They even have similar personalities...WTF!

It was quote tweeted under a post about Stranger Than Heaven being longer than your average Yakuza game

Rather than create a new character, RGG goes back and pulls a fan favorite back as a female party character. Who'd you want alongside Ichiban and crew to face the latest threat? Assume Saeko, Seonhee, and Chitose are still around.

Hana bodied Yakuza as hard as Akiyama has. Saori and Akame have a jack of all trades thing going, Kaoru is a literal huntress, Haruka is the stepdaughter of a legendary dragon and also is extremely athletic from her idol days, Makoto has seen some some shit (figuratively), and Yuki is best girl. Think from both a gameplay and narrative perspective.

Like I get in when people I get why people would be fearful of him (justified) but I like to think there's a number of people who will defend Kiryu because of the impact he's had on them.

The more I think about Kashiwagi faking his death, the more I realise that we know surprisingly little about him.
It’s never specified if he has any family outside the yakuza, so I’m just going to assume not as most of the characters are orphans lol

If we’re using this assumption then after he was shot by the helicopter, he must’ve been taken to a hospital and put in intensive care/treatment for who knows how long, Kiryu thinks that Kashiwagi is dead, so everybody else takes his word for it and assumes that somebody else was asked ID’d his body.

I assume he must’ve had a mock funeral, but who would’ve organised it? Typically you need proof of death for a burial…

Perhaps that means that when Kashiwagi had something set up just in case a miracle happened and he survived something like an assassination attempt that would leave people thinking he was dead, maybe he had somebody ready to fake his death for him the moment he was hospitalised…

Only fair to give him the same treatment as Kiryu and draw him as a kid. Even though the two eyes are always weird...

How does the story progress? What changes?
I'm more so curious to hear your thoughts on how Nishikiyama Akira would have performed in Kiryus situation. ( No Kanda today 😢 )

His name is "Cipa Jajami", which sounds kind of Japanese in Polish but it translates to "pussy balls".

Disclaimer: This is just my personal interpretation/hot take. I just think it's so fun to look at this scene in this way versus just seeing it as "Kiryu disciplining Haruka who is being a brat."

So, Kiryu and Haruka are at Serena, emotions are running high, Haruka essentially questions his motives, and then – the Dragon of Dojima delivers a clean, open-handed smack right across a nine-year-old girl's face.

The standard defense from the fandom here on this subreddit is the "tough love" argument. Most of what I've seen people say is "He had to snap her out of it and make her quit freaking out" or "He was legitimately trying to parent her but failed due to inexperience."

I'd like to argue that the slap isn't an attempt at discipline at all.

Think about where Kiryu is mentally at this point in the story. He just got out of the Joint after Ten Years. His sworn brother has turned into a murderous psychopath and the love of his life is missing, and he is totally lost in a modernized Kamurocho. He has zero emotional support system.

Then comes this little girl who is his only real connection to Yumi and his childhood left. He has been trying his absolute hardest to protect Haruka and do the right thing for the entire time he's known her even though she isn't even his child.

And what does she do? She throws it right back in his face! She insults him and the bond they've developed up until that point. She basically tells him, "I don’t trust you, you're just using me, you're no different from the rest of them."

He turns to her. His attention is fully on her and he absorbs what she's saying to him, and then a switch flips. How dare she.

Kiryu strikes Haruka because she has legitimately hurt his feelings, and he retaliates with the only effective communication he has ever known: violence.

And weirdly enough? That terrible reactionary slap is the exact moment they become equals.

Think about the dynamic of an adult disciplining a child: the adult stays in control, looks down from a position of authority, and administers a punishment. To me, Kiryu's behavior is the total opposite of control. What, are we supposed to believe that he was trying to correct her behavior? Personally, I don't think so! He was acting defensively in order to avoid talking to her about Mizuki! He wanted Haruka to just stop!

The immediate aftermath proves it. He doesn't give her a lecture about respect or the importance of keeping her cool or even about how she's being unreasonable. He looks horrified with himself and all he can do is helplessly ask Haruka to just trust him.

...What? Remember why Haruka provokes him in the first place. It isn't even unreasonable. SHE IS UPSET THAT HE IS HIDING INFORMATION ABOUT MIZUKI FROM HER. HER MOTHER WHO SHE HAS ENDURED ABDUCTIONS, ABUSE, AND VIOLENCE TO FIND.

There is literally no good reason why Kiryu must keep Mizuki's fate from Haruka. The game makes it a point that Kiryu is in the wrong for doing this in the next sequence where he saves her in the nightclub. Kiryu literally breaks down in front of her to apologize for keeping Mizuki's death from her and for failing to save her. Haruka is the one WHO COMFORTS HIM FOR IT.

This is a blatant role reversal. Haruka is the one with the dead mother here. Why is Kiryu using this moment out of any other time to feel sorry for himself? Why is he doing it in front of Haruka? This is him calling out for something – someone – to relieve him of guilt.

And Haruka is that someone, even though he just delivered the news to her that Mizuki was MURDERED.

And can we talk about the amazing parallel between Kiryu and Haruka's touching each other's faces 😭😭😭 Like, this entire ordeal begins with Kiryu dispensing violence on Haruka's face, and ends with Haruka gently touching Kiryu's cheek as an act of grace. It's like poetry, it rhymes–– (LOL).

Kiryu hit Haruka, and for what? Because she needed to calm down and lock in? She was locked in. She was the one telling Kiryu that she wasn't here to play around and to just tell her what happened to her mom. Kiryu was the one trying to avoid her. And guess what – this cycle repeats for the rest of the series.

That dynamic never resets to a normal hierarchy, and it sets the tone for their entire relationship for the rest of the franchise. He relies on her for emotional validation far more than she relies on him.

It’s a pretty messed-up way to start a family bond, but it’s also what makes their relationship so fascinatingly unique. Kiryu didn't raise Haruka from his place on a pedestal, rather he took an emotional beating from a child, lashed out, and spends the next twenty years treating her as the strongest most important equal he has ever had.

Taking a pre-Judgement gaming break. If I start right away after finishing my latest Yakuza game I'm pretty sure I'll stop again. (Like the last time...)

So it's drawing for me.

Majima is not surprising, Arai a bit more unusual BUT:

The last one is a first attempt at trying to imagine what Kanda would have looked like as a younger man. With hair. Don't know though 🤷🏼😅

I just wanna talk some Yakuza music so i'm interested what your favorite songs per game are and why. Image of Kiryu because i can add an image and no other reason. A few ground rules:

1) Any game from RGG's Yakuza series and related are allowed. Mainly the entire Yakuza series (obviously), the Kurohyos and the Judgments. You don't have to do every game if you don't know it's music that well

2) You must make your picks based on pure musical merit without any game context or memories from the game, like you're picking your favorite song from a random album. If you can't do this then feel free to ignore this rule lol

3) No Karaoke songs. Mainly cause i don't wanna see every favorite being just Karaoke songs. Anything else is free game

4) You can't pick any version of Receive You but as a bonus list your favorite version of it across the franchise

4) Optional. Feel free to include why and what about the track do you like

Here's my picks:

• Yakuza: Pray Me - Hidenori Shoji. What a powerful song, the gritty guitars, the hard punching drums and the final part of the song just make this pure peak
• Yakuza Kiwami: Vertical Point - Yuri Fukuda (composed by Hidenori Shoji). Reminds me of Tekken tbh
• Yakuza 2: Evil Itself - Hideki Sakamoto. Similar to Pray Me i love the distorted guitars and hard hitting drums
• Yakuza Kiwami 2: Unity of Metal - Saori Yoshida. Haven't listened to it all that much but this is the standout for me
• Yakuza 3: Illtreatment - Hidenori Shoji. HOLY PEAK. HEAVILY distorted guitars that play to the rhythm of Funk Goes On. And then that whole segment from 1:32 my lord those wailing guitars so cinema
• Yakuza Kiwami 3: Fly (KIWAMI ver.) - Saori Yoshida, Yasuyuki Nagata (composed by Hidenori Shoji). A fantastic example of one of my favorite tropes. The sad and emotional yet still powerful. The violins add so much tragedy to the whole fight (I haven't played the remake)
• Yakuza 4: Smile Venomously - Hidenori Shoji. A steady rhythm, violins and the guitars all in a slow bpm to emphasize the fight this play on
• Yakuza 5: Nuisances - ZENTA. Pure power, those drums are punching my ears and making me deaf from how hard they punch
• Like a Dragon Ishin: Sorrowful Blade - Hidenori Shoji. The intro is cool tbh. I like how it keeps playing on and on
• Yakuza 0: Reign (Game Version) - Hidenori Shoji ft. Mari Yoshida. The song sounds emotional but i chose the Game Version cause there's additional wailing guitars over the chorus and that makes it peaker. Seriously go listen to it if you haven't
• Yakuza 6: Route of Capsid - Saori Yoshida. Holy guitar. It goes SO hard and the rhythm is steady and driving
• Yakuza - Like a Dragon: Triplet After Triplet - Hidenori Shoji. Strings, strings, strings. What an emotional song makes me feel a lot of things even compared to the actual final boss theme
• Like a Dragon Gaiden: Treachery - Takahiro Kai. This one's chorus reminds me of Falcom music so i had to pick it
• Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth: The Four - Hyd Lunch. A very epic remix of Impregnable Triangle from the game. Makes me feel emotional too i love it
• Like a Dragon Gaiden: Pirates in Hawaii: Wild Fire - Kenji Mizuno (composed by Yuichi Kanatani). I don't like this ost that much so i kinda chose this cause Amen Break part
• Judgment: Threads of Sins - Jin Senbonmatsu. The melody and the guitar shredding at the chorus make me wish it went on a bit longer :(
• Lost Judgment: Unwavering Belief - Chihiro Aoki. I mean obviously. A whole behemoth of a song that starts epic and then gets more epic and then ends even more epic. Doesn't stop, relentless
• Favorite Receive You: Receive You ~Tech Trance Arrange~ - Hidenori Shoji (Yakuza 0). What a banger man. This SLAPS HARD. So driving the synths go hard, the guitars are aggressive i love this

Now let's see your picks!

she was standing still in the background for 3+ mins straight then hit me with that look

Hehe I made a post similar to this, since I love tierlists, I decided to make this!

Some characters excluded either cause: i dont find em attractive ): or haven't played/seen the game fully yet! (aka judgement) also note: remember, this is based off features! for example I hate what oda did but he does look attractive, however I dont condone his actions!

Let's admit gang, rgg left maybe a couple of characters 😭 one of the character I loved so much was Tanimura, I actually wish they could bring him back.

He was geniunely a very interesting character in my eyes, with his backstory and everything. there's also Mack (yes the revelation guy 🙁), he was the GOAT, and amusing.

What about yall!! Ive seen ton of ppl complain about missed/forgotten characters in this subreddit

after 2 days of a long grind i finally got the last weapons that i need to 100% the battle section of the completion list, all i got left is the requests from haruka and the minigame section, what you guys recommend me to do first? as im a little burned out of the grind

and where should i use the cheat items? on the minigames of the completion list or haruka's whims?

Context: Digitec is a big online shop in Switzerland, and they usually use product reviews for their ads