#kiryu is still so fucking strong

[lemonxdaisybby]

NSFW Headcanons: Kiryu, Akiyama, Saejima and Tanimura

Just finished replaying Y4 and got some inspo ✨

Kiryu:

A vanilla sweetheart. He doesn’t have a very high sex drive either, he’s just not massively bothered about sex?

Gentle, loving, wholesome man, even in the bedroom. It gets said so much, but his favourite position would probably be missionary. He would want to see your lovely face while fucking you.

This also gets said so much, but he really does appreciate shower sex. He would hold you up against the shower wall, face buried into the crook of your neck while the water just cascades down his back. His pace during shower sex would definitely be a lot more relaxed and slow, at least until he’s close to climax.

To be honest, his pace in general would probably be slower, but still passionate. He can go for ages too.

Wear pretty lingerie for him please, he would adore it. He’d think you look so, so pretty and it would be a definite way to get him turned on. He’d probably get flustered upon seeing you at first, and would respectfully go to look away cos he’s so embarrassed. You’d probably have to tease him a little, like ‘it’s for you, silly’ lmao.

Akiyama:

Popular opinion, maybe? Man is a switch. He’s got dominant personality traits, but also have you seen the way Hana bosses him about?

Almost anything goes when he’s bottom, but he likely wouldn’t be down for getting pegged.

Pull his hair, tie him up, blindfold him, gag him, even choke him! Although maybe don’t choke him too hard, he still has some limits.

He would love for you to tie his wrists to the bed frame, blindfold him, and then suck his dick. The groans and moans he would make from this would be heavenly.

In terms of being the dominant one, he’d probably be less rough. He wouldn’t be up for choking you, and likely wouldn’t pull your hair too much either, unless he was taking you from behind.

However, he would be down for tying you up, and also he’d be a sucker for gags. He’d love to see you with a ball gag in your mouth, it would drive him crazy. He’d probably grab your chin and tell you how pretty you look, all teasing and cute.

Would also be down for fucking in public, but only if he was certain you two wouldn’t get caught. He’s not so bothered about getting caught himself, but he wouldn’t want anyone else to see his s/o in that kind of situation.

Saejima:

More on the vanilla side, mainly due to spending so long locked away in prison. He’s not that experienced with kinks, and they’d probably confuse him a bit.

He would try to be so gentle the first few times with you. He’s pretty conscious of his size and would worry about hurting you. You’d have to reassure him that you’re not made of glass and can handle him going a bit harder.

Once he accepts he’s not going to break you, he would relax and go hard. He could probably go at a pretty brutal pace though, so prepare to have your brains fucked out.

He would be pretty quiet, other than some heavy breathing, and a few low groans here and there.

Likely prefers being on top. He’d possibly feel a bit too vulnerable bottoming, or maybe as though he isn’t partaking enough, and wouldn’t really know what to do with himself.

Man is strong, and would probably enjoy holding you up against the wall as he fucks you, with your legs wrapped around his hips.

Can get pretty flustered with both giving and receiving oral, and wouldn’t initiate either of these himself. You’d have to ask. Poor man would be so taken aback the first time you ask to suck his dick.

Not really into quickies, and prefers to take his sweet time.

If you were in to BDSM, he might be open to giving it a try, but it would be very soft, and nothing extreme. He’d be willing to tie you up if you asked, but you would literally have to tell him what to do. Once he sees you looking all pretty and tied up, he would get into it a bit more.

Do not ask this man to choke you. He’s not going to do it, and the idea would make him so uncomfortable.

Dirty talk would also be a no. Poor man would be so flustered, and would have no idea what to say!

Tanimura:

Probably obvious and a little cheesy, but please ask him to handcuff you. He would be so flustered and surprised at first, but would 100% be into it. Once he’s got you handcuffed, he’s gonna turn into the cocky bad cop, and would be a total tease.

However, he would usually be a bottom, and loves it when you ride him. Reverse cowgirl would be his particular favourite.

He would only ever really top if he was feeling frustrated or had a rough day at work. He’d probably come home and have you bent over the kitchen counter or table, slamming into you from behind. He wouldn’t necessarily be super rough, as he’s an absolute softy when it comes to his s/o, but his pace would definitely be quicker and rougher than usual, and his hands would be gripping you so tightly.

Appreciates a good quickie. He’s often really busy with work, so sometimes a quickie is all he has time for.

He would definitely appreciate being sent dirty texts or pictures while he’s at work. He’d be blushing so hard, but would have a little grin on his face. It would really make his day.

Probably down for public sex. You two would never get caught, but he can be a bit reckless, so no doubt there’s been a few occasions where you two have almost been caught fucking.

#yakuza 4 #ryu ga gotoku #yakuza 4 headcanons #yakuza 5 #saejima taiga #akiyama shun #kiryu kazuma #shun akiyama #taiga saejima #kazuma kiryu #masayoshi tanimura #tanimura masayoshi #yakuza headcanons

[squishylemonbubbles]

kiryu autism thoughts

because i say sooooo.

grew up with a lot of trouble figuring out and naming his feelings, and that came with people floundering and not being sure how to help. he learned aggression was a quick fix, unfortunately! compound that with toxic ideals like "boys never cry", which speaking of:

sure he was a boy, but it was hard feeling like one of the boys, you know? because of his problems understanding and following social rules, there were plenty of times he was cast out from bonding and games, and the girls usually wouldn't let him in on theirs either.

probably somewhat of a delinquent in school, not on purpose but see the above, no sense of emotional control that doesn't eventually involve beatdowns. relied on nishiki a fair bit to pull him away.

also probably either didn't finish, or finished with the bare minimum. never got along well with schoolwork, not that he's entirely clueless about how things work, but the structure failed him.

very strong sense of justice, which is what leads him to being self-sacrificial. again compounded by toxic ideals, that men are the ultimate protectors, it becomes a rule in his mind that he must help and he must let people use him (or otherwise put himself in trouble) if the cause is noble.

bad at reading people and their intentions, he tends to think "well, i wouldn't lie about something like that" and it doesn't always register that other people don't all share his thoughts. though, see above as well: even if he feels like someone's intentions are bad, sometimes he feels obligated to help just in case they aren't.

entirely too much eye contact, coupled with his resting face, intimidates people. he doesn't understand why. no seriously:

he does try to be expressive, but it's often either too subtle or too obviously forced. (tbh even in my fics, i do write him with expression but i picture most of them subtly which i find hard to convey sometimes lol)

he really zeroes in when he's focussed, to the point of forgetting about basic care, or the people and situation around him.

not overstimulated especially easily, but it hits really hard when he is - usually from lack of sleep or other self neglect. completely loses his speech, single mindedly just tries to get the fuck out. (one of the reasons i picture kiryu knows, and still occasionally uses, some JSL.)

prison giving him a lot of time to think and "improve himself" meant he sort of found ways to keep his feelings under control, and more importantly to figure them out and be open at least within himself, but externalising is still a massive struggle that takes time to get through, with ups and downs.

uhh i'm sure i could think of more to say but my brain's shot now so i'm leaving it here

#yakuza #rgg #kiryu kazuma #kiryu

[gay-dorito-dust]

Also to rephrase what i meant is wednesday x male reader who is like kiryu chan

I live for your energy my friend, I love being reminded of my love for the yakuza series (even the less favoured ones which I think was yakuza 3 I think…my man kiryu didn’t have much to do in that one other then fix peoples shit. Which shouldn’t be his job in the first place.) ichiban is my dumb baby boi, I love him so. He’s the epitome of ‘heart of gold, dumb of ass.’

You don’t have a sense of fashion, no need to worry cuz Wednesday doesn’t have much of one either but she could hold together an outfit for herself but for someone else, not so much. Which made you an eyesore for poor Enid who has to take away that faux gold suit away from you muttering, “no, just-no.”

Other then that, you were what some would consider the strong silent type who no one should fuck with unless they wanna be punched with a bin or even a vending machine. Your freakishly strong for a guy which was an advantage for Wednesday as it meant no one would bother her if her massive guard dog was nearby, staring them down with his resting bitch face. Spoiler: it’s just your face.

Your dream was to run an orphanage, so when parents weekend comes about, you go out of your way to take the younger students who’s parents were unfortunately not alive anymore out to Jericho for the day and buy them whatever they want until the weekend was over. You were the acting older brother figure for a majority of them that even after parents weekend they’d go out of their way to ask you for advice or go with them to Jericho.

Especially when Rave’n comes and they want your opinion but you direct their inquiries to Enid instead from the last time you were left with the responsibility of telling someone how they looked. Wednesday wouldn’t admit it but your tender side for children born from less fortunate beginnings did always warm her coal heart. While you may look like a man with no care, you held the biggest heart in your chest and would bare the weight of the sky if it meant seeing those kids smile.

You also have this random male student in a Leopard print blazer, an eyepatch and a metal baseball bat that is seemingly obsessed with you and would always be raring to fight you whilst hiding in the most estranged places ever…you once found him in your dorm, wearing Wednesday’s clothes and a really shitty wig put into pigtails…what a weird guy…he’s strong and quick you had to hand him that but you felt that you fight better alone.

You’re also quite protective over the people you hold dear; Wednesday, Enid, Thing, Ajax, Bianca,Kent, Divina, Xavier, Eugene, you swore you’d protect them all when the Hyde attacks started picking up. So whenever you found yourself in a situation where the hyped seems himself to be; the sleeves are up to your elbows and your blazer was already on the floor as you prepare to give the son of a bitch an ass beating he wouldn’t be forgetting anytime soon.

You also wondered why it was that Tyler conveniently got bad bruising on the exact places you punched the Hyde or how he’d often flinch whenever you brushed past him in the street. Wednesday knew and she found it funny to see Tyler scared to death of your inhuman strength. It was entertaining and she would often drag you to weathervane just to see Tyler hold his breath and bite his tongue in your presence.

Many also considered you a leader with your cool headedness and straightforward thinking but you never wanted to be one in the first place, it just didn’t feel right for you to take that position, no matter how many times you were offered it. It wasn’t apart of your plan to become a leader and it never will be.

You made yourself a legacy at Nevermore that many would remember even well after you’ve grown old but still able to pack a fucking punch.

Overall Wednesday was glad to have you as you respected her wishes and desires more so then others because you too wish to have days to yourself and you both knew that you’d always go back to each other when company is highly appreciated.

Also nobody tears up karaoke night like you do. It’s just me stating a well known fact.

#wednesday x male reader #wednesday addams fanfic #Wednesday Addams imagine #Wednesday Addams imagines #Wednesday Addams x male reader #Wednesday Addams fic #Wednesday fic #Wednesday fanfic #Wednesday imagines #Wednesday imagine

[dragon-business]

Majima versus Omi

Where Majima, once again, went on a self-sacrificial crusade to help someone he cares about. Yaaay.

But really, after talking about Tachibana siblings and discovering how close his and Kiryu’s experience and pain from that time are, Majima was quite disoriented. After all, Kiryu's already was a pretty integral part of his life and played a big role in Majima getting his freedom. And then this, too? Knowing they share this soul crushing experience they literally can’t share with anyone else? Ohboy, that’s a lot.

Sure, Majima made a lot of progress in getting his life back, and living for himself, even left yakuza and everything. But progress is not linear, and the sudden weight of care he doesn’t know what to do with made him backslide a bit. Made Majima go out on a stubborn limb and try protecting Kiryu (and all of his own men), by taking out the whole wave of Omi invasion all by himself. Sure, he pulled it off, but barely. Sadly, the hard hat can’t save from all the concussions.

And not to be that guy, but all the reservations about physical contact went out of the window when Kiryu rushed to hold Majima. And how he held him, uh oh.

Poor Majima, struggling to stay alert through the concussion and knowing there’s a wholeass woman there with them, really tried to apply the suave flirting game. This was very funny, they should've expanded on that, Majima probably rambled all the way Kaoru carried him to the hospital..

And we’re so here for that.

– Majima: you know what they say about hips!.. gotta have a good grasp on them! Kaoru, who has a figure if a solid stick:

- Majima be like: you're the nicest smelling woman I've met, very alluring And Kaoru: I've just spilled a beer on myself half an hour before, trying to eat grilled ribs as fast as I can to make it to the meeting with Kiryu in time Majima: mmmm… ribs……. I bet mine are fucked up hahahahh

– Majima, way later: and then I saw the boobs so beautiful I blacked out Kaoru: but you were talking all the way I was carrying you to the doctor's office? Majima: you were there???? Kaoru:

She really wanted to hit him, but he had enough. He's still not quite there fully, lots of painkillers for the ribs.

– Majima: if I die… you tell Kiryu (says something so embarrassing the nurse turns purple)

It needs to be something pathetic, desperate, and gay.

Like: “Nishida has the will, it's all legal, all yours, watch over the boys, I'll be watching you from the pits of hell and beyond, so you better not have that little scowl thing going on for me, you better be happy, yes. Also you should have more buttons on the shirt open, pls, I'll be watching, pop some open for me sometimes, that's my dying wish ._,”

He is sobbing a little and is ready to go on talking till he reaches his actual last words.

(if something happens to Majima, the people from his family are all getting settled too, ofc. everyone is covered)

Kaoru: I'm not saying all that. you ain't gonna die, get a grasp, bitch. Majima: fair. I would love to get a grasp of Kiryu before I die. Kaoru: of Kiryu's what? Majima, trying to make hand motions: of all of him… Kaoru: I think it's called a hug. Majima, tearing up: a hug…

– Majima will get a hell of a hospital visit later. Nishida would cry. Stoically, but obviously.

Oh, and in private he furiously asked him why. Why did he do this? And Majima answers, curtly and matter of fact: “Well. Kiryu is safe, ain’t he? And can do what he needs to do.” And this is. Really something. 

Nishida watched Majima go from “I won't sit near him at lunch” straight to doing the most extreme shit for Kiryu. “For Tojo clan” my ass, he already left that circus.

Nishida thinks that Kiryu believes in the boss's power to survive… too firmly. This is a strong callback to the pier. Kiryu is too caught up in Majima’s energy of being able to crawl back out of anything. If Kiryu really believed that Majima got hurt really badly in the fight with Omi, he wouldn’t’ve pushed him onto Kaoru.

And maybe with the new Tachibana context Majima decided that he needs to be the guy who Doesn’t Die on Kiryu. You know. But he kinda missed the part where he got caught in the exact situation Tachibana was in. Kiryu believed that Tachibana could handle this terrible thing on his own for a bit, and went to do other things, and it ended in tragedy.

Oh Kiryu holding the person dear to him, while they bleed out in his arms, because he was too late. Yumi, Kazama, Rina – this list keeps growing ever since Tachibana, isn’t it.

And now Kiryu is clearly not thinking through his blind faith in Majima’s survival rates. Do you think he’ll be angry when Nishida, who’s very upset now, will tell him that he’s not seeing things clearly? Angry at himself, obviously. And a little bit at Majima, for doing this. (It is a mess of feelings, huh)

Nishida really needs to say something though. Because Kiryu believing in the legendary strong and smart Majima-san, the best manager and untouchable fighter is straight up infantalistic behaviour.

Majima generally wants to help people. He’s very good at it. But his self destructive urges  get tangled in this too. He is also still repenting.

It can be a real hit for Kiryu – to realise that he was dragging Majima to the Mad Dog life without ever calling him that. Kiryu was doing to Majima what everyone did to him with the Dragon of Dojima expectations that are impossible to shake off because, well. Kiryu is also repenting.

So, for now, all Kiryu can do is come visit Majima in the hospital.

– before / navigation / next

#yakuza #kazumaji #goro majima #kiryu kazuma #kaoru sayama #kiwami 2 #this is canon now

[itsybitsylemonsqueezy]

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.

#This is very biased #Not objective #Yakuza writing

[todayisafridaynight]

Honestly Daigo's situation immediately after Y3 is so fucked. He's just watched his closest friend/love interest jump off a roof to his death, then Hamazaki stabs Kiryu and I can only assume Daigo had a scare there too when he heard (though not as bad as poor Haruka). And at what point does he hear about Kashiwagi? God no wonder he was desperate to at least save the clan in Y4 when he's just experienced the worst time of his life. (unless he's privy to both Mine and Kashiwagi’s survival ig but even then they're both probably like in a coma or at least extremely hospitalised at that point and that would be bad enough)

no but thats what i mean thats why i get so miffed when people give daigo a hard time for y4

like sure just cause someones Going Through It doesn't give a lot of warranty to muck about but y4 takes place hardly a year after y3: the dude hasnt even had a full year to process what the fucks happened on top of still wanting to make kiryu proud

to say man was probably under immense pressure and general duress, this was probably the lowest point for him. even that can be an insane understatement, so i cant blame him all too much for fumbling and tripping when no one even tries to help him and he's supposed to appear strong despite everyone around him constantly doubting him and being on the cusp of betraying him ☠️

#snap chats #its what makes his improvement all the more satisfying though like UGH i love daigo so much. i love his character growth #daigo defense squad thats me... never ending job its 24/7... #ignore the fact im late as hell to opening my inbox its One Of Those Days. Ignore The Other Fact its been One Of Those Days for months now

[kumeko]

A/N: For the Kamurocho Life Zine : Second Edition! I had to make a little dig on the side quests in Yakuza, and just how bad Kiryu’s luck is.  

…

…

…

…

Kiryu was honest to a fault. It was one of his better, if not only, good traits. He was incapable of telling lies, he showed his heart on his sleeve, and he was utterly incapable of resisting the urge to help others, however ridiculous the issue.

And that was the reason he had avoided Nishikiyama all week. It was the only way he could keep tonight a surprise—and he wanted, no, needed to do that. Kiryu had gone all out for tonight’s dinner: booked a table in the new millennium tower revolving restaurant, an expensive bottle of imported whisky, and he’d even gotten himself a suit that Nishikiyama would approve of. It was boring as fuck, sure, but supposedly stylish.

Today, Nishikiyama would finally eat his words and take back every insult he’d ever made on Kiryu’s sense of cool. Today, Kiryu had a plan and he would follow it. Today, there would be no mistakes.

He puffed his chest as he stood on the sidewalk, staring up at the tower. A digital clock read seven pm. It was time to get Nishikiyama from the taxi stand and start the magic. Kiryu spun on his heel—

“Shit. Shit. Shit.”

—and crashed into a younger man.

Today, Kiryu had forgotten just how bad his luck was.

The stranger stumbled back and Kiryu reflexively grabbed his wrist, stabilizing him. Whoever he was, he clearly worked for a living. His skin was rough and littered with cuts, though his strength was nothing to write home about. “Hey—”

“Sorry!” the man babbled immediately, his head down. Even though he couldn’t have been more than an inch shorter than Kiryu, he hunched over. It was like staring at a cowering rabbit. “Sorry.”

Now Kiryu felt bad. If there was one thing he couldn’t stomach, it was attacking the weak. He exhaled, releasing his irritation. “Don’t apologize.” Firmly, he grabbed the stranger’s shoulders and forced him to stand straight. Startled by the tears in the man’s eyes, Kiryu barked, “Don’t cry!”

“Huh?” The man touched his eyes and stared at his wet fingers. “Oh.” He flushed red with embarrassment. “That…Oh…”

“Aren’t you embarrassed at your age?” Kiryu grumbled, stepping back.

“R-right. Sorry.” The man rubbed his eyes, quietly cursing the entire time.

Kiryu should leave. Every fiber of his being told him to spin on his heel and leave. It was almost time to pick up Nishikiyama. He finally had things going his way. The man in front of him had to buck up.

The guy was still crying and Kiryu sighed. “What’s wrong?”

Teary-eyed, the man turned to him. “I…I was going to propose to my fiancée, but I forgot to reserve a table. And it’s booked.” He sank into himself. “She’ll be here any minute…I don’t know what to do.”

Kiryu flinched. He should have seen this coming. The universe had never been kind to him. Gritting his teeth, he grunted, “Pick another restaurant.”

“I can’t!” The man shook his head vigorously. For all of his cowering earlier, he finally stood straight and strong now. “This is where we first met! It’s important, it has to be here!”

“Pick another day?” Kiryu tried again, fighting his fate with all his might.

“But she’s already on her way! And I told everyone what I’ll do!” The man clenched his fist. “It has to be today.”

“Fuck.” Kiryu threw his head back and stared up at the tower. At the top, the restaurant’s lights shone like the sun in the night sky. “Well, nothing to it…” he mumbled. “Take my reservation.”

“Huh?” The man stepped back, surprised. “Seriously?”

“It’s under Kiryu.” He spit to the side. What he wouldn’t give for a random goon to fight right now. “Go before I change my mind.”

“Thank you!” Not recognizing Kiryu or the danger he represented, the man clasped both his hands around Kiryu’s and pumped it. “Thank you so much. I’ll never forget you. I’ll name my first-born child after you.”

Kiryu grimaced. “That’s a little…”

“Thank you so much!” The man took off, almost skipping his way into the building.

Well, that’s that. Kiryu sighed as he scratched his head. He’d have to find a new place to eat. That couldn’t be that hard; the city was full of restaurants. It was also full of couples and it was Christmas, the number two date night.

He stopped scratching. There was the possibility that he had just made a very big mistake.

-x-

After his fourth restaurant, Kiryu had to give in and admit defeat. The possibility was now a certainty—he had made a very big mistake. Every place was booked, whether it was a restaurant, a bar, or even a hotel room. Nishikiyama had mentioned it was a big date night before but Kiryu had never cared about it until now.

And now it was too late.

Shit.

Well, he still had the booze. The paper bag hooked around his wrist crinkled as he walked, the heavy weight reminding him that not all was lost. If they got takeout, they could still have a decent night in. It wouldn’t be as classy as he wanted, but it’d be something.

Besides, today could be a fun story lat—

An old man sighed.

Kiryu flinched before taking another step forward.

An old woman sighed.

He gritted his teeth and took another step.

The pair sighed in unison.

Giving up entirely, Kiryu spun on his heel. An elderly couple stood next to the street, staring at the bright lights above. Despite the festivities, they looked crestfallen. Of his many, many weaknesses, the elderly ranked very highly. An alarm in his gut told him this would go as badly as the man in front of the tower.

The couple looked at him balefully and he accepted his fate.

“What’s the matter?” Kiryu asked roughly.

The old woman started. She patted her cheek as she smiled. “Oh, dear. You’re a very kind boy. We were just…”

She trailed off purposefully. He knew he’d regret asking but he asked anyway. “Just?”

Her husband replied, fidgeting in the spot as his shoulders slumped. “It’s our fiftieth anniversary, you see.”

“Congratulations,” Kiryu replied flatly.

“Thanks, dear!” The woman smiled briefly. “We scrimped and saved for a nice night out—you don’t get many of those at our age. Unfortunately, it isn’t quite enough to cover the whole meal at this restaurant. We might need to skip drinks…”

“I’m sorry, honey.” Her husband wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her to his chest. “I know you were looking forward to it.”

The woman chuckled as she pulled away. “That’s fine, dear. It’s still a night out and we can still have fun.”

“Can’t you go somewhere cheaper?” Kiryu asked, knowing what the answer would be.

“We’ve already reserved a spot,” she replied softly, drawing her shawl tighter. “Besides, It’s a good restaurant. I’ve looked forward to this for months.”

Exactly as he expected. His sake felt heavy. Closing his eyes, he sighed. There went part two of his plan. “Here.” He held out the bag. “Take it.”

“Huh?” Her husband took the bag reflexively. “I…what….”

“Oh my!” The woman gasped as she peeked into the bag. Immediately, she held it out. “We can’t accept that, I’m sure you need it.”

“It’s fine.” Kiryu could just picture Nishiki’s disappointed stare. Before they could return the bottle, he jogged off. “Congrats!”

“Where are you going?” the woman called out.

“Thank you!” her husband shouted.

He resisted the urge to turn around, before they ended up taking his wallet along with his drinks. As it was, the night was ruined. There was no salvaging it now. Kiryu sighed as he headed to the taxi stand. At least this was the worst—

A young woman barrelled into his chest. She stumbled back and squeaked, “Sorry!”

At this point, he wasn’t surprised anymore. It wasn’t even worth the effort to be angry. “Watch where you’re running.”

“Right.” She bowed deeply, her long hair flopping forward and hiding her face. “I…” As she straightened, she cut herself off. Her face turned a beet red as she stared at his shirt. “Oh. Oh no.”

“What…” His jacket was pink. To be precise, a pink liquid stained his jacket, splattering across the dark surface like blood. Kiryu stared at it for a full minute before looking up at the woman. In her right hand was a small bottle of nail polish. Her fingers shook as she stared at it, then back at him.

“My-my nail polish must have…” she stuttered, trembling. Like a deer in the headlights, she stared at him. “That...I’m sorry.”

Between her and the man earlier, he was starting to feel like a bad guy. Did he honestly look that terrifying? Even with pink nail polish sliding down his shirt? “You were running around with open nail polish?”

“Y-yes.” She nodded. The bottle shook in her hands. “I’m working for a make-up—”

“Right.” Kiryu cut her off immediately. He’d lived in this town long enough to know just what would happen if he stayed and listened. She would have a request, he’d go do it, and while he didn’t mind most of the time, today was special. He’d already made enough mistakes today without adding ‘being late’ to the list. “Just…just go.”

The woman took a step forward before stopping. “Your jacket.”

“It’s fine.” He shooed her away, exhausted. “I need a new one anyway.”

She pursed her lips before nodding and sprinting away. Kiryu was tempted to do the same. There was ten minutes before Nishikiyama arrived. Just enough time to disappear—Kamurocho was good like that. But he’d never been a coward, and he wasn’t about to start now.

Kiryu stuffed his hands in his pockets as he slouched over to the stand. Maybe they could reuse the same taxi when Nishikiyama arrived. Make it a round trip. He could try this again on another date.

“You okay?”

A familiar voice broke through his thoughts and Kiryu looked up to find a middle-aged man in front of him. Not just any middle-aged man, but the chef that ran the sushi restaurant to his right. “Oh. It’s you.”

The chef snorted. “Don’t sound too excited there.”

“No, that’s…” Kiryu froze. A sushi restaurant. A decent one. This could work. Changing gears, he cleared his throat and asked, “Is your restaurant booked?”

“It’s—oh, a hot date?” The chef guffawed. “About time. I’ll give you the best seat in the house. Just come in.”

Kiryu’s jaw dropped. “Seriously?”

“Yeah.” The chef shrugged. “Just come on in when you’re ready.”

Kiryu slouched, relieved. His luck was finally turning around.

-x-

Nishikiyama stared at the man in front of him. There were many days where he wondered just what Kiryu did in his free time, and today was definitely one of them. The man in question was wearing a wrinkled dress shirt, his black jacket open and covered in a strange pink substance. His hair was a mess, as usual. There was absolutely nothing in front of him that looked like a man who was on a date.

He sighed, accepting it for now. “So? What happened?”

Because it was always something. They’d been together since they were kids, and Kiryu always stumbled into trouble whether it was on the playground or on Kamurocho’s streets. Kiryu rubbed his neck. “Sorry.”

“For what?” Nishikiyama asked, almost afraid of the answer. Kiryu had always been a terrible liar, even back when they were little. And he’d been a born troublemaker—an apology could mean anything from I took your beer to I have to leave the city because another clan is after my head.

“For…” Kiryu hesitated before giving in. “I screwed up our dinner plans.”

“Huh?” That wasn’t the answer he’d expected at all. He stared at Kiryu.

Kiryu explained grumpily, “It was supposed to be a nice date.”

Another odd sentence to hear from Kiryu. “A nice date.”

“I pulled out all the stops.” Kiryu hung his head shamefully, his ears red.

“Oh, I thought…” Nishikiyama studied Kiryu’s jacket—no wonder he’d thought it was odd. Even without the pink, the style actually suited him for once. Which meant that it wasn’t something Kiryu would buy for himself. Bursting into laughter, Nishikiyama relaxed. “So that’s why you were acting all weird.”

“Weird?” Kiryu growled. He looked like the grumpy, fat cats in the alleyways, down to the scars from losing a fight.

“Well, you were avoiding me all week,” Nishikiyama drawled teasingly. “Last time you did that, you’d pissed off every boss in the city.”

If there was one thing Nishikiyama hated about Kiryu, it was how much he kept to himself. For an honest man, he hid his issues, and Nishikiyama often didn’t learn that his partner was in danger until after the fact.

And as expected, the man didn’t recognize this side of him. Kiryu snorted. “It’s nothing that big. It’s just…”

“Just?” Nishikiyama prodded.

“I…gave up a reservation…and the sake…and the suit…” Put out, Kiryu clenched his jaw. If he were a cat, his ears would have flattened. “The sushi place will take us but it might have been better to reschedule.”

That was the one thing Nishikiyama refused to do. He threw his arm over Kiryu’s shoulders, drawing him closer in a half-hug. “This sounds like a long story and I don’t want to be sober for it.”

“Huh?” Kiryu stiffened slightly but didn’t pull away.

“Honestly, I don’t mind a date like this every now and then. Fancy stuff’s great, but humble, down-to-earth places have a certain charm.” Nishikiyama winked. “I think I prefer it.”

Kiryu gave him a dumbfounded look. Obviously, he had missed the metaphor entirely, taking things by face value as usual. “Are you sick?”

Nishikiyama sighed. He definitely had to be drunk if he was going to deal with this dense block-head all night. “Never mind that. Let’s just go.”

 Kiryu studied him one last time before nodding and stepping forward. “The next date will be better.”

And that, perhaps, was one of Kiryu’s greatest charms: his earnestness. Nishikiyama smiled. “I look forward to it.”

#yakuza #kiryu kazuma #akira nishikiyama #nishikiryu #nishikiyama x kiryu #fanfic #the side quests in this game are great #but there is something funny about pausing a major dramatic event #just so i can get the last trading card

[hrodvitnon]

More thoughts on anomaly Dagon and Ultras

Ultras are capable of bringign people back to life-it's kind of a Thing. Also, in at least one continuity, they have a non-interference clause unless absolutely necessary due to how strong they are-which could explain a lack of appearance in Abelraxasverse. (They're also probably trying to make sure certain villains don't get as far as they do, or are operating very far in the background.)

(I like to think this guy was actually just studying Earth and the Hollow Earth when they found Dagon dying from the MUTO parasire babied and panicked, trying to help him.

Perhaps Spacium (the element that Ultras use) mixes really oddly with the Hollow Earth's innate energy and Titan Biology, resulting in weird Soul Shenanigans. (It might be more interesting for Dagon's soul being brought back wholly to be a genuine accident resulting from the mixing of two similar-yet-very-different energies. The Spacium energy lingered in his bones long after he died-and when Kiryu was activated, it Resonated.)

(Regardless of how he came back, however, Dagon still deeply appreciates that someone was there with him in his final moments. And even though their initial attempts to help didn't work the way they probably expected, it measn that Dagon is able to know his son and his grandchildren.)

---

I said I had thoughts earlier, and here they are.

Reminder that reincarnation is a part of the AbraxasVerse; Mothra constantly dies and is reborn, and Serizawa is reincarnated as Manda, only the difference is that Mothra retains her past life's memories while Manda (and everyone else) does not. When you die, your soul is brought in by an entity called the Mother Dark, who helps ease the soul into their current situation since they probably still cling to the memory of their material body, comforts them, and eventually these souls are "breathed" into a new material body to live a new life, having at some point forgotten the memories their past life (though some might linger as dreams). Let's say that the Mother Dark is the AbraxasVerse equivalent of Sophia in Gnosticism, who is responsible for why humans (and in this case Titans) have souls. (Bagan might be the Demiurge equivalent, like Deus in Xenogears.)

What the Ultra does for Dagon might be similar to what San did for Vivienne, albeit for different reasons, which is to say yank them out of the natural cycle before the Mother Dark can have them – which now gives me the funny mental image of the Mother Dark getting ready to greet Dagon only to see the Ultra futzing with his soul and She's like "yo, what the fuck?" She's not exactly pleased at this interruption in the process but might be willing to hear out the Ultra if only because he was there for Dagon. (She can't really do anything when Vivienne is being revived and transformed because, well, the Mother Dark doesn't exist in our physical space and Vivienne wasn't dead long enough for her soul to leave her body.)

So what I'm thinking, since the Ultras are apparently so powerful and can bring people back to life outside the reincarnation cycle (with an OK by the Mother Dark), is that maybe the Ultras are "emanations" like the Mother Dark; just as Sophia and her fellow Aeons are emanations of the Monad, also known as the Absolute, and source of the Pleroma and its divine light (Pleroma being sort of like Nirvana). This might, to me at least, explain why an AbraxasVerse Ultra would be able to do stuff like this.

#submission #abraxasverse

[stupid-sloot-headcanons]

I'm not sure if you ever gave a review and no pressure at all but how did you like Infinite Wealth? I am almost done with it and I am curious what you think of it after so so much hype. I have largely enjoyed it though there are some things I have not loved

SPOILERS for those reading this

Bryce was such a lame villain even if I usually like cult villains but with so many villains it felt really crowded. I want to like Ebina and I like him more than Bryce but his twist felt lame especially given what we knew about Arakawa. I LOVE Yamai but it all felt so crowded.

But overall I love the game play and the characters and I have cried multiple times. But yeah, I miss really good villains like Aoki. Also I developed a really strong soft spot toward Sawashiro in the game

Yeah, the villains were easily the weakest part of the game. Tbh it was kind of a mixed bag for me overall lol. Especially since Gaiden was so fucking good and Y8 manages to cock up a lot of the best story parts of Gaiden. Hanawa getting killed off so unceremoniously after all the buildup and characterization he had was unsatisfying as fuck.

I also think Bryce would have worked better in the Japanese version by having his English lines be spoken by the dub voice actor because holy fuck, any characterization and actual intimidation flies out the window when you hear this white American fella speaking lines by a seiyuu who is NOT pulling off the English voice lines.

Joon-gi was basically stapled onto the story at the very end and it sucks since I really liked his character (the real Joon-gi in 6 and the agent in 7). He also got nerfed in terms of skills but considering how busted Kiryu is it kinda evens out.

Also regarding the Memories of Kamurocho, RGG TEAM IS RYUJI ALIVE OR NOT, HOW ARE YOU STILL TEASING THIS MOTHERFUCKER BEING ALIVE AND NOT DOING ANYTHING WITH IT

The gameplay is easily the biggest improvement and my favorite class was Kunoichi! It was also awesome to have Seonghee as a party member and getting to know more about her. Also I still think Saeko/Seonghee is a better ship than Ichiban/Saeko but I don't take shipping bullshit that seriously lol

The final boss was just a damage sponge, but the soundtrack was fucking great. Though I don't know why Saejima, Majima, and Daigo even show up when all they do is help in one mob of basic enemies and do nothing in the final fight. Ebina already sucks as a character but having the three of them come in during stages of the fight as strikers or assists would have been better so they actually like. Contributed as opposed to just standing there

Yamai is the best new character and the fact they end the story with him back in Japan makes me hopeful that he'll come back in future games. Though I'm a little worried he'll suffer from the same problem as Ichiban who...Look, Ichiban is a great character, but after LAD and his personal arc, IW would up with him being very static and I'm a little worried about his staying power as a protagonist. If each game just has him trusting everyone, staying optimistic af and never straying from that it'll get a bit old yk? Also I personally feel like end of 7!Ichiban would forgive Eiji as quickly and easily as he does in 8, he should have struggled with it at least a little. The dude threw a child down a flight of stairs, tied to a wheelchair for fuck's sake. He almost felt like a parody of himself in some spots, and that vibe carried through a lot of 8 for me in a way that I really didn't like.

As for the story, I feel like Yokoyama needs someone on staff to wrangle him the way Hideo Kojima does. 5 and 8 both have plots that kinda go off the rails and are messes regarding pacing.

Kiryu has a great sendoff and as someone who's had family members pass away from cancer, seeing him at the end in the wheelchair looking so frail was heartbreaking. But the fact he finally has his family back and is with Haruka again makes me so happy. He deserves to rest. Like in Gaiden, you see just how much it hurt him to be separated from them--I was bawling when he broke down seeing the kids at his grave and saw Haruto's drawing. And 8 kiiiinda lessens the impact of that plot point since he gets to see some of the kids in the end, but I am happy and satisfied with him reuniting with Haruka. The fact it was at the last second of the game and the actual reunion happened offscreen was kind of a letdown but still. Good end for Kiryu.

So if I had to TL:DR, Infinite Wealth is a delicious brownie in the parts where it's actually baked properly. A lot of spots are undercooked as fuck though, but it's still quite good.

#iw spoilers #sloot bitches about things #.yakuza #.like a dragon #.infinite wealth #sloot's essays

[skrunksthatwunk]

OK finished ylad chapter 12 here's some spoiler ass thoughts

so basically a couple weeks ago I went into the saejima/majima fight underleveled, got my ass beat, ground out like 15 levels, and today I returned and SWEPT that shit. wonderful time i was super happy to see the tag team saemaji super spin or whatever they called it :)

majima's body language is super weird in this game he's just shrugging Like That all the time and instead of manspreading he gave us this gay little crossed leg thing which is cool and hey majima what did you mean by this

????????? babygirl WHAT 😳😳😳

anyway

no but shortly after when they're like prepping to fight alongside majima, saejima, arakawa, and tendo and the disbandment meeting ichiban's like >:D omg!! I'm fighting with the legends!!! and nanba was like "now is NOT the time to get a hard on" sorry i forgor to screenshot that one. like cut it out guys!! why is this chapter so SUS it's almost like gay people

SPEAKING OF WHICH THE KIRYU REVEAL WAS SO. OH MY GOD YO

like i knew he was in this game but if i didn't that wouldve made me lose my shit. i kinda lost my shit anyway. i missed him 🥺 and daigo's jaw being on the floor oh my god poor thing can you imagine. that's his PAPA oh my godd

meanwhile majima and saejima were BOTH like "lol finally. was wonderin when ya'd show back up again" ???? so he's still bad at going into hiding and/or everyone thinks he's too strong to kick it. love him dearly my sweet dense boy

too bad that fight was so easy though bc like,, ichiban hyped it up as being crazy tough like he can't move anymore and he called it legendary like babe it took me like. 5 moves max. calm down. they couldve at least used the classic rgg trick or just putting more guys in there to make it "tougher" (read: longer) if they really wanted that impression. idk but it was silly so who cares

aaaaand then arakawa dies which i also accidentally spoiled for myself oops poor ichiban oh noo :((

he's fucking WILTING somebody help him :((

anyway it's cool cuz he still loves his friends and whatever. I'm having a blast this game is good <3

#rgg #ryu ga gotoku #yakuza #yakuza like a dragon #like a dragon #ylad

[dirt-str1der]

STOP STOP IT , I KNOW SAEJIMA CAN ENTER MANHOLES IT DOESNT HAVE TO BE HIS WHOLE GIMMICK

#Yakuza liveblog #I HAD TO PAUSE THE VIDEO THIS IS TOO FUCKING FUNNY ....?? #Majimas demonfire rain is still the coolest summon #Kiryu is so soo so so so classic kiryu and hes awesome but majimas is the best #i do appreciate that kiryu is really good at fighting and majima can randomly conjure lightnings and daggers from hammerspace #and saejima is so strong that when he performs a spin attack he creates an actual tornado

[pinkarachnia]

Lesbian Anime Review #5 - Birdie Wing Girls Golf Story

This is one of my favourite anime I've ever seen. Pull up a chair. Pour yourself a drink. I'd like to talk to you about golf and the girls who play it.

I will try not to spoil anything serious about the plot in this review, but honestly there isn’t a lot I could spoil. The 13 episode first season doesn’t finish the whole story. Still, there’s some plot in there.

The story centres around a golf prodigy named Evangeline. She’s just called Eve for the whole show basically so that’s what I’ll use here. Eve is the best protagonist a yuri anime could ever hope for. She’s Kazuma Kiryu but in a girl golfer’s body. She only cares about competing with strong opponents. Women love her. She has golfing abilities that give coloured auras to her shots. She announces the name of her techniques when she does a golf swing. Her ability is driven by her colossal strength.

The title of this video is dripping with cringe, but indulge me for a moment.

So Eve starts her story golfing for money. She’s 15 I think? I’m only basing that on the fact that she enters an under 15s competition at some point, but she’s illegally entered into that competition by the mafia, so I don’t think that’s confirmed. She does not go to school. Instead she’s using her golf abilities to win bets and underground golf games run by organised crime groups to make money to protect her adoptive family, a group of illegal immigrants. Her caretaker is an ex sex worker who can’t help but take in children. So Eve is out there golfing to support them and the orphans they’re taking care of. Just like Kiryu.

To Eve, golf is just hitting a ball with a stick and she’s fantastic at it. That is, until she encounters Aoi Amawashi, another golf prodigy who is visiting Eve’s country (I don’t know where she lives) from Japan for an under 15s girls golf competition.

Eve and Aoi witness each other’s golfing and they’re mutually captivated by each other. Aoi has been waiting for someone good enough to be her rival, and Eve is compelled to find stronger opponents so she can improve. It’s also overtly romantic on Aoi's part. Eve is seemingly oblivious to the effect she has on Aoi (just like Kiryu) but by the end of the season I think she knows exactly what she’s doing. From that point on, Eve has to take on stronger and stronger golfers, each with their own special techniques.

I don't think the Kiryu comparisons I’ve been making here are coincidental either. At one point, Eve has to golf representing one of two mafia factions who are vying for control over an area of land in her city and wager the land on her victory. This part of the show seems to draw inspiration from the plot of Yakuza 0, which revolves around organised crime families vying for control over an area of land in a city. Clearly there are some RGG fans in the writing room.

The show is paced like a shounen battle anime. Every few episodes involves a challenge being issued, and Eve golfing against someone with a new ability that pushes her to grow stronger. There are tournament arcs, as I alluded to earlier. They have mysterious golfing mentor characters who largely stay in the shadows and may be more relevant later in the plot.

Eve’s outfits are fucking great. This girl gets fashion. I love her colour palette and I love how she’ll just wear whatever to play golf while the milquetoast competition in their golf uniforms look upon her inhuman skill in horror.

Light spoilers for episode 13 and romance content in the small text below:

They go further with the romance than I was expecting! There’s a great bit in episode 13 where Eve lovingly tells Aoi, “I like that part about you”, in reference to her drive to win a tournament, and kisses her on the cheek. She acts like she just did that because she’s a foreigner and that’s normal to her, but it’s pretty clear that she knows what she’s doing. That’s not the only thing, but consider me impressed! They could have just been Naruto and Sasuke but they went further.

Also, I think the ending theme is nice. The art for it is really pretty and I like the song. Most importantly, there’s a bit where they show a few birds in sequence, and it’s in reference to the golf terms, Birdie, Eagle and Albatross.

Last thing I’ll note as a positive before I move on to my criticisms, but there are some very hot women in this show. Shoutout to Rose, who is a mafia woman. Her suits. I want to look like that. I WILL look like that. As you may know if you've read my other reviews, I don’t care for shows about teenagers. In this show it basically doesn’t matter, but at least it explains why Eve is a relatively unknown golfer despite her abilities and why Aoi can’t just stay overseas to golf with Eve forever. She has to go home and go to school. Whatever. I think I've started to get desensitised to this stuff by now. When I started watching these shows it had been a while since I'd been into any seasonal anime, but at this point I've come to accept that most shows are about teens and getting adults is just a bonus. "Par for the course" if you will.

My only real complaint is that I think the opening theme song is annoying. It’s called Venus Line, but it really sounds like they’re saying "penis" when they say it. It’s a shame because I think the animation is really fun. They did every anime opening trope, but in a way that feels a bit self aware. I’d love it if the song was better.

I’ve had people tell me that the best yuri is actually in the shounen genre, and after watching some yuri and shounen in the last year, I understand their sentiments. This show seems to have taken that idea and run with it, and it’s so much better for it. Gay women should get tournament arcs.

Episode 13 ends with what might be my favourite way to conclude any show that obviously doesn't tell the complete story: they have a “next time on birdie wing” section like another episode is coming in a week. The second season airs in January.

Pros

Sports

Yes it’s really yuri

Like a Dragon

Did you watch the video with the cringe title? That shit rules

Second season confirmed

Cons

Teens again I guess

Opening theme song is annoying

And I’m giving this one my first ever 10/10

#lesbian anime review

[eurofox]

Yakuza 0 review

I’ve finally finished all the Kiryu games and I wanna talk about them.

Loads of spoilers though to follow.

Anyway I figured a prequel would be a good place to start and I definitely feel I made the right choice. I did miss out on references, like little Daigo for example, but that just makes a second playthrough even better. Plus, it makes a lot of the twists and turns a bit more exciting as I didn’t know who was destined to die/survive. Also I wasn’t used to some of the tropes they re-use a lot in this series so it was all fresh.

The good shit:

I really preferred the fighting style in this game, choosing between styles kept things fresh and added strategy. Majima’s styles were more fun, although breaker was nearly broken, no boss stood a chance. I didn’t bother unlocking the legendary styles though.

It did a good job building up Nishiki for Kiwami, I would not have cared about him otherwise. Same with Reina

Although it was a slow start, the story had me hooked fairly quickly and the cutscenes are really well done. Voice acting and music was great. I feel like 0 had the most well told and realistic story out of all the games. Far less dramatic and illogical nonsense (although there is still some). Some really strong characters and my opinion on them was constantly changing. The 3 lieutenants were standouts. 

I didn’t know anything about Kiryu beforehand and I really grew to like him, even if he made some dumbass decisions. I was slower to warm up to Majima but I ended up loving him too.

Punching money out of enemies never got old

Loads of stuff to do, although I just stuck with the main quests for the most of it

Tachibana, my beloved.

One of the better final boss fights in the series.

brilliant soundtrack. Most of the the games have good soundtracks but I think 0 is the best of them.

Kuze always appearing again annoyed me at first but then I got used to it and even started to like him. Of all the games the first Kuze is one of the only ones to kill me several times. And the last one. IDK if 0 is a harder game or if I just got better but I never had as much challenge with most other bosses in the series.

Great and varied heat actions.

2 cities, and both are good.

Sera gets some time to shine here, and the battle to reach him is funny. He’s easy enough though.

The tojo clan HQ actually seemed really intimidating as a first time player. I didn’t realise what a clown show it what turn out to be later of course. The big fight with Oda and Tachibana is a highlight

None of that dumbass purgatory shite. Never liked the Florist.

Majima awkwardly dancing in silence on teh bridge with noone paying attention is burned into my brain

Little Daigo and Ryuji

Disco dancing is fun, although I fucking suck at it.

The bad shit:

Hiding their ‘legendary’ styles behind mini games. I didn’t like cabaret club management or the real estate thing, found them pretty boring so missed out on all that.

Having to go and track down people for training with some move. Again, couldn’t be arsed. Not just this game, but I went through nearly them all without Tiger drop because I wasn’t bothered with komaki’s training. I prefer to have all that stuff in the level up screen.

No autosave, didn’t realise and had to do the first two hours again, nearly packed it in. Thank God for skippable cutscenes.

Following people slowly on occasion is irritating.

Car chase bit is fucking shit, at least it’s brief.

Gun/Knife enemies in this game are a pain in the arse. Same with Kiwami but never had much of a problem with the other games.

Makoto’s braindead fucking decision to confront the bad guy over the empty lot and demand he kill his 3 henchmen. She is a blind girl all alone on a roof surrounded by armed goons, she knows DAMN WELL how dangerous these guys are considering her past and was warned against it. Does it anyway. Traumatised or not, this is such a stupid fucking moment and I didn’t care that she got shot because what the hell else would have happened? He’d go ‘yeah ok’ and kill his lieutenants for her sake? 

Kazama’s nearly godlike powers of foresight started to get a bit silly. He’s really made out to be some kind of genius but I didn’t see much of that when you finally meet him in kiwami. Shimano as well, so much could have gone wrong with his plan , plus he’s  stubborn and implusive in kiwami, not the 4d chess player he’s made out to be here.

At the time I didn’t realise, but looking back it’s a shame they didn’t explore more of the old guard themselves. Kazama is just in jail, dojima and shimano barely appear. IDK, could have had more. It’s long enough as it is I guess.

Not getting to kill Sagawa. I guess it’s to make him seem ‘untouchable’ right til the end but ugh, I needed the satisfaction.

Where did all pink suit guy goons go when he get’s shot by that policeman? That whole section was a bit odd. Murdering a guy to send a kid to college when you already have a fulltime job and getting bribes? Hard to swallow. Didn’t care for pink suit guy much though so no loss

Not a big deal but no voices outside of cutscenes was a bit disappointing. There is a A LOT of dialogue though so I get it.

Oda was an interesting character but I don’t like how they tried to redeem him. He was sex trafficker, selfish and murderous to the end. IDK why makoto forgave him or why kiryu brought him up at the end along with actual victims.

Fetch quests. I don’t want to go and run around the city buying specific drinks for hobbos WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS FUN.

Should have been allowed to give Dojima a thrashing.

Where the fuck is Yumi, Kiryu’s great love and they don’t explore anything about her? Waste of an opportunity

Wei lee Han , I knew he was gonna blow up as soon as I saw the van :(

They make a big deal about civilians getting drawn in/ being killed but Awano shoots some random woman dead and it’s never mentioned again?

Every goon in town is looking for Kiryu and he goes out in the same crisp white suit and bright red shirt? I saw the joke where they jump a guy in the same clothes but it was silly. Even sillier was hiding in his usual haunt, the FIRST place anyone would look. Also even thinking of going back to his flat, thank god it got burnt out. Not a smart man.

The asian elder says Kazama was part of a raid on Little Asia and not even women and children were spared and Kiryu isn’t all that phased? It’s never mentioned again. Same with Kazama being referred to as a monster by the chairman. I thought the series would build upon that but nah. Strange .Did I miss something?

Ok the bad section seems long but it’s mostly nitpicks. I really had a lot of fun with this and went on to play the whole series back to back. However some of the other entries are showing their age now and some people did say starting with 0 sets the bar very high and I agree with that. The plot in this game has it’s outlandish moments but a lot less than some of the earlier games. It’s more character driven compared to some of the others and I prefer that approach. This one had two characters and I feel that’s the right amount, one can get samey and 4/5 can get overwhelming. 

#Yakuza #yakuza 0 #like a dragon #Foxgames

[dragon-business]

Kiryu and Rina

Each meeting with Rina starts with her relationship meter with Kiryu dropping after just one look at his outfit. Girl, it's almost vintage >c

Really rooting for her to enlighten Kiryu about the Agenda and the queer customs. He's having a hard time out there on Kamurocho streets. Kiryu can talk about Goromi with her, it'll ease him into it though socially acceptable talks "about girls". We're 1000% sure Rina opened up to Kiryu in the first place because she sensed the fellow gay in him.

Also we would love to hear Rina's opinions on Kiryu's journey. She is stanning him on his first awkward gay steps. He's trying, and it's adorable. Wanted to say he's taking his “baby steps” at first, but no. He's strolling in big and strong. Kiryu is almost a sugar baby material, look at him.

Rina: you know, people could pay big money to keep you around (: Kiryu: well, actually…

And this is how Rina learns the fun and casual story of a billion yen boy.

Rina nods seriously: some people just have a natural talent for these things, I guess.

And it's true, one day Kiryu's struggling to understand the concept of queerness, the next he's meeting up with the non-binary hostess with killer cheekbones.

And aside from that, Kiryu is fastly becoming a hit among the nightlife crowd and management of Kamurocho. He’s barely out of prison, and already protected male host club employees, that one club owner lady in white dress, got all the SHINE stuff watching his dates with a yakuza patriarch, had the said patriarch rent a whole strip club for a single date.

And they left the place completely wrecked. Oh, the rumours.

(Strip club got thoroughly compensated, even the girls got full shift pay)

Remembering how Kiryu came up to this strip club, and the manager stared at him, mumbling "we've heard so much about you, here, come in, come in"

– So, alright, if Kiryu had his second date with Goromi, then it would make sense for Rina to start pressuring him to go on a casual "date" too (marking the start of her substory). She wants to get all that sweet info, while having a free dinner or karaoke night.

Kiryu probably scared Majima quite a bit with all his forwardness and honesty. So he's gonna be avoiding Kiryu for a bit afterwards to gather his composure. And ofcourse it will make Kiryu think he fucked up somehow. He'll need some scolding and reassurance for sure.

(Majima will not be able to avoid Kiryu for too long, though; the dragon training is still not finished, and it takes precedence over Majima's complicated feelings)

Rina, with a death stare, after Kiryu had his first (and then again the second) date with Goromi: Lemme get this straight. Answer honestly. Are you aware you can date other guys as a guy? Kiryu: O:

He was aware of the concept, but didn't know he could apply it to real- I mean his life. Only after laying it out very clearly it finally clicked.

See, Kiryu had concepts of a "date" and "hanging out" stored separately in his head, each having very strict requirements and rules that (he thought) can't be changed. Like, meeting with telephone club girls in 0, bowling with Majima – Kiryu didn't think of those as dates. For it to be a date there should be the emotional connection, opposite gender present, food, handholding, and other classic movie-esc things. In bowling you only hold a ball.

But being around Goromi created the ideal mix of circumstances that allowed Kiryu to just relax and do and say what he wanted, not what he thought he's supposed to. It was a life changing experience.

Now he just needs a little more info to understand that there is way more to the world of relationships than the old fashioned hetero-normative clichés Kiryu picked up from his not-so-healthy-environment growing up.

- before / navigation / next

#kazumaji #kiryu kazuma #goro majima #yakuza #rgg kiwami #this is canon now

[yakuzadumpingground]

I posted 1,639 times in 2022

22 posts created (1%)

1,617 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@majimemegoro

@clairepngart

@todayisafridaynight

@helioshellion

@majimasleftasscheek

I tagged 120 of my posts in 2022

#yakuza - 6 posts

#*sad honking* - 2 posts

#like a dragon - 2 posts

#'modern art still elicits as strong an emotional response in you as classical art but you can no longer understand or articulate why' - 2 posts

#yakuza 3 - 2 posts

#just sort of happened. - 1 post

#i laughed ok - 1 post

#kiryu kazuma - 1 post

#you've heard of colgate-chan now it's colgate-*san* - 1 post

#he's going to hell to fight demons not because he earned if calm down - 1 post

Longest Tag: 134 characters

#but if you put a picture of harry and y8 kiryu back to back and said guess which one is in their mid 40s and which is in their mid 50s

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

ZHAO REPLACES BABA?!

109 notes - Posted September 15, 2022

#4

At this point the only way they'll retire Kiryu if they just kill off his character and even then I'm not convinced that they're not going to put him in the next game: Yakuza 9: Kiryu Goes to Hell.

140 notes - Posted September 19, 2022

#3

Do what's good for Godzilla

186 notes - Posted September 5, 2022

#2

I know none of us have been happy with Kiryu's new hairdo. Well don't worry guys, I fixed it

249 notes - Posted September 18, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

it's so fucking funny that every single fanart i've seen of kiryu may cry looks so much better than his official appearance

300 notes - Posted September 17, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

[twinvictim]

Cringe nishiki/kiryu post that Im posting while tired and tipsy just scroll really fast bye bye

But going w 0 and into kiwami I get the sense that Nishiki's (up to interpretation disclaimer) romantic feelings for kiryu are one sided and go along with this thing, that is partially known and partially speculated on by me, where he's attached to anyone who'll give him the time of day and be kind to him. I think nishiki must have been old enough to at least sort of remember his parents seeing as he has a younger sister and is way more volatile ab Kazama. (He doesn't tell kiryu why he shoots Kazama but I think it's probably bc he found out ab the whole murdered ur parents thing, and that coupled with how Kazama constantly put him down and gave him impossible tasks and put Kiryu on this pedestal well. You deserve to get shot sorry old man) ((also side note I forgot to put in ab nishiki telling kiryu this but without explaining bc he wants kiryu to reject him as this. Confirmation bias. Even tho he's still unsure and conflicted I thibk))

So i get the sense he's way more direcrly traumatized by losing someone he actually remembers to some degree. (Idk if that's true! That's just what I gather based on his personality & backstory) so he's terrified of being rejected or abandoned by kiryu and takes everything AS rejection. It's funny to make fun of his little tantrum ab kiryu not wearing the suit they picked out together even tho he thought it was tacky but even that's kinda sad yknow? (Plus HE starts wearing a white suit after that. Ok)

I do think there's like genuine feelings there aside from all the trauma clingy shit tho like he still looks up to him and 0 really shows this ride or die additude. Even when he feels kiryu abandoned him (sorta literally in the woods lmao) he still comes back and refuses to leave him be and the bond is there and it means so much to him. The man fistfights Majima bc he thinks he might be a threat to kiryu, and that is mostly bc both parties are fucking idiots who can't talk to people normally but whatever it's sweet anyways. Hell his fight is harder as Majima in 0 than it is in kiwami

And like in kiwami I think there is some resentment that comes with the. Everything sure, I think it's there but I don't think it's the only thing or even the biggest thing with him. Obviously most of his character is the feeling of being a failure, and he feels like no matter ehat he does he's constantly failing, failing to live up to people he feels he's indebted to, kazama, kashawagi and yumi and most importantly kiryu. (And yeah. I do think they just kinda tried to pretend not gay lol by having nishiki say he had feelings for her like that but a) they never show this and b) the one scene that kinda would imply it in the flashback mostly just seems like he's vying for any attention and scared either kiryu or yumi will decide they don't care about him. It's less I want yumi and more I'm terrified that either of you will find someone to replace me even if it's eachother)

Like this debt to kiryu is both for taking the fall and trusting him to keep yumi safe and telling him to be strong and help his sister and all of these things kinda fall apart. The one person he cares the most about is gone for a very long time, yumi goes missing and he feels it's his fault or he failed there, and despite his struggling and begging and everything he tried to do for her his sister still dies. And that resentment does sort of come from everyone constantly shitting on him and comparing him to kiryu, but it also comes from it all being too much to handle and him knowing to some degree it was unfair for all this to be saddled on him even if this isn't kiryus fault. It also comes from still feeling too weak to handle anything. Which is really why he pulls the trigger on himself anyways, to finally feel like he's doing something for kiryu instead of making up for what kiryu tried to do for him.

(I'll die on the hill he kept the ring for if not only kiryu but to remember both of them. They didn't put it in but yumi was almost as close and important to him. Its just that kiryu's the only one that really has romantic implications even if they meant it the other way round.)

And all this tells me that nishiki has this one sided unrequited and very complicated set of feelings that I don't really think kiryu had, except going into kiwami 2 you're faced with A Lot of reminders and references to nishiki which. Uh kinda imply he DID feel similarly, tho perhaps without all that codependency. (And yeah kiwami 2 has a bunch if not all of this added to it from the og but shhhh I kneo new fans are annoying and I'm one of them so :) )

Even if u bypass some of the Jokey ones that I'm kinds half saying are ab nishiki as a joke (tho those are? A lil specific and thus a little suspect) alot of side stuff really implies kiryus feelings are similar. Most glaringly restart from tonight being. A love song. Explicitly. In the style of majima's song ab him n Makoto which is Obviously somewhat romantic (bc of course it is. Not that I dislike it at all I love it very much but yknow) so...there is that and yes in universe these are songs that just exist but he kinda just. Thinks ab nishiki everytime so, shrug

The hostess mini game in this game is like 0s but they're fairly flirty and basically dates so it's, something for him to bring up how much nishiki meant to him while on a date w Shoko, (also @ shoko I feel like drawing Manga based on ur boss and his dead best friend is probably crossing boundaries but I would like to See It Please)

But like more seriously I main campaign mode kiryu is doing that thing where he just shoulders responsibility for everything that has Ever Happened and explicitly says that nishiki's debts and problems are his now. (Also what does closer thsn brothers mean. In terms of like. Gang lingo what does that MEAN kiryu. Kiryu are you discovering things ab yourself sir) and it's like he found nishikis presence and overwhelming support to be comforting, for all nishiki does to be kind of pathetic he's honest and kiryu can read that even if he's not emotionally able to respond well. Nishiki goes out of his way in 0 to ignore what kiryu tells him about distancing himself (bc kiryu does figure that's the best way to keep him safe and he needs him safe, and denies that nishiki could want to help and that kiryu could need his help) and I think that comes as some relief to kiryu bc he won't ask for help but I think he does want to know somebody is there to back him up. He can't actually shoulder the weight alone and nishiki would be there whatever he could and he had ideas and distractions and the like. I think he lost alot more than just his friend. And I think that year after the fact shows that. He seems very lonely.

And maybe kiryu just misses his friend but idk maybe he did think that everyone always had a friend they could always expect to be there, and that feeling that this person made them invincible, someone that was closer than family, and that was normal. Idk it's not unheard of, he's not very smart.

I think alot of kiryu's regrets w nishiki come from being unwilling or unable to be honest with how he felt, and that guilt that comes from putting too much on both of them, but nishiki especially. Maybe he wishes he could try again. Idk. Restart perhaps.

#entries #yakuza #dont take this like 100% seiously i just like them i want things 2 be nice for them yes #and reslly. i do love nishiki sm. #i csnt put into words why kiryu just has sadder vibes in k2 thsn before which makes sense but it still contributes to :( #incoherent dont get made at me if you dont like the post. consider. jsut enjoying the post anyways