#does mean something that he trusts majima to be that person (especially given I don’t think anyone else on earth would trust him with that) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

itsybitsylemonsqueezy · 4 years

Note

Hi! I happened to stumble across your analyses on both Majima and Saejima and boy am I blown away by them! You captured their personalities so well it’s awespiring. Is there a chance you’ll write a post about Kiryu as well? It’s just that originally I’ve had a hard time liking him as a character because of the numerous mistakes he has made across the series (and the fact that others don’t really address them for some reason). Despite that I’m a huge fan of kazumaji and that’s why I feel conflicted sometimes. Anyway, I would really like to hear your thoughts about it!

Awww, you’re very kind ^^; Thanks for asking for more c: So, the reason why I haven’t yet made a post about Kiryu is NOT due to my lack of feelings about him, it’s quite the opposite. I have essays worth of feelings about Kiryu and just... have not found the time to really give those feelings credit ^^; But, since you ask and you’re having a hard time with his character, let me at least start.

As a preamble, let me first say that there’s a difference between a character making a mistake and the writing making a mistake. This is not to say Kiryu never makes mistakes, far from it. I have a lot of feelings about Kiryu’s mistakes, they’re one of the reasons I love him, but a lot of the more egregious fuck ups are the writers making weak or poorly thought out choices. For example, like you point out, Kiryu makes mistakes and no one ever calls him out for it... that’s a writing flaw, not a problem with Kiryu.

(Please note that to give my best reading of Kiryu, I’m going to reference as many games as I have seen, which is through game 6. If you do not wish to be spoiled through at least game 5 (I never reference game 6 if I can help it), do not read further.)

Continuing with that example... I cannot tell you how simultaneously OVERJOYED and FURIOUS I am about game 3 when Mine, MINE YOSHITAKA, a character who was introduced that game and then never appears again, is the only person who criticizes Kiryu’s decisions when he has DEMONSTRABLY made bad ones! Like, Mine’s criticisms are ENTIRELY valid, but because they come out of his mouth it’s hard to say if the audience is meant to sympathize or not. Especially since Mine is sort of the antagonist of that game and he’s not really pitched as a sympathetic character. You have to really be willing to be critical of Kiryu to hear what Mine’s saying there and agree with him. The way the scene is played, you’re sort of supposed to still identify with Kiryu and insist that he’s never done anything wrong ever, even though he’s put all of his friends in a vulnerable position and IS arguably to blame for the state Daigo’s in now, as Mine points out.

And the writing is on some level aware that it is Kiryu’s fault or they wouldn’t have brought it up. They wouldn’t have had Mine say that if they didn’t see that problem. But the problem is they’re afraid of letting Kiryu be flawed. They’re afraid that if Kiryu’s wrong, even once, he won’t be The Good Guy anymore and the audience won’t like him anymore. This is weak and cowardly writing. Characters aren’t compelling because they’re never wrong, characters are compelling from what they do when they’re wrong. Any character who’s never wrong is unrealistic and, ultimately, boring. We all fuck up, we’re all only human. You ultimately will not identify with an infallible god because they would make choices you wouldn’t. I’m sure we can all think of characters who were pitched to us as infallible that, sooner or later, we ended up hating because of this very trait. So trying to pitch Kiryu as infallible is a ginormous mistake. But an understandable one, especially in a franchise that depends on the likability of its main character. But this means that they don’t trust their own writing, they don’t trust Kiryu’s inherent appeal and they fuck up the story around refusing to take risks. It’s one of the most heartbreaking writing decisions for me that those words come out of Mine’s mouth and not one of Kiryu’s friends.

Because it’s Kiryu’s friends who deserve to get to say that. It’s Kiryu’s friends, the people who are directly affected by his actions and the people who CARE about Kiryu, who have the right to criticize him. Not some fucking young blood with a chip on his shoulder. Having Mine say it makes the criticism look biased an illegitimate when it isn’t. I understand the writing impulse to not let us criticize Kiryu, but think how much more compelling it would be to show that Kiryu’s relationships are strong enough to handle criticism. That the trust and love is there for a friend to come to Kiryu with this and to force Kiryu to confront himself and listen rather than ignore the problems and insist that he’s never done anything wrong. But to make that call, to let us doubt Kiryu, you, as the writer, have to trust your story, you have to trust your character, and, worst of all, you have to trust your audience. Many many writers of popular media do not trust their audiences. They don’t trust that if they let you doubt, you’ll come with them and see where the story leads. They’re afraid you’ll lose interest and turn away. Many writers feel that they cannot take the risk of trusting their writing for fear of losing their base and therefore their income.

And, again, part of the issue is the aims of the story. At the end of the day, RGG is here to produce a fighting video game, that’s it. Wrapping that up in a compelling story makes it more sellable, but their primary focus isn’t the story itself. It’s getting you to buy a fighting video game. If the mechanics aren’t up to par, if they fights aren’t cool and interesting, the rest doesn’t matter. RGG came up with a story to link the games together and invested in making an interesting protag, but it was to sell the games. If the point of this story was the story, I think we’d be seeing different writing decisions and maybe some of these flaws could have been avoided. And I don’t actually mean to point this out as a criticism and say why aren’t they creating art for art’s sake? I mean it really as a grain of salt that I personally use to try not to hold the writing here up to the standard that I would a novel or something. That may not be useful perspective for anyone else, but it’s a thing I like to keep in mind.

So, part of what we see in Kiryu is that the writing fucking sucks. And it’s fair not to want to redeem Kiryu’s character or dig deeper into him when the writing hasn’t provided you with much. So no one feel bad if you’re not persuaded by my assessment, I’m not here to shame or convince anyone, I’m just offering my two cents.

And now alllll of that said... Let’s talk about my boy, Kiryu Kazuma.

I said earlier that characters are compelling based on how they react to mistakes, how they deal with them. Let me tell you, Kiryu is aware that he’s made mistakes. And he has regrets.

What I find compelling about Kiryu is that he tries so fucking hard to do the right thing, all the fucking time. What I find compelling about Kiryu is that he wants so much to make people happy, to make people proud of him. He is scared all the time of doing wrong by people and making himself untrustworthy, making himself scary. He has lost so much, he has lost everything and he still gets up every goddamn day and tries.

Does he fuck up? YES. ABSOLUTELY. ALL THE FUCKING TIME. But he gets up. Every. Fucking. Day. And tries. And you can’t buy that. You can’t ask for that. That’s just who he is, a guy who tries.

I don’t... have time to explain the depths of my love for Kiryu, but let’s take my favorite Kiryu, what I think the best characterization of Kiryu is in the entire fucking series: game 5. Game 5 Kiryu is my favorite fucking Kiryu, including 1, including Zero, bar fucking none. I fucking love game 5 Kiryu.

And Game 5 begins with a colossal mistake.

Before the game starts, Kiryu is convinced, either earnestly or nefariously, to leave his little family and specifically abandon AHEM release his daughter Haruka to someone else. This is the stupidest fucking thing Kiryu’s done since giving up the chairmanship. But he does it because he is told that he is a greater threat to his family WITH them than abandoning them. I want you to think about that. Kiryu loves his family so much he would sooner leave them than do them harm. I need to remind you that Kiryu has already destroyed and rebuilt his own life once already. He has repeatedly given up everything for his dream of having a family and for all his beautiful kids more than once. And he just loves his little Okinawa home so much, he can’t stand the idea that he would bring it harm, so he fucks off. This is categorically the wrong decision and any other reasonable adult would know this. I’m sure you yourself understand intuitively why a parent, no matter how dubious, can’t just leave a brood of underage children to fend for themselves in the world.

But here’s the thing: Kiryu’s made a number of dumbass decisions that have led him to this point in his life. He doesn’t have any adult, peer friends to counsel him about this. He’s deliberately estranged himself from Majima, from Date, from all the people who could have helped him out here and told him not to. And deep down Kiryu’s always been worried that he was unworthy of this. He’s always been afraid that he didn’t really deserve to be happy, deserve his little family of innocents. And the plot SURE AS FUCK has confirmed that for him, repeatedly putting the kids in danger and reminding him that you can never actually leave the yakuza. Kiryu knows he’s fucked up. He knows adopting his family was a mistake, but it was too late, what was he gonna do now? But here comes this little insidious voice confirming his worst fears, telling him he needs to go, and Kiryu listens. He has no one else to listen to and he’s been so beaten down by the plot by this point, he’s lost so fucking much now, that he doesn’t have the strength to believe in himself anymore. So he goes. Believing that he is doing the right thing.

And then, as it always does, the plot comes for him, telling Kiryu he needs to come help, telling Kiryu only he can fix it. And Kiryu, for the first time in his life, puts his foot down. He’s so fucking tired, he won’t fucking do it, not one more time. Because every time he gets his ass up to help, what happens? Someone else dies. Someone else dies and it’s Kiryu’s fault all over again, and it’s Nishiki all over again, and Kiryu can barely fucking live with himself for all the guilt that he feels. He starts to help and he just loses. Every fucking time. So this time, no, this time he won’t do it. He can’t do it anymore. He just wants... everyone to be okay. And he’s so sure that everyone would be better off without him.

If that’s a huge screaming red flag for anyone else IT SHOULD BE. Kiryu is in a depression spiral. He’s suicidal. He’s cut himself off from all his meaningful relationships, he’s not participating in his favorite hobbies, he’s alone and isolated in a new city where he doesn’t know anyone. He’s Not Doing Good. Game 5 is about finally, FINALLY confronting Kiryu’s demons, all the pent up unresolved guilt and turmoil that we never fucking addressed for 5 games running. (And if you’re hearing Bitter Resentment in the way the games have handled Kiryu’s emotional reactions OH BOY YOU BETCHA but that’s for another post.)

So Kiryu finally says no. He won’t fucking do it. But the plot comes for the fucking carotid. It’s Majima. It’s Majima. The only person Kiryu really, truly trusts. The person Kiryu was relying on to still be there, to be strong, to do the things Kiryu couldn’t. It’s Majima this time. And Kiryu loses his goddamn mind. That was the one thing you had left to take from him, his belief in Majima, and you took it. Kiryu nearly has a psychotic break at the news and decides, fine. Fine. I’ll go fix this, and then I can die. Then it’s over. Because there ain’t nothing left for him now.

And he does. Kiryu gets his ass down there, he solves the fucking problem, and then he does his level best to die there. Because it’s what he feels he deserves. He’s let down everyone. All those losses, all those people... they’re his fault. If he was really the hero, he could have saved them. If he was really a good person, these tragedies wouldn’t keep happening. It must be his fault. Fuck, even Majima died, even Majima... and he wasn’t even there, he couldn’t even have helped him, he just... He abandoned him. And Kiryu feels intensely that guilt and grief for his mistakes and his missed opportunities. And all he can think to do with that feeling... is die. It’s what Nishiki did before him. It’s what Kazama did before that. That’s what you do when you’ve fucked up and you don’t know how to fix it. You die. Then no one has to deal with you anymore.

But Haruka. His daughter. The best thing he ever did. She’s up there on stage and she loves him. She still loves him and wants him to be her dad. She’s been with him the whole time, she knows all about it. And she’s not scared. And she doesn’t think he’s bad. Maybe... maybe he can stay alive then. Maybe it’s okay if Haruka is still his daughter. And against all belief, he finds his way back to Haruka. He stays alive for her. He won’t repeat the mistakes of the past. And maybe... he can learn to do something different this time.

Kiryu... makes mistakes all the time. But he knows. And he feels so guilty. The writing doesn’t always do a great job of showing it. We don’t process Nishiki the way we should. We kill Rikiya for no reason. We forget that game 3 should have been TRIGGERING AS SHIT. And we awkwardly no homo out of Kiryu’s most important relationship while still insisting that it is Kiryu’s most important relationship. The writing is spotty and flawed and sometimes you can barely piece together a coherent narrative out of it.

But at its white burning core is a guy who just keeps trying. Who gets up the next day and tries again. Because he’s lost so much. Because he loves so much. Because he believes there is value in being nice to people and being a good person. And I love that.

#Kiryu Kazuma #Yakuza #I have a lot of feelings about Kiryu Kazuma #have some #major spoilers for game 5 #floweysky

47 notes · View notes

zendozebra · 6 years

Text

All the Time in the World Chapter 8

Can’t one day go by without something going wrong in Majima’s life? Apparently, just yesterday there was a villain attack on the students when they were supposed to be doing some sort of rescue training. Majima was supposed to be there helping out the other teachers, but he had promised Izuku that he’d go back to Bandō and look through some of his old stuff. The kid wanted to see some pictures of some of the original quirk users, and it had taken some time to find his old albums. Even then, he had to separate the ones that had himself, Akira, Jin and Aimi in them, seeing as that would probably raise a few questions that he didn’t want to answer. So, since he wasn’t around to help out, Aizawa got his ass handed to him, as did 13 apparently. What does this mean exactly?

It means that Izuku is a fucking idiot and broke his fucking bones again.

“Seriously, kid, if you keep doing this, your ma is gonna take you out of the school. I won’t be able to help you if she does, you know that, right?” The kid wilts under his gaze as Ashido starts to snicker at the boy’s plight. Majima pulls out a cigarette, hoping to catch a fucking break today, and lo and behold, his fucking, lighter is empty. Great, super, fantastic! He snatched the other lighter from Ashido’s hand, angrily lighting his ciga- What? He looked at the pink zebra-striped lighter in his hand, then back up at Ashido. He held up the lighter, “You wanna explain this to me, kid?”

At the very least, she had the good graces to look embarrassed. Izuku looked a bit confused too. “Please don’t tell the other teachers, Majima-sensei.” She said to him, growing a bit nervous, “I know that you can’t smoke on campus, but I don’t know if it’s against the rules to smoke at all.”

“Pretty sure it’s not? I really don’t care either way, your life not mine and all that, but just be careful. Don’t smoke too much.” He then looked over at the problem child. “You knew about this, boy?”

“She asked me not to tell anyone, sir.”

“Good, keep your promises. Trust is important.” He stood up from his desk, stretching his back. “I’m heading to the corner store across the way, gonna grab a snack. Want anything?”

“Ooh, gummy worms!” Ashido called out, while Izuku just shook his head.

Majima walked out into the hall, thankful that the rest of the students have left so he wouldn’t have to stop smoking. He made his way through the security door and out to the crosswalk. Is that Uraraka? He walked up next to his other student, greeting her while they waited for the signal to cross the street. “What’s up, kid? I’d figure you’d be halfway home at this point, what’s got ya stickin’ around school?”

“Oh, Majima-sensei. It’s nothing too important, I just had some questions for Yamada-sensei about the test on friday. Actually, can I ask you a few questions about monday’s lecture? I was hoping you could explain something to me before your test on thursday.” Man, he just can’t catch a break today, can he? Wait, he told them they’d have a test on thursday? Damnit, now he has to write up one of those! Oh, she wanted him to explain something, right? He can’t say no, Nezu has been on his case ever since he almost broke all those classified-information laws. He has to be on his best behavior, so fine.

“Alright, walk with me. I’m headin’ to the store for some stuff, you can keep me company.” She nodded, walking across the street with him and following him into the store.

“So, you told us that villains who act for pleasure or desire are easier to be swayed towards an act of career villainy, but only in situations where the paid actions would fit within their own goals.” Pretty sure that’s not how he worded, but whatever. They walked into the store, where Majima waved at the clerk, and then made his way towards the drinks section.

“Well, in a way. A good example would be the Hero Killer: Stain.” Uraraka shuddered a bit at the mention of that name, but the teacher pushed forward, “If he was contacted by a third party group who desired his assistance with, let’s say, capturing heroes, he might be persuaded to accept the offer, seeing as he himself has a similar goal. However, that union would be unstable due to their varying different end goal. The third party might want to keep the heroes alive for many reasons. Information, extortion, experimentation. Stain, however, only wishes to kill or maim them, and would likely act upon his desire despite the wishes of his employers.” Oh sweet, they had vanilla-flavored milk here? He hasn’t seen any of that in years. Grabbing a few of those sonsabitches. He moved away from the drinks and moved over to the snacks. “Anything else you wanna know?”

“What about trauma villains? Those who do not have a clear goal, but-”

“Trauma villains don’t act with a goal, but more with a lack of one, if that makes any sense.” Judging by the look on her face, he guessed it didn’t. He threw a bag of chips at her. “Hold these for me. Alright, think of it this way. You are training to be a hero. You wake up, you train, you go to sleep. Simple. All of your actions are pushing you towards an ultimate goal. Someone who has been traumatized to the extent of the Echoed Mind is no longer being motivated by a goal, but of some basic desire that has consumed them. He didn’t have any reason to cause the violence that he did, but he didn't know what else to do. He was empty, hollowed, and without purpose in life.”

There we go, there’s a look of something on her face. Majima grabbed the bag of gummy worms that Ashido wanted, as well as a small can of walnuts for Izuku. Might as well get the kid some protein for his strength training.

“So, if someone had found the Echoed Mind, and gave him some kid of a goal to work towards, like using his quirk to help amnesia patients, he might not have gone down the path of villainy?” Damnit, she’s going backwards. Hopeful thinking, but backwards.

“Not… Quite? It’s rather difficult to explain, especially when I’m not paying too much attention to the conversation. Plus, I’m not a doctor and I’m totally not certified to say anything for certain. However, it’s less of that, and more like damage control. The Echoed Mind had been traumatized since birth, and he might have been beyond emotional help, but there could have been a possibility that he could have at least been rendered non-violent. But I knew the Echoed Mind personally, and I can tell you that he was too far gone to be helped, especially in a world that hated quirks.”

Uraraka helped him carry his food over to the counter, where he paid for everything and left the store. She thanked him for his help and made her way to the station, while Majima headed back to the school. He opened the door to his office and- The hell was their problem? Izuku and Ashido were bright red in the face, well Ashido was a darker pink but same thing, and they both seemed super nervous about something. He was missing something, wasn’t he? Alright, time for a little test. He put his bags on his desk and threw Ashido her candy. Just before he sat down, he made a show of checking his pockets and saying, “Aw, damnit, I think I left my wallet at the store. Alright, hold on guys, I’ll be right back.” Alright, plan set. He’ll just wait outside in the hall for a few minutes and use time stop. He’ll be able to walk back into the room and catch an eye of whatever they were-

“Majima-sensei!”

-Aaaand, he lost his train of thought. He gave an annoyed huff, looking to his left and seeing Kendo walking up to him. Oh great, another student wanting to talk to him. Man, this is bullshit, he just wants to drink his fuckin’ milk. Waste of his time, dealing with stupid ass kids and their dumb questions.

Kendo gave him a strange look, “Are you okay, sensei? I just wanted to ask you a question about your-”

“Look, I probably shouldn’t have even given that lecture on monday, so any questions you have should probably go to the principal. Don’t want to get myself into any more trouble than I already have.”

“I… Just wanted to ask about your old friends.” Oh, shit, well. That changes things. He really shouldn’t talk about that. Not without writing down like, a script or something. The whole thing tends to make him uncomfortable, except if he mentions one of them in like, an anecdote or something. She was staring at him, waiting for him to answer. This is gonna be tough to say.

“Why do you want to hear about that, kid? They’re not important, just an old man talking about things that don’t matter anymore.” Man, he had to be how old now? Almost 300, yeah?

“It’s just that Ibara-san noticed that you always seem to be sad when you mention your old friends. Maybe we could help you out a little bit, sir?” Kendo’s a good kid, probably his favorite in 1-B. That class always seems to be lagging behind 1-A, and quite a few of them are pretty bummed out by it. Plus, the Sports Festival is next week, right? He should give these guys a little gift, something that he doesn’t give to 1-A.

“I, uh… I’ll tell you what. Remind me next week, I’ll tell your class some stories about some of my friends. Nothing about Jin, Akira, or Aimi, though. I’m not really… Ready, to talk to so many people about them. But there’s still quite a few stories that I have with guys like Ueno, or Arai. Play your cards right, and keep that Monoma guy at a safe distance from me, and I just might tell Class 1-B about some of the other original villains.” She nodded and made her way down the hall, leaving Majima alone in the hall.

Why was he out here again? It had something to do with time stop, right? He snapped his fingers, looking around for whatever. He sighed and walked back into his office, where- Oh, yeah, forgot about that. Well, Ashido is tracing the scars on Izuku’s hands, so he guesses there’s something going on there. He should mess with them. He sat down at his desk and opened a bag of chips, throwing a handful in his mouth as he propped his feet up on his desk. He snapped again and watched the two of them for a minute. Yeah, they’re definitely together. With an extra loud crunch his two students jumped out of their skin in surprise, both a complete stuttering mess while Majima laughed his ass off.

#Ashido Mina/Izuku Midoriya #Midoriya Izuku #Midoriya Inko #all might #all for one #one for all #oc #time stop #outsider pov #slow burn #izumina #mina ashido

5 notes · View notes

teaandgames · 5 years

Text

Yakuza 0 Review (2017/8)

Let me describe an average game session in Yakuza 0. I would walk down the street, beat up some thugs that looked at me funny, buy another piece of real estate, go bowling, get embroiled in a dark plot about the many bloodsoaked strings of the Yakuza families, go dancing, beat up some more thugs and repeat. Yakuza 0 has a lot going on - and I mean a lot. Everything that would be pushed away by a black screen transition in other games is given a detailed mini-game here.

Even a late-game car chase that took notes from Virtua Cop of all things. If we disassemble of all of this and lay it down, we can see that each piece is made to an impeccable standard. If Yakuza 0 exudes anything (and trust me, it exudes a lot of things) it’s polish. It is consistently a pleasant surprise throughout, which is one of the reasons why I found it difficult to put down. Cracks in the armour only really begin to appear when all of the pieces are put together. It struggles to connect both of its halves but the polish and the sheer idiosyncratic nature make it a near quintessential game.

If we strip away all of the side content, Yakuza 0 is essentially a brawler with a story that revolves around the criminal world of the Yakuza, Japan’s unique flavour of organised crime. Hitting things is a rather important part of that, followed closely by shooting things. Both of those kick off the plot, with one of our main protagonists, Kazuma Kiryu, beating on a civilian to get some loan money out of him, only for that same man to end up dead shortly afterwards. The man’s final resting place is a plot of land called ‘The Empty Lot’, which is a key piece in taking over Kamurocho’s real estate game.

Kiryu ends up on the run, falsely accused of murder, with a handful of Yakuza families after him. The plot is an interesting one, if a little tied up in the internal politics. You need a notebook just to keep track of all the families and subfamilies that come along. Still, seeing all of these different families play this insane game of chess all because of one member (currently in prison) is quite intriguing and Kiryu never quite gets away from it. Nor does the other protagonist, the handsome and secretly psychopathic Goro Majima. They’re caught between two worlds, crime and peace. Eventually the first wins out. Both of them end up relying on their fists to get them through the day.

There’s a lot of combat in Yakuza 0 seeing as random goons, Yakuza and teenagers (I guess) will attempt to beat on you just for walking down the street. The combat is done in fairly standard third person style. People will come from all sides and you’ve got the choice of light, heavy and grab attack. In contrary to a lot of third person games, however, Yakuza doesn’t lean on counters. Instead, it uses blocks, dodges and the ‘heat’ system. As you do damage, you build up heat that allows you to do special moves. This includes slamming an enemy into a wall, punching a rib or two and then smashing their head into it. These are brutal and fast enough that they don’t really get old, particularly as you can use them against the bosses.

Slamming a Yakuza Lieutenant’s head into a car door and then giving it a swift kick is great, especially when you fight the same boss for about the third time. Man does not give up. You’ve also got a decent number of fighting styles to switch between, which each offer something different. Majima, for example, can hit people with fists, with a bat or with pretty ineffectual breakdancing moves. Crucially, Yakuza knows how to make your punches feel powerful. While enemies do tend to rocket backwards a bit too much, Kiryu’s glorious backhand feels satisfying to unleash. It does suffer a little from the availability of health items though and the ability to use them at any time in a fight. It’s very good of the Yakuza to politely wait while you scoff down twelve balls of takoyaki.

Those fists of yours take you through a plot that starts great but begins to show some cracks by the end. While the aforementioned spider-web of families is fun, the game suffers from its position as a prequel. Majima, especially, suffers from an intense personality change in the final act to bring him in line with Yakuza Kiwami. It’s poorly foreshadowed and uses a romantic subplot that’s not convincing in any way. Kiryu fares a bit better but doesn’t get much growth until the end, with the rest of the plot being rugs pulled out from under our heroes. Interesting, yes, but otherwise underutilised. A shame, because I genuinely liked Goro Majima until his shift. A dangerous man whose progress up the Yakuza ranks is halted by his own morals. A good character, well voiced and then messed with.

Further cracks appear when the plot is slotted into the side content. These cracks are frustrating because each individual piece of side content is well done. Even the little side quests bring something new and fun to the table. Kiryu is dragged into acting as a film producer in one, for example. In another, he delivers pizza. Alongside this you have all of the sports mini-games, each of which would easily be an entire packaged game anywhere else. I found myself a bit too entertained by the pool game. And then, because we are dancing on the sketchy side of the law, you have the weird exploitative stuff. Like watching live action softcore porn. It’s kind of unsettling.

The thing is, all of this side content doesn’t really gel with the main tone of the story. The main plot is a railroad from tragedy to tragedy, first for our heroes and then for an innocent girl who’s dragged into the midst. The side content, however, is determinedly light hearted. Majima’s main side content is running a hostess club, for example, full of upbeat music and dress up games. It’s bizarre and ruins the sharp tension of the mad plot. Hell, Majima was heading off on his first ever assassination job and he still stopped to buy a man a new pair of sneakers before slamming three glasses of whiskey.

It’s not a damning problem but it makes Yakuza 0 hard to take seriously - which lets be honest, was already difficult. Some may say it’s not meant to be but then why is the main plot so po-faced? Hell, there’s a scene in there with a sledgehammer that made me cringe myself into a ball. With that on one hand, Kiryu ringing up phone girls and accidentally asking them if they’re really a man doesn’t really slot together to me. It’s one of those circumstances where I’m having fun but it’s in spite of something, not because of it. Playing pool is fun in Yakuza 0 but that’s because it’s pool, not because it’s Yakuza 0.

Still, the sheer amount of polish in all the different areas won me over in the end, not to mention just how unique the game is. All of the animations are wonderfully over the top and the combat is absolutely tip-top. Plus the side content is fairly optional. You upgrade your abilities with cash and the rest of the gear and other tidbits are not really necessary. Cash rapidly becomes a lot more available too, so you can just get on with the plot. Regardless of what you do though, Yakuza 0 is well put together, looks pretty and is well acted. While its balancing act doesn’t quite pay off, it’s an excellent peek behind the organised crime curtain, with a helping of nonsense dropped on top. Pros -Looks fantastic, especially the character faces -Plot has a lot of interesting notes to it -Combat is smooth and tasty. Blows had proper weight behind them -The heat moves are great to watch -The side content is well polished and fun -Well voice acted, with good localisation too Cons -The side content doesn’t gel well with the main plot -Some awkward character shifts at the end -Some of the side quests are kind of exploitative, for no real reason -Please just tell me what buildings are available to buy! Yakuza 0 Developer: Sega CS1 Publisher: Sega Release Date: March 12th 2015 (Japan), January 24th 2017 (WW PS4), August 1st 2018 (WW PC) Play it on: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows Played on: Windows

#Yakuza 0 #Yakuza #Kazama Kiryu #Goro Majima #gaming #Video games #Tea And Video Games #Sandbox #Review #Article #writing

0 notes

itsybitsylemonsqueezy · 4 years

Note

Tachibana/Kiryu/Majima is a good ship and ur right and u should say it and always bring it up!!!!!!!! Also like same abt the crying abt Tachibana like lord. I get emotional thinking about him holding Kiryus hand ffs

Soft boys are too sofffftttt. 💕💕💕

And, since you have so kindly encouraged me, it’s OT3 time bitchesssss.

I’ve got a lot of feels about Kiryu and Majima being fated lovers, don’t get me wrong. And canon sure as fuck does too. (I find it constantly hilarious that they Won’t Say It’s Gay and then put Majima in every spinoff and in EVERY spinoff he’s in love with Kiryu. And also what if people asked Kiryu he’s gay sometimes and he just doesn’t answer??? And what if we tanked every het romance option Kiryu could ever have??? Like... canon ain’t saying it’s gay but they ain’t saying it’s NOT gay and I’m just. Y’all are... so much.)

See, I love Kiryu/Tachibana and Kiryu/Majima, both are so Satisfying. But, if I was going to write post-Zero fic with Tachibana alive, I was gonna have to choose whether I just ignore Majima entirely and pretend That wasn’t happening or, somehow, code Majima’s relationship with Kiryu another way and... I didn’t really want to do that either. They could of course be platonic soulmates, but now I have to do relationship balancing and intimacy issues and asdkfhfkjdsahfkjsd blahhhh... rough times. I didn’t like either of these options, but I love my boy. So, what to do?

Well, the old favorite for solving love triangles is a threeway. So I began to think... Kiryu has very obvious reasons for being in love with both of them (His type is: horrifically-powerful, secretly-good human being who is Absolutely Batshit. Fight me.) And they both have reasons for loving him. And that’s when it struck me... they love him for the same reasons.

You see, Kiryu is an impossible thing. He is a miracle-worker. He is strong, sure, and kind. He takes a licking and keeps on ticking, so to speak. And, what’s most damning for both Tachibana and Majima, while a lot of their goodness must be hidden or disguised, Kiryu’s is entirely out in the open. He’s like a creature of light standing alone in the darkness and these two shadow creatures cannot help wanting to cling to him. He offers safety and protection, in different ways. He is incorruptible, he is impossible and that gets both of them.

Now here you may notice that it’s a relatively exclusive group of people who are head-over-heels, madly in love with Kiryu. It’s just those two. Oh, everyone likes Kiryu, but to really be in love with him like that, you have to be crazy. Because Kiryu is crazy. It’s harder to spot, he’s not as flamboyant as Majima or as terrifying as Tachibana. But anyone who would take on the entire Tojo Clan single-handedly, anyone who would Turn Down the chairmanship for no other reason than he didn’t want it, anyone who would run away to Okinawa and start an orphanage without any fear of reprisal, anyone who just Does What They Want regardless of consequence or risk... is crazy. That’s what seduces Majima and Tachibana, the kindred they all share, they are fucking WILD for it. And Kiryu, lowkey, is wild for them too. They’re all like that, screw the consequences, I do what I think is right regardless. They’re all SO FUCKING HARD for that shit, I can’t even explain. So you don’t fall in love with Kiryu for the normal reasons one falls in love. You only fall in love one way and it is soul-wrenching and everlasting. It breaks you. So lots of people like Kiryu, but you gotta be crazy to walk the path he’s on.

And then I thought... wait if that’s what they love about Kiryu... then they would love that about each other. Each of them is crazy enough to be a good person. Each of them has had a shit start in life, has lost much, has had to build themselves up and survive. And each of them is so fucking ready to marry the first good person they see... there’s absolutely no reason why they wouldn’t all marry each other.

So, it’s obvious with Kiryu that he’s a good person. It’s harder with Majima and perhaps hardest of all with Tachibana. So it would take some time getting to know each other and trusting each other, but god, if you could do it...

And here’s where my boy comes in. Because he is good at reading people. And, even better, once Tachibana has decided something, it will happen. If he got one look, just one good look, at Majima, just for a minute... fate sealed. Because Majima is good at misdirection, he’s an excellent magician. He can keep your attention in the left corner pocket while he’s dallying with the right side and you wouldn’t know the difference until you lost. But anyone trying that hard to keep everyone away, anyone trying that hard not to be mistaken for a good person, is hiding something. Tachibana would spot that a mile off. And, lord, if he saw him just LOOK at Kiryu, even once. Done for. No questions. Tachibana knows that look inside and out.

Would he be jealous? Tachibana isn’t really possessive by nature. A great deal of his wealth and resources are used to support those that don’t have enough. Never being covetous is one of his precautions against becoming a greedy tyrant and antithetical to his aims. Tachibana would be an irredeemable monster if not for the fact that he never loses sight of what money is and what it isn’t. His ideas about the value of money extends to other things. He doesn’t think of Kiryu as ‘his.’ He adores Kiryu, cherishes him, and would protect him from any threat. But, part of his promise and his love for Kiryu is embedded in Kiryu... being Kiryu. Kiryu has to be free to be himself. Tachibana knows he would love him less if Kiryu stopped being Kiryu. So it doesn’t hurt him to see that someone else is interested in Kiryu, or KIryu is interested in them, on the contrary... Someone else being interested in Kiryu means something fascinating.

Because, as I’ve said, you gotta be crazy to love Kiryu. If you love him, then you know what he is. Tachibana can’t share Kiryu with anyone else by the simple fact that no one else knows what he is. But someone else being interested... that means someone else sees it. No, quite to the contrary, Tachibana wouldn’t be jealous, he’d be overjoyed. If you adore Kiryu, you can’t want to own him, you just want to be close to him, be part of his life, help him. And Majima... adores.

Majima, though. Majima barely thinks of himself as a person right now, much less worthy of having wants, much less worthy of Kiryu. He does want, terribly, he loves so badly all that Kiryu is and does. But if he saw, if he thought Kiryu was already with someone else, Majima would back away without a word. He was never worthy in the first place. And all that matters is if Kiryu’s happy. No reason to interject himself. So he’d be tricky if he thought he was competing or interfering with something established because he feels no right to his own desires. But Tachibana can work fast to counteract that, especially if he’s already decided Majima is going to be a part of this, and he most certainly has.

And then there’s Kiryu too. Kiryu who is entirely ignorant of his own role and position in life, but who greatly looks up to people who are strong and do good in spite of great difficulty. Kiryu thinks Tachibana is a god to have come from so little and built up so much, to be so powerful and yet so kind. He’s blown away by what Tachibana is and does and hardly feels like he has anything to measure up. And Majima, well. At first, Majima is annoying, fierce, brash. He’s fun to fight, because he’s so fucking strong, and that’s a little bit intoxicating if he’s honest. The way he feels seen by Majima sometimes just... it itches under his skin, if he’s perfectly honest. Makes him want... things. But it’s the first time Kiryu sees Majima, the first time he realizes that Majima’s been lying all along, the first time he gets just a glance at that tender heart, that’s the nail in the coffin. Kiryu can’t let that go no matter what. Knowing that Majima is doing all this shit just to protect himself, which Kiryu has wrong, but knowing that beneath Majima is... unbearably sweet and kind, would burst Kiryu’s heart. And he’d never understand why someone so deserving would feel so unentitled. Out of his own sheer kindness, Kiryu would insist on being nice to Majima, insist on showing Majima he was worth something because it would break his heart to think of Majima’s nonexistent self-esteem.

So out of profound mutual experience and values, they could be unstoppable. If given half a chance, they could rule Kamurocho from both legal and illegal business. A trifecta of CEO, chairman, and hand of the king. They’re all fucking nuts and they all get off on the fact that each other is the softest, kindest, strongest fuck. Just... I need a Minute.

#OT3 essay #Tachibana/Kiryu/Majima #it's a GREAT ship and I'm sad every damn day that there isn't more content #I didn't invent this ship so it could be mine #It is a gift for everyone to share ^^;#narutomaki

19 notes · View notes