#like. majima. you are not normal

[majimaisms]

i think my biggest problem with the pirate game is majima's absolutely unhinged emotional sheltering being presented as like. a good and healthy and normal thing. which. like. i SUPPOSE the only acceptable situation to do that in is with a child youre responsible for. but its still not acknowledged at all that its unhealthy..? but then again this is how kiryu saga has been for years too. youre just supposed to look at it and know better. they dont really spell it out. at least they didnt until infinite wealth

[majimasleftasscheek]

kazumaji week 2024 - minigames

hostess g-goromi... rrrrrrrrRRRRRRR RRRRRUFF

[kenzan-brainrot-mp4]

Idk more random small details about the pyih ending that make me insane because I can't shut up about this stupid game:

Idk how deliberate this was from the translation team (and I have my own mixed feelings about the caption translations from more recent rgg games) but I really like the (potentially unintentional) double-meaning from Saejima saying "Guys our age are supposed to be smart enough not to go chasin' legends." You'd think that because the entire conversation revolves around and constantly repeats the words "dream/yume" (cough cough Yakuza 5) he'd say "not to go chasin' dreams", but I think by using the word "legend" instead he's able to refer to not only the legend of the treasure that everyone's been pursuing the whole game, but also the living legend himself, Kiryu Kazuma (in jp and eng he is referred to very often as a legend/legendary ("densetsu no ryuu/yakuza" - "legendary dragon/yakuza")). Not only was Majima chasing after the legend of some miracle treasure but he's also been chasing the "legend" that is Kiryu himself (something something idolization, something something Majima always wanting to bring back that strength and vitality Kiryu had at the peak of his "legend" days (see: yakuza 1 with Majima trying to fight Kiryu constantly to help him regain his strength, trying to especially hard to support him since yakuza 3), even as the chance of that happening dwindles, even if reality is literally telling him to his face that they can't go back to those days, that everyone's getting older and not what they used to be). Which imo makes Majima saying "Well, still just a dream in the end." all the more heartbreaking. It's resigned, not only to the fact that he'd never find that miracle fix to save Kiryu's life but also the fact that he can't, no matter how hard he tries, keep Kiryu around forever, that he can't keep up the image of the legendary Dragon of Dojima up for him forever. Idk I just think that was very cool and sneaky as hell if intentional, especially since they don't switch out the word "dream" for "legend" anywhere else in the conversation.

Saejima mentioning how Daigo said "Majima's runnin' around like he's forty again". Okay honestly I'm just putting this because I think it's funny that even while Daigo was going through his emo era and pissed off at Kiryu for "killing" his dad, he still remembers how enthusiastic/energetic Majima was over Kiryu all the way back in ~y1, even though we never saw him in that game. I mean it's painful as hell to think about now, considering the present day in-universe and what would end up becoming of that enthusiasm as the years went on but uh, hey.

Majima being so god damn deflective while Saejima's in the middle of revealing all his motivations for going to Hawaii. He says 3 whole lines during that part of the cutscene but it's all so Majima-like it hurts (this part's gonna be Long):

• "Told him that, huh?" (responding to Saejima recounting what Majima told Shigaki about not wanting to go to Hawaii) - Majima trying to act nonchalant/aloof while knowing what Saejima's about to start bringing up, trying to act that way even though we all know damn well that he remembers perfectly (and probably painfully) well how he acted/what he said before going to Hawaii, considering the circumstances surrounding the whole situation. His body language also starts to change from here; he turns his head to look directly at Saejima when talking to him less often, spends more time looking ahead/up/down/avoiding direct eye contact in general even when Saejima turns to look him while speaking multiple times/for prolonged periods of time (istg I could talk about Majima's body language in serious moments like these literally forever but I'll try to keep it brief) • "Kid's always been a ball breaker" (lmao) - Paired with the line before this one (Daigo's reaction to Majima). He tries to sidestep the actual point of mentioning what Daigo said, (directly exposing just how much Majima changes when Kiryu is around/involved) with feigned exasperation, and once again does not actually acknowledge Saejima's point. His body language also changes again to something more restless; (adjusts his posture from the previously relaxed way he was leaning against the car, looks away from Saejima completely, starts tapping his foot/bouncing his leg, lifting his cigarette without actually taking a drag from it) • And then of course the big one: "Well, still just a dream in the end. Stupid or not." Up until this point, Majima hasn't said anything of any actual substance until Saejima directly namedrops Kiryu. It's about the most he actually says of any worth regarding his feelings towards Kiryu himself, but that line alone reveals so much about his feelings not only in that moment, but likely the feelings he's had throughout the series towards Kiryu. It's totally unfiltered, for once, showing off his resignation from not only his inability to help Kiryu by the end of this game but likely also the weight of chasing after Kiryu all these years (again, "Guys our age are supposed to be smart enough not to go chasin' legends." Cue Majima always chasing after Kiryu/what Kiryu wants for literal decades). It's a Singular straight answer after two deflections but it says so damn much, especially coming from Majima himself. • I also just wanna note the quick range of expressions Majima's face goes through when Saejima says "Yeah, too bad about that 'elixir of eternal life.'"

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Apart from the different expressions he makes themselves, I think it's so fucking interesting (read: painful) how this occurs when Saejima (who, by the way, is at that moment not looking at Majima) is technically supposed to be the one that the player's eyes are focused on in that moment, since he's the one speaking. The camera doesn't try to manipulate the focus of the shot to hide Majima's expressions/feelings, they don't cut him out of the frame, they don't actually do anything to directly hide Majima's face at all, but most people (including Saejima himself) would miss this regardless, because it's done in a moment where, theoretically, nobody would or should be looking. Hell, even when the camera gives us a Direct close-up shot of Majima's face when Saejima mentions Kiryu ("Kazuma Kiryu. You never could give up on that one.") his expression doesn't betray too much of how he feels, but it's only once focus is finally taken away from him that he becomes most expressive. (rgg has always been so good with showing off characters' feelings with microexpressions and I feel like this applies to Majima especially. the same kind of thing happened in y0 when he saw Makoto at the end of the game (another scene that I could analyze for hours). The times when he doesn't speak and just. Reacts subtly and potentially subconciously with his face are ironically some of the moments where he says the most about himself. Go off king don't openly express your thoughts or feelings at all 🔥🔥🔥) • And then after all that (when Saejima looks at Majima again) Majima changes the topic to Noah. You could argue that Saejima, with bringing everything before that up, was trying to open up the opportunity for discussion on Majima's part about his behavior/feelings towards Kiryu, however this was largely unsuccessful. He only succeeds in this when he finally just says Kiryu's name outright (which, by the way, surprised me so much when I first watched the cutscene. I thought they were going to keep dancing around saying Kiryu's name directly/only implying him for the rest of that conversation, but I straight up gasped when Saejima said his whole name like that. It was significant, and Saejima wanted it to be, too), and even then that success is only marginal. It's enough for Majima to finally give away one of his "real" thoughts, completely unfiltered, about as straightforward as it's gonna get, just Once in that whole part of their conversation, but after that he immediately goes to pivot the topic of the conversation to something else. Which like, damn. Damn. That's pretty crazy.

The final detail I wanna mention, (this one I think mostly everyone got) was the way that Majima repeats his line from the beginning of the game "Where do I begin? That's right… (etc)." I love how they decided to have Majima say that line again differently, because the differences say so much. The version from the beginning of the game is said in a deeper more "intimidating" tone. The whole point of it is for story-telling drama, the theatrics, specifically to entertain/pique the interest of an audience, but the way he says it to Kiryu is much more easy-going and authentic. Ironically, it's once he leaves the player's sights and once he's with Kiryu that he discards the theatrics, where he simply shows off his fully genuine self re-telling the story. (One thing I will note is that the eng sub/dub translated that line so it would be different in the beginning and end ("Alright -- let's set things straight." (to player) -> "Where do I begin? That's right." (to Kiryu) even though he says the same thing twice in the japanese audio. I know that this is so that they can match up Majima's audio with his animations in the english dub, and they reuse the eng dub captions even for the japanese dub, and while I do not neccessarily. Like that. It does hammer in the tone difference between the way he speaks to the player vs. to Kiryu further (again, trying to be more intimidating vs. more easy going), which is an okay consolation if nothing else). I just think it's crazy to hear him talk like that with Kiryu after all this time, considering that he usually only talks this directly with Kiryu in fleeting moments. No high-pitched voice/fluctuating tones, no "Yo, Kiryu-chan", just being straightforward and to the point. Man. God.

It's been 4 days since I beat this game and everytime I see someone post about it or think about it for more than 10 seconds I die and explode into a million pieces. At some point I want to 100% this game so I can get as much dialogue/as many details as possible (also the game's just really fun lol), but for now I am just rotating this cutscene in my head forever and ever in an endless cycle. I am so sorry for posting about this game like everyday but I am so unwell over it it's not even funny I hope you can forgive me </333

[axotwigg]

first time using alight motion!!! im so excited for this game i need it injected into my brain.

[saberdramon]

slowly convincing myself that kiryu would have less inhibitions about killing someone than majima. majima has been told it's better to get by without killing if possible and he failed the one hit he was assigned. it's not that it's an option entirely off the table for him, but i think you'd have to push him pretty far for him to seriously consider it as a valid solution. that, and he probably has had enough experiences with shit like hits and the like for him to see them as flawed courses of action more often than not. the facade of being a loose cannon capable of anything may be etched into his performances, but when it counts i think he'd rather find an alternative solution instead.

but kiryu. i keep thinking about nishiki genuinely believing he killed the guy in the empty lot for a moment. and him picking up the pipe in the sewer after beating kuze. about nishiki joking about him being a sadist, getting into fights for fun. i don't think it's all that far fetched to say kiryu is at least more tempted than majima when it comes to killing someone. he's already a person driven by emotion and instinct and impulse, he himself says he makes decisions based on whether he loves or hates the outcome. and if he enjoys beating people to the brink, gets a little too lost in the thrill, maybe the body at his feet won't be getting up anymore. that said it'd be silly to think kiryu wouldn't be explicitly aware of tendencies like this and feel guilt over them, most likely.

there's also kazama's influence over him. i think, had kazama told him to, kiryu would've killed without question. i don't think there's a person in majima's life capable of steering him like that, unless y3-5 have decided against that and i just don't know about it yet

anyway. majima could kill a guy, but kiryu would kill a guy. thank you for coming to my ted talk

[otome-dissection]

guys guys guys i need an english translation for the sun at 36.5 c so fuckigb bad i'm shaking i need a translation i neeed to know what the lyrics are so bad

[lorillee]

also insane to me that some people out there genuinely think y0 shouldve ended w makoto and majima getting together at the end Like did u play this game with ur eyes open........................ ?

[designernishiki]

okay hot take time with tumblr user designernishiki yet again.

i really don’t get the hype over majimako like. at all. I’ve tried to wrap my head around it but every time I just end up so confused how it’s such a popular pairing and wondering if we played the same game like?? they had no chemistry, barely even knew each other (and what they did know of each other was almost entirely built off desperate traumabonding) and people treat the pairing like it’s the most deep, romantic thing in the world despite there being like. nothing there. at least romantically speaking. it’s honest to god baffling to me.

their most iconic “romantic” image together comes from a scene where makoto wants to fucking run away from him because she wants to find lee, who she fully trusts and who’s in danger (and probably also because majima’s literally just admitted to initially planning to murder her.) and he has to hold her there so she doesn’t get herself killed by running (literally) blindly into the street or something. how on earth is that a romantic scene.

their little sort-of date consists of majima being kind and sympathetic to her, sure, maybe even displaying some surface level feelings, but she’s completely preoccupied because of the massively important issues going on at the time with the lieutenants who wronged tachibana, she’s more or less probably plotting their deaths in her head during that scene, and in the end she purposefully has him run to get takoyaki so she can flat out Leave without him stopping her. because she has other priorities and is Not In The Headspace For A Soft Sentimental Escapade to say the absolute least.

Whatever they were, they were not In Love, they didn’t have time or circumstances for that, or to get to know one another as Actual People rather than as incidental liferafts in the midst of a sea of traumatic, nightmarish events. majima attached himself to her and felt strongly about her safety and eventual return to normalcy because she reminded him of himself and wanted her to have the pleasant civilian life he couldn’t give himself. on her end? honestly I don’t think she felt that connected to him at all up until the end, namely up until when he fixed her watch. and even then “romantic” is not even close to the word id use for what she was feeling– in fact I think that waters it down, if anything. I mean like fuck she was there bringing flowers to her brother’s grave in the spot where he died in front of her i really don’t think this was about romanticism, it was about compassion and selflessness and wishing her good luck in her new, free life, while expecting nothing from her in return. he cared about her and her outcome in life deeply and this would be the case regardless of any romantic feelings for her.

Anyway I didn’t mean for this to turn into an essay and somehow I could go on for longer but I absolutely do not need to. I just. am so secure in my thoughts about this and sometimes seeing how people talk about this relationship and it’s supposed deep romanticism makes me feel like I’m losing my mind or played a completely different game or something ngl. don’t get me wrong, ship whatever you want I’m not saying it’s problematic or something it’s just. bizarre to me how popular and sensationalized it is. and a little frustrating how applying this overdramatic romantic narrative to them can so often water down a dynamic that’s way more nuanced and interesting on an individual character level.

[violentlydefending]

genuinely always so shocked to see mirei hate. like literally god forbid women do anything.

[majimaisms]

if you view majima as immune to resentment how would you go about classifying his relationship to sagawa? i think it’s obviously multi-faceted, but i would still say there’s resentment thrown into that mix at least with my thought process 🤔

i am actually fascinated by majima's lack of resentment towards sagawa. his final scene with him was such a contrast to how i expected him to behave. like really? youre not gonna spit in this guy's face?? he literally thanks him and clearly still has respect for him. and i was baffled by this for a long time but i've been able to make sense of it by realizing majima doesn't take things *personally*

even throughout the game, as much as he can't stand sagawa, i don't think he's quite... resentful. here's the definition im working with to be clear

like he does get annoyed or frustrated but i think he still ultimately holds himself responsible for all the shit sagawa is putting him through. because as far as he's concerned, he signed up for it the moment he disobeyed shimano in '85. he knew what the consequences would be, so he has no room to complain. so he doesn't actually perceive any of it as unfair treatment. there's no indignation there

i have no doubt that he deeply dislikes the man, i just don't think he like. simmers in this feeling the way most people would. he's already over it by the end of the game. and it's because he's way past giving a shit about himself in any way. he doesn't hold grudges like that because to do that you have to have some emotional attachment to your own wellbeing. so you can get mad at injustice being done to you. and he literally doesn't. majima never complains about unfair treatment because he simply does not perceive anything as such, and he never shifts responsibility or blame. he takes it all on himself

[majimasleftasscheek]

itty bitty merch haul 😊 playing cards, movie eyepatch, majeemer necklace, kiryu lighter and movie booklet~ the lil teeth on snake tho 🥺

[bonetools]

i stg when i finish y0 i will be releasing my transfem majima manifesto. be ready

[souptomatobasil]

Guys bein dudes

[otome-dissection]

It's crazy to me that all the yakuzer guys I have rotating in my head are all so Dog but all in completely different ways

[designernishiki]

(y0) majima’s apartment is a barren wasteland and i hc that yuki’s apartment is a cluttered disaster, so inevitably when majima first sees her place and she first sees his they both, for completely opposite reasons, are like. damn bitch you live like this?

[smol-tired-binch-blog]

Koi no Disco Queens

Very quick sketch of Goromi and Yuko out partying because I've got my girls on the brain