6: +Best new city since Sotenbori, honest to God exploring Onomichi makes this game worth the price of admission on its own +Best iteration of Kamurocho in ages +My favorite cast of side characters in any Kiryu game +Amazing substories and general side content +Evil twink -Horrible combat -The only script in the series that I actively loathe

Yakuza 7: +Favorite cast of characters in the series, period +Almost perfectly paced for the scope of the story, every character had a chance to be fleshed out and even minor villains like Ishioda remain clearly defined in my memory +incredible rags-to-riches story with genius links back to every prior entry +Best new city since Onomichi, I love every inch of Ijincho +Super fun substories, especially fond of 7 choosing single long substories over using a series of short ones to artificually inflate the number of substories +Only substory to ever make me cry (Forget me Not) +Turn-based combat works way better than I thought it would -Yakuza 5 ass encounter rates -Exploration holds your hand too much. Substories all tell you where you're supposed to go and all the major side stuff goes out of its way to tell you it exists. This game doesn't really have any content you can miss, no real reward for being perceptive. It bashes you over the head with where it wants you to go and everything it's possible to do. Overly curated to the point of feeling like a theme park, which is like the opposite vibe it should have given Ichi has never been in this city before? Kamurocho in 4 felt more unfamiliar to me than Ijincho. -There's just not enough for Ichi to do outside of the main story. His two 'side dramas' are a business menugame without much in the way of character interaction and the Survive Bar stuff that shares a cast with the main plot and draws all its storylines from their pre-existing backstories -No unique activities in Sotenbori or Kamurocho. Would it have killed them to make like, one thing unique to these cities? I though golf was only in Sotenbori for a bit but nah. These things eat up so much hard drive space and they only exist for grinding and filling out checklists. Horrible treatment of legacy settings in a game that treats its legacy characters so well.

boy that was longer than I wanted it to be I'm sorry if you read all that. probably super obvious based on the length of each section which games I've played the most recently. might come back to this if I ever have the balls to attempt another Yakuza 5 playthrough.

#yakuza

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mind-me-n0t · 2 months ago

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Like a Dragon: Yakuza - Episode 3

I'm of two minds on this

The last episode of today's triple release leaves me in a weird spot. I want to divorce the show from the games and enjoy it on its own, but I'm constantly drawing parallels and comparisons in my head. And rightfully so, it is an adaptation after all, isn't it?!

Some of the changes I find genuinely cool. Some are choices I wouldn't have made myself, but I'm interested in how they play out. And some are just bad.

I'm not onboard the hate train that's rolling through the fandom at the moment. I am still looking forward to next week where the conclusion will take place. But I also mourn what could have been if the show had been placed in more loving hands.

Thoughts and spoilers below.

Oh my god heyyyy Haruka... Okay, byeeee Haruka...

God, I was yelling at my screen "Don't you dare just drop her off here". I was so pumped after Kiryu saved her at the end of episode 2. But she's not going to be important to the plot, is she? This just feels like a checked box. Aiko and Yumi both got some parental trauma, what with their mom going fishing for kulipaas in the lake, and it would make sense for Haruka to factor into the resolution of that. Now you are the self-destructive mother, Aiko. Are you really going to do Haruka dirty like your own mom did?

It was cute how Kiryu came to Haruka's defence when Yumi got a bit harsh on her, I loved those little moments. Sad we won't see any more of those.

Nishiki still likes Kiryu? Didn't see that coming. An interesting twist and a welcome one. In episode 2 there was a moment or two where Nishiki felt like a background character to Kiryu's story, which could be a catalyst for him going bad, like the game does it. "Oh man Kiryu went to jail? Shame, it should have been someone worthless like Nishiki". But Kiryu probably never gets to that level of recognition here, so it would be a weird aspect to keep. Although again, if Nishiki doesn't turn evil in those 10 years, what the fuck has he been doing with his time?

Although it is kind of a trope in the series that the more polite someone is from the get go, the more evil they get when shit hits the fan. Some of your best buddies start out as rude and even hostile. That's how you know they are great friend material. Perhaps Nishiki will reveal his true colours later.

Yumi: "You haven't changed. It's as if you were frozen in time." Nah, girl. He actually changed a lot. Like a lot a lot. It's one of the things i praised in my post for the last episode. Maybe in the jump from right before prison to now, he hasn't changed. But we the audience wouldn't be able to tell because we are not there yet in this bullshit double timeline. God, it annoys me to no end!

Oh my god heyyyy Taiga... Okay, byeeee Taiga...

My boys have been done dirty. I feel like this is a testament to the show's creators missing the point completely. Solid proof that they failed basic characterisation or worse, didn't care about it. The Majima from the games wears many masks, and it's easy to just think of him as a obsessive, knife-wielding maniac. But what he isn't underneath these masks is stupid. Majima is not stupid. He just doesn't care and weaponises his carefreeness against his enemies.

Likewise with Saejima. He is not stupid. But in the show they are prancing around like buffoons, opening fire in the middle of the street in broad daylight. And none of them seems to understand the gravity of a bullet wound in the torso? "If you die on me, I'll kill you" Woohoohoo, we're so kooky! Ah shit, he ded.

I do like Majima's actor's performance. And I like how in the opening of the fight he comes across as a more seasoned yakuza than baby Kaz and Nishiki. More of that Majima, please. But now I have zero confidence in the show handling post-downfall Majima with any cleverness or skill.

Halfway there, I guess. See y'all next week.

#my amazon yakuza review #yakuza #like a dragon #rgg

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akiiyamashun · 2 years ago

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I know you mentioned you enjoyed Akiyama and it pushed you to pick him up as a muse.

What was the exact reason on why you picked him up? Was / is there something that the fandom portrays him as and you don't? What is one dynamic you love to explore more about that isn't talked about enough yet you want to? Annnnnd what's your thoughts on how Akiyama would be & react towards about the homeless in Yokohama?

I know he will definitely be open towards them and understand their situation, but how would he go about in interacting with them?

unscripted asks . always accepting

Beck, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for sending this ask because I realized that I might not have... Fully explained the reasons why I picked up Akiyama as a muse (at least not after officially opening up the blog!). And not only that but all these other juicy things, too! Ugh, thank you so much for this!

But first things first: I picked up the Yakuza games again after I started chatting/plotting with @sixthxchairman over at my other blog, and Y3 was... A not so fun experience, to put it mildly. It is my least favorite entry and I struggled to move forward because of 2 main things: graphics/technology whiplash (I went from Y0 and Kiwami 1 and Kiwami 2 to... A PS3 remaster haha; it was a jarring experience) and the story. Gosh, the plot and pacing of Y3 is just strange, with a lot of dad Kiryu content that I did not particularly care for, Daigo being mostly off-screen and just confusing/cliché conspiracies including lost twins and everything.

I did not know a thing about Y4 when I started - I just wanted more Daigo content, really - and then Akiyama Shun happened and oh. my. god. I was smitten with him right at the beginning - confused because I had no idea we were getting non-Kiryu protagonists at the time, but I thought his initial scenes with Hana amusing; I absolutely LOVED his fighting style (I’ve always done very well with him, as opposed to Saejima, for instance) and by the time Kido did the introduction with that voice-over about who he was and everything, I was sold.

Akiyama is just a very likeable, charming and refreshing character for me - Kiryu is not a favorite of mine and I largely played the games for the other characters/overall lore (and Majima, my original love from Y0 haha). But then suddenly there was this guy, with mysterious motivations and great lines, awesome voice and fun moves. I was entranced - he felt more relatable and an everyday sort of guy than Kiryu and his mythical fighting skills and legendary reputation etc. Also a protagonist I did not feel like groaning at and questioning his motivations every 5 minutes.

As I got further with the game and then somewhere along Y5, I was so deep into Akiyama hell that I knew I needed to write him; I started creating backstories, motivations, relatives and a lot of things to explain why Akiyama is who he was and my portrayal was born. I like to think I’m rather singular in the aspect that I don’t personally think he’s stupid/lazy or a shallow comic relief - sure, he acts like that sometimes, but my interpretation of Akiyama feels like it’s different from most of the fandom in the sense that I see him as someone with above-average intelligence, with strong anti-system bias and who genuinely wants to make life for others better. There are a lot of particular political and societal views that I incorporate in how I write him.

On your second point: I would absolutely love to have the chance to write homeless!Akiyama or even his past, arrogant self prior to his fall from grace. I think these two are sides to his personality I haven’t yet touched in detail and which would be fun to flesh out more - despite the fact that he is not yet the Akiyama Shun we all love and adore. Particularly his homeless era - the original one post-Touto scandal, and not during Y6 - is a period that fascinates me because it was hard, dark and a lesser man would have been destroyed by it; somehow, he managed to not only survive, but to be reborn as someone he’s happy with and confident with his role in the world. There is a reason I keep associating himself to the phoenix so much (in addition to the little in-game hints, too).

And finally your third question re. Yokohama - I sincerely think Akiyama has an edge there because he’s not formally anything (he’s a civilian running a legitimate business), but Y6 suggests that he’s considered an ally/connection to Daigo and maybe he could be targeted by the Omi as well if he stayed in Kamurocho as a Tojo loyalist (despite not being yakuza!). Although I don’t think they would personally go after him - because, again, he’s a civilian and the entire idea of taking control over Tokyo was doing it in a way that was different from the open all-out yakuza wars - I still think it might have driven him to someplace near for a breather and discover/interact with the people there.

I sincerely think his modus operandi would be similar to what we see in the other games because he would offer food/minimal material comforts and try to understand what is going on in the city first - but the moment someone tried to take advantage of them (such as charging protection money), he would fight back and likely get pulled into the Ijin Three mess because that’s what he does - he keeps being dragged into underworld business because he won’t stay quiet or put, haha.

But chances are (unless he crossed paths with Kasuga and friends) that he wouldn’t go deep into their business or the power structure in Ijincho - he would attempt to negotiate some deal for these people, and probably work with Hello Work/local organizations to try and find employment or better long-term solutions. I don’t doubt he would grant loans himself, or just try to find a way to put their skills to good use and overall make a difference.

#iii. answered #vi. ooc #digitalmadness #thank you so much for these!#so many lovely questions!#you spoiled me Beck <3

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yakuzadumpingground · 4 years ago

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Well since I'm feeling contrarian I'm gonna rank all of the yakuza games I've played (which is everything except the original 1 and 2, Dead Souls, and the Japan only games) which is guaranteed to piss someone off. Starting with the best-

1. Yakuza 0

Ok, not a controversial choice. I'm sorry. But the general consensus is correct. On top of having one of the best stories in the series, a really fun combat system (albeit not very challenging, but it's not like i play yakuza for challenge), and some of the most memorable sidestories, the setting really gives this game a certain style that nothing else in the series has. Also, one of the few yakuza games that's decently paced. Honestly, most of my complaints about this game are nitpicks (such as how grindy maxing out your character is) it's just a kind of boringly perfect game, really.

2. Yakuza: Like a Dragon

"BuT iT's TuRn-BaSeD" ok cool guess you're just gonna miss out on a fantastic fucking game. I gotta say, it was a real hard choice between "I wanna see the side stories" and "I GOTTA know what happens next in the story" sometimes. I don't know else I can say about this game: great story, great characters, just a great time. Admittedly, as an RPG it.... needs work. The encounter rate is WAAAY too high and the job class system is pretty busted. Even still, the genre change is a breath of fresh air and honestly pretty charming at times. Play this, goddamn

3. Yakuza Kiwami 2

It was a real toss up between Kiwami 2 and the game in the 4th slot, but in the end, Kiwami 2 wins by being more consistently enjoyable. Unlike the first two games on this list I can't say Kiwami 2 had a good story exactly, but I can say it's an entertaining one. I was rarely bored playing this, and in terms of sheer fun, Kiwami 2 wins that crown. I was *howling* at the ending, my God.

4. Yakuza 5

I'm of two minds when it comes to this game. On the one hand, some of my favorite stuff is in this game. The intro is very unusual but hit me in a weird way that really stuck with me. It finally made Saejima likable. Playable Haruka. Shinada, my beloved. On the other hand, while Yakuza games having pacing problems is pretty much the norm, whoo boy does yakuza 5 test your patience. Sloths move at the speed of fleas on meth compared to this game. Also, the actual overarching story is pretty weak and uninteresting. It's really best viewed as a collection of loosely connected stories. This game definitely has it's flaws, but the high points more than make up for them

5. Yakuza 6

Someone's gonna get mad that this game isn't lower, I'm sure. Yeah, it's flawed. It's not best send off for Kiryu. It's lacking in content. The ending is fucking terrible. But there's still plenty here to love. I love Onomichi, it's honestly one of my favorite locations in this series, even if there's nothing to do in it. It's just wonderful to look at and walk around in. I like the Onomichi cast. Beat Takeshi is there. Having Kiryu's saga cap off with a game about family is a great idea, and until this game's awful fucking ending it's a touching exploration of that theme. But fuck this game's ending. Seriously.

6. Yakuza 3

This is... a weird one. I can both see why the fanbase rejected it at the time and why fan appraisal has gotten so much kinder to this game. Like y6 (honestly y6 is really an unofficial remake of this game) it's a game about family. That being said, I rank it lower than 6 because of the relatively lower stakes and weak plot. It takes a long time for the main plot to actually start, and honestly it can take it's dear sweet time. Whenever I was going main story quests all I can think was about how much I'd rather be dinking around doing mundane shit for the kids. But I can't say this game isn't charming as hell. It's really one of the few times you really see Kiryu as just a... guy. Raising his kids, just living his life. For a series all about high octane melodrama, slice of life is a welcome change of pace

7. Judgment

Ooh, HERE'S the controversial take! Yeah, I didn't really care for Judgment. Judgment is the opposite of y3, where instead the main plot is actually very interesting but we spend. So. Much. Time. On. Bullshit. It's not a short game either. I spent so much of this game wondering when we're getting to the goddamn fireworks factory. Putting the pacing problems aside, the characters are fun but apart from Yagami and arguably Sugiura they don't get much in the way of meaningful development (it feels like Higashi's character arc is almost entirely off screen). The "detective" gameplay is meaningless fluff and adds nothing (note to game developers: tailing missions always suck. They sucked in Assassin's Creed and they suck here) and the attempt to bring back style changing is half-baked. I didn't hate my time with this game, but it left me underwhelmed

8. Yakuza Kiwami

This was actually my first yakuza game. And thank goodness Kiryu is hot because this game is... rough. First off, the story is just not very good. It spends a lot of time with tedious red herrings and extraneous shit with characters we don't care about. I honest to God had a hard time following the plot on my first playthrough because the cast is like 90% unmemorable middle aged Japanese men that show up like once in the first hour and then once in the last (but you're expected to remember them). It doesn't fare any better gameplay wise. It does make one good decision, bringing back style changing, but then for some reason they decided to make every boss fight an awful chore by having them regenerate their hp several times a fight (unless you happen to have the heat to do a heat action, and even then they regen hp so fast it may not help that much). What. The fuck. This snowballs into the Majima Everywhere which... look. I know. Goromi. But this system is still one where you have to fight a boss over and over and over again (in a game where fighting bosses is a chore). I've seen people slide off the series after going from 0 to kiwami, and that sucks. Maybe it was best i started here; if I liked this game, I'll probably like the rest

But there's one game I'd say that'd worse

9. Yakuza 4

When I played Yakuza 4 the first time, it was the ps3 version and I hadn't played 3 yet (it was more expensive.) So when I replayed 4 it was after playing 3, and honestly I was appreciating the game a lot more. After the slog of 3 it was nice to have a game with a snappier pace. And Akiyama was a fun change of pace. Him and Hana have a fun dynamic. I remembered not liking this game; was I too harsh? Could I have appreciated 4 more if I could see the improvements from 3? Then I got to Saejima's section then I remembered why I don't like this game. Honestly, I could go ON about how much Saejima's part sucks, it is easily the worst time I've had playing a yakuza game. I'll spare you that novel for now tho. And from here, the game never really recovers. We move on to Tanimura, the worst yakuza protagonist by the sheer virtue of how boring he is. By the time Kiryu shows up again I was so damned thrilled to see him. But he doesn't really save this game. Yakuza plots are usually convoluted and sometimes hard to follow, but 4's just gets exhausting to keep up with. By the time you get to your 28th betrayal you just can't care anymore. And it all caps off with a lazy fucking ending and the absolute worst final boss fight in the series. Oh Curryman. You deserve a better game.

#sorry i ended up being wordier than i expect #i need to be sleeeeepiiiiing #yakuza

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doog20 · 3 years ago

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Fathers, they mould us.

Yakuza, a shaping story

Yakuza LaD spoilers leave now or get shot by Sawashiro, you have been warned.

I been playing yakuza LaD for a while i took a long break bc i got stuck on the Majima and Saejima fight but then i beat them last night and went on to the scene right before the death Arakawa you know the one with dutch angles and stuff. yeah that scene really made me nervous.., like they held shots and things that made me think "oh shit he is gonna die" and then you get that call and it isnt a surprise that he is dead and to put the nail in the coffin (GOD THAT PUN WASNT INTENDED) they show you the body unlike other yakuza characters that die off screen.., looking at you yakuza 5 you know what you did. and that whole interaction is about how Arakawa had a dream about how Ichi is really Aoki and in a weird way he is.

right as all of this unfolded i was dming my friend and they perfectly encapsulate me feelings on the matter. it is just me sending a message to my friend saying something like "HJSHSKJLKS HE IS DEAD SJKSHJS" and them sending back "HSHJSJSHSHG YEAH and then a gif of a crying cat" this is how we communicate, it is highly evolved and i dont expect you to understand ahaha. Sawashiro it turns out is Aoki's father and Ichi's dad is none other than Arakawa-San. Sawashiro explains that that he met a woman whos name he doesnt remember and they play house for a bit and she falls pregnant and they try to forget about it, preying for a miscarriage, oh boy i was done when he said that it just broke my heart. but the baby ends up alright and the woman without a name gives birth in a bathroom of a convenience, she looks after the baby and he couldnt give a fuck, not bc he doesnt care but bc he needs to not care to survive, eventually they decide to leave the baby in the a coin locker and at the very same time Arakawa-San's partner says that she has left their baby at the very same coin locker so he rushes over. Soon Sawashiro and the woman come back to see a crazed Arakawa smashing the coin locker with their baby in it and before they can ask why, he has broken in, grabbed the baby and run off with it. a few moments later 2 men come by the coin lockers just as frantic as Arakawa was, they check all the coin lockers and find one with the key still in and inside is the baby boy of Arakawa, the 2 men that came passed were Ichi's dad and his friend looking for one of their worker's babies. the 2 babies got switched.

It shows so much in retrospect, it makes everything make so much more sense, why Sawashiro was such a Aoki loyalist, he in a weird way just wanted to make it up to his son, and its often said throughout the game that he is soft on the Young Master, and it makes sense. it also explains why Arakawa was so willing to cut off a finger for Ichi, bc he knew that Ichi was his son, whether this was in his heart or in his head i dont know, but i have a feeling that he knew from the second he met ichi. Ichi in throughout this game looks for a family, whether it is with is friends or trying to find his father figure in Arakawa-san, its all for family, but over and over he gets betrayed (Nanba) and his world gets twisted (Arakawa) but instead of letting it change him he sticks to his guns and stays cheerful to seek the truth out. it would have been really easy to forget about them, in fact he is told to do so, but he doesnt do that bc it would go against his core. and in the end his decision not to stop believing in them bares fruit. with Nanba it turns out he is doing all this for his brother and in the case of Arakawa he is doing it for the greater good of Ijincho and Kamurocho. If Ichi had give up, who knows how some of these things would have ended. I think all of these things hit so hard for me bc i have such a good relationship with my dad, yeah sure there are a few problems here and there but we are solid, when i heard Sawashiro talking about praying to get rid of the baby i couldnt help but cry my eyes out, its just so awful to think about, and its really easy to cast judgement onto those that do that, but what other choice did they have, honestly they could do nothing other than that all the games have so many themes and things but there is one core theme that i think is they most show off in these games and its... fathers, whether they are biological or not they are our fathers and they maybe abusive or they maybe distant or just non existant, it doesnt matter, they make us who we are, but just bc they make us who we are doesnt mean we cant break free from this mould. but now which path do you pick, do you stick with the mould or do you break out?

OH i almost forgot, the other lesson, silly me. the other lesson is that AV actresses are everywhere and they work in very weird places and for us to find them we just need to open our eyes ;)

#yakuza lad #yakuza ichiban

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arata-is-a-dunce · 4 years ago

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The Kanoichi Clan

*This will be long, but bare with me. Please note that this is all speculation and not concrete.*

I have been thinking about this clan. But specifically on one bitch.

Kanoichi Satoru’s deadbeat dad. (I don’t really like the man. And this will be more bashing on the man because of what he did to Satoru.)

Is this man even alive? Don’t know but for now, let’s say yes.

I will focus on Kanoichi-san and his son.

For the rest of this thing, I will call the father “Kanoichi-san” and Satoru “Satoru” or “Kanoichi-kun.”

I am not apologizing for anything that might make one mad and I don’t condone what Satoru did in his introduction. This is to look at the characters on a deeper level.

Anyway, without further ado

This bitch would have allowed his son to be permanently disfigured (at worst, killed) for the house god beside him.

So, exactly what would his reaction be to our main character?

Let’s get a little deeper with this.

According to Satoru, his father had never been like this before. He would never have sacrificed his son for anything. But let’s let it be known that children never know their parents’ true colors until later.

Could it be that Satoru’s father had always been like this, and this incident revealed that to Satoru? Kanoichi-san probably didn’t care much about his son, seeing him as nothing but a tool that can be replaced. He can make more children if Satoru was to die, as stated in these panels.

“Unfortunately, that boy cannot be used as a threat. I can always make another child after all.”

“His eyes . . . His heart . . . Go ahead and gouge them out.”

This fucker, didn’t see Satoru as his son in this moment. “That boy” instead of “my son” or “Satoru” as in Japanese they don’t really have “he/her” pronouns. (Or is it just “you” that they don’t have a word for?)

Anyway. He didn’t care.

Satoru believes that his father would never have done that if it hadn’t been for the Another.

If it had been a different situation, I do believe Kanoichi-san wouldn’t have cared either way. He would have allowed the perpetrator to kill Satoru at any point no matter the situation.

Kanoichi-san probably never cared for his family and Satoru is finally seeing it, but the situation warped his way of thinking. Instead of finding blame in his father’s actions (or lack thereof), he placed the blame on the Another who is protecting them (I think this is how that works, correct me if I am wrong). The Another is there to help prosper the family and home, keeping it safe.

In the anime, during this flashback, Akane was saying how she’s gotten to understand Suzu (the mansion god) a lot better since Arata had come by. She compares Arata to Kanoichi-san:

“Everytime I see how Miyako-san acts with Anothers, I remember my uncle . . . your father. He was friends with Anothers. He was Suzu-sama’s best friend.”

(We also get his face here instead of the manga. Strange. They might have pulled things from the latest volumes.)

(The man would probably be in his late 50s-late 60s now depending on how old he was when he had Satoru. And he would probably not look a day over 40. Here he does look well into his early 30s but it’s difficult to tell.)

In this scene, Satoru and Akane spoke in a way that it came across that Satoru’s father (Akane’s uncle) has passed away.

As noted by Akane saying “[he] was Suzu-sama’s best friend.”

In the manga, the wording is a little different.

“He was even getting along with the mansion god . . .”

“The mansion god” is used instead of “Suzu-sama.”

A little odd on why the anime added more to the elevator scene and changed up Akane and her relationship with the Zashiki-warashi. (Unless that’ll be something later down the road in the series and they just pulled it towards the beginning.)

Again note the change in wording. Here she says

“It reminds you of . . . your father.”

Not whatever she said in the anime. Not the “I remember . . .” but the “It reminds you . . . ”

This makes it a bit more meaningful. Allows us to see a different side. Everytime Satoru sees Arata acting in such a way, he’s thinking of his father. He’s remembering his trauma and what had led up to it, the why he has a scar in the first place.

There’s also this tidbit in the same page:

“Do you leave it there just to spite him?”

Satoru still keeps the scar to spite his father and the clan. And Satoru has made it clear to the audience the only reason he hasn’t given up his family name and turned his back on the clan is because Akane is still there.

So, these are giving mix signals. Is Kanoichi-san still alive or has he passed and Kanoichi-kun is trying to hold onto something as a reminder?

Kanoichi-san is . . . something.

I doubt he’s ever been a good father. He is probably one of those fathers that choose their obsesssion (work or hobby or something) over their own family.

The Zarashiki-warashi is the reason they are prospering. As stated by Satoru here:

You can see his anger but also the fear that he probably still holds.

He doesn’t see the worth in being a sacrifice for prosperity. And I don’t see it either. It isn’t worth sacrificing your child to live a prosperous life unless you’re a greedy person.

And he doesn’t trust Arata because he fears that he will sacrifice a human if it meant appealing to Anothers. He doesn’t have a reason to trust Arata either. He doesn’t know him other than as a new face in the work—naive and ignorant and fully willing to be all buddy-buddy with the beings that messed his life up.

So Kanoichi-san is a person willing to sacrifice his own child for the sake of keeping an Another safe. What’s not to stop him from sacrificing something or someone else for something even smaller?

This will now go into my theory of how Kanoichi-san will react to Miyako Arata. You can skip straight to the comments to rebuttal me.

If anything Kanoichi-san probably has an obsession with Anothers (not like Saejima). It’s toned down, nonchalant with the need to know, to find out. He is patient and does not rush, calm and cautious with his movements.

(I’m trying to think of an anime villain. Probably Aizen from Bleach? Dude planned for hundreds of years and experimented and got things done without rushing and it bore fruit.)

So say, Kanoichi-san is all the willing to watch the pieces on a chessboard fall, being careful in his movements and will take out and sacrifice anything along the way. (I’m not a chess player so this metaphor probably doesn’t make sense but pretend it does)

All of a sudden, some kid comes out of nowhere being able to speak to these creatures that have always fascinated him. This kid can understand them and learn from the creatures than whatever theories the humans make up. He would probably watch carefully from the shadows to see what he kind of information could extract before striking.

Arata is a fascinating character to the outside world. He is descended from a great onmyōji and has this man’s rare ability. So, now, he’s also fascinated by this human.

Patience can always wear thin and break.

Since he would give up his own son to protect an Another. What lengths would he go to get this human with the ability to speak to them on his side?

They are of a prominent clan, so they would be rich. Money could go a long way. Money could sway others where it won’t sway some.

He could most likely get away with kidnapping, yes?

But that’s a thought for another time.

Kanoichi-san gives off these little vibes of an antagonist who’s willing to wait in the weeds for the right opportunity. He will probably resort in taking Arata if it means helping him get close to Anothers. (Trying to think of character who betrayed mc after “teaching” them. Can’t think of anyone atm. Anyone know of anyone?)

(Wait, Kray to Galo. Even if he wasn’t really a teacher nor liked Galo.)

If Kanoichi-san is to cross paths with Arata, then I fear for the redhead. He will probably not see anything wrong with talking about Anothers with someone willing to listen after having been brushed off (maybe a little iffy cause dude bro is sketchy and related to trigger-happy Satoru). Because of this, he doesn’t really delve into weaknesses since he doesn’t really know them. He keeps important information to himself.

Despite being a patient person, Kanoichi-san finally allows himself to move.

Then, well, RIP Arata I guess.

Of course, this is all speculation. Except for the Satoru’s part because wow, he got the short end of the stick. I do feel bad for him, but I don’t condone his burning of babies.

Same with Sakaki Kyouichi, don’t condone him at all in the Hell Arc. I will get into that another time.

I bid you farewell with a soft Satoru. Look at him, baby.

#mayonaka no occult koumuin #midnight occult civil servants #kanoichi akane #kanoichi satoru #kanoichi clan #kanoichi-san #mnok manga spoilers #mnok headcannons #mnok theories #is this a character study?#miyako arata #ears of sand #mnok anime spoilers

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itsybitsylemonsqueezy · 4 years ago

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Hey, I’m here once again with the ranting (if you don’t mind)! I just finished playing Yakuza 5 and damn I have a lot of feels I want to share. When I was first introduced to the franchise, I thought that nothing could beat Zero for me, but here I am now, holding back my tears and thinking what a fine game 5 turned out to be! I really loved the bonds that characters formed along the way, it just felt so sincere and warm that my heart throbbed nearly at every dialogue Х) Like Saejima/Baba, Mirei/Haruka (and Akiyama too!), Shinada/Takasugi were absolutely delightful. And don’t get me started on the ending scene with Kiryu and his daughter. I fucking lost it there. So damn emotional and pure. And while I adore Zero for its majestic tragedy and fatalism, I also love the kind and inspiring atmosphere of 5. Of course, there were some flaws, like I didn’t find the main antagonist all that interesting (especially after Ryuji and Mine), but in the end I was ready to overlook it just because the heartwarming scenes between the characters were so well done. So yeah, for me it’s top tier along with Zero. What’s your personal opinion on the game (and your favorites in the series in general)?

Congrats! Oooooh, Game 5. I’ve got a lot of feels about Game 5 too ^^; It’s a real fav c: There’s an awful lot I love about it, but there’s one or two things that really stick in my craw. I’m not sure I could put it up with Zero, but it’s definitely a game I treasure c:

I find it interesting that your interpret Zero as fatalistic and 5 as inspiring. Zero definitely has a lot of high-key tragedy, but I think the fact that we come through the other side, that Kiryu doesn’t go into the ground with Tachibana, that Majima decides that even though he could be happy with Makoto, it isn’t what he wants, I find that really powerful and even hopeful. Not inspiring perhaps, the choices we all make in that game are crushingly hard and frequently we’re punished for things that aren’t our fault. But seeing Kiryu confront his potential for the first time and, perhaps for the last time, deciding he’s not afraid of it, that this is a mantle he can carry and do good with, really does things for me. And I’ve gone on at length before about how we ought to read Majima’s choice at the end as not sacrificial, not denial, but rather a choice of identity. What stopped him from going with Makoto isn’t fear for what it would do to her (though certainly those protective instincts are still alive and well), but rather a... with nothing holding him back, he would still choose the life he started. He could leave it all right here but... there are things he wants to do, not has to do, wants to do. And he makes the choice to be yakuza, to be the Mad Dog, crucially, before he sees Kiryu. He could leave it all behind, but then he wouldn’t be himself. He wants to be yakuza. And he couldn’t do that if he was with her. I think that’s really cool and really life-affirming.

Meanwhile 5... it’s hard for me to articulate what 5 is about because we have a bunch of different character arcs, some of which mesh quite nicely and some of which have nothing at all to do with each other. It’s probably best if I just break this down piece by piece ^^;

(spoilers follow for game 5 my little chili babies)

Kiryu’s arc, as I have articulated before, I fucking love in game 5. However, I do have my criticisms of it. In many ways, the conflict we’re facing in 5 is something that should have come up awhile back. But, even delayed, it is satisfying. It is satisfying to force Kiryu to confront his mistakes. It is satisfying to at least reach a turn on Kiryu, to have him decide that he wants to live and does feel worthy, even if it’s at the last possible second. Like, I interpret 5 as much more fatalistic because Kiryu’s dying in the snow in the middle of saying how he wants to come home to his daughter. Like... he may have finally gotten his revelation, but he was already in the middle of repeating the cycle. What would have been truly satisfying was to force him to live, to insist that he grow up and learn how to live with people because dying won’t fix it. This is a problem we’ve had since the beginning and have never really addressed. This was our chance to address it and it breaks my heart that game 5 comes so close and was going the right direction, but doesn’t quite give us that resolution that Kiryu’s going to continue his relationships and be okay now, that he isn’t going to back out this time. And if the creators had been brave they would have ended the fucking series here with that resolution. That’s SO OBVIOUSLY the main conflict in Kiryu’s plot and here, at last, we were finally fucking dealing with it and this SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE END. THIS WAS IT. THE ACTUAL FUCKING END, I- *breathes* Let me not derail this entire thing with game 6. Let’s just... never talk about game 6.

That said... one of the things I ADORE about game 5 is this is the clearest sense of motivation we’ve had since Kiwami 1. For the first time in FUCKING FOREVER character choices made sense! HALLE-FUCKING-LUJAH. I CANNOT TELL YOU what it did to me that it was Majima that got Kiryu into the game. I cannot tell you the breath of life it gave me, after all this fucking BULLSHIT, that the game came FUCKING HOME on the most important person to Kiryu is Majima. Daigo needs help? Kiryu can’t help. Haruka needs her dad? Kiryu can’t help. These are both mistakes, don’t get me wrong! Absolutely terrible decisions, but they make sense out of Kiryu’s depression, out of his fears and doubts and feelings of unworthiness, his guilt. He’s so caught up in “better off without me” and so scared and so guilty, he can’t answer people even when they ask for help. But Majima. He can’t turn away from. He hears Majima’s dead and Kiryu loses his goddamn mind. Because it’s his fault. Because he wasn’t there. Because he left him out there and now Majima’s dead. Kiryu asked him to do something and, for all Kiryu knows, Majima’s dead because of him. And... as much as Kiryu hates himself in this moment, as much as Kiryu is sure that it’s all his fault, he’s SO upset, he has to go help, he HAS to go fix it. Majima’s dead and with his last breath, Kiryu will make this fuckign right. He’s gotta try. Because Majima being dead is... unacceptable. He can’t handle it. I fucking love that. At long last, it felt like the same story I’d been watching from 1. At long fucking last, we got some fucking proof of Kiryu’s feelings. And for that alone, I love game 5. I’ve got some issues with it, but that was... vindication. Spent 3 games waffling and pretending we didn’t know him unless we’re literally in the same scene, but even Kiryu’s denial isn’t that strong. Majima’s dead and Kiryu can’t anymore. He’s gonna go there and, god help him, he’ll go into the ground with him. You look at that and tell me it was un-fucking-requited.

On that note, I just gotta gush for a second about that scene where the girl is naked in Kiryu’s apartment and Kiryu just ???? He’s not even “no thank you” he’s like PAINED. Like... she hugs him and Kiryu looks like he’s being fucking tortured! That is not the reaction of someone with even an iota of attraction to feminine bodies! This gay icon! Like, if you’d done that to Majima he would have been like “You’re pretty, babe, but I am Emotionally Unavailable” like the bi icon he is, like... you may not take her up on it, but you can still appreciate her or at least turn her down gracefully. But Kiryu out here doing his best to touch her as little as humanly fucking possible like’ he’s TERRIFIED. That’s not someone being overly polite, that was “cannot conceive of being attracted to this.” Just... this gay fucking dad. Holy christ.

Related GOTTA love Kiryu’s boss being “Hey, there’s a rumor going around that you’re gay! Any thoughts?” and Kiryu just “That Is A Thing People Ask Me” which is the EXACT RESPONSE of a queer person who doesn’t want to out themselves but also doesn’t want to lie. Game 5 fucking iconic for those 2 scenes alone, god bless.

Moving away from Kiryu for a second, although this game is VERY about Kiryu’s story, let’s talk about Saejima! Saejima FINALLY gets to come into his own as a character, we get to handle him properly as a character and not as a crux in Majima’s character development. I love the marked differences in how Kiryu and Saejima respond to Majima and handle him. I love that they fucking NAILED motivation here. That Kiryu and Majima mutually code romantic, that they both make batshit decisions because of each other, in that way that you do when you’re madly in love with someone. Meanwhile, Saejima loves his brother but isn’t in love with him. Saejima’s relationship with Majima is stable and trusting. He’s not losing his mind over Majima’s death because he trust him and knows him. If he’s dead, Saejima trusts that Majima did all he could and it was just his time. That’s why he’s not losing his mind, he’s resolved. He just wants to know what happened. And it’s this stability that really tells us who Saejima is and how he functions as a protag. His strength is his trust in others, which at times IS naive, but it’s also what turns Baba. It’s what keeps Saejima strong when Kiryu’s falling apart. It’s so cool to see a character who isn’t paranoid, who isn’t tore up with guilt, in this series with very complicated leads. Saejima is functional and necessary because he isn’t any of those things. He doesn’t get swept up in big emotional turmoil. He cuts through a lot of foibles that would have tripped up his brother or Kiryu and it’s just really refreshing to see and exciting to experience Saejima’s brand of problem solving. He’s not terribly clever and he’s not subtle, but he’s honest and sure that counts for A LOT in this series. Gotta love Saejima.

And, as I have gushed about before and will again, Baba. Baba. Saejima turning Baba hand me fucking ascending. Baba Known Whore Shigecki turning on a time because Saejima screams “Because we’re kyoudai!” I am LIVING. I love their relationship. I love that Baba’s a little shit. I love that he’s inexplicably a supermodel. I love that his constant vibe is “would like to choke til he cries on Saejima’s dick.” I love that Saejima has a gorgeous prison boyfriend. Well deserved! I love the idea of Baba getting integrated into the group. I need WAY more fic about him coming back to live with Saejima in Kamurocho and Saejima just has an ex-assassin boyfriend now and we all get to live with that. Ugggghhhh, bless. So good. No notes, no criticisms, just good.

Haruka was LONG overdue to be a protag, I’m so glad this game did it. But... pop idol? The thing she explicitly said in Kiwami 2 she didn’t want to be? *siiiigh* Like, I get that she can change her mind as she grows up and that that’s the Thing You Do with Japanese teenage girls, but... Imagine Martial Artist Haruka! Raised by the yakuza, surrounded her whole life by people with incredible fighting skills, who would gladly teach her self-defense. Imagine! Or even training her to become a yakuza! My wife and I joke about Seventh Chairman Sawamura Haruka, but imagine how satisfying that would have been! A whole Tojo dynasty of Kiryu’s kids! She’s so ripe for it! And I know the yakuza is a male-only organization but... c’mon, this is fiction and sexism is boring. I guess I can understand the creators unwillingness to depict violence against women, even if it’s being perpetrated by other women but uh... *eye twitch* game 5 is maybe not the BEST example of their... respecting women...

*screams into a pillow for several minutes* *breathes* *screams for another fifteen minutes* Okay... I uh... I um... can’t talk about Mirei Park without having an aneurysm. PLEASE skip this bullet point if you don’t want to read Mirei Hate. I just... I Hate Everything About Her And I Don’t Know Why She Fucking Exists. I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade and if you like Mirei, y’all welcome to feel how you feel but... she is the only thing I truly Hate about game 5. I just... leaving aside my personal feelings about the... Majima part of her story which we just... Won’t talk about... Leaving that aside... I don’t know why she’s here? She’s the person who convinces Kiryu to leave his children. She’s predatory, she took advantage of a vulnerable young girl to live out some personal dream? Like, sure, economic opportunity, independence, but we don’t get a lot of motive from Haruka that it IS her dream to be a pop idol. She has said in the past that’s not what she wants, she makes mention of doing this for the money to support her family, Mirei LITERALLY SAYS she wants Haruka to do the things she couldn’t, and ultimately Haruka asides not to do this anyway because she’d ratehr be home with her dad! So what was the FUCKING POINT of Mirei Park? Is she a villain? Is she sympathetic? What the fuck was I supposed to take from her? How the fuck am I supposed to read her? She tells this TRAUMATIC story off-hand to Haruka to... justify her decisions? Motivate Haruka? Dragging in another long-term character for no good reason and reframing how we have to think about said character. But then THIS NEVER COMES UP AGAIN. The information wasn’t even important! It’s just traumatic! If it was supposed to keep Haruka doing the pop idol thing, it didn’t work! Haruka still leaves! If this was meant to deepen our relationship to Mirei or complicate her or whatever, IT DOESN’T, SHE WAS LITERALLY DEAD THE NEXT SCENE. I just... WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE?! What even the fuck was I supposed to do with any of this?! Leaving ASIDE my VERY intense feelings about what this did for Majima (for the sake of not going ogg Even More than I already am, I just won’t talk abotu it here), I just have no goddamn clue what the point of Mirei even was. She’s not useful to Haruka’s arc and she only serves in Kiryu’s arc to be a villain. We could have had Haruka leave home and decide in the end that Kiryu’s her dad and that’s where she wants to be a MILLION different ways, we could have done that MUCH more kindly and consistently with the rest of her character and values, but we don’t! We have this shitmess instead!

I’m really really sorry to anyone reading this who likes Mirei. You don’t have to agree with me! And I’m not trying to make you feel bad! I’m not trying to tell people how they should feel or what they should get out of the story. If you got something out of her, you related to her, you found her part in the story meaningful, that’s great! I’m genuinely glad that you did. I... didn’t. I have a lot of negative opinions about what happened. Usually I try to just not talk about it because I don’t want to ruin someone’s good time. I’m not here trying to start shit. So I apologize for my tone and I did try to put a warning before it and recommend it be skipped if it’s the sort of thing that would offend you. My Mirei rant is over now, I won’t talk about it again.

I have absolutely no idea why Akiyama is in this story, tbh? He contributed very little, but I’m glad Haruka got to hang out with someone cool and that one of her uncles was here watching out for her, since Majima was “dead” and Kiryu was in the middle of a personal crisis ^^; I love Akiyama, always happy to see him, but he really had nothing to do here ^^; I was sad for no Hana though 8C Wherever there is Akiyama, there must also be Hana!

Shinada... is adorable and actively injured the plot. I’m sorry, I just... no one ever talks about the fact that including Shinada in the story actively hurt it. I love him too! He’s an incredible idiot and very sweet, but why the fuck is he here? What did an ancient baseball cover up have to do with anything? This was the only way you could think of to put Daigo in the game again? Really??? And Daigo doesn’t even do very much here! So like... not really worth it. You could have had a whole substory of Daigo finding out what happened to Majima, fuck DAIGO COULD HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE PROTAGS. THERE’S A THOUGHT. We could have utilized, y’know, characters we already have, but no, instead we introduce this dumb fuck to do... what exactly? Oh right, beat up Baba AFTER HE HAD ALREADY DECIDED NOT TO SHOOT HARUKA! Like, YOU DIDN’T EVEN NEED SHINADA FOR THE THING YOU NEEDED HIM FOR. Saejima and Kiryu were enough of an influence on Baba to stop him! And that makes sense out of Baba’s character arc, since it’s about personal redemption and learning to be a person and his faith and love of Saejima, y’know, the character he actually HAS a relationship with, is about that. The point of Baba was him learning it WAS his choice and him MAKING that choice. See, I can’t argue that Baba’s superfluous to the plot, but he WAS the threat! He was actively involved and he’s what makes Saejima involved. Shinada doesn’t occupy the same space, he has no horse in this race, he’s not yakuza, he’s only here because he and Daigo kinda like each other or whatever, and, again, HE WASN’T EVEN NEEDED! Baba’s arc was complete and the threat was terminated without this shit! Like, Akiyama has no reason to be here either, but at least he was a true neutral, neither helping nor harming the plot. We actively waste time to bring Shinada in and he hurts Baba’s arc by overly punishing him and potentially risking the decision he just made. Like if I was Baba, I might have gone “you know what, fuck you, I will shoot her just because your self-righteous ass decided to hit me for MAKING THE RIGHT CALL” Jesus...

I hate to be nothing but a curmudgeon but just... no one brings that up and I just had to say it if no one else was gonna.

As for villains, the game would have been a lot stronger without the “thwarted destiny, I should be on the throne” bullshit especially since the story has done a SHIT JOB with the legacy of Nishiki and in NO WAY utilized the fucking koi or the burden of Nishiki’s death properly for this to hit the way it should. It makes theoretical sense that Kriyu’s last villain should be the reincarnation of Nishiki, but the story did not build that up or support it so it falls really flat. That said, the main problem in Kiryu’s arc is that dying is not a resolution. Dying doesn’t fix a problem, it only delays it. THAT’S the thing we have to confront and we almost nearly do and... I’m just so excited that we finally articulated that, I’m willing to forgive A LOT.

And finally we wrote Majima entirely out of the game only to confirm that his only reason for living is Kiryu and then, again, didn’t resolve it because, y’know, fuck ending things, I guess? But he did have that sweet fight with Saejima and can do shadow clones now I guess? Fucking ninja magic or whatever. Sure, Majima’s so OP he can do fucking shadow clones now. No, teleporting wasn’t enough, he can fucking shadow clone. That’s like a staisfying story arc right? ...right?

#Yakuza 5 spoilers #Mirei Park hate #this is probably saltier than it should be #I really do love game 5!#Just... it fucked up little things and it makes me sad #floweysky

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todayisafridaynight · 2 years ago

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Y5's plot is a little messy from there being five protagonists, but I feel things converged pretty well regardless of that. Even though I wish they had more time to interact with each other aaaaaa. But I did start to get a bit confused around the end of Shinada's part because I was trying to keep track of who was actually important to stuff overall. And also baseball. Trying to understand all this terminology what's going on I don't have time to learn the plot anymore, game 🙄

Gameplay? God. The moment I was starting to get used to Saejima finally I had him snatched away from me by the story. So it felt like I was relearning his moveset every time afterwards 🫠 Akiyama is so easy to fight as, but Shinada was giving me slightly similar problems to Saejima. The enemy rate encounter in the old games was insane and they should go to jail for making the decision to do that tbh. I got into nearly 200 street fights at the start of the game. And kept running into fights right after I finished one. Directly. After. I found myself not doing a lot of side stuff. I think part of it was from trying to get to certain parts I really wanted to see, and part of it was because of who knows what really... The only character's side story I did was Saejima's, and I did almost all of their substories, tho. Besides Haruka's. I can see how someone who wants to do everything would get instantly burnt out. I just didn't

Story? Why the F U CK didn't they bring up Kiryu's thoughts and feelings on Majima after he hauled ass back to Tokyo to find answers. That was the whole initial reason he was there, and the writers were like "nah. Let's not touch that with a ten foot pole but here's Kiryu threatening to end that twink Baba." He didn't even directly react to knowing he's still alive. Like, that's one of the most glaring problems I have with it. It feels like someone ignoring an elephant stomping in the room. However I have to admit I didn't care for the out of left field relationship drama Majima had in the past. It was like a huge brick was dropped on me and then am anvil

Five catches some weird heat from people who want to pretend the whole thing never happened, and those that gave up on it super easily. To each their own of course. I just don't think it's nearly that bad, personally. Four is definitely my least favorite of the bunch. Next to six

my thoughts below the cut cause this post's already long </3

unfortunately for the rest of this website, shinada's baseball scandal was easy for me to follow on account of me being a baseball lover myself. BUT yeah i can totally see how the typical player will get lost on things like 'stealing signs' and either might take too much time googling terms and rules to pay too much attention to the plot, or not bothering to do that and just proceeding with the story without fully understanding what's happening

on that note though like i said in the last post, shinada's the strongest point about this game for me: him and his co-stars are just such fun characters, and my favorite thing about shinada is that his play style reflects his i'm-just-a-guy-fghting-for-his-life character. it's incredibly rough, unrefined, and sluggish- nothing you'd expect from a regular fighter like maybe kiryu or akiyama. from purely a gameplay standpoint though i get how it could be irritating when you're shifting from characters you're familiar with who move relatively similar to. Shinada. (affectionately). especially if you weren't using weapons beforehand and now you're trying to become accustomed to them if you don't want to raw dog his gameplay

speaking of akiyama though, while i did like how he and haruka get to team up (i also think the protags shouldve had more time to hang out, if not at least invite each other to karaoke </3) his part felt so short. t'was foreshadowing for being sidelined in y6, but yk even for the three seconds we get to play with him, and despite the minor nerf done to him, i love him too much to be too upset. plus that air-combo shit's Wack

all things majima related in Y5 were weird, but park was especially. Off. for me. as an antagonist, she's great- hell, even NOT as an antagonist she's great. but it's just a weird feeling how the game wants us to sympathize with her and ignore how she's been threatening kiryu and haruka this entire time and treat her like a martyr. i dont think park's the worst charcter and most evil character ever, but that's prob a post in of itself honestly. what does make me feel weird though is her and majima's relationship- i guess it's just weird hearing about it after y0 though, but i'm not forgetting this game was made way before y0 was even conceptualized. it sucks that we don't get to know about majima's reaction to her death though, and honestly i was hoping they would get to reunite at haruka's concert: he said he wouldn't see her until he was dead, and according to every news outlet at the time he sure was dead, if you catch my cold.

back to majima though, it DOES suck how we don't get to see how kiryu reacts to majima not actually being dead. it's as you said, that's the reason why he even came back in the first place, and now that he's fine we're just going to have to assume how he felt

for me, five was alright. yakuza game plots are hardly anything to write home about (unless it's 7 tbh i love 7 sorry not sorry), so i'm not overly pressed about the plot being the way it is. besides, i cant be mad about the plot when part of the plot is 'daigo's on thirteen doses of copium so he runs away and decides to give 20 mil yen to his old classmate cause Dreams'.

the only game plot that actually does deserve a 'that's so stupid' comment from me is Y4's plot 🥴

#snap chats #my vague y5 review is here hiiiii #i only know vaguely what im talking about im all rambly but i think my feelings are accurate #tbh maybe i could write an essay on shinada like. i genuinely love him so much #definitely top five fave charas #ok dont quote me on that he's top ten Point Is he's very close to the top of the list #i should make a proper tier list at some point.. that'd be fun..#if someone air drops me a premade one ill do it but for now Them's Me And Anon's Thoughts :)

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draayder · 6 years ago

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I'm curious to see you answer all those OC asks for Kanemoto. Or as many as you can.

oh boy here we fucking go

What is your OC’s favorite color?Purple, but he generally likes anything in the cool range

Does your OC collect anything? What do they collect?He started collecting coins with his dad when he was a kid and while he’s not an avid collector he’ll still pick up a neat one if he finds it

What kind of things is your OC allergic to?he’s mildly allergic to dogs

What kind of clothing does your OC wear?he’s pretty much always dressed up, colored suits are about as flashy as it gets though

What is your OC’s first memory?He’s got flashes of a family breakfast when he was very young, though he can’t remember his mom’s face anymore. She left shortly after that

What’s your OC’s favorite animal? Least favorite?He likes cranes a lot, and thinks frogs and toads are gross

What element would your OC be?Water/Dark

What is your OC’s theme song? fuck dude I suck at these

Do you have a faceclaim / voiceclaim for your OC?nope I don’t ever do those

What deadly sin would best represent your OC?man that’s tricky for Kanemoto.... probably greed since he easily had enough money to just stop being a yakuza and still pay for all his dad’s treatment when his last like 3 families fell apart but he just keeps joining back up. He’s got this hangup about being absolutely sure he could cover ANYTHING that comes up

What are your OC’s hobbies?He likes to read, historical fiction is a favorite because he is a big nerd. He also has a few pet beetles and when he’s busy he sends his boys around to take care of them

How patient is your OC? How hot-headed are they?he’s pretty damn patient, he knows he ain’t great in a fight so he doesn’t jump into them often which Saejima appreciates as a leadership quality

What is your OC’s gender / sexuality / race / species / etc.?Japanese Bisexual Cis Man

What foods does your OC like to eat? What are their least favorite foods?Surprisingly he likes pizza and has a fondness for mochi. He does not like ketchup which Akanishi takes great personal offense to

If your OC could have any pet, what would they choose? Why?He’s already got a few beetles which he considers ideal because they take up very little room, make very little noise, and he can buy beetle jelly at donki

What does your OC smell like? he wears nice colognes most the time and favors citrus scents

How do they make a living? What kind of job do they want / not want? What is their dream job? What do they think of their current job?Kanemoto is yakuza babey. He got accepted to college and was on his way to becoming a lawyer but his dad’s medical issues forced him to drop out and the cost of everything pushed him into that line of work, so he kind of got stuck in a “being a yakuza is my job and my only option” mindset even after he had plenty of cash. He enjoys the business side of things and runs things fairly legit if you ignore the massive money laundering and tax evasion. He would rather die than work in fast food again

What are your OC’s greatest fears? Weaknesses? Strengths?He’s got this irrational fear that everything’s gonna fall apart financially. Outside of that he’s got the usual job fears of getting shot or knifed in his sleep, but he’s more scared of the pain than the dying part of it. His strength is that he’s got a rock solid grip on his composure

What kind of music do they listen to? Do they have a favorite song?he’s a whatever song’s on the radio kind of guy. He was so busy with school and then work and then yakuza that he feels like he kind of missed the bus on a lot of songs guys his age are really into, and he struggles to concentrate if music is playing so his musical knowledge is pretty limited

If they came from their world to ours (if not already in our’s) how would they react? What would they do?n/a

What personal problems/issues do they have? Pet peeves?puts up with stuff for too long, a big “lying for their own good” kind of guy, a little judgmental. he does not like these freshly recruited chinpira who won’t learn their damn manners and think since they’re yakuza they shouldn’t try to play by business etiquette when dealing with civilians

What kind of student were they/would they be in high school?he was a stellar student and a total dweeb

What is a random fact about your OC? He and his ex-wife split amicably and she runs a lgbt bar now which he frequents

What is their outlook on life? What is their philosophy / what do they think in general about living?He thinks a lot about the meaning of it all and decided it’s about how you treat those you care about, so he’s gonna give it his all

What inspired you to create them / how did you create them? Were they originally a fancharacter? What was their personality / design like when you first made them?honestly he was 100% someone to bounce Akanishi off of that no one could accuse me of making OOC when I did

Who is the most important person in their life? Why? Who is the least important to them (that still has an impact) and why?He’s got a couple, his dad was obviously a huge influence on him and he was proud to give him as long of a life as he did, Saejima’s his first boss after his father passed away and let him leapfrog a lot of the normal drudgery he’d have to do starting from the bottom, and Akanishi has become very important whether he wants him to be or not. The least important to him was probably Dojima who was his first boss but also died within a year of him joining up

What kind of childhood did your character have?His mom left when he was about 4 or 5, he’s not really sure where she went or what happened and he’s content enough not knowing. His dad was a great father and did amazing as a single parent, they didn’t have a ton of money but it was enough

What kind of nervous habits do they have? Do they stim? Do they have any kinds of addictions?tends to pull at his tie/collar when particularly nervous but he’s got a pretty strong grip on himself

If they could choose their epitaph for their grave, what would they choose?oh fuck that’s a hard one..... I think he’d go simple with like “Kanemoto Sho, loyal friend, devoted son”

Do they want to get married? Why or why not? Would they ever want kids? Do they have kids? Why?he’s been married and would definitely be open to it again but he hasn’t really pursued anyone, it doesn’t line up with his line of work and anyone in the yakuza tends not to be the marrying type. He’s too old for kids at this point and once again the line of work just doesn’t agree

What is their most traumatic memory/experience? What is their favorite memory?the first time he properly got his shit wrecked as a young yakuza in a street fight, he had to lie to his dad and say he got mugged and sent to the hospital. It kind of set him up to think he never wanted to be in a position where he had to fight. His fave memory is a fishing trip he took with his dad during high school

If they could have one thing in the world, what would it be?now you’d think the answer would be “his dad back” but he’s a pretty big believer that when it’s someone’s time that’s just how it is and that he provided the best life he could for him. If he could just snap his fingers and make it happen it’d definitely be getting strong enough to be a real contender in the yakuza realm. If that wasn’t possible, he’d like his scar and hearing fixed

Would they ever kill someone? What would someone have to do to push them to kill someone? If they would kill someone, why? he avoids it when possible, but he has shot a few people in very high stakes negotiations. He’s a good shot but prefers not to carry a gun due to the police risk

What social groups and activities does your character attend? What role do they like to play? What role do they actually play, usually?the Saejima family has drinking nights and occasional other excursions but they’re fairly laid back. However he gets dragged to most of the Majima family events by Akanishi and ends up playing baby sitter with Nishida when Minami is breathing fire and Akanishi is lighting sparklers off of it and oh fuck oh god Majima brought fireworks????

How is your character’s imagination? Daydreaming a lot? Worried most of the time? Living in memories?He’s not super imaginative but is a worrier. Can’t really blame him with how many times the family he’s in has crumbled around him

What does your character want most? What do they need really badly, compulsively? What are they willing to do, to sacrifice, to obtain?he does not need more money but he still spends a lot of time getting more, tho now it’s more for the family than taking much of a cut for himself. He’s willing to work his ass off for that

What’s something that your character does, that other people don’t normally do?So Kanemoto has a big complicated money laundering scheme that Saejima doesn’t fully understand but it gives the family a lot more clean money to use than anyone really expectsHe owns several real estate firms, and the employees are ‘encouraged’ to eat at the restaurants across the street that he also owns, and to spend time at the hostess clubs he owns. They’re given large bonuses to go out to these clubs via happy hours. They also are encouraged to spend time at the golf club that Kanemoto owns, and the hostesses are told to bring their dates to there as well. A cut of the profits of everything gets taken back in by the family as it’s now been successfully laundered and very very hard to trace

What would your character do with a million dollars? what he’s currently doing with a million dollars, making it into more money

What is in your characters refrigerator right now? On their bedroom floor? Nightstand? Garbage can?he’s got an embarrassingly bachelor fridge with some leftovers and beer, he is not a good cook and spends most of his time out dining with business people or working late and ordering in. He keeps his room clean, his nightstand has whatever book he’s currently reading and a pair of readers that he isn’t thrilled with needing to wear. His garbage has a surprising amount of condoms

Your character is getting ready for a night out. Where are they going? What do they wear? Who will they be with?Akanishi is dragging him to a bar for karaoke and he doesn’t bother dressing up more than usual, but then Saejima is there and he regrets it

What does your character do when they’re angry? Why?it takes a lot to get him really angry but when it happens he is like incoherent rage and yelling (see here)

Does your character have any scars? Where did they get them from? he’s got some minor ones from a couple scuffles but the major one on his head is from a grenade that went off near him. He’s completely deaf in that ear and is annoyed that he’s lost his normal business man look and is more clearly a yakuza

What was the most offensive thing your character had ever said?this is more dumbass than offensive but he had very little experience with trans people before he got assigned kyoudai with Akanishi so he definitely said some stupid shit. He had a handle on MtF since he’d been around some trans women and other gnc individuals at his ex-wife’s Sachiko’s bar Oniyuri but didn’t put two and two together to figure out that FtM was also a thing, which lead to some major confusion when Akanishi said he was trans Akanishi, dropping his pants at the hot spring the first day they met: Oh yeah I’m trans that ain’t gonna be a problem, right?Kanemoto: so you’re... a woman?Akanishi: No!!!!Kanemoto: Oh sorry, so you’re a man...Akanishi: Yes!Kanemoto: ...who’s transitioning to female?Akanishi: NO!!!!! Literally the opposite get it together man!

How does your character react/ accept criticism?Depends on who it comes from, but he takes it pretty seriously.

If your character was given a slice of pineapple pizza and they HAD to eat it (or something bad would happen), how would they react? Do they even LIKE pineapple pizza?he likea the taste

Your character is given a voodoo doll of themself. What do they do with it? Do they see if it actually works?yeah he’d try pinching it to see if he felt anything and then probably keep it around to scratch his own back (and hide it under as many locks as he can so Akanishi can’t get his hands on it)

Can your character draw? What do they like to draw? Do they doodle?he has no talent for art

What were their parents like? How has that affected how they are as an adult?as mentioned previously his mom left when he was young and his dad raised him as a single parent, his dad was hugely impactful on his life

Does your character like candy? Do they get sugar rushes? What are they like when they get a rush?he’s got a sweet tooth but never really got sugar rushes

If your character was presented with imminent and unavoidable death/fatality, how would they react? Would they try to avoid death anyways? Would they try to make their last days count? If he knew with certainty that he would die in 3 days he would spend every minute getting everything in as much order as he could to keep the Saejima family secure and just spending time with his closets friends. He’d rather leave a positive impact on them than try to avoid death, he’d consider doing so to be unforgivably selfishHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGH that was a lot

#yakuza #yakuza ocs #kanemoto #akanishi #siketreeker

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zevzevarainai · 4 years ago

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I'm humbly requesting the Majima/Makoto essay. I believed that their backstories were essentially perfect for each other, but after the ending of 0 and the Majima saga I can't really ship it as anything other than a tragically unrequited love story. Not ship bashing tho, and it was cute, but I'm curious about the stuff you mentioned that people overlook 👀. Maybe I'm missing something?

oh boy okay also youre probably not missing anything i have and i agree with you it should not have gone any further than it does (although maybe just giving her an explanation would be good majima...) I think I’m mostly just thinking a lot of people overlook Makoto in general but anyway let’s hastily throw this together. CW s/exual abuse.

these are my gifs so i dont need to credit okay let’s take it from the top so majima is not an asshole by any means but legit all he has is earning a spot for saejima, literally has no other friends that we know of until the cabaret club minigame, but still immediately feels the need to protect makoto. At the end of the chapter, when he comforts her in the second gif-- i can’t find the post but I read one where OP talks about how they first thought this scene was sexist but changed their mind as it is majima giving what he wanted for that entire year in the hole. He was terrified for so long but couldn’t admit it, couldn’t cry out for help. She’s brave enough to trust in others, even when later we know what she went through. Majima does not trust easy but he craves that comfort; he has no one to confide in, and yet he’s still choosing to comfort Makoto when the world has been nothing but terrible to him.

And when the audience learns of her backstory, we get the distinct parallels between the two of them. Makoto was sold and caged, likely r*ped and assaulted for god knows how long which was (understandably) so traumatic that she lost her sight. A big thing that a lot of people look over with Majima’s backstory is that yes he was beaten and tortured but he was very likely also r*ped and assaulted in this way as well. This is especially so if we take Sagawa’s words more literal when he says Shimano kept him alive because he quote “loved fucking his ass so much;” people brush that off when it is actually extremely likely to be literal. They torture and humiliate men in the hole. You can connect those pieces.

Even aside from “shipping,” there’s a huge opportunity for a deep, trusting friendship. Like Sagawa claims the plan was to get Majima to fall in love with Makoto but like... there’s no way they would have seen the chemistry potential there. They don’t know anything about Makoto other than she owns the empty lot. They were just betting on the fact that she was an innocent pretty girl. But their pasts line up so well, even just friendship would be satisfying because not a lot of people are going to understand what any of what they went through felt like. Majima needs someone like this. In my head they have a ton of offscreen conversations but that’s beside the point

The thing I really like about their dynamic is, and im going to start getting into my makoto defense essay but ill stop myself before i go nuts, is that majima learns to be kind again through her. now i know what youre thinking-- what? majima is already a good boy in y0 but I’m not just talking about that alright? Makoto is an extremely strong person who does not get enough credit for just how strong she is. Majima claims that her past is “worse” than his (im not debating that at all no sides taken here) and yet Makoto has the strength to be kind. She does not owe the world shit. Everyone, ESPECIALLY GOD, has done this woman dirty. And yet she’s still kind to her core, kind enough to apologize crying to majima when she mistook him for a thief, kind to literally everyone until they give her a reason not to. I think it does start to rub off on Majima. At the beginning of y0, he is very closed off and bitter, and understandably so. He’s kind to his employees but he is also very fake. They aren’t really seeing or knowing him. When Makoto comes into his life, it turns his life into crazy hell, but he actually has something. And it’s Makoto, who despite everything tries to see the good in others, and in turn Majima begins to have hope in the world again. Majima is EXTREMELY loyal, almost to a fault, and there are very few people who he unconditionally loves: Saejima, Makoto, and later Kiryu. It’s impressive how quickly Makoto gets into that group of people.

AND IN TURN Makoto has him, this isn’t a one sided dynamic. From what we know since coming to Japan she’s been completely alone aside from Lee. Don’t get me wrong, Lee is amazing, but there’s a big father figure role and it rubs me the wrong way how much he keeps from her. Majima comes in, protecting her despite being hired to kill her. He becomes a friend who refuses to lie to her or water things down because of her disability. For once, someone is treating Makoto as an equal besides maybe in physical strength but he’s not wrong. going with that

fast forward makoto is being CHEWED UP and SPIT ON BY GOD AGAIN legit finally finds her brother and he’s a CORPSE. Majima is obviously worried as hell and freaks out when she implies she wants revenge like kiryu and nishiki what did you do to comfort this girl here comes majima, who wants to do something but sees she needs some distance, but makes it clear that he is there for her.

and MAJIMA, who thinks this entire time she doesn’t see him as more than protection, makoto comes out with THIS line, which is where i begin to think it isn’t unrequited. (also the line where majima jokes that the eyepatch ruined his looks and she FLIRTS WITH HIM QUEEN oh so you’re handsome??) Even if this isn’t a romantic care-about-you line, it kills me how SHOCKED majima looks in this scene like he genuinely though makoto didnt care about him baby please love yourself.

but makoto still dashes because she wants to help HIM see below

she doesn’t want to rely on him, she wants to do something for him, but most of all she wants to take my heart out and stomp on it. which this is more painful when you think about how makoto has felt powerless this whole time in japan, everything around her falls apart and she can’t do anything, so this one time she wants to help majima and get revenge for her brother, but they shoot her. and now she’s calling herself useless, and majima refuses to take that hot garbage since she’s been the one keeping him going this whole time. he’s so desperate for her to let him help her :((((

and then of course we have majima desperately trying to comfort her, which is what she’s likely been lacking for years-- someone there for her when she is in pain. when she was caged no one was there to hold her hand but now she has majima :((( i do not CARE if that one is a stretch i will die on this hill

which is also why i am sad majima was not there when she woke up in the hospital

makoto being hurt by the tojo clan IS the tipping point into the “mad-dog” persona. If he can’t even protect the people he cares about, what is the point of taking orders? So lets go beat the shit out of the tojo clan in the name of love or something

this is where it starts to go south. i understand why majima doesnt want makoto to recognize him since it will tie her to him and then people will target her to hurt him, however can you just give the poor woman an explanation goddamn. like just let her have a goodbye? anything? not your anonymous gifts? i do love the anonymous gifts but still. i think that would be a nice, satisfying transition into the next part of her life, some closure before she becomes “normal”

instead we get this scene, which i guess i should be thankful we got this scene. again them being secret friends would be so good like... catch up. tell him about your son. but going back to the majima thinking she doesn’t care i am glad he got to hear her say those things about him because he really REALLY needed it, like hearing how grateful she is and how he saved her he just needs that confidence boost because no matter how much the man struts and fakes it, underneath this boy is extremely critical on himself

overall the main thing about these two is the depth of understanding between these two in life experiences and the fact that they balance each other out. i do think that makoto loved him in y0 but obviously she moved on; it took majima much longer to move on but the bit in majima saga was heavily needed. again, i agree with you in saying that it didnt need to go any further, but in some other world ya know. and him and kiryu own my ass now so theres that.

but y0 ripped out my heart and rubbed it in the gravel and threw it at a brick wall so i’ll never really get over them. and tbh it’s kind of a nice change of pace where your character doesn’t get the girl AND he respects her boundaries, you know? like there was no kiss or anything and that sold me on their love more than a m/f couple in media that DO get that. It was just so abundantly clear that Majima cares about Makoto on such a deep and selfless level, and solidified in yk2 where he sings that song and makes everyone cry. But you didn’t need the song to know that her happiness means everything to him!!! Fuck!!! I’m emo!!!!!! anyway i love them, your honor. goodbye

#honestly i have no idea what i just wrote #im gonna hit that publish button #ask #anon #majimako #text #Anonymous #carly commentary

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