When I found out Seonhee would be a playable character in Infinite Wealth, I cheered. YASSSS, there she was, my Korean Queen, ready to join Ichiban and Kiryu's adventures as a main character.

I've not played any other Yakuza games sans IW's predecessor, Like a Dragon, but was immediately drawn by an important, reoccurring plot centered on three international Mafia group respectively comprised of Japanese, Chinese, and Korean members - all of them working discreetly together to keep their hometown, Ijincho, at bay from bigger, badder criminal groups who'd likely destabilize it.

Seonhee immediately drew me in for being (from what I researched anyway) the first woman mafia leader in the game without temporarily holding it for a man, AND Korean to boot.

I'm aware of the complicated relationship between Korea and Japan and it's often reflected by their media, but I've noticed the year when Like a Dragon and later, Infinite Wealth, came out, played an amazing part in their storytelling and how changes reflect its characters (and I want to talk about this in depth on another post sometime) and the world they live in.

Seonhee is a fantastic example of that. By Infinite Wealth, she's the leader of both the Geomijul (her faction), and Zhao's (who's now a civilian) Liumang, and thus the de facto head honcho in charge of keeping the peace over Ijincho. She's presented as an iron lady with marginal hints of femme fatale, but I'm amazed at how subtle her outward appearances are in light of her inner dilemmas and personality. Sure, she's dressed like a sex bomb, and sure, one of her attacks involve using a power cable as a whip, but that's not really her whole deal.

I'm compelled by her personal story, one who already has an experience as a leader, but is now grasping to maintain a new power structure she's never held before. As a young woman in a position of power, she's often stuck with elderly men who see her as a little girl playing with toy guns. That, and a need to maintain strength mean she keeps vulnerabilities to herself and refuses help because it shows weakness.

There are very few people she could really talk to about this. Her second-in-command, Joongi Han, is fortunately, her staunchest supporter (and from idle chats with her, they seem to have a cute brother-sister relationship), but I really love her interaction with the Kiryu Kazama more.

Because you DO have this older former Yakuza whom she looks up to as an example of the ideal leader: calm and fair, but with strong conviction, Kiryu is the living embodiment of Be Kind, But Take No Shit. He's her personal hero and an older gentleman who genuinely respects her and fully supports her position and what she does.

And I love that she slowly opens herself up to him. I love that she's dorky and awkward whenever they engage in casual conversation, I love that she has a subtle crush on Kiryu that she's not that shy flirting with him about while maintaining a distance (as if she knows this is just a crush and nothing more will come off of it, but she sure will indulge in their company while she can.) I love that she comes off as pretty casual when she isn't working and is prone to little idiosyncrasies as her teammates. She can unwind and relax when among friends, allowing a moment to breathe before getting back to work. It's good to see she has people who can give her that.

Kiryu understands and sympathizes the difficulties that he, an older man, could never and would never face. He's not here to undermine her and he especially knows that once people like him pass on, the younger generation will take over, and he wants to help Seonhee achieve that without undermining her.

Seonhee may seek Kiryu's approval, and he may impose at times, but the game understands these are two adults. Kiryu doesn't treat her condescendingly just because she is a woman and younger, and Seonhee realizes that her personal hero is also just a guy and one willing to learn from her generation just as much.

RP MUSE VALENTINE’S APPLICATION.

your name: kasuga ichiban ⭐

Romantic or platonic?: anything that works for you!! I wouldn't want to assume.

A night in or dinner out or an activity?: activity, for sure! We can do some karaoke and then go to the arcade. I promise I'll win you the biggest prize they have :)

Ice cream or chocolate covered strawberries?: I've never had chocolate covered strawberries so we can try those! I bet they're tasty.

What's your perfect date?: spending time with the person I love is already a perfect date for me. Getting some tasty food is just a bonus.

Would you cook for me?: of course!! I might not be the best at it but I know a few good recipes. Just trust the process!

Would you let me cook for you?: Sure! You come up with some crazy recipes, Hime-chan, but they always end up being tastier than I thought.

Can we make-out?: we can! Just gotta be patient cause I'm a little rusty in that regard... Maybe more than a little.

Make out in private or in public?: private, there are too many people itching for a fight in public. I'd hate for our date to be ruined because of that.

Do you like to cuddle?: I LOVE to cuddle!

Blankets or no blankets for cuddling?: a comfy blanket makes everything better, so I'd go with that, for sure!

Couch or bed?: couch is good! Wouldn't want to push my luck.

What are at least 3 hobbies of yours?: I love video games, dragon kart racing and helping people. That counts as a hobby, right?

Tell me something about you no else knows: I know it's not hard to believe, but I was never popular growing up. Girls probably stayed away because I got into way too many fights with people. Things are better now, at least!

Why do you want to be my valentine?: because you're nice and I think we'd have a lot of fun together! That's what Valentine's Day is all about, right?

What makes you a good Valentine?: I'm always trying my best and I promise I'll do everything in my power not to disappoint you!

So, please be my Valentine, Hime-chan!

Orihime   perused   his   application   with   meticulous   care,   finding   herself   ensnared   by   his   candor   and   charm   –   attributes   that   seemed   to   shine   like   rare   jewels   within   his   words.   The   notion   of   the   arcade   sparked   undeniable   interest;   it   was   a   certainty   that   she   would   relish   such   an   experience.   Karaoke,   too,   carried   its   own   allure,   though   in   her   heart   she   coveted   the   victory   of   a   sizable   plushie.   The   choice   of   strawberries   only   further   sweetened   her   impression,   plainly   speaking   to   the   romanticism   that   flowed   from   him   like   a   tranquil   stream.   A   smile   blossomed   gracefully   upon   her   lips   as   she   continued   to   absorb   his   written   sentiments.   

“Oh,   Ichi-kun.”   Murmured   with   growing   intrigue.   “Now   you've   piqued   my   curiosity   to   savor   the   creations   from   your   kitchen.”   Her   imagination   danced   at   the   thought   of   their   intimacy   -   a   tender   make   out   session   enveloped   in   the   cozy   embrace   of   a   blanket   fortress.   And   there,   amidst   whispers   and   laughter,   they   might   embark   on   an   epic   marathon   of   Dragon   Quest,   honoring   his   fervent   adulation   for   the   beloved   game.   With   a   touch   as   delicate   as   her   burgeoning   affection,   she   affixed   a   stamp   onto   his   application   –   a   silent   testament   to   her   approval   and   the   beginning   of   what   promised   to   be   an   enchanting   liaison.

“Congrats,   you’re   my   valentine   now!   Let’s   make   this   a   day   to   remember.” @ichihero

How do you rank the Yakuza games by story quality?

Welp, this will be opening up a can of worms, but to thank you for asking... (still leaving out both Judgment games because I'm a loser who hasn't played them) And obviously, this will get long, so much more under the cut:

First: Yakuza 0 -

You can all dunk on me for putting the popular choice first, but it's popular for a reason. The story stands on its own feet; if you never played another Yakuza game, you still got a satisfying story out of this. No dangling plot threads or criminally underutilized characters*. I think as a whole the series could have built more on these themes, I think Kiwami 1 does a little, which we'll get to in due course, but in general my biggest problem with Yakuza series writing is they adamantly refuse to view their writing as a story and only see it as a vehicle for a video game which... makes for some really questionable decisions. (* I know there are those who think more should have been done with Makoto or Nishitani living and there's room to argue here. It's half the reason to write fanfiction, but I think from a bird's eye view, we have a cohesive narrative where the stakes were fulfilled.)

Second: Yakuza 7 -

On the whole, this was a really solid entry writing wise. There's only a couple of missteps I see here and mostly they're to do with the very end. So, spoilers for the end of Yakuza 7, skip to the next point if you don't want to know. I think it would have been really cool if they'd just made Ichiban Black-Asian, but that's a personal quibble for me. I think crowbarring Kiryu in was... questionable and not really good??? For Ichiban??? But my biggest problem was killing Ryo, that was absolutely unneeded and kinda makes a mockery of Kiryu's entire arc. Like, Ichiban and Kiryu, as have oft been noted, are very different protagonists. Kiryu is haunted by the sins of his father and the death of his brother. These slowly eat Kiryu from the inside out (much like cancer) turning him bitter and away from the yakuza as a whole. We deal with these themes in every single game, more or less. That's not what Ichiban's set up to deal with. Ichiban from day 1 is Just Some Guy, started at the bottom now we're here. He's all about success and joy and loving life, especially in the face of adversity, and in particular, in the face of social convention. Killing his brother saddles Ichiban with deep guilt and grief over what could have been, should have been, or at least it should, right? Ichiban spends their last minutes together trying to save his soul and I think would have been successful if the writing hadn't fucked him at the last second. And just... why? What purpose does it serve? Tying up loose ends? I don't know how to explain this, but you actually can let a character's story be over without killing them. That's actually just a very normal thing you can do. And this is what I mean about viewing the story as a video game rather than as a story: the boss must be defeated, Ryo must die, whether or not that makes any fucking sense. And especially in the context of what Kiryu went through, this looks super fucking bad because I can almost guarantee we will never revisit any guilt or sorrow over that death in any future game. Like, we do the exact same thing, Ichiban traumatically loses a brother he had a fraught relationship with, just like Kiryu, but instead of changing him and his trajectory irrevocably it just... bounces off. Really, really bad choice, I do not care for it.

Third: Yakuza Kiwami 1 -

Haters gonna hate, but I love Kiwami 1. I think it's an excellent retelling and refinement of the first Yakuza while incorporating a lot of relevant details and character progress from Yakuza 0. If I was going to level a criticism at it, it would be that we still shy from letting Kiryu confirm his emotional tethers. For all that I think there's some very strong writing regarding what Kiryu cares about and what motivates him, at strange moments the writing will suddenly back down in a fit of cowardly homophobia and cling to just enough plausible deniability that they won't upset censors or alienate less subtextual readers. This goes hand in hand with the narrative cannot fucking figure out what to do with Majima. He's important! But not that important. He's Kiryu's closest friend and also they hate each other. Sometimes the narrative tries very hard to convince you It's Not Gay We Swear, The Rivalry Is So Straight And Malicious You Guys when two scenes before they lovingly stared into each others eyes while speaking deep personal truths for like a full three minutes, unblinking, unlaughing. And in the context of later games, it's weird to give Majima so much space in this game and in 0, to give him oodles of screen time, to make it very clear how close he and Kiryu are, and then frantically backtrack and nearly try to erase him from the narrative later, assure you he's Just Some Guy to Kiryu, after they've already painstakingly proved otherwise. It's frustrating, but certainly not a unique criticism. And I get that Majima has a big pull promotional wise, we all love the mad man, but... pick a lane. Either let him be Kiryu's one true love or stop messing with this shit, since it makes you so uncomfortable to imply otherwise.

Fourth: Yakuza 3 -

Okay, this game has really, really good writing actually! Yes, it drags in spots, but I think this game pulls off the greatest villain reveal of the whole series. It's really hard to reveal a villain's motives at the very end and have it resonate with the audience. And when you hear Mine say "Daigo is the only man I ever loved" it fucking makes sense. All his weird behavior, his barely contained rage, his psychotic choices... it all becomes crystal clear why as you see this picture of a man with the worst kind of self-esteem problems, who pinned the whole of his essence on someone else and cannot come to terms with the reality of human frailty. I make no apologies for being a huge fan of Mine and he's definitely the best written character in the game. This game still struggles with letting Kiryu put proper emotional weight on his core relationships, both with Majima and with Daigo specifically. And even with his orphanage, we introduce all those children but when do they ever matter? Yes, this is a yakuza game, Kiryu has to go out and fight people because this is a game and he's the protagonist, but then why have him retire to the beach at all if you're just going to have him come back, painlessly, every time?

Fifth: Yakuza 5 -

Oh, Yakuza 5, my ugly beloved. My swan song. My cherished disaster. Equal parts sublime and terrible. This is peak writing for Kiryu, of all the games, this one understands him the best. He's tired and sad and bitter, he's riddled with guilt and doing his best and his best is shit, and in the end he still tries to come home. God, this... this was the closest we ever came to letting Kiryu grow, letting him learn his lesson, letting him understand that dying like his father did and abandoning his family is not the fucking answer. Kiryu's arc in this game is so good, so earned, we even let him go bug fucking crazy at the idea Majima is dead, I could swoon. God, this was So Good, I will not hear any criticisms about Kiryu in this game, 10/10 Kiryu.

On the other hand, it has been well documented that I am a Mirei Park hater, RIP to her lovers, but I just hated every part of that. I think Majima was character assassinated this game. I understand that at the time, 0 and both Kiwamis didn't exist yet and so the writing is responding to this impulse that for Majima to work, for him to make sense, there has to be deep pain and tragedy in his background. But this was a catastrophic vehicle for it, it does not fit for him, and they did a 10/10 job in 0 so... that's the canon I believe. Semi-related, I don't love making Haruka an idol? Not only does she state in previous games that she's not interested in being an idol, but I just think it's a waste of her potential. I love her being a protag, I wish we could get MORE protag Haruka, god she deserves it, we deserve it. And I think there were many other ways we could have done that, I think this fell prey to a lack of imagination on the part of the writers. But, she does call her father home in the end and decide this isn't what she wanted after all so... I do love that. They snatched it back in the end.

And hey, we even got a fulfilling arc out of Saejima! Who knew! On balance, the writing of this game is really good, it just has a couple of critical failures for me. But mostly, expert characterization and finally allowing emotional weight to have its due. It's cruel of me to say, but I so wish the series had ended here. Or even hard reboot with 7, that's fine. Just... man. I wish we hadn't destroyed everything we did correctly here.

Sixth: Yakuza 4 -

Everyone loves to dunk on Yakuza 4 for being too complicated and difficult to understand. That actually doesn't bother me. I think the plot isn't that bad to follow and I think the introduction of non-yakuza members to the crime world, Akiyama and Tanimura, are really good world building. It helps to understand that there are forces that can impact what the yakuza do and what they are capable of doing. I think Daigo is 10/10 in this game, I think his mistakes are entirely justified, and I love how we have to deal with it.

What I don't love is Kiryu's amnesia from Yakuza 3, that those lessons seem to be entirely lost and have to be learned again. I don't love that there's no continuity of consequences, either from other games into this one or from this game into later ones. That's really my biggest problem with 4. That despite introducing fan favorites like Saejima and Akiyama, both of whom are executed really well and are excellent additions, the political tension and themes that I think are very coherent here don't have much impact on the later series. And maybe that was down to poor reception and people complaining that they didn't like the story. That could just be an artifact of serial publication and bending to the whims of public opinion. Again, for me that's an issue of viewing the story as a video game and product rather than maintaining loyalty to the story above all else. But that's my bias as a writer and as a professional academic when it comes to story.

Seventh: Yakuza 6 -

Full disclosure: I have almost no love for Yakuza 6. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth and a fog in my brain. I find it particularly egregious of erasing past lessons, of ignoring understandings we already had. I think it deliberately ignores emotional weight we already established and used. I loathe what we do with Haruka, that her entire autonomy is stripped from her and she is little more than a bauble used to torture Kiryu. I find the choices made for her at best perplexing and at worst deeply misogynistic and narrow. I hate that rather than use characters already long-established to deal with Kiryu's trauma regarding organized crime, family, brotherhood, and fatherhood, we introduce new people who do not matter and will never be seen again instead of resolving anything with the people we already know and care about. It feels like an incredible slap in the face to anyone who cared about those previous characters and the relationships they had with Kiryu.

Think about that letter to Daigo at the end. How earned, how deserved it is. And yet, it's so hollow because it's literally the bare minimum Kiryu needed to do for him. Think about how much more fulfilling this story could have been if we actually spent it with Daigo, resolving all the pain there. Also, Kiryu faking his death??? Abandoning his family, after we just literally in the last game proved why you shouldn't do that??? I get that this was supposed to be the end of the series and nothing is more final than death. But at the first opportunity they drag Kiryu back, like they always do. So his faked death does nothing to the plot except hurt the people around him, the people who cared about him. I in fact wrote an entire fic about how bad a job I think this game was and how much it hurt me personally. So it's very hard for me to be objective about this.

Viewing it apart from continuity, it's a relatively engaging story about a middle-aged dad trying to navigate a shady past. And if you look at this like that, if Kiryu was just some guy, some stranger, I know I wouldn't be as devastated by it as I am. For all the people who love this game, maybe that's what's working for you. It's also lush and beautiful and Kiryu's ass is in every shot. But putting it in context... I can't really think of anything I like here.

Eighth: Yakuza Kiwami 2 -

Now, now, before you get angry, I love Kiwami 2! In terms of enjoyment, I rate it very high! But... it's a pretty hot mess in terms of story. It's a real odd duck in continuity and I know that's down to it was originally a sequel to a standalone game that was never meant to have a sequel. And when they remade Yakuza 1, they couldn't very well not make Yakuza 2. But considering what we later did in the series... it just doesn't quite come together. Like, Ryuji should matter. The shit we bring up about that backstory should matter. This was a great opportunity for Kiryu to unpack some of his feelings about the yakuza and it makes sense that he's depressed as shit here, but... there's just a lot of missed opportunities. In our pursuit of putting Daigo on the throne, there was so much more work we could have done regarding the sins of the father, the narrative is kinda set up for that since we're a father-son team, but... we don't really. We again let Kiryu refuse to unpack and shy out of the emotional weight of our choices. I don't love that. And since we do some of the work, we at least start it, in Yakuza 3 with Kiryu having to acknowledge that he abandoned Daigo in a shit position (god if only, if only...), it's weird that we didn't build more of the blocks here. Again, I know this is largely down to Yakuza 2 was never supposed to exist and they didn't know how many games they would get, but since it's a remake, they had time to go back and clean things up. *sigh* Oh well, at least there's Ryuji titty and tigers to fight.

I haven't played Y6 for myself yet, but I'm a very nosy person, so I need to ask you what exactly happened in the game /lh

uuuugh okay im gonna put the thing that fucked it for me under spoilers

so at the beginning of the game Haruka runs away from home to do. something. she has a kid. and gets hit by a car. shes out cold in the hospital for like 99% of the game. bad start already, yakuza will never beat the misogyny allegations. The game is also EASILY the most racist the series has ever been since yakuza 2 and if you've played yakuza 2 that should ring some fuckin alarm bells

if it doesnt: yakuza 2 had a crooked cop who turned out to be a good guy actually. because he shot every korean he ever saw on sight and it turned out that every single one of them belonged to a secret evil mafia. every. single. korean. in one of the busiest districts of tokyo. you cant fucking make this up

anyway despite all that Yakuza 6's plot is pretty dang solid right up until the end of the final boss. The game was intended to be a send-off for Kiryu, his story was over, and someone else (Ichiban!) would take the reins. It wasn't, like, perfect, none of the characters you'd really WANT to see for a 'Kiryu Dies' ending were there, even though I love the Hirose clan. But still, if it had stopped there and Kiryu died, Yakuza 6 would still be a solid like...7-8 out of ten. Mechanically solid if simpler than its predecessors, a nice cohesive plot (5 was a mess. it was such a mess), and an emotionally satisfying resolution.

And then. The after-credits scenes.

So Haruka woke up from her coma only a little bit before the final boss, and we see her having a good time with her kid and the kid's dad, it's sweet, Kiryu is writing something at the desk but we don't get to see it. But in the after-credits scene, we do! It's a reflection on the themes of the story, of the many fathers in the game who took the familial bonds with their children for granted and how that came back to bite them, how patterns they didn't want to see repeated reared their heads because they didn't put in the effort to stop it, didn't think to speak to their children, didn't think to show them love or care, because to them it was a given that parents and children have a bond. Never mind that any bond requires effort to maintain. And Kiryu talks about that in his letter, how he regrets not spending more time together as a family, speaks about how sorry he is for doing the exact same thing that all of those antagonists did.

The entire time this scene is going, it frequently cuts back to Haruka playing with baby Haruto on the other side of the room as he writes. Haruka, the child that Kiryu took in and raised. He's supported her and all of the kids at Morning Glory since 3, gave his everything for them, sent money and kept leaving and disappearing just to keep them safe. And what does Haruka do the moment that Kiryu can no longer be in charge? She does the same thing. She learned it from him. She disappears, runs away from her responsibilities to sacrifice herself. She's Kiryu's child through and through, even if she only ever calls him 'ojisan'. It cuts to her while Kiryu talks about family. And failing as a father figure. And how he wanted to be so much more. The fact that Kiryu is writing a letter instead of saying it out loud feels a little odd, but not that weird considering his character. He's emotionally constipated, speaking from the heart is something he just can't do on the spot. Being open with his emotions is one of his big weaknesses, and writing this letter for Haruka, knowing he probably won't come out of this final confrontation alive, is still a meaningful gesture from him.

AND THEN IT TURNS OUT THE LETTER WAS FOR FUCKING DAIGO DOJIMA, A MAN WHO IS LESS THAN TEN YEARS YOUNGER THAN KIRYU, WHO HAS NEVER ONCE CONSIDERED THIS MAN A FATHER FIGURE AND KIRYU HAS NEVER ONCE CONSIDERED A SON. IT'S FOR DAIGO. WHY IS IT FOR DAIGO??? I DON'T KNOW. I DON'T FUCKING KNOW WHY IT'S FOR DAIGO HE DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING THE ENTIRE GAME HE WAS JUST SITTING IN PRISON IF KIRYU WANTED TO TELL HIM TO BE DIPLOMATIC WITH THE HIROSHIMA YAKUZA HE COULDVE JUST SAID THAT BUT NO WE GET A LETTER ABOUT HOW KIRYU CONSIDERED THIS GROWN-ASS MAN HIS CHILD??? AND NOT FUCKING HARUKA WHO HES BEEN BUSTING HIS ASS FOR THE ENTIRE GAME???????? WHAT THE FUCK. WHY. WHY WAS IT FOR DAIGO. IVE BEEN BANGING MY HEAD FOR THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS OVER THIS WHY IN GODS NAME DID THEY MAKE THE LETTER FOR DAIGO

God. Okay. That's not even the end of it but that's the part that pissed me off the most. The last part that made me go 'you know what they should've just killed kiryu actually they shouldve put him out of his misery'. is when he gets bribed by a politician to keep his mouth shut about the Plot Boat. And his condition for silence is that he wants to fake his death. And he can never see his family again. So it ends. With Kiryu. Yet again. Running away. From his responsibilities. God. Its so infuriating. Do you see now why the ending retroactively ruined the entire game for me. Do you understand my pain

Do Ichiban!

YEAAAAHHHH ITS FUCKING ICHIBAN TIME LETS GO LETS GO LETS GO

favorite thing about them

I love how he loves! I love how his love for others is always at the forefront of everything he does! I love how love can make him violent and angry and willing to do morally dubious things but he will never go further than his heart can handle! Because at the end of the day! Loving others is THE reason to keep going! To help, to offer kindness, to go through bullshit and tough times to make life easier for others because you CAN make a difference! Start from the fucking bottom and work your way back up and you do it because YOU! LOVE!

least favorite thing about them

He won't kill. I think he should be allowed to kill!!! A little bit. I had six/seven games of Kiryu never killing anyone, especially when he DID kill them, and I'd like Ichiban to kill some of these fucking scumbags he gets pitted against. I'm hoping with all the bloodshed in Ishin we can get Ichiban doing a murder.

favorite line

Yakuza is not a particularly quotable game to me but Ichiban's final moments with Masato is such a profound and emotional scene, I had to lift something from that. It probably isn't quiet as impactful if you haven't seen the rest of the Yakuza franchise and their typical handling of men experiencing emotions but... I will timestamp and link to the scene in a video showing all the finale's cinematics but I will quote the best bit:

"No one appreciated you?! Bullshit! We were always there for you! We would've done anything for you, gone to hell and back! All you had to do was ask! When will you believe me when I say the three of us love you?"

There's such a perfect blend of catharsis and compassion as Ichiban finally breaks down the ego of his brother to say "You were loved, you ARE loved, and I will not let you run from that"

brOTP

Him and Namba are the best bros of all time. They are on some Spongebob and Patrick shit. It is so good. I have never sobbed over a platonic reunion like the one they had. Best fwends foweva.

OTP

Ichiban/Xhao, hands down. I just think they're sweet! They're flirty, banter well, have a really fun dynamic, and a no stress bond. They'd be such adorable boyfriends. C'mon. C'MON RGG. MAKE ICHIBAN THE FIRST BISEXUAL BITCH IN THE FRANCHISE.

nOTP

Ichiban is incapable of seeing any of the women he befriends in a romantic or sexual sense, sorry I don't make the rules, they're all too busy messily dating each other

random headcanon

He's bisexual, in case you didn't catch that. But I also think he gets introduced to the internet and starts going to online forums and trying to engage everyone in spirited overly earnest debates and he is OUTRAGED by troll bait and after a sleepless 48 hours of fighting hundreds of strangers on every topic under the sun, he is banned from every major platform and his smart phone is thrown out the window.

unpopular opinion

Look. Yes his hair is iconic. And I love it. But he unfortunately is hot as fuck with short hair or with it pulled back and I would prefer he have it that way for the entire next game he's in pretty pleaseeeeee <33333

song i associate with them

Oh man, there's so many I could put here! Cause I also have a fuckin Ichiban playlist! But after about four seconds of thinking, it's extremely easy: Breathe by Dom Fera

I caught a glimpse in the window I caught a glimmer of what I was hoping to see And everybody can stand there folding their arms They're saying don't hold your breath I'm saying how can you breathe

favorite picture of them

Yes it's everyone's favorite picture of Ichiban and there's good reason for it: he's so fucking cute! Second favorite picture is this blurry glimpse we caught in a production vlog of him in the next game with his hair tied back:

So I just needed a place to let my thoughts out on Infinite Wealth. It is likely going to have a bit of controversial opinions and certainly a lot of spoilers about the game itself. Or perhaps just the story.

The first thing I want to say is I am going to be honest...I do not like the new cast of characters from LAD7. While others may enjoy Ichiban and Nanba and etc etc etc and all of them as is WELL within their right to do, I hate having to slog through dealing with the Ichicrew to get to the actual character beats and characters I actually CARE about in the franchise.

I also hate that Kiryu apparently, though he LITERALLY HAS FRIENDS, its decided that oh...he'd rather pal around with people seemingly much younger than him instead of going and seeing the 3jimas or something.

Yes, he does meet them later in the game itself and they initially rebuff coming to his aid, but I honestly am flabbergasted they never came sooner aside from just. Oh big reveal and then they aren't interacting again.

Like why isn't the 3jimas with him in the hospital, why does Haruka only visit? It is baffling to me.

I'll be honest, I consider the end of the series around Yakuza 3 because that was meant to be the end of the franchise [I believe] but then they kept going and the story seemed to just get repeated...several times but in different flavors. Kiryu should have rested then...

In general, it also hurts to just see Kiryu abandoning his friends for this new blood. And I'm well aware he isn't actually abandoning them but goddamn does the writing surely make it seem that way especially with how, despite you know....the bonds of brotherhood with Saejima, the bonds of fatherhood with Daigo, and the bonds of lovers with Majima [my own opinion lol]...those three just get shafted time and time again.

And we are meant to believe that Kiryu is a good person? That he cares about the people he cares for? When he can just go 'lol bye' and dip out?

Listen, I understand that isn't what was meant to be portrayed at all but I can't help but feel that is what it is like when RGG just seems to have him come by, dip out, come by, ask favors, dip out again. One could argue hes trying to keep people safe but it doesn't work and hasn't worked...

I mainly hate him doing that to Daigo and Majima in particular. Especially Majima who does and would do anything Kiryu ever asked of him and had done so time and time again. They are just so inexplicably tied together by red strings of fate, only for Kiryu to just bounce. [Not to mention how RGG just seems to have some sort of issue with realizing just how popular Majima is but then only bring him out as DLC or you know, ways to get money all the same.]

The Kashiwagi and Kiryu scene at the bar just broke my heart too, now the playthrough I was watching, I don't know if you can go back to talk to him but just the brief like...two minute meeting and then the rest being karaoke, it just...idk man. I wish I could have seen an actual cutscene of them truly speaking with one another in private or SOMETHING. You haven't seen each other in YEARS.

Even if you wanted to play off the pretend names and all that, at least if you are alone, have that conversation. Something. ANYTHING. A crumb.

Then Kiryu going to the 3jimas to ask favors and stuff of them to help with the situation. I'm glad we learned why the fuck the Security company fell apart but if I was the 3jimas, I would be reluctant in helping too like...you constantly leave us and dip out on us and the only time you come to us is when you need something? Wtf Kiryu?

Because you know the 3jimas would welcome Kiryu with open arms if he would just commit to actually being their...idk...friend? Maybe that is why I get annoyed with that Ichicrew because...you had three other people right there that Kiryu could have been running around with but no.

I love Kiryu, deeply, but damn if the writing isn't frustrating to no end at times but well, I guess it is because he is meant to be something the player can project on even if it makes his actions so idiotic at times.

Also, I don't wanna get into the whole cancer bullshit, the ending image of Kiryu looking like a goddamn person on death's bed was heartwrenching enough. I understand that Kiryu wasn't meant to be strong forever but did the writers really have to do the cop out of getting cancer while he was trying to help that one dude? Couldn't Kiryu just grow old and go the Komaki route of training the new crew but otherwise be left alone?

And now once again the 3jima's fates are also a bit nebulously up in the air...and at this point, I just wish they would let all the OGs rest. You now have like 6-7 people for the ichicrew and gang and all of that, stop shoehorning them in for a fanservice that serves for like 5-10 minutes in a 50 hour game or what have you.

Also RGG, stop killing off characters too early...RIP Hanawa....Have you not learned yet...Or if you kill off characters, then explain why others are alive. I am looking at you Andre Richardson, where the FUCK is Mine then [Who RGG also killed off way too soon.]

Anyway, I'm sure I have more to rant about but agh.

At the end of the day, I do hope people enjoy Infinite Wealth and I think people that adore the Ichicrew will enjoy the fuck out of this game, but for me and what I was looking out for...well it was disappointing to say the least.

RGG/Yakuza/Judgement in the Entertainment Industry

YAKUZA

Kiryu: Ascended singer/back up dancer now a professional fighter. With Nishiki he was part of the Sunflower Boys Club (like Disney micky mouse club ya dig). In his younger he even had a (successful) duo with Nishiki named (idk the name fam but their duo would be a male japanese 80’s duo WINK). But this only created a gap between the two where Kiryu was getting noticed more and contacted by various types of deals (commercials, mc host deal, acting, etc,), the public treated Nishiki like a side dish (the Beyonce treatment).

The deal sealed itself at the death of their company owner Kazama, and closely after when their manager Kashiwagi resigned from its position and the industry as a whole. After a long break and reflection, Kiryu still wanted to reunite the duo and rebrand into something more mature, but Nishiki refused and broke his contract to go his own way. Kiryu did the same in professional fighting where he is at the top of what they have to offer

Nishiki: once known as everyone boyfriend, the lovely Nishiki (play BOYFRIEND – Love Style). Rebranded with his whole name Akira Nishikiyama as a professional racer leaving all his links with kazama’s company behind him. He plays it lowkey and he is actually not bad (more like a silver or bronze type of good but not the top game). Nishiki remained petty and hate any discussions about Kiryu with the media/public especially since Nick Ogata leaked out that a girl was the main reason and the source of the duo’s breakup and Nishiki’s bitterness towards Kiryu Yumi: Actress Kashiwagi: Manager (precisely Nishiki and Kiryu’s), now retired. Haruka: Idol (off course) Majima: MC and variety show host and part-time fighter. Actually, most of his wealth comes from owing stuff (most people don’t know the depth of what he owns). His occasional fights with Kiryu gets the most ratings. We can even catch him on baking competitions and dancing with the stars and the local drag race, yah majima the funky ‘’businessman’’ Saejima: MMA Fighter. Akiyama: Funky & Rich golf player. Tachibana: Real estate owner. Jun Oda: Tachibana’s bodyguard Daigo: rookie but hella successful news presenter Mine: Lawyer attached to famous cases especially defending the guilty. The dude the girlies are simping for on Tik Tok. Shinida: Baseball player.

Nishida: Cameraman or TV crew member Majima keeps calling his assistant. Ryuji: grown Disney kid who ascended to legit model-hood but loves to puts his nose in everything. Rumors says he spent time in jail. Somehow has hella cash and people on social media likes him. His rants get millions of view, He always beefing with someone on Twitter and in real life (guilty or not). Aside from his antics, he has his hand in ownership of many brands and large businesses mostly coming from his father’s heritage and shady business practices. People loves to undermine his talent when it comes to investments and overall finance. Reina: professional guitarist of an indie jazz band rikiya: aspiring actor, currently everyone sweetheart and part of all the series famous with the youth these days. Part of the main cast from series trending on Netflix. Hana: kpop group coordinator (the girl who do the clothes)

Baba: Aspiring but still struggling SoundCloud rapper

Mayumi: center of a girl group. HyunA of a group with the aesthetic of the girl group SECRET.

Date: a famous lawyer always involved in big cases.

YAKUZA 7/LIKE A DRAGON

Ichiban: Athlete, (I see soccer). Using his name into it: Ichiban is always number one. Here’s goes the lighting bringing the fire in the place. He is the one, he is number one, ICHIBANNNNNNNNNN, GOALLLLLLLLLL

Nanba: high-scale gardener or theater actor Saeko: Ascended girl group member who branched off from the duo she was doing with her sister Nanoha. Dipping into acting. I would see as a professional dancer too a regular at dancing with the stars type stuff

Adachi: Senior Actor.

  Eri: News presenter?

Han Joongi: Visual of kpop group (group the caliber of DBSK or ZE:A)

Zhao: Son of a rich Chinese businessman, nobody is sure where he actually lies since he touches a little bit at everything. But he is a heavy and popular presence in social media. You can find in all kinds of variety show/reality tv but he getting more credits for his cooking skills and inventions getting him top class restaurants. RGG’s Huang Zi Tao.

Masumi Arakawa: Japanese morgan freeman

Masato Arakawa/ ryo aoki: A son of a wealthy man who seems to do well with his acting career.

Ishioda: Rival MC of various shows.

Jo sawashiro: Lawyer

Mabuchi: architect

Seoghui: Solo singer/dancer with her back up dancers. Hajime Ogasawara: Kpop member turned actor

Nick ogata: MC of all types of shows. Radio host. Walking TMZ.

JUDGES EYES/LOST JUDGEMENT

Yagami: Actor or baseball player.

Kaito: Boxer Tesso: Olympic athele (mhhhh gymnastics or athletism)

Higashi: Classical musical player or conductor, people still scratiching their head how the heck he met kaito

Sugiura: new generation kpop group member. Like the new hot stuff these days (ATEEZ, Stray Kids type stuff) Tsukumo: music composer like yasutaka Nakata or a really lucrative indie gamer/youtuber

Hamura: Senior Actor (who can get away with sexual assault charges)

Kuroiwa: Top class actor with a Gold-tier PR team.

Kyoko amasawa: that girl who lead in show like idol school, aspiring top scale idol praised for being rebellious and not caring what people think of her. In a group like Le Sserafim.

Kengo: Professional BMX-er and your rapper who somehow made it trough shows like show me the money. Hoshino: overlooked k-pop band member

Akutsu: basketball player

Soma: a dude full of cash who owns a lot of stuff (like akutsu’s basketball team)

Sawa-sensei: Miss meteo.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TRUSTING ME BRO I COULD CRYYYYYYYYYYYYY 😭😭😭😭😭I hope it does not disappoint... REAL THOUGH about the drama you mentioned in your tags, that's exactly how I felt reading If My Wife Becomes An Elementary School Student's title, for example, but I'm told it's wholesome☠️☠️I would love to hear about the one you were thinking of though!

I WILL BEAR IT IN MIND TO PREPARE FOR ARACHTAGON WHENEVER THE TIME COMES... totally understandable to get frustrated with RNG on top of that, RPGs can be so evil 😭😭😭still, again, I'm glad you're back to it! Also totally understandable to want to play on the original consoles... NOTHING beats the experience... the availability of playthroughs nowadays is nice for sure to be able to experience the series without investing that much!

I would LOVE to see more Normal interactions between Ichiban and Jo for real😭they have so much potential for silly moments... ever-thankful for your content and I Can't Say Enough always looking forward to whatever you might have in store :] whether it's that or something else :]

I EXPECT YOU'RE DONE WITH EPISODE EIGHT NOW AT MINIMUM SO I WILL JUST SAY the Ohashi arc and Episode Ø [<- why the hell is ep eight called this] are peak to me I am soooo glad you enjoyed the arc... LOVE the OST too, Yugo Kanno is a legend. HOWEVER all the songs on it are titled words that start with S and P so you get titles like Scarlet Pussy 😭

OH BUT SPEAKING OF SP'S WACKASS STRUCTURE pleeeeeaaaase consider watching SP: The Motion Picture and SP: The Motion Picture: The Final Episode after you finish the show... there is A Cliffhanger and those are the true conclusions to the story... and SP Final In Specific is what blew my nuts clean off...

STOPPP NO THAT'S EXACTLY THE DRAMA I WAS TALKING ABOUT BUT I DIDNT WANNA SNITCH ON MYSELF 😭😭 it really is a cute show..... im ngl it has some of my fave tsutsumi scenes/performances like it TRULY blew my expectations out of the water. i just feel SOOO awkward about it cause.. with a title like That and a premise Like That i wouldnt blame a single person for giving me a weird ass look so i generally try not to talk about it ☠️ its my guilty treat so to speak and i cant even tell if im making it sound worse than it actually is (╯x╰ )

in any case... i finished Security Police SO !!! onto After The Rain for me when it comes to Media Thats Awkward To Talk About But Please Believe Me When I Say Its Not What You're Thinking :]

LMAO PLEASE like... so long as you have the right equipment you don't even really have to do much extra grinding by the time you get to him... it truly is just hoping RNG doesnt dick you over ☠️ i've been cruising through the game since tho ! i dont expect myself to get into anymore awkward blockades anytime soon and then i can finally say i finished this game (●ˇ∀ˇ●)

THANK YA THANK YA it aint much but its honest work..... i have been real dead this week tho and i always get scared if ill draw again durin periods like this- i HOPE to come up with something soon cause there really is an untapped well of Good Stuff to be explored :]]

THE SOUND DESIGN OF SP WAS REALLY GOOD IN GENERAL THOUGH LIKE not just music wise was it good but i really loved hos inoue's migraines gave me migraines... immersion... but also just knowing when to keep things dead silent (like finding nishijima's corpse) did SOOO well to put emphasis.. the weird as hell names are just bonus points by now like. Gotta Let Bro Have SOMETHING As A Thank You For The Sound Design (╯▽╰ ;;) OH BUT IM GLAD THERE'S MOVIE TIE-INS CAUSE THE LAST SCENE HAD ME CONCERNICUS LIKE 👁️👁️? i was only able to find the first 2010 movie on the site i usually go to but its somethin...

2022 top memorable media experiences (top left to bottom right)

short reviews/impressions under

Witch Hat Atelier - Reread and caught up on this. Still one of the best ongoing manga series. Everything about it from the art to the characters to the plot/themes it is covering is A+. Praying that the adaptation of this ends up doing it justice. If there is anything that deserves a godlike adaptation, its this.

A Rose in the Twilight - Bought a bundle of horror games by nippon ichi and this was the one that probably clicked with me the most. Sort of janky but great game with a lovely aesthetic and story to it. Yomawari 2 is also p great from the same bundle.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land - Honestly one of the most pleasant experiences of the year. Just great vibes from start to finish. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Kitanai Kimi ga Ichiban Kawaii - This finished early in the year and while the middle is rather ???, the last 2 vols are perfect. It ended exactly how I wanted it to. I need more yuri stories like this one as I live for this sort of content.

Shokei Shoujo - Speaking of yuri, this series was made for me. Everything in it. The characters, the themes, the plot, the aesthetic is all directly pandering to me. Adored the anime and loved the 3 vols I read of it. Definitely one of the things I need to read more of. Easily in the top 3 of new things I got into this year.

Grim Grimoire - Much smaller scale story than 13sen but in some ways I think it was more memorable to me. Really enjoyed it. Hopefully it gets a sequel that was planned originally one of these days now since the remaster happened.

Amatsutsumi - The best visual novel I read this year hands down. The 1st chapter is great, the 2nd/3rd chapter is forgettable as hell but the final chapter is exactly the type of writing I read vns for. Hotaru is such an intensely interesting character. The finale is perfect.

Tsui no Stella - Great short game by Romeo. Very interesting and enjoyable world building and fully makes use of the time it has with its story. One of the best short vns I’ve read. 

Kuro to Kuro to Kuro no Saidan - I went in this thinking it would be a nukige with a maybe okay plot/writing because of Shumon. But turned out to be actually a competent dark fantasy story with some interesting worldbuilding. Enjoyable from start to finish with the only issue being some of the endings are pretty unneeded but thats a old game sort of thing so. 

Yume no Kuni kara Mezametemo - Great 1 vol yuri story. Loved the themes it went into and the writing style was really good. Very much want to recommend it to people who like to claim japan isn’t progressive since alot of the stuff it went into was very relevant topics about minorities, males in lesbian spaces, patriarchal society and how these systems hurt people (work sekuhara, male ‘allies’), etc. I do feel it is sort of unmemorable a few months later but going through it, I loved it. 

Dark Souls 1 - Went back and actually finished this 10 years later. Great game outside of the fire zone... for obvious reasons. 

Happy Sugar Life - Exactly the type of yuri story I want. Very good story about abnormal love and adore how it went into different facets of it through different characters. Glad to finally have gotten around to finish it.

Signalis - Loved it. Great survival horror game with a good aesthetic. Definitely looking forward to what the devs do in the future.

FuyuKuru - HONESTLY SPEAKING, I had alot of problems with this game going through it but the final few scenes of the game honestly GRIPPED ME so hard. The way Watanabe makes the end of the world and humanity’s extinction into something so hopeful is insane and I love him for it. The road might have been rough but the journey was sure worth it.

Sayonara Eri - Still probably my favorite work from Fujimoto. Short, sweet but has a big impact and covers some great themes. 

Kaguya-sama S2 and S3 - Honestly sort of fell off Kaguya-sama at the beginning of S2 but going back and finishing these and its still great. Really loved it.

Share ten different favourite characters from ten different pieces of media in no particular order, then send this to 10 people (anon or not, your choice) 🎥🎬📺 

got tagged by @sometimes-i-talk-a-lot !!!

no idea who to tag so feel free to do it

im not sure youre axtually supposed to talk about them a lot but i did start rambling on with most of them so its going under the read more

kakyoin from jojo's bizarre adventure - the funny gamer man :). i like how i managed to read/watch all of jojo but he still managed to be my favorite through it all. his backstory was just really relatable to me i guess.

Patches from the soulsborne games - hes just kind of a huge asshole everytime you meet but something about hearing his voice after he kicks you down a pit for the 10th time. A lot of it probably comes from his voice actor. he really sounds like hes enjoying himself every time he gets to voice him.

ichiban kasuga from yakuza like a dragon - hes just a very loveable guy. everything from the way he talks with his friends to the way he talks with everyday people makes him just easy to fall in love with. Its also nice seeing how despite what he goes through he still keeps his friendly personality

lady from devil may cry - shes really cool and i like her character a lot. her arc in the 3rd game is just really satisfying to follow from beginning to end. she doesnt get much in terms of story in 4 or 5 but i feel like her character is fine how she is and adding more would kinda take away from it. she did get a nice little moment in 5 though which i liked. Also its nice to know that in a series where all the other fighters have some form of demonic powers she is 100% human. And please capcom make her playable in 5!!!!!

Raiden from metal gear - My favorite boy whos been through so so much. I cant really talk about how i like him since that would mostly involve spoilers and would also make up multiple pages. In 2 i just like the way he develops throughout the story and how he finds meaning by the end. Hes also the protag of one of my favorite games metal gear rising revengance. Despite the over the top nature of the game i still think they did his character justice and its a nice extension of the story of 2 (though nothing compares to that imo)

Sans from undertale - Despite everything i still really like undertale, its world and its characters. And the funny bone man managed to still be my fav. His jokes and his mysterious nature all makes him really likable to me. His fight is pretty enjoyable too. also hes a skeleton so theres that.

Samus from Metroid - Basically everything i wish i was. Shes cool, strong and she still manages all of this without saying a whole lot. I especially like her body language in dread. pls just ignore how she is in other m....

Tienshinhan from dragon ball - this ones mostly an old favorite. he was my favorite charcater when i watched it as a kid and he still is. He just seemed really cool everytime he appeared. Still think its bullshit how he isnt considered the strongest human -3-

Bridget from guilty gear - this ones a very recent fav. i never really knew anything about her before she appeared in strive but she definitely made an impact on me. Something about seeing a trans girl accepting herself in a mainstream videogame just makes me really happy. Also her theme song is soooo good and is soooo relatable to me. Like yeah i also hate the alarm clock i chose and i also taste like vegetables i dont like. 😭

Aqua from kingdom hearts - Shes one of the more competend characters in the series. She isnt without flaws or anything but she definitely gets shit done when she wants to. Her fighting style is also really nice. And of course she has blue hair and pronouns 🙄

My thoughts on Infinite Wealth

So a couple of weeks ago, I finished the main story of Infinite Wealth and wow, I'm blown away with how amazing this game was.

It was just SO DARN AWESOME. There was just so much love poured into these characters. When Tomizawa and Chitose were first announced, I never thought that I'd love them as much as Saeko, Nanba, Adachi, Zhao and Joongi. I was wrong. So wrong. I fell in love with them so much. I really hope that they'll return in Yakuza 9.

Throughout the game, I LOVED interacting with everyone. I loved listening to their chats whether it's Seonhee wanting to cook for Kiryu (you hardcore fangirl), Nanba comparing painting your finger nails to priming a model kit, Zhao confessing to being addicted to gacha games, Ichiban and Adachi sharing one braincell on how to get dust out of your eye, etc. It made me love them even more.

The Bingo cards were so much fun that I would make detours just to fill them out. The Walk & Talk finales were fun to watch and I liked how each one suited a specific character.

I think that overall the story was really good. Had its flaws here and there but it definitely had some great surprises. I was unfortunately spoiled on the VTuber's identity on Twitter. But the betrayal scene blew me away. I did NOT see that coming. Haven't felt this betrayed by a video game character since Persona 5.

Kiryu's story was really touching. I still would've liked to have seen an actual reunion with Haruka and Haruto. We all know that they mean the most to Kiryu. I feel like both Gaiden and this game heavily hinted that it might be a possibility. Heck, we almost got it if Kiryu had only OPENED the door but nope, it was done off-screen which was a bit disappointing. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the ride.

The game itself is amazing to look at. I looooooooooooooooooved exploring Hawaii. There are lots of fun sidequests. Dondoki Island was really addictive. Really enjoyed doing karaoke with everyone. Tbh I'm still playing the game in Premium Adventure where I'm just wondering around, doing some remaining sidequests just because I'm not ready to really say goodbye to it.

This game is definitely GOTY for me. Can't wait to replay. Normally, I play Yakuzea games with Japanese voice acting and English subs but I would like to replay it with English voice acting, simply so I can hear what they say during battle.

I could probably ramble on some more but I'll spare you all XD

I'm requesting ichiban kasuga with a dragon quest/final fantasy fangirl

･ ｡ﾟ☆ 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑.

[♡]ー ꒱・！CHARACTER！:: ICHIBAN KASUGA.

✧.* gender/pronouns ─ 'You' pronouns

✧.* prompt ─ Yandere Ichiban Kasuga with a gamer girl/ final fantasy girl.

✩.* note ─ The first thing I did this morning was make this request SO I’M SO SORRY IF ITS OFF TOPIC/ OR ITS NOT THE SAMS AS THE PROMT IM SO SOSO SORRY

✩.* TRIGGER WARNINGS ─ Unhealthy Mindset, Delusion, and Mild Violence

• You and Ichiban spend hours playing your favorite game together! Even though he has something to do in the morning, he still stays up and talks with you until your fingers are sore from holding the joystick too tight. He never stops listening to everything you have to say, in fact, likes it, he loves your sweet voice when you're talking passionately about your favorite game, to him it's very soothing to listen to!

• God forbid the day when you cosplay as one of your favorite characters, especially when they have a canon love interest. Let us take Tifa and Cloud as an example. When you told him that you were cosplaying as Tifa and you wanted him to cosplay as Cloud he said yes so quickly that he might have broken the barriers of sound. He wouldn't mind if you make the cosplay for him, heck he would even love you more for that (if it's even possible). So when you both are in your cosplay, Ichiban thinks that you are basically confessing that you are just too shy to admit it so you do these small gestures to give him a hint! Don't fret his dear lover, he'll be the one to say how much he loves you!

• Ichiban is Delusional and thinks that you wanting to spend time with him or even doing cosplay with him, is a sign that you love him! Also, don't worry about those creeps who ever cat calls you or harass you on your cosplay, he won't hesitate to give them a fair beating. But of course, he will do it afterward he doesn't want his cosplay, which you spend hours on, spilled with that bastard's blood.

• Ichiban is also Overprotective and Clingy, if he ever sees you talking to someone, may it be a friend or a random stranger asking for directions, Ichiban will see them as a threat. What happens if you guys happen to click? Then both of you guys hang out more? You will spend more time with them than him! Then you guys will bond over the same things you guys bond! You will forget him and they will be your girlfriend or boyfriend?! Absolutely not! So because of this line of thinking, he would immediately follow you around and wouldn't let anyone talk to you, scared that they might take you away from him.

• Because of him being Delusional, he would be very clingy. He would always follow you wherever you go, heck even random stargers might think that you guys are a couple. If you try to talk to him about it, he would only give you the most innocent puppy eyes and would gaslight you that you're just being paranoid for no reason.

• Ichiban would also talk to you about the newest game and ask you if you both want to play it and if you ever said yes, he would have the biggest grin on his face that afterward, his checks would hurt, but that doesn't matter if he even remembers your smile he'll go back to smiling again. New or not if you ever want to play a new game, he will immediately go to the nearest game store and buy it, he'll even wait there till morning just to have a copy of the game, everything is worth it when it comes to seeing your smile.

• Being a gamer means you spend a lot of time in the comforts of your home, so most of the time Ichiban will visit you and hog all of your attention, but if you spend too much attention on the game, he will forcefully drag you outside and let you breathe some of that good fresh air. yes, Ichiban likes video games, but he uses that excuse to be closer to you and maybe one day Ichiban will use video games as an excuse to see you, but to occasionally see you as his duty as your boyfriend. . .

[♡]ー ꒱・"Hey (Y/N)! I got the new game you wanted to try! Let's try it and see what's all the hype about!"

hiiii I would very much love to get into Yakuza but the sheer amount of games is very intimidating. Could you give a quick rundown of what is the "correct" order to play them? pretty please okay love you

Yeah, happy to!

I have two recommended entry points, and which one you pick may just come down to a matter of personal taste. We’ll get to those in a second. Either way, the series is good to do in chronological order, which is conveniently also in order of title number. It’s not necessary to do it this way, as most of the stories are separate, but you’ll get more out of them in chronological order.

Yakuza 0

Yakuza Kiwami

Yakuza Kiwami 2

Yakuza 3

Yakuza 4

Yakuza 5

Yakuza 6

Yakuza: Like a Dragon (7)

(Kiwami and Kiwami 2 are updated remakes of the first two games, which were originally on PS2, so you can basically treat them as 1 and 2) (There are also a few spin-off games you can get into if you decide you like the series)

As for those entry points, my two suggestions are:

-> Yakuza 0 - One of the best in the series and a very common starting point. It’s a prequel game that takes place before all the others. It was made between 5 and 6, but it works successfully as an entry point for new fans, too. A shining star of the team’s writing and storytelling.

-> Yakuza: Like a Dragon (lots of fans also call it Yakuza 7) - The latest release in the mainline series and also a big turning point. This game introduces Ichiban, the new lead protagonist after Kiryu, and along with him changes the battle style from a beat-em-up to turn-based. It has some allusions to previous game events and characters, but largely stands as a fresh start, easy for new fans to access. A very fun, emotional ride.

If you want to start at the beginning and really see what all the fuss is about with some big name characters, start at Y0. If you want a taste of how the series currently feels or you prefer turn-based combat, go for Y:LaD, then go back for the others.

Aside from that, I also really recommend the Judgment games! They’re made by the same studio and take place in the same world and timeline as the Yakuza games, with similar mechanics, humor, and storytelling. But they are separate stories - no need to play any Yakuza before them. They follow Yagami, disgraced lawyer turned private investigator, and dive into some dark mysteries. There are currently only two games, Judgment and its sequel, Lost Judgment.

My personal top 3 favorites are Y0, Y7/LaD, and Judgment, all three of which are great stories and approachable for fans new and old. Either one is a great place to jump in!

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

I’ve loved turn-based RPG’s for most of my life. I’ve loved Yakuza since 2018. I’ll admit I was a little apprehensive when Ryu ga Gotoku announced that the new Yakuza title would be an RPG. Yakuza’s combat is so fun and fluid and stylish, what will it be like to have turn-based combat out in the city streets? And there’s a new protagonist? I can understand how longtime fans would be turned away; this is a LOT of changes all at once. 

Like a Dragon could have been a major setback for the series, but instead it was a breath of fresh air. I love to see established franchises take risks and get weird with it. After 7 (SEVEN) mainline Yakuza games, all crime dramas starring Kiryu Kazuma and featuring real-time beat ‘em up combat, Yakuza: Like a Dragon would star a new protagonist in Ichiban Kasuga and a turn-based JRPG combat system. 

First of all, I LOVE Kiryu and Majima. They’re some of my favorite characters in video games. Kiryu is as strong as an ox and nearly as smart. He’s stoic and obtuse but has a heart of gold. He is the perfect straight man to play alongside both the melodrama of the main story and the batshittery of the side stories. He’s tired and vaguely annoyed, but he wants to help everyone - even the freaks and weirdos. He’s also an excellent foil for Goro Majima’s manic shenanigans. It’s a formula that worked, and there was no reason to change it up, but I’m glad they did. 

Years ago Persona 3 gave me what I never knew I wanted: a turn-based RPG set in the modern day. With Yakuza LAD, this happened again - this time, a modern day turn-based RPG with actual adults. I’ve never thought about it much, but nearly every RPG I’ve played has protagonists that are teens or young adults. It’s not inherently a bad thing, it’s just been so omnipresent that I became blind to it. 

With Like a Dragon, you have a protagonist and party members with some years behind them, and they have been through Some Shit. It all starts with new protagonist Ichiban, a kid who is rescued by the leader of a smalltime Yakuza boss and swears his allegiance to the family. This ends with him taking the fall for someone in the family and going to prison for 18 years. His loyalty is unwavering, and upon his release from prison he seeks out the boss of the family he serves and is promptly betrayed. 

I won’t spoil the details of the story here, but let it suffice to say that it’s full of the sort of melodramatic, over the top plot twists that the series is known for. It did not disappoint me one bit. Likewise, the side stories are made up of the weird, off-the-wall nonsense I’ve come to expect from the series. It also has the huge variety in minigames fans have come to expect: there’s karaoke, a business management sim, kart racing, and lots more. 

The charisma of Ichiban as the lead in this game cannot be overstated. He’s got Kiryu’s heart of gold, but that stoicism is replaced with hotheaded energy. This makes him a terrific anime protagonist, always rushing headfirst into danger with the best of intentions. The game does have its dark moments, and our happy-go-lucky protagonist does lose his way. The game handles this beautifully. Silly doesn’t have to be the opposite of serious always. And make no mistake, Like a Dragon is silly.

The entire premise feels like something that someone like...well, someone like me would have dreamed up on a late-night bender. Ichiban Kasuga is a huge fan of the Dragon Quest series. He loves that old Japanese RPG series so much that he sees the world in those terms. That’s a good enough reason to have turn-based combat in this game, right? It’s good enough for me. The game also has job classes like Chef, Barmaid, Musician, and uh, Homeless Guy. More about that last one in a moment. You change job classes by visiting the city’s talent agency. You can do RPG-style summons with your cell phone. It’s all the best kind of dumb.

My only real beef with the game is how it treats homelessness, which is inconsistent. Your first party member is a homeless man, and the game goes out of its way to treat the homeless as human beings and not as a punchline, or a scourge, or an embarrassment. Well, the game’s story does that. It does a wonderful job of it. The combat mechanics however, let your homeless guy call down pigeons, or breathe stinky breath onto an enemy, or pull out a hunk of cardboard and fall asleep on the spot. It’s just a weird clash with the rest of the game’s writing. 

It’s a small wart on an otherwise perfect package. The studio took a chance and got the best possible outcome. It reminds me of the old Super Mario RPG from the SNES days. This shouldn’t work, but it fucking does. I came late to the Yakuza series, 2017′s Yakuza 0 was my first brush with the series. Like a Dragon feels like it’s mine in a way the rest of the series doesn’t. The game is fun to play, it’s smart, it’s funny, it’s got drama and - most importantly - it has heart. Where Grand Theft Auto is smug and jaded, Yakuza feels earnest and genuine. Every character has a backstory, and I ended up loving this motley crew of weirdoes and castoffs. I can’t wait to play the next one. 

Yakuza like a dragon is SO good it is Such a well designed turn based rpg I'm kinda losing it

Now I get why some ppls reviews were like it made them fucking love video games again

It's got the enjoyment of Yakuza 0 with mini games with stories u find fun, side stories u enjoy getting lost in, so all ur non main story play time is enjoyable and decided by you, then you have even mini games now adding to ur personality which affects ur sidestories and jobs and therefore skills u can get which Makes My Goofing Off at minigames actually Valueable! Besides for my own fun I'm changing who Ichiban IS. (Which yakuza always played with, the implication the protagonist could be whoever u made him by your personal things you had him do or not do, but now that is literally reflected in the protagonist Ichibans traits which actually effect his sidestories and fighting system!! which is SO cool and reminds me of Persona even More which Yakuza games always danced lightly similarly too in the social slice of life sidestory aspect).

And your minigames you can bring party members, and no one ruin this for me if dating is eventually written bad lol I don't wanna know, but for NOW as I'm 20 hours in the bond system works the same with All party members and gives similar rewards to when you'd bond with hostesses/coworkers in prior games. You get your party members mini story as you deepen the bond, and get to make decisions. And the party system works WELL in this game because Ichiban isn't kiryu, ichiban is a warm friendly supportive guy and is the type to make a found family of his friends (something Saeko needed and appreciates, something nanba gravitated to him no doubt partly for, something adachi is warm to, something Eki values). With kiryu it would feel odd to get so buddy buddy and reliant with such a huge group, just cause he works alone or with maybe one other at a time. But ichiban is talkative, loud, social, and it's shown from his first scenes as he already has a close friend in yakuza. As he already sees his boss as a dad, his boss's kid as almost a brother. He's built to like being close to people he values, and so a party in his game feels natural and works well!

And the jobs system, how its introduced! How it's cause 3 of your characters are jobless and constantly going to Hello Work, how Saeko is trying to get extra work too, and so it feels like a very fitting in game reason to allow you to job switch. I loved FFVII when it came out, and in some respects I love the remake, and the remake did good at updating the combat and materia to be turn based and feel good. But ffvii remake tried to make a big long game with a thin plot it padded, and dungeons it expanded which didn't need that. Which gave you busy mindless work, and I hate when games waste my time by trying to pad with mindless stuff to make the run time longer. I would've preferred a shorter tighter game. And yakuza like a dragon is long, I can tell its gonna be huge ToT, but the world is small with no time padded dungeons (yet), the time I spend is doing all things I like and chose to. I'm never grinding through 10 hours of dungeon just cause they made a section long to make me fight that long (sorry ffvii remake but). I loved original ffvii but a lot of it was designed For its time, to be a perfectly great turn based rpg For Its Time - for its size it had great quests, minigames, fighting, and never felt time wasting or padding and always felt fun and like it was designed well to do what it planned. The remake had some good polished bits, but it also expanded to Try and not just update the combat, but also try to make itself into the modern huge world games with their long hours and I think a lot of those expansions (the time in the reactors for like 15 hours, the time by the orphanage) flopped for me because like. Ffvii wasn't designed for that. (The new changes sephiroth wise and even maybe jessie wise worked okay because the new remake game felt it always had that in mind, not like it was add on or padding primarily). Ffvii remake is a game that was designed perfectly well originally, transported to 2020s and with stuff tacked on to Try and make it feel modern. But instead of feeling well planned out like Nier Automata, it feels like it's got pointless bits like Dragon Age Inquisition (which I felt so frustrated with for wasting 80 hours of my life for what was actually a 20 hour story with lots of busy boring padding work and no real ending). I don't want boring padding tasks, I want story and elements designed to be part of the whole.

Yakuza like a dragon is designed so well. They combined the well Mashup of almost persona like slice of life side quest with typical yakuza angst crime drama movie like serious narrative on the other half (as usual) with its snappy combat to tie them together. A formula yakuza games have used for years, put together in possibly the smoothest version yet at that time. Then yakuza like a dragon takes the drastic shift of going turn based rpg instead of snappy action combat. But instead of a 1 to 1 replacement (which would've also been fun! And would still work well with ichiban!) the game actually decided to interweave the turn based job class combat system into how the sidestories work (effecting his bonds which affect combat, his traits which effect combat), into how the main story works (the party members of friends, the way ichiban sees things from his pov in a very help people/accomplish quests manner). This interweaving makes the whole game design feel So fucking good. So well thought out and balanced and natural. (In fact thinking back Nier Automata is the most recently made game that I played that felt this good as far as all game design elements coming together into a cohesive well planned whole that compliments - but its action rpg and I can't think of any other ps3 or later game that's turn based that felt this well planned out I'd played). This game is what a modern turn based rpg with job classes and skill levels can Feel Like. Yakuza Like A Dragon is the route modern turn based rpgs can work really well in the medium. (I haven't played persona 5 but I would assume similarly it complimented its combat and skills with its social link gameplay into a well designed whole, since usually persona is fairly good at that).

It just feels. So good to play. So much the Opposite of a chore. I never feel like I'm level grinding or doing anything I don't happily excitedly want to do. And just as I feared enemy level grinding might become necessary to level up enough to handle the next areas? The Part Time Hero quests opened up. Giving me incentive to go explore, to fight enemies for actual rewards, and any fear of annoying level grinding disappeared. Like yakuza 0, this game seems like I can do whatever the fuck I want, not even aiming for near 100% (I only finished 37% of yakuza 0 lol ToT) and just by exploring a little ill definitely be prepared enough to handle the main story. So any extra stuff I dig deep into is by my choice, and if I do wanna streamline through the main story I can just go do that whenever. (And like all yakuza it seems there's new game plus to go back in if I ever zoom thru and want to go enjoy certain parts I didn't explore yet).

Just. It feels so good. I'm happy to say at minimum it's as good as yakua 0 enjoyment wise. And gameplay/design wise I think it's the best modern turn based game I've seen post ps2 (I only play ps tho as I'm sure good switch and ds ones came out ToT). I'm really floored it's as thoroughly enjoyable a turn based game as it is. And it has so much customization! I think rpg fans who love specially changing job classes and crafting and building perfect parties would love the amount they can dig into the system, and at the same time for a person who like me enjoys exploring but doesn't plan too much I can still get by fine and enjoy myself without feeling I need to learn perfect planning.

I imagine it's going to at some point have some flaws that tend to make it into yakuza games just cause that tends to happen, qnd I'll see if it does. But as of now I'm very over the moon. And as long as the flaws aren't worse than yakuza 0 it's still going to be a fairly wonderful ride. I'd say if it has Any flaw so far, it's mainly that the cutscenes are so long! But I normally enjoy that in games lol (I like kingdom hearts after all) and yakuza games are prone to hour long opening and endings at times, 5-15 minute big scenes at times, so it's not any more than your usual yakuza game. It'd normally be a plus for me but my ability to focus has been shot lately and so I pause a lot to do multiple things, making the scenes way longer than intended for myself lol.

Tell me about your yakuza blorbos

OH GOD this is gonna take a while so sorry if this is late (I'm gonna be on mobile tackling this throughout the day)

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most)

Right now I think it's Ichiban..... Before playing LAD I would have 100% said Majima BC I mean he isn't the fan favourite for no reason but Ichibans character is so strongly written that in just 1 game he's won me over. I care him

However I can assign a blorbo to each game for extra opportunity for me to rant like a madman (I will put it under a read more at the end to save this posts length)

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped)

Ok for a series about grouchy old men this is the funniest question. I think haruka is the only choice here, mainly in 1/2

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)

SHINADA. For a guy that was a random protag shoved in at the end of the longest fucking game known to man he really grew on me. I still don't understand baseball though. He's just silly goofy and I hope he's having a good time with his new friends

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week)

Nishida 100%. I would say Date here but I think he's had too much screen time to class as a background character. When nishida left a note or was even mentioned in dead souls I was so eager to read it. A note. He wasn't even in the game. Yuya could also work here but again hes had some decent screentime.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave)

This is tricky.... I would not ascribe this character all the traits described in this heading but Majima. From Yakuza 5 in particular he's at his peak poor meow meow in 5 he needs to get in the pet carrier.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)

Akiyama. Look at his smug little face. Adachi can also fit into here because he's an asshole too but akiyama easily tops this one.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)

I fucking forgot his name the scary red suit bitch from 0.. NISHITANI IT TOOK ME LIKE 3 HOURS TO REMEMBER HIS NAME. solely because he fucking terrifies me he is the scariest Yakuza character hands down. also on the topic of 0 i hope Sagawa is in superhell

hiiiii i finally got the keep reading working so a full 12 hours after starting this draft i can finish it ^_^ My blorbo of each respective yakuza game is as follows:

Y0: Majima bc of course. Majima in 0 got me hooked on yakuza as a series and picking up 0 in a winter sale back in 2020 was the best oblivious decision i ever made. I just really like serious Majima and whenever that part of his personality shines through in the later games its just ough ough.

Y1: Haruka #girlboss. she does not behave like a realistic 7 year old but honestly shes just so no-nonsense in this game she is the lead we deserved. Its also really interesting seeing how yakuza 1 doesnt follow Kiryus story as much as it does Harukas, like shes the one looking for Yumi and she kicks off the plot.

Y2: KOYUKI....... i fucking loved the cabaret grand prix in kiwami 2 and both Yuki/Koyuki were hilarious to watch. That minigame could have honestly been a standalone game and i’d buy it the  storyline kept me hooked the entire time mainly bc Koyuki was so fun to be around. Honorable mention to Majima here because his scenes in kiwami 2 are the funniest hes ever been in this series.

Y3: Honestly all the fucking kids in this game could count as a collective blorbo but if i had to choose on specifically it’d be Taichi. He had such a fuckin personality and always stood out from the other kids you go you funky little wrestling fan.

Y4: Now going into this game i was thinking Akiyama was the smug little bastard id obsess over but hes too much of a dickhead in this game. My actual blorbo of Y4 is Saejima. The way they wrote his character is fucking amazing i still love rewatching that scene in the colluseum from him and the reunion with Sasai afterwards. Hes a gruff dude in touch with his emotions and thats the shit i like to see. We dont talk bout that one scene with Haruka though. Erased.

Y5: Now heres where Akiyama really became one of my big faves. Seeing him interact with Haruka and just go around trying to solve crimes was really nice to see. Honestly any time you want me to like a character just have them interact postively with Haruka its foolproof. Akiyama really is a fucking mess but hes so fun to watch ingame as well as his fighting style being by far one of my favourites in this series.

Y6: Ironic that the main character hasnt even gotten a blorbo mention until now. Yakuza 6 really fucking made me appreciate Kiryu, this dense man that we’ve watched go through 30 years of devastating life events and trauma. Not even going to mention the final few scenes of this game i have so much respect for him and im going to move on before i become a sad puddle on the floor for the next 3 hours.

Y7: Well its my current main blorbo. Ichiban. The way they made this man so fucking cheesy but so genuine is baffling. Hes the most endearing character ive encountered in the entire series and its amazing how fuckin quick i was to like him. We’ve had Kiryu as a protag for so fucking long Ichi had some massive shoes to fill but the game handles it so well and ough ough. He needs everyone to be nice to him RIGHT THIS SECOND.