Final evening, we lastly acquired a take a look at the following mainline recreation within the Yakuza sequence, Like a Dragon 8, and the announcement trailer instantly had people on-line racing to assemble memes poking enjoyable on the youthful new hairdo of the sequence’ longtime, stalwart protagonist, Kiryu Kazuma. Though it’s good to know that the grandpa-kuza is in a brand new Yakuza recreation, I couldn’t assist however ask out loud: Kiryu, child, why are you continue to right here? Haven’t we already stated our goodbyes?
Throughout the Yakuza studio’s RGG Summit 2022, Sega introduced three brand-spanking-new Yakuza video games: Like a Dragon 8; Like a Dragon: Ishin, a historic samurai spin-off of the sequence set in a fictionalized model of Kyoto within the 1860s; and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Identify, which can depict the occasions in Kiryu’s life between Yakuza 6: The Music of Life and Like a Dragon 8. Though we already knew that LaD8 recreation was coming, the announcement trailer confirmed that the sport would have twin protagonists in Ichiban Kasuga and Kiryu.
Having twin, and even a number of playable protagonists isn’t new to the Yakuza sequence. Yakuza 0, Yakuza 4, and Yakuza 5 all have you ever enjoying from the angle of characters not named Kiryu. Whereas I’m excited to see Kiryu’s moveset reimagined in Like a Dragon’s Dragon Quest-like turn-based fight, narratively, Kiryu’s return ignores the a number of narrative send-offs he’s already acquired all through the sequence and highlights how dog-shit Yakuza 6, a recreation marketed as his remaining journey, was.
Earlier than I get into spoilers, this must get aired out: Kiryu’s hair in Like a Dragon 8 is unhealthy. His barber let all of Japan down giving a 51-year-old man frosty-gray hair. Apart from sporting his finest Vergil from Satan Might Cry cosplay, I assume there’s a very simple reply to why he’s sporting this new, mid-life disaster look. You see, in Yakuza 6, Kiryu fights this dude named Joon-gi Han, a Korean dude sporting an analogous coiffure to the one which Kiryu is rocking in Yakuza 8’s announcement trailer. Joon-gi Han, it seems, is an id that’s been handed all the way down to folks all through the sequence, and Kiryu rocking the hair in Like a Dragon 8 may imply that he’s now taken on the moniker for himself. Let’s hope, nonetheless, that he’s simply taking vogue inspiration from him, maybe to disguise himself whereas performing some undercover work at Stardust, Kamuroucho’s host membership. Seeing as how Kiryu is mates with the fellows who run the cabaret, it wouldn’t be out of the query for him, a person infamous for awful disguises, to suppose this incognito look is fooling anybody.
Now, onto why it’s a bit irritating to see Like a Dragon’s hero Ichiban having to share the highlight with Kiryu in his subsequent journey.
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All through the mainline Yakuza sequence, Kiryu has acquired three send-offs. In Yakuza 5’s remaining scene, Kiryu is mendacity bloody within the streets within the arms of his adopted daughter, Haruka, after a hard-fought battle. The digital camera then pans up from his limp physique and greets you with a single phrase, “Fin.” For those who have been a participant within the west in 2012, that ending principally learn like developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s approach of claiming, “Yeah, Kiryu could be useless. Rip bozo.”
However it turned out that Kiryu’s potential demise was a fakeout. Dude’s as sturdy as a Nokia telephone, and 2016’s Yakuza 6: The Music of Life noticed his superb return. Nevertheless, the sport was marketed as Kiryu’s final journey, his true send-off. Sadly, that final journey’s ending was some bullshit.
Learn Extra: The Finish Of Yakuza 6 Is Some Bullshit
The fruits of Yakuza 6’s story sees Kiryu abandon Haruka and her “nonetheless acquired that new child scent” toddler, Haruto. In Kiryu’s thick cranium, he justified his leaving as a method to defend his household of orphans from being hounded because of his legal antics. Seeing Kiryu abandon these he beloved after I’d spent 60 hours combating to revive the household he’d made for himself felt wholly antithetical to his resolve to be with them in any respect prices, a defining attribute of his all through the sequence. For sure, Yakuza 6’s ending not solely marred the expertise of enjoying his would-be “remaining journey” but in addition made his characterization as much as that time really feel criminally mismanaged.
However nobody is ever actually gone, and 2021’s Yakuza: Like a Dragon noticed Kiryu’s grand return to the sequence as a super-strong aspect character that assists protag Ichiban Kasuga towards the top of the sport. In a chapter actually referred to as Passing the Torch, Kiryu, y’know, passes the torch to Ichiban on the finish of their macho-shirtless struggle. The struggle serves two functions, permitting Ichiban to blow off some steam earlier than doing one thing reckless and symbolizing Kiryu giving the JRPG-loving hero his stamp of approval because the sequence’ new protagonist. I assume that was a fucking lie.
For me, Kiryu returning as a twin protag in Yakuza 8 places a variety of strain on Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Identify to successfully stroll again Yakuza 6’s half-baked ending and easy over why the following three Yakuza video games are going to make the sequence “Oops! All Kiryu” for the following couple of years. Hopefully, Kiryu’s presence doesn’t lead to our notion of Ichiban affected by the Worf Impact going ahead.
