Ep 6 (S) - Yakuza 0 - The Birth of a Legend

Warning: Foul language and discussion of mature topics.  18+ recommended.

In this episode, I thoroughly summarize Yakuza 0, which is arguably a masterwork of a thriller plot, the game that literally saved the Yakuza franchise, and the perfect starting point to understand all of the rules of the Yakuza series, both in terms of in-universe rules and how to play the game itself.  Fantastic game, on XBox Gamepass - play it, watch it, enjoy it!

Ending and Beginning links: 
Beg: https://youtu.be/EP625xQIGzs - Hope (NCS Release) - Tobu
End: https://youtu.be/xshEZzpS4CQ - Force (NCS Release) - Alan Walker


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Twitter: https://twitter.com/VideoGameTirade
Email: videogametirade@gmail.com 

Transcript

Hello, y'all, and welcome to Video Game Tirade, the show where I talk for an hour or so about games I've been playing and whatever they remind me of! My name is AJ, and this episode is going to be LONG, so real quick, there's going to be foul language and mature themes discussed, 18 years or older is recommended, and this will be an S-type episode for spoilers, so turn it off if you don't want to be spoiled! This week's episode will be on Yakuza 0, a game I've been playing recently to complete achievement-wise. I know I said this week's episode was gonna be Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but I've been playing Yakuza 0 and Kiwami 1 a lot, I'm in a Yakuza mood, fuck it, it's my podcast, I'm doing Yakuza this week.

The whole Yakuza series is on Xbox Gamepass as of October 2021 (except the Judgment and Samurai spin offs) so if you're interested and have a way to get Gamepass discounted or free or don't give a fuck and want to whole-hod - hog the price to play this series, I 100% recommend it. Regardless of if you're going to play it, buy it, watch it, whatever, uh, Yakuza 0 is where you should start - awesome intro to some of the major characters, particularly the ones from Kiwami 1, the rules of the game, and a very nice sampling of the sheer absurdity when you dip into the side content. This episode, again, is going to be about the actual plot, and a later episode covering the shenanigans and my personal feelings about the first 4 games is in the works. Suffice to say, there's catfights, cabaret clubs, claw catcher minigames, karaoke which is arguably the best part of any Yakuza game, especially 0, especially my husband's karaoke songs - look up 24 hour Cinderella for just... a spectacle - uh, there's also slot-car racing, pool, darts, all manner of casino games, MAHJONG, and a whole bunch of side stories full of absolutely absurd characters, including knock-off Steven Spielberg and Michael Jackson, and because 0 is set in the 80's, an interesting disco minigame as well as some foreshadowing to future Japanese tax laws and economic issues. The side stuff in context of the main story is particularly why this series is completely ridiculous.

I'm going to be talking FOREVER today, getting very nicky-picky about the plot details, so let me just remind you really quick that I have a Patreon if you'd like to support me, and a Twitter and business email for talking with me! Today's Twitter hashtag will be #VGTDragon, which I will use for all Yakuza content going forward as well. Links to everything you need will be in the description of this episode, and that's gonna be it for my plugging today!

So. Yakuza 0.

Our plot starts off with our series main character, Kazuma Kiryu, collecting from a man in heavy debt on behalf of a loan shark, bloodying the man in a back alley and taking his wallet once he passes out. We see the man is still alive as Kiryu leaves, but later in the evening, when Kiryu meets up with his sworn brother, Nishikiyama, the news comes on showing the indebted man dead in the same back alley lot. There's a few references in between these two events of people on the streets - people on the street trying to talk shit to Kiryu only to see the pin on his suit and his general "don't fuck with me" attitude and realize he's in the yakuza, the Japanese mafia. This is important because, immediately after the news spot about the dead guy, Kiryu gets an alert on his pager to call his family's HQ and get further orders - this game is definitely set in the 80's, where beepers ruled over cell phones, and a full 6 years before the early events of the first game and 16 before the main grist of Yakuza 1 - we'll talk about that 10 year gap in a later episode.

So Kiryu calls his family HQ and gets an official summon to come talk to his lieutenants and explain the dead man. A short sidenote to explain some things about hierarchy - Kiryu and Nishiki, his sworn brother, are grunts. They report, technically, directly to the lieutenants, of which there are currently 3 in their family. Lieutenants report to the captain of their family who then reports to the patriarch, whose name usually is the title of the family. In this case, Kiryu belongs to the Dojima Family. The Dojima Family belongs to an overall yakuza clan, however, called the Tojo Clan, which has multiple families within it who all report to the Chairman of the clan. Right now, Kiryu is only in trouble with the Dojima Family, and his direct supervisors want an explanation for the murder. When he shows up to talk and explain how he did not kill the man - he did not hit her! - they ignore him and come to the conclusion that Kiryu did it to help his adoptive father, Kazama, the current captain, Dojima's right-hand man. He is currently in jail and all the lieutenants are angling to get in better with Dojima to become Kazama's replacement. The lot that the man was killed in is the last key to a land development project Dojima has his hands in which will end up making a fuckton of money for the clan, lifting his standing in the clan overall and give him better chances of becoming clan Captain and next in line to be Chairman, so he'll reward the lieutenant who gives it to him. He bought out all the other property owners in the area except for the 1 who owns this Empty Lot, because he can't find them, and his lieutenants were in the process of trying to back-alley their way to ownership when the man turned up dead and put about a thousand bullet holes in that plan.

So that's the reasoning why the lieutenants think Kiryu did it, to interfere with plans to take Kazama's position, and they want him to go to jail as punishment. Obviously, he didn't do it and he's willing to do anything to clear both his and his dad's names, but the lieutenants give him 'til the end of the day to turn himself in to the police before they report him despite his protests. All seems bleak... but the lieutenants let slip that the loan shark he collected for gave them his name, hence why they knew to call him in, so he resolves to go mangle this shark for details on the murder. However, when he shows up at the loan shark's office, one of the lieutenants, Kuze, shows up to interrupt the questioning right as the shark was going to implicate one of the lieutenants who told him to get Kiryu to go to the Empty Lot in the first place. Fun fact: Kuze is also the one who reported Kazama to the police and got him arrested, so fuck this guy, basically.

Especially since, in explaining things further and trying to convince Kiryu to go to jail to spy on Kazama to get the Lot owner info out of him, Kuze heavily implies he was the one who set up Kiryu and had that man killed. Pissed at all the insults and heavy-handed attempts at manipulation, particularly trying to get Kiryu to turn on his dad, Kiryu basically tells Kuze to stuff it and leaves - awesome-ass line here from Kiryu: "You think you're smart enough to control the board... but you're too clumsy to hold the pieces." Definitely throwing down the gauntlet with that one.

So Kiryu leaves and calls up Nishiki to make sure he's ok. They meet up at the Kazama office - all the captains and lieutenants of the Tojo Clan are encouraged to have their own families, which are all subordinate and separate to their branch's families. So Kazama may be Dojima's captain but Kazama's family is NOT part of Dojima's AND it's lower ranking because Kazama is a captain, not reporting directly to the Chairman. Anyways, they go meet up with their stepdad - er, their dad-dad's captain, Kashiwagi - not part of Dojima, yes part of Tojo - for advice on what to do with Kiryu's framing. Kashiwagi advises not to do anything, as all moves could reflect badly back on Kazama and potentially get him expelled from the clan. So Kiryu, our lovely meathead of a main character, decides that the only way to stick it to Kuze while still protecting Kazama and keeping his own freedom to investigate to prove both of their innocence - is to renounce his yakuza oath and become a civilian. Here's the issue with that: since he's Dojima Family, only one of the Dojima's officials will tender his resignation - the lieutenants want him in jail, Kazama IS in jail, and Dojima would only rarely talk with such grunts, so how the fuck is Kiryu gonna pull off this harebrained dumbfuckery?

He goes straight to Dojima's house and rolls in telling everyone on the way "Tell Dojima I'm here to renounce my oath! Let me at him, I need to get out!" Idiot.

Kuze happens to be there and Kiryu would need his permission to see Dojima in this case, and Kiryu - Kuze naturally blocks him. Kiryu ain't havin' it and continues to insist to see Dojima, which pisses Kuze off enough to start beating up our meathead and threatening murder. When Kiryu calls him out on fellow family member murder, which is frowned upon even more than normal murder in yakuza society, Kuze the dumbass goes "you aren't in family anymore, so it's fine," which is exactly what Kiryu wanted. Now he has to fight his way out of the house, and there's this awesome high-octane fight sequence that ends with Kuze being an asshole in a tatami tea room, it's amazing.

After all that and Kiryu kicks Kuze's ass, in walks Dojima. He gets really pissed that Kuze released him on his own and demands his pinky to prove his loyalty, and tells Kiryu to scat if he knows what's good for'm - for him. But not before he tells him he's going to punish Kazama anyway. So off Kiryu goes to start his free life and his investigation into his framing, having gotten his wish for no benefits. And his first act, free act is to walk, super-depressed, all the way back to the main city in the rain, where he gets picked up by a mysterious man named Tachibana, who knows everything about him. Very mysterious!

This is all chapter 1 of a 17 chapter game, and barring all side content, it's roughly 1 of the longest, clocking in at about 3 hours of gameplay. There are a lot of chapters that boil down to a few long-ass conversations that aren't even all that necessary to be that long, but I digress. The majority of this game is NOT the plot, it's the side content, but this episode is entirely focused on the plot in an attempt to explain why this game is so badass if you've only seen the memes or the absurd minigames.

The start of chapter 2 is our hot boy getting a shower in Tachibana's penthouse to clean off the stench of failure, after which Tachibana explains a little about who he is and why he's important to the Dojima struggle and why he wants Kiryu's help: Tachibana owns a considerable amount of the city and is, naturally, also angling to get his hands on the Empty Lot in order to force Dojima to finally admit that Tachibana is stronger despite being a civilian. He offers protection of Kazama and proving Kiryu's innocence if he'll assist in getting the Lot - predictably, Kiryu goes "That's sus, I'm out, byyye!" He meets up with Nishiki in order to deliver all the bad news and affirm he is absolutely no longer a yakuza, and then heads home for the night to process everything.

Oh, but first he gets his ass handed to him by Mr. Shakedown, this game's version of a roaming superboss who is, like, 9 feet tall, hits like a tank, and is always carrying mondo money on him at all times. Later on in the game, he is very easy to farm for cash and it's honestly the best way to make money outside of Kiryu's business minigame. What's funny about him and why I'm talking about it is the game actually tells you to get the fuck away from him - the exact line is: "if you spot him in the street, the safest tactic is to run away before he can rope you into fighting." That's just SO funny to me, the game telling you "don't fight this guy, run away!" Where else do you see that???

Speaking of business, Kiryu starts to rethink Tachibana's offer after sleeping on it and, after some investigating and interfacing with the homeless population - by the way, this series is very positive in regards to people who are homeless. They often help plot events move along and are painted in honest but also empathetic lights, and more than twice main characters end up homeless, so this game series really respects that aspect of life and I appreciate that. Anyways, the homeless of the city help Kiryu track down some of Tachibana's folks and he witnesses firsthand how badass no-holds-barred they are, how willing they are to take on yakuza for the small guy and fuck over assholes who deserve it, and he agrees to take on the offer. So he heads on over to Tachibana's pad after being invited by his second-hand man, Oda, to confirm it to Tachibana's face, only to have most of the muscle turn up there to try and keep him out. This is a test that Kiryu naturally passes. His reward is Tachibana finally explaining why he wants Kiryu's help:

First, Kazama explicitly asked Tachibana to help Kiryu out and Tachibana was the person Kuze alluded to, the person whose name he wanted Kiryu to spy out of Kazama, although Kuze had it wrong that Kazama knew who owned the Lot - he just knew someone who could FIND where the Lot owner was. And second, Tachibana is close to finding out who really owns the Lot, way closer than Dojima's goons, but he needs some extra personnel he can trust who can distract Dojima so he can finish up his research. Hearing that Kazama wants them together, Kiryu agrees. Chapter 2 end! See, told you these chapters start going faster.

Now, in chapter 3, we're switching main characters to the anti-hero of this series, Goro Majima, my husbando. This man is fucking crazy - look up some clips of "Majima Everywhere" from Kiwami 1 and you'll see what I mean. Love him. Anyways, he's in a completely different town - Sotenbori, a fictional borough of Osaka based on real borough Dotenbori, while Kamurocho, Kiryu's town, is a fictional borough of Tokyo based on real borough Kabukicho. One of those fake names was given some thought.

Majima, when we pick him up in the 80's here, is the legendary Lord of the Night, the manager of the most popular and successful cabaret west of Tokyo, The Grand. (Important factoid: Majima has one working eye and wears an eyepatch. Very hot pirate man.) This chapter focuses on Majima scouting out other competition in Sotenbori and stealing the best talent from the main rival club, Odyssey. He does this at the behest of a man named Sagawa, who is an equivaly - *gibberish* - equivalently-ranked man to Dojima within the completely different yakuza clan, the Omi Alliance. For context, the Omi and the Tojo are rival clans of yakuza, as you are wont to have in this kind of story - the Omi control western Japan starting in Osaka, and the Tojo control eastern Japan starting in Tokyo. (This leaves a middle strip that doesn't really get referenced by who it belongs to? No Man's Land, I guess). Back to our man - Majima has been kicked out of the yakuza and wants back in, so he's working to prove himself to Sagawa who can jump him back into the Tojo - not the Omi, because Majima used to be in the Tojo, and how the hell can an Omi man get Majima back into the Tojo? Because Sagawa's sworn brother, Shimano, is in the Tojo and Sagawa would be willing to talk Shimano into letting Majima into his family. That is, if Majima can buy his way back in, but Sagawa keeps jacking up the entry fee, so to make more bank, Majima pirates the competition's girls so he'll get more customers.

That's literally all of chapter 3. You get intro'd to Majima and what he most immediately wants, and then you run around Sopen - Sotenbori to go pilfer some talent.

Chapter 4 is where the real shit of this plot starts picking up. Firstly, we get the explanation for why Majima got kicked out - he and his own sworn brother, Saejima, hatched a plan to kill one of the Tojo's major threats, that the Tojo needed for other shit and should NOT have been touched despite how dangerous he was. Because they were grunts, Majima was advised not to do it to avoid fucking up the Tojo's plans, and to let Saejima die in the attempt. Majima refused to cooperate, obviously, and for his insolence he got tortured, his eyeball removed, and when he survived all that, he got kicked out of the yakuza.

For some reason, ostensibly to figure out for sure what happened to his bro, he wants back in, and Sagawa's ransom ain't gonna cut it, so he asks for a way to finally prove his resolve and get back into the mafia. And Sagawa goes, "Alright, I've got something for you: kill this guy named Makoto Makimura. All we know about him is that he is forcing the young women in this town to prostitute themselves and the money he's earning is threatening us, and his girls use the telephone clubs to secure their marks." So off Majima heads to the telephone club to find a girl involved in this to point him to Makoto. He manages to, and this college-aged girl runs him ragged doing all kind - going to all kinds of places on the longest date ever, before she finally tells him Makoto actually protected her when she ran away from home and is preventing her from needing to sell herself out just to avoid sleeping on the street. Complete opposite of what Sagawa told him this man was doing. Regardless of this weird discrepency from what he said, Sagawa wants this saint dead, so off Majima heads to the massage clinic Makoto supposedly runs to do the dirty deed.

The whole sequence where Majima shows up at the clinic is fucking hilarious and me describing it won't do it justice. I heavily recommend you look up a video of this sequence, because the facial expressions and situational tension are sublime. Suffice to say, Majima shows up to kill Makoto only for the guy to be out, and his blind assistant shows up instead, who Majima scares the shit out of with his stealthiness. The only way he can calm her is by lying and saying he's a customer who needs urgent attention, so she ends up massaging him, talking more about how her boss is this amazing fucking guy. Guy then walks in and him and Majima have this brief silent fight while trying not to freak her out before her boss finally sends her out before - so they can duke it out. A bunch of yakuza then show up to kill Makoto, and in the middle of the - middle of it the assistant shows up, right as the boss is trying to say his name is Makoto Makimura. Assistant walks in and calls him "Lee" when she asks what go - what's going on and Lee, boss man Majima had been trying to kill, in turn calls her Makoto out of concern she'll get hurt from the yakuza she doesn't know she's surrounded by.

Yeah, that's right, Sagawa wants Majima to kill this blind lady in order to let him back in the yakuza.

In order to kill her, Majima needs access to her, so when the interrupters shoot her boss, grab her, and cart her off, Majima goes after them and rescues her, protecting her from other yakuza who want her all the way to a nearby empty alley. While she's broken up - her boss might be dying, she's been kidnapped twice, and she's with some stranger who kidnapped her for her safety from the yakuza who want to kill her - the chapter ends with Majima silently drawing a dagger on her. Does he kill her?

Chapter 5 cuts back to Kiryu! I know, fuck this cliffhanger shit, right? It's important, you'll see. So last we left him, Kiryu had accepted Tachibana's offer to work together, so now he's an employee and will be learning the real estate ropes from Oda - after some new digs and a chat with Nishiki, first. At his first shadowing, he impresses both Oda and their customer so much that the customer leaves his own real estate business to Kiryu - this is that minigame I talked about earlier, the bank-making option aside from shaking down Mr. Shakedown? There's this WHOLE thing with the real estate minigame - there's Five Billionaires and an undercover hot cop and even more opportunities to play other minigames, but this is all technically side content in this game, so back to the story!!

After inheriting the business, Oda asks Kiryu to meet him at this bar called Serena, which is a recurring place over the series. Nishiki happens to be there, they shoot the shit once again even though they shouldn't be seen together, and when Oda finally arrives, he's been beat to hell and back! The reason why walks in after him: Awano, the 2nd of Dojima's lieutenants who want to fuck up Kiryu's life. Turns out, some of Kiryu's investigative work and the trials to prove himself to Oda really messed with Awano's family's businesses, so now he's mad personally that he's out money and wants Kiryu actually dead because of it.

So Kiryu has to fight off more dudes, and then Awano talks at him, figuring out everything Kiryu now knows on his own, and offering Kiryu an out from the anger he caused if he gives up Tachibana to Awano. This offer is more of an attempt at coercion, as Kiryu's involvement with Tachibana paints a target on his back to all of Dojima, and Awano threatens both Nishiki and the orphange they came from if Kiryu doesn't cooperate. Kiryu refuses, fully aware this means the entirety of the family will be after him, and that's the end of the chapter.

Still no Majima in Chapter 6. This immediately picks up back in Serena where the gang hashes out Kiryu's new position once again. This results in Tachibana going into hiding via phone call, Nishiki and Oda at odds, and Kiryu once again on his own - I guess getting targeted by an entire yakuza family is a good way to get fired on your first day, huh? Kiryu is obviously still concerned about clearing his name, because if - if it's not the yakuza, it's the police after him, so he heads back to the Empty Lot to see what he can glean on his own. The blood is still there from the murdering gunshot but not much else - except Tachibana. So much for hiding. He's not yet hiding for 2 very good reasons: #1) he's found out that Kuze neither killed the guy himself nor hired someone else to do it, so someone else is behind framing Kiryu, and #2) he knows who owns the Empty Lot now but needs time getting in contact with them to orchestrate the sale. Once he has the Lot, he has Dojima in the palm of his hand, which means Kiryu's life would be rendered completely safe, since Tachibana is also working the police to back off of Kiryu.

All Kiryu has to do is stay alive for the next 24 hours, until Tachibana can contact the owner and lock in a sale.

WAY easier said than done, when the very next morning the entire Dojima Family, INCLUDING his not-Dojima stepdad and sworn brother, are after his ass. This all leads to a really interesting set of chases and cutscenes, where Kuze tries to kill Kiryu in a sewer with a motorcycle and a metal bat, and somehow Kiryu doesn't die, and Awano once again tries to threaten him by bluffing Kiryu's mega-murder, but our meathead prevails in both situations to live another day, thank god. As he leaves Awano's empty disco to a yakuza-less main street, calling Awano's bluff, Nishiki pulls up in a car to get Kiryu the fuck out of Kamurocho for his own safety.

They head way far out of town, into a random forest, and park to discuss things. Man, a lot of Kiryu's plot development so far has been "lemme talk with my bro." Anyways, in the woods, alone. Nishiki naturally whips out a gun and starts crying as he explains he would rather put Mir - Miryu?? - Kiryu out of his misery than see him get caught and tortured and disposed of like cheap trash, maybe made to do all of that to Kiryu. Kiryu, in turn, stares the gun in the face like a fucking badass and says, "After you plug me, bring my head back to them. Use it to fight your way to the top of the clan. Promise me." This is followed by a little bit more tense conversation and a gunshot - a miss. "What's wrong?" Kiryu says. "Aim carefully! I'm not dead yet." Which, like, UGH, the BALLS. The sheer trust in his brother. The implicit "if YOU'RE going to be the one to kill me, do it fucking right." Ugh, I love it.

And of course Nishiki can't do it after that, the coward, so Kiryu ends up taking the car back to Kamurocho and leaving him in the woods to deal with his almost-betrayal. And end chapter.

We are finally back to Majima with Chapter 7, and no, he did not kill Makoto! Yet. He's still considering it. He found her an abandoned warehouse to exist in and chatted with her about what's going on, why people want her dead, why he's not killing her (yet), why she's looking for a man with a bat tattoo (we found this out from the college girl in chapter 4, it's vaguely important). She clearly knows most of this but doesn't want to talk about it, so she insists he go find Lee, her boss, and ask him instead.

Last time Majima saw Lee was at the massage clinic, but only a Chinese underground doctor shows up when Majima does. Luckily, the doc knows where Lee is and tells Majima under threat of dagger. So off he goes to a nearby mahjong parlor to grill this wounded guy for info. By the way, mahjong is the best minigame, SO fucking fun. Eastern poker, baby! Anyways, Lee figures out pretty quick Makoto is still alive and lets slip that the reason she's being hunted is almost certainly related to Bat Tattoo Guy which, we will see shortly, is a fat lie! Their convo gets cut off, though, by the doc showing up with backup to protect Lee, which Majima handily wipes the table with.

After that display, Lee easily explains Makoto's backstory: She was one of the runaway girls who sol them- sold themselves just for shelter, and she got trapped by the Bat Tattoo Guy once he realized she was all alone. Literally trapped, in a cage. And then he sold her to the Korean mafia. The things she endured as a bought woman with them led to her blindness, caused by PTSD, and now she wants to find the Bat Tattoo Guy to prevent him from doing the same to anyone else. Ideally, put him in jail - Lee wants to snap his neck. We all have different ways of dealing with stress. And as you can probably gather from this story, this kind of personal story of the trauma of being trafficked - this wouldn't have much to do with why Makoto is being hunted now by the Japanese mafia. Lee is a liar. 

So it's back to square one trying to figure out the angle. Lee offers a bad plan to help them buy the time they need to figure it out and get the yakuza off their backs. Is he gonna tell you what that plan is right now, when he barely trusts Majima? Nope. So Majima gets to go back to Makoto with some food and let her know Lee is definitely okay while Lee gets the things together to execute his plan, which will take the rest of the day.

By the way, an IMPORTANT note: Makoto has a broken wristwatch that normally plays a very cute tone for hours and quarter-hours and such. Despite being broken, she keeps it to remind her of her life before things went to shit for her. She takes it off because of Majima's initial teasing - why would a blind girl need a watch - in a resolution to get stronger, and Majima takes it so she won't lose it forever.

They talk a bit more and then Majima leaves for the evening. Him and Lee are meeting up at night at The Grand so he's got time to kill. Remember how Kiryu got his business minigame from the story? Here's Majima's: cabaret clubs, a weird fusion between cabaret and club in function, in gameplay an even weirder fusion between time management, charades, and dating sim. It's - it's complicated. And by far the less enjoyable of the two business games. Anyways, after the tutorial, it is now nighttime, so now we go to The Grand to talk to Lee.

When he gets to The Grand, the doc is waiting there for Majima. Majima sits down to talk with him - turns out Lee sent the doc to avoid showing his face at the hoity-toity business. He would rather Majima go straight to Majima's tiny apartment, hidden in a back alley, a lot more private for personal business. Sagawa intervenes as Majima is leaving, checking in on Majima's murder status. He gets out of this confrontation with some smooth talking - uh, this man has a silver tongue, I swear - and heads to his apartment, thinking Sagawa is none the wiser to him trying to keep Makoto alive, for now. Me - Lee meets him there as promised but still doesn't explain the plan because it's not safe even there - Majima's being watched at all of his usual haunts by homeless folks in Sagawa's pocket, to prevent him from skipping town or plotting his revenge. He's being caged up and punished for his stunt in Tokyo still. Lee tasks him with losing his tail via a secret passage in his clinic, and they meet up again at the warehouse Makoto is being kept. When he gets there, Makoto has an envelope from Lee that Majima should open - Lee is getting drinks and will be right back.

In the envelope are photos of a young woman. To us players/viewers, the woman very obviously looks like Makoto. Lee confirms that she looks an awful lot like Makoto once he gets back, and shortly afterward, Makoto passes out from the drugged drink Lee had given her. Lee explains his plan then: the woman in the photos needs to die, her face all messed up and fingerprints acid-burned away, in Makoto's uniform clothing, so the yakuza will think Makoto is dead and stop looking for her.

For a masseuse, this is an awfully brutal plan, so Majima demands to know who he really is. Lee the liar reveals he used to be in a quote-unquote "mainland organization," and his last job was raiding some Korean mafia. He reveals he rescued Makoto as part of his job, and he quit to protect her, as she reminds him of the daughter he used to have who presumably died due to illness. His tenacity with this plan is coming from that history combined with his fatherly desire to protect his second chance at being a dad to a girl who needs a family.

Majima understands but also claims that Sagawa would see through the trick, and like an asshole, refuses to contribute any other ideas or cooperate with this one. Lee, naturally, wants this kept a secret, so he and Majima duke it out again. Lee gets his butt kicked, and as Majima is walking out, Lee insists this plan will work as there's no other options. He also points out that not only will other people be gunning for Makoto, they'll also be gunning for Majima for refusing to kill her. So Majima, naturally, retorts with "I'll kill everyone who comes for me." He rips up the photos and takes Makoto's spare uniform, to thoroughly show his disagreement with the plan, and tosses the uniform in a bin on the way out, leaving Lee to protect Makoto from now on.

However, we see a red-clothed hand grab the uniform as Majima is walking away.

Cut to the next morning, Majima is back to his usual rise-and-grind, although he is now aware of the guillotine hanging over his neck at all times if anyone finds out Makoto is still alive from his assistance. His continued assistance, because his reputation is what's letting Makoto and Lee stay in the warehouse, which is abandoned but belongs to his rival club, Odyssey, remember them from 4 chapters ago? Today, when Majima gets to The Grand, he gets the word that Lee wants to meet as - at his massage clinic to talk, so out he goes! Lee is VERY excited when Majima gets there. The news is playing in the background, and, as it turns out, is playing the discovery of a young murdered woman wearing Makoto's uniform with a disfigured face, who Lee previously confirmed to the police was Makoto, in cooperation with the plan. Majima absolutely confirms that he did not kill anybody - which, by the way, is funny because Majima 100% does kill people in this series and Kiryu does not, despite the fact that their combat specials absolutely DO kill people. There's this large meme, I digress. A phone call comes in for Majima while he's at the clinic, and when he takes it, it turns out the voice on the phone is the one who killed quote-unquote "Makoto Makimura." This should please Majima's employer, so the voice on the phone is now owed a favor by Majima, that he wants to cash in ASAP. He's at The Grand and he needs Majima there before he starts being less than the perfect guest, starting with The Grand's talent.

With that threat ends chapter 8. Yes, we stick with Majima through this next chapter. Majima catches up - catches Lee up, and with Lee getting all pissy someone knew about his plan. To be fair, anyone with a brain could figure it out, and with the remnants of the photos plus the uniform, this guy easily did. Majima figures this favor will involve the info of where the real Makoto is, so he resolves to go kick this rando's ass and prevent him from threatening the girl any further. Turns out the guy is the patriarch of the other yakuza guys who have been after Makoto. Yikes, right? After a really uncomfortable display of wealth and beating around the bush, this guy, Nishitani, asks point-blank where Majima is keeping Makoto. But he doesn't want to kill Makoto, which, like, why were your guys saying that then??? He just wants to talk with her, and he'll promise to keep it a secret that the dead Makoto isn't the real one provided the deets on the lady's location. Majima of course isn't willing to give up the info, and neither is Nishitani willing to say why he's looking for her - not without a fight. But Goro "Lord of the Night" Majima isn't going to fight a customer, so Nishitani calls the cops and reports himself as a robber, giving Majima both an excuse and a time limit!

Nishitani's ass on the floor, he finally reveals - nope, the cops grab him before he says anything.

After all that, Majima retires to his office to hang out until normal activities resume, and fucking Sagawa is there, asking if he was the one who put fake Makoto in the river and why didn't Majima tell him ASAP. He starts picking into the details - she's in her uniform but her face is smashed, is he trying to hide who she is or flaunt it? Majima lies by saying it was his first hit and he doesn't remember what happened, which Sagawa barely takes while making it fully aware to us viewers that he's not buying a single thing but curious where Majima is willing to take his lies. At face value, Majima pulled off the hit, so Sagawa leaves with the promise to put in the call to Shimano to let Majima back in. Now Majima has another time limit, and he needs to talk to Lee about how to resolve this new predicament.

On the way out, he runs into the doc once again, who is in crisis because Lee hasn't come to pick up his painkillers yet - remember that the guy got fucking shot. Majima agrees to deliver the meds if he finds the guy and heads back to Makoto's warehouse to see if she's ok and Lee's with her. Turns out they're both there and still okay. Lee gets his meds but says he doesn't need them... Curious. Anyways, Majima fills them in on what happened at The Grand, in-as-much as he can with Makoto awake, but she figures out what's going on anyway and demands to help how she can. So Majima tells her more details, to see if she'll give up why everyone wants her now. She still isn't forthcoming. Whatever the reason is, Majima is reasonably certain Sagawa knows she isn't dead, so he advises they get the fuck out of town while they can to protect her. They get stopped in the middle of the evacuation, though, by the doc coming in and letting in the homeless folks who had been spying on Majima, the ones in Sagawa's pocket. For this betrayal of Lee, the doc gets murked by these thugs, which prompts Majima to take them on while Lee protects Makoto.

After the fight, Lees deci- Lee decides to take the doc, who's actually still alive despite a crowbar to the chest, to the doc's clinic to patch him up. Majima, meanwhile, has to escort Makoto back to the massage clinic to get the business van and get them all the fuck out of town. They do manage to meet Lee there, since Makoto as someone who is blind has a much slower top speed than a sighted person, just as Lee is about to turn on the van. As he turns the key in the ignition, the van explodes. Who could have seen that 1 coming! Oh my god! Makoto and Majima are okay despite being blown back several feet, although Makoto is passed out - but they won't be okay for long, because who comes walking out of the flames but Sagawa, gun in hand to finish the job. The chapter ends with, not Sagawa shooting them both, but Sagawa himself getting shot by some new random guy in an extremely clean suit and Majima getting pistol-whipped, with no idea what's going to happen to Makoto.

So now it's time to go back to Kiryu, don't you think? After spending a long day avoiding getting fucking murdered by Dojima's entire family, Kiryu heads home, only to find the apartment building on extreme fire. So now Kiryu is homeless! See what I mean, about homeless people being a big part of the games? Kiryu is still waiting on word from Tachibana so he needs a low-profile place to stay now. Not Serena, Awano and Nishiki both know about that place, plus the proprietor shouldn't get involved. Even though Kashiwagi isn't part of Dojima, he's still helping look for Kiryu, so the Kazama Family office is also out. While he's trying to figure things out, he gets in a fight and Serena's proprietor finds him afterward, insisting he come by so she can treat his wounds despite his protests. He rejects her offer to let him stay over, but it's too late, the yakuza already know where he is. Outside Kuze and Awano both are waiting for him. Time to throw down! This game is a brawler-style beat 'em up so naturally you're going to have a million fights as part of the main story, and this is, what, major fight #5? 6? Anyways.

After kicking both of the lieutenants' asses for the 3rd time, Tachibana finally reveals himself - by fucking plowing into Kuze with a car. They get the fuck out of there to an underground garage for some privacy, where Tachibana reveals that the all-out fuck-Kiryu fest Dojima's gang is throwing is really messing with Tachi's investigation. They have a chat, Kiryu apologizes for his existence being such a wrench in everyone's plans, and Tachibana reassures him by basically saying Kiryu is stupid and that's why everyone trusts him, including Tachi and Oda, because all of his friends know he's not going to use them to his advantage, he's not smart enough to be that manipulative. They elect to leave the car, with Oda pulling up in the most suspicious way in a van for their next getaway, only to pass - only for Tachi to pass out. That's the end of chapter 9, hilariously enough, is Tachi just passin' the fuck out.

Chapter 10 opens on the gang back in Kamurocho, in a secret part ruled by the Chinese diaspora of the city, where Dojima has no sway or footholds to come get them. Tachibana is in a hospital getting treated - he got bad kidneys. Kiryu being in this part of the city is a danger, so the local boss wants to talk and determine what to do with him. Long conversation short, Kiryu needs to get lost and has to find another place to stay again. Tachibana is healthy enough to see him off and recommend West Park, where the homeless city - the homeless of the city camp out most nights. It'll only be for a night, Tachi promises, so Kiryu heads on over as the day is ending to camp out. Some of the guys recognize him from when he helped them earlier in the story, so 1 lets him stay the night in his hut. In the middle of the night, Kiryu wakes up to some screaming in the park - a group of teenagers are beating up the homeless people, calling themselves "homeless hunters" and saying they're doing the city a favor by disposing of the "trash." Kiryu, of course, beats the shit out of those garbage kids and lets the injured homeless folks finish teaching them their lesson.

I in- wanted to include this part of the story even though it has nothing to do with the Empty Lot through-plot because I am a firm believer that people deserve respect and dignity no matter what is going on in their life - drug addicts, homeless people, kids, people in prison, etc. People are people are people, and kids beating up homeless people, because they can? Because they think those homeless people are ruining their city, draining resources when they should die instead? That's such a DISGUSTING thing for anyone to think about their fellow human, and while an eye for an eye is never going to be beneficial in our modern real world, it IS cathartic to see these kids get what's coming to them immediately after their atrocious behavior. Instant karma, returned ten-fold, and hopefully it's a lesson that fucking sticks.

Out of respect for protecting him once again, the homeless man sleeps - Kiryu sleeps with protects his identity the next morning when folks come calling for Kiryu, only reporting it when Oda shows up without murder on his face, unlike the Dojima lackeys who had also asked after the meathead. Kiryu thanks him for his assistance and heads off to join Oda, who takes them to meet up with Tachi to resolve this matter once and for all.

No, they're not going to see the Empty Lot owner. That's not the matter they're resolving there - right now. They're going to the Tojo Clan headquarters to speak with the Chairman for Kiryu's safety. After all, if the Chairman guarantees something, Dojima can't counter it without drawing a LOT of ire. This is super dangerous for a lot of reasons, first of all because the Tojo want Tachibana out of Kamurocho since he's a threat to their power, but Tachi gets around that by appealing to the business sense of the current Chairman and offering a total of 1 billion yen for Kiryu's life, 500 up front for his promise and the 2nd half once Tachi has confirmed Dojima has backed off. Additionally, Tachibana puts up 30% of the revenue he makes in Kamurocho for the Tojo Clan's benefit, as a tithe. This all gets the Chairman to agree, so yay, Kiryu's safe!

The other reason this all is stupid and dangerous is, even though the Chairman has agreed, these are 3 very threatening civilians on Tojo Clan ground, at the heart of their headquarters. About a thousand dudes, all armed to the teeth, are now in their way, and in order for them to prove they deserve Kiryu's protection, they have to fucking survive the escape.

Naturally, they do - they got that stronk plot armor, babyyy! As they're heading back to Kamurocho, we cut to Dojima talking to his 3rd lieutenant, Shibusawa, who allegedly foresaw this and also knows why Touchy Banana wants Kiryu and what they're going to do next. Shibusawa promises to hand over the Empty Lot, and then we cut back to meatboy and his crew. Tachi is taking in their newfound peace, and announces they can now focus on finding the Empty Lot's owner, who he located in Sotenbori last night while Kiryu was defending his homeless friends. He continues, though, and states they cannot make their move yet, as another faction within Sotenbori is already pursuing the owner, and interfering right now would get them in the same hot water they just left, just with a different chef. We know, as the viewers, that the Omi are already doing SOMETHING in Sotenbori, but Tachibana has reason to believe Shibusawa is also making moves in Sotenbori in addition to the Omi Alliance.

Despite all this, Kiryu decides to go to Sotenbori to pick up the owner anyways, and Oda wants to go, too. Kiryu gets the options to make any final preparations, at the end of which he meets the folks back in Little Asia, the area that he was kicked out of. At this point, Tachibana finally tells us what we've probably all assumed since Chapter 4: the owner of the Empty Lot IS, in fact, Makoto Makimura. And with that info bomb and the presumption Kiryu is heading off to Osaka, we cut back to Majima!

Sagawa wakes up from being shot before Majima wakes up from being pistol-whipped, so Sagawa takes him to a nearby warehouse and starts beating him for info, and also to punish him for disobeying his kill order. He doesn't finish the job, though, instead releasing Majima and telling him his sworn brother, Shimano, is actually the one who told Sagawa to have Majima kill Makoto. No other details were provided, so the only things they can pursue for that elusive "why" are Nishitani, in jail, and the suit man who took Makoto, and neither of them have any idea who that guy is. So, ostensibly out of curiosity at this whole thing and also to give Majima another chance to kill her, Sagawa lets him go find Nishitani.

Nishitani's location is actually a lot harder to find than just "go to the police" - Majima finds out from Nishitani's family that a detective knows where the man is, and when Majima finds this detective, he gets brought to an underground fighting ring that he has to clear 3 fights in before the detective will give him the info. Uh, short aside, fuck the coliseum in every Yakuza game, just - hate it! Turns out, the detective is Nishitani's in with the police, and he brings him straight to where Nishitani is being held. The Omi man has some ideas on who the suited man could be but won't tell them to Majima without a fight, which we know at this point he'll win. The identity of the man is the patriarch of the Nikkyo "Consorchium" - Consortium... Anyways, a Tojo family who reports straight to the Chairman, like Dojima, but a secret 1 that's similar to the CIA or KGB - this leader is named Masaru Sera. Nishitani also tells that the person who hired him to go after Makoto is Shibusawa - so this makes 4 different confirmed Tojo families all angling for Makoto's information or life: Dojima, Shibusawa, Shimano, and Sera.

So they know who took her and that all the Tojo babies want her, and Nishitani knows where Sera's hangout is and even offers to take him there. Considering his in with the police, he can just waltz out of the holding cells - oh, except the other officer there with the detective was offered a hundred times his pay to kill all 3 of them, and Nishitani ends up sacrificing himself to stop the officer and so Majima can escape. This is the end of the chapter, but I want to point out that #1) Nishitani's whole shtick is very unhinged pervert of a weird guy who works by his own rules, which Majima very much ends up emu-emulating quite heavily after this game, and #2) this is honestly probably from Nishitani's ending commands: "Bust as many skulls as you can and ya best have a blast while doin' it! ...And blaze your own path ...on your own terms." Majima up until this point has been a very reigned-in personality, which doesn't match with his personality from the entire rest of the series. This act of selflessness, the commands therein, from someone he admits to relating to, is the most likely reason why Majima unleashes his inner freakazoid - coming into his real self while also honoring the man who gave his life for Majima's - who helped him repeatedly for no reason other than sheer respect for the legend Majima was and still is. I wanted to point that out, how even though they started as enemies, Majima ends up becoming the new Nishitani, in a way, out of respect for him. And that's nice, seeing the effect another person can have on you even when you're at odds, seeing how even an enemy can respect you as a human being deserving life and freedom to be yourself.

Anyways, chapter 12. The jail Nishitani was in was just outside of Sotenbori, so Sagawa catches Majima to berate him over escaping his cage for even that little bit of time. Majima offers up what he knows about Sera to save his skin, and Sagawa as a reward brings him to Sera's location, allowing him that bit of leash extension to carry out Sagawa's whims. The Osakan inn they end up at is another one of those crazy-cool multi-phase fight sequences, this time way more dangerous because, again, these Nikkyo kids are supposed to be the Tojo's version of the CIA or KGB! Majima of course rips through them all like tissues and makes it very easily all the way up to Sera himself.

Sera is an imposing figure, calm and clean in the face of walking whoop-ass that Majima is. They chat for a bit, delaying the obviously incoming fight - Sera immediately saying that Makoto is safe and with a colleague of his and also saying he's had his eye on Majima since he got booted from his Tojo family. What Sera wants to know is why Majima is protecting Makoto despite his former ruthlessness - he implies it's 'cause he's in love with her, which Majima refutes... but then he also has Makoto's broken watch still, so. Make of that what you will.

After beating Sera, Sera reveals Makoto was given to someone dealing with real estate - gee, I wonder who that is - and explains that Makoto's ownership of the Empty Lot came from a will she wasn't aware involved her, from her grandfather. Majima pieces together she's been taken back to Kamurocho - Sera has the info on where specifically, but he only says he'll give it over his dead body. A little trust-measuring thing that ends with not Majima killing him but Sagawa, and Majima grabs the business card from Sera's body while Sagawa gloats: Kazuma Kiryu. With Sagawa's blessing, they both resolve to go to Kamurocho to hunt him and Makoto down.

Chapter 13 is back to Kiryu! Home stretch. This chapter is Kiryu in Sotenbori, essentially just fucking around until it's time to go pick up Makoto. Once Oda gets the call from Sera about where he - where they are, he and Kiryu head over to pick up the girl. We get to see how the transfer worked out: Makoto is coming along voluntarily, as she wants all this shit, over land she didn't even know she had, done with, and is willing to perform the estate transfer to secure her peace again. Makoto seems to recognize Oda's voice but we aren't going to get into that quite yet because a fuckton of baddies start chasing them on the highway, and Kiryu has to kill - I mean, disable them, all with a handgun, since Kiryu doesn't kill people and has never killed anyone in his life. This includes a helicopter who has a dude with a rocket launcher AND a dude with a handgun [author's note: minigun], by the way. Kiryu has THICK plocket - plot armor, it's ridiculous. And with a handgun????? This can be the most frustrating part of the game, honestly, gameplay-wise. Oh, and all these guys are being lead by Shibusawa, so super fuck the Dojima lieutenants.

They detour off the highway to an abandoned construction site, to lie low until the danger has passed. Oda is freaked the whole fuck out, and almost hits Makoto, but Kiryu ain't having that misogynistic bullshit. He's been very kind to Makoto the whole time, helping her walk but obviously offering the assistance and only touching her on her clothes, not on her actual skin, which I understand is one of the kinder things you can do to assist people if they - who are blind if they must be assisted. Oda leaves for a second after the almost-hit, only to come back with a gun right after Makoto says she knows him. Oda grabs Makoto with gun to her head and states he can't let Makoto meet Tachibana - Makoto's new walking stick from Sera has a hidden dagger and she absolutely uses it to stab Oda in the leg, which gives Kiryu the chance to rip the gun out of his hands and turn it back on Oda. At this point, we find out Oda has the bat tattoo Makoto has been looking for. He's the man who sold her to the Korean mafia. Oda admits he did it but won't admit why he's preventing them from getting to Tachibana until Kiryu almost pulls the trigger. Turns out it's literally just that he's in love with Tachi and doesn't want him to know how disgusting of a person Oda used to be. Oh, I guess slightly more important, Makoto is actually Tachibana's long-lost little sister and would replace Oda as his important person if they were to meet.

So that's all of Dojima, Sagawa and his whole family, Shimano and his whole family, Shibusawa and his whole family, and now Oda, too, who all want to actively kill Makoto Makimura.

Despite this news, when the Shibusawa grunts inevitably catch up, Makoto asks Oda to stand and escape with them. Remember, she wants him in jail, not dead. Oda can't leave, though, not with his leg stabbed very well in the thigh, so while Kiryu and Makoto leave, Oda slows down their tails as best as he can. There's a cutscene at the end of the escape where Shibusawa finds Oda and they talk, revealing Oda was also in Shibusawa's pocket but defected when Makoto was taken by the Nikkyo guys. And then bye goes Oda!

Kiryu gets away from them and they hang out for a while in, like, a karaoke club or something, at which point Makoto reveals her backstory. She was 10 when Tachibana came to Japan and he 15, which was 10 years ago at this point in the story. She only heard he was going to Osaka, which is how she ended up there, even after her stint with the Korean mafia. Her family were bullied in China as a single-parent household being run by their mother, who was Japanese. Her grandfather was discovered to be in Japan around 3 years before the events of the story, and they moved to Japan to be with him. Her mother committed suicide very shortly after that, though, and her grandfather even more shortly passed away afterward, hence how she came to be on her own in Osaka. She laments her life and how all the people around her have suffered, to which Kiryu responds with a choice: stay put and cry, or move forward and try to make things better. And so, she commits to going to Kamurocho, to see her brother and earn back a family.

Next up is Chapter 14, we are now back in Kamurocho in West Park. Kiryu has brought Makoto to the homeless camp to lie low and figure out how to get in touch with Touchy Bro-nana. He's not picking up the phone, so Kiryu actually has to go out and look for the guy. His first bet is Little Asia, which turns out to be true. Tachi's been out due to his kidneys tanking - he's been out for several days. He gets excited when Kiryu tells Makoto is in Kamurocho, assuming Kiryu now knows about their familial relationship. Kiryu also confesses Oda's attempt on Makoto's life and his involvement with her before Tachi knew him. Tachi reveals he assumed something like that was the case, and then rehashes everything we already know or assumed at this point: he built up his company purely to find his family and bring them home, even though he believes they'll hate him for the kind of man he turned out to be. But just like his sister, he wants to see what remains of his family and actually be that family again, now in a safe place where they can exist without hate or fear.

But Dojima's goons crash the district trying to get to Tachi, and as they leave, a fucking badass almost-ninja hitman dude shoots Kiryu in the chest and the leg. Tachibana rapidly puts together who this hitman is, a world-famous guy named Lao Gui, and that this guy is responsible for the murder in the Empty Lot that started Kiryu's involvement in all this. Lao Gui calls for Tachi to give himself up... Tachi does so to make sure Kiryu can survive. Kiryu tries to follow, limping VERY badly, only to pass the fuck out as he watches Tachi walk off with the most efficient assassin in the underworld.

He later wakes back up in the Chinese hospital, all taped up and bullets removed, with the boss explaining that Tachibana was officially taken in by the Dojima Family, under the orders of Shibusawa, who knew Tachi was receiving dialysis in Little Asia thanks to Oda. This boss also explains that Makoto's grandfather was very successful, but after "the war" he was forced to sell off his land to survive. But he did so tacti-tactically, in order to retain a small specific piece for himself and his family. It's this fatherly desire that led to the massacres and tormoil both of his grandchildren were now embroiled in. Kiryu, understanding the yakuza's place in all this and his relationship to Tachibana, demands to go after him as soon as the Chinese folks know where Tachi is as a way to apologize for his yakuza family's involvement, which is exactly why he was patched up. However, while they are scrambling to find Tachi, Kiryu figures he can while the time checking on Makoto. Dojima goons catch him as he's leaving, only for Nishikiyama to finally show up and grow a pair and help Kiryu defeat them. Nishiki knows where Tachi is being kept and goes with Kiryu to rescue him - in response, Kiryu tells Nishiki where Makoto is, in case only Nishiki gets out.

Tachibana is being kept in an underground basement, being tortured by Kuze and his gang to reveal where Makoto is. He is VERY close to dying, despite Kuze's best efforts to humiliate his guys away from killing Tachi, but as Kuze is about to move him so he can get some medical attention, Kuze's right-hand man swings a sledgehammer into Tachi's head. Immediately after, Nishiki and Kiryu burst in, throwing down over Tachi's near-lifeless body. Once the trash are handled, Kiryu releases Tachi from his bonds and tries to make sure he survives to see Makoto, sending Nishiki to get her immediately.

Tachibana is dying rapidly, though, and knows it. So he lets Kiryu know the most important thing here: Lao Gui was hired by Dojima, as in the Dojima Family, Dojima, as in Dojima is the one who framed Kiryu. He loses the ability to speak before Makoto shows up but st-still seems to be waiting for something. Kiryu promises to keep her safe. It's at this that Tachibana nods subtly and finally lets go, falling limp in Kiryu's arms.

This is the first time in the series we see Kiryu cry.

Kuze wakes up to give more plot-relevant info: Someone is working within Tojo to sell the Lot to the Omi Alliance, a traitor, to give Omi the foothold in Tokyo they need to go toe-to-toe with the Tojo. He demands Makoto once again, but Kiryu promises if anyone in Tojo sets one finger on her, he'll bury the entire Tojo Clan. With that badass line, he lifts Tachibana's body and carries him out of the hell of his final hours.

Kiryu brings him to the place that started all of this, which ironically is right outside that same building. Nishiki finally shows up with Makoto, just so very too late. Makoto comes forward on her own, as neither man is willing to speak, explain, and touches what remains of her brother, gathering for herself exactly what happened as he tried his damnedest to protect her in his final hours. In the last place her grandfather could keep for her family, an empty 3 square meters of bare dirt surrounded by thousands of tons of concrete and people, the source of all of this grief and bloodshed, Makoto embraces the still-bleeding corpse of her brother and says, "I see, you're tired. It's been hard, I know. My big brother... I'm home!"

The true purpose of the past 11 chapters, just 10 minutes too late.

This ends the chapter, and if you need tissues and time to process right now, I don't fucking blame you. Every time I re-experience the story from the past 2 chapters, this moment always gets me and makes me sob big baby tears.

Chapter 15 we return to Majima's point of view, and his first time in Kamurocho in 3 years. Majima has been tasked with finding Tachibana Real Estate but is having no luck. Sagawa, who came with him, is really fucking pissed, convinced Majima isn't actually looking. He threatens Majima a ton again, reminding him that Makoto needs to die for him to live. Rather than acknowledge that, Majima asks if Shimano can help out the search, which Sagawa soundly rejects on the grounds of technically being rivals even though they're working together for the same fucking thing. Sagawa confirms that Shimano is the traitor, aiming to bring in the Omi to take over Tojo for Shimano's own benefit. After all this revelation, Sagawa sends Majima back out for more searching.

This time, Majima finds out that Tachibana guys have been laying low after being hunted by Dojima's lackeys. While he's going to track some down, he runs into members of the family he used to belong to, who want to kick his ass on principle. Their asses owned instead, even more show up, requesting he come see his former patriarch, who by the way is actually Siman- Shimano, Sagawa's sworn brother and the same man who had him tortured for disobedience.

Sagawa shows up at the meeting, too, telling them all Tachiba - all Tachibana has her, which is going all according to plan, according to Shimano. Shimano catches them up on why exactly the whole Tojo Clan and Dojima specifically wants the Lot. Kazama is also involved, trying to prevent Dojima and Shimano both from getting that power through Kiryu. And Shimano finally reveals that he tasked Majima with killing Makoto because he knew he wouldn't do it, gaining her trust so Majima could get the land from her without any dirty tricks or murder.

Oh, and one last info drop: Sera is still alive.

After all this expositioning, Shimano updates Majima's orders to bring Makoto to him and he'll reinstate Majima. He advises Majima go over to Nishikiyama to get to Kiryu in order to get to Makoto, and off Majima goes. He is very upset after all this, though. He's been played like a pawn and doesn't even want to find Makoto if he's just going to end up bringing her back to Shimano and Sagawa no matter what he does.

He gets over this pretty fast and tracks down Nishiki to Serena, by beating the crap out of Kashiwagi. His ass handed to him, Nishiki admits that Makoto has been missing for the past couple of hours - after seeing her brother's dead body, she dipped. She was last seen in West Park, so Majima immediately runs off to see if he can find her in the area... before any other yakuza do.

However, she isn't the area - in the area around West Park nor any of the closer buildings or neighborhoods. As the player, you end up running around for a while without a quest marker before maybe eventually thinking to check the Empty Lot? The place her brother just died, the place that started all this. She is actually there, on a roof overlooking the lot - Majima assumes she might be about to throw herself off the roof so he literally sprints as fast up there as possible. ("Oh, I'm not in love with her, noooo.") When they finally meet again, Makoto's eyes are somehow miraculously cured??? Although not all the way, and it's a bittersweet moment at the end of the chapter, as Makoto gazes on him and recognizes his voice but cannot see what he looks like yet.

Chapter 16, the penultimate chapter, which by the way is called "Proof of Love," opens with Makoto explaining that her eyesight started clearing when she touched her brother's corpse in Kiryu's arms, and her explaining she's fully aware the Dojima Family is responsible for his murder. Majima tries to reason her out of the revenge; if she hands over the Lot ownership she'll be safe again! But she doesn't want safety anymore, she wants their fucking heads on plates now that her brother is dead. He tries to argue with her reasoning that Tachibana would want to be avenged which angers her enough to leave him but she still needs some assistance - she got bad eyes - so they form a semi-unwilling team to get her some food, at least. Give her the time to fully process what she wants.

They go and get some takoyaki and chat a little bit, about her plans for revenge and how foolhardy and dangerous it would be for her to act on them. When Majima goes to get some more food, she takes off, naturally, leaving instructions to meet up again on the same roof the next day.

Majima spends the next approximately 20-odd hours worrying his head off before he finally goes to meet her. While he's waiting for her to show up, he pulls out that broken wristwatch - only to have to stuff it away when Shibusawa Family goons show up instead of her. They admit that Makoto reached out to Shibusawa herself to arrange handing over the Lot. Another fight down, Majima gets the info on where the meeting is occurring and sprints off to rescue her from herself.

We cut to Makoto being brought to Dojima ga- the Dojima gathering by Shibusawa, with Lao Gui present, too, at Dojima's right hand. There, Makoto announces she has conditions for the ownership: the lieutenants' heads as recompense for her brother's murder.

After the delivery of that demand, Majima comes storming in to the building and beats his way through all the trash guarding the meeting. He is just a moment too late, as Dojima gives the order and Lao Gui shoots her for her indo- insolent demands. Luckily, it's in the shoulder opposite her heart, so she can survive if she gets medical care as soon as possible. Majima clears another fight, during which we see him lose a couple of those apathetic protective layers he's clothed his personality in this whole game, and as he's about to take her away, Sera's crew shows up to take over getting her out and healthy again. This time, Sera actually brings Majima with him instead of whacking him, and Makoto is rushed to the nearest hospital, where Majima swears over her gurney to do anything for her as long as she's okay.

And with that heartfelt promise ends the chapter entitled "Proof of Love." Majima, you ain't slick, sir.

And now, the finale. We are back to Kiryu for this last stretch for most of the gameplay, but first we get a cutscene explaining Makoto's surgery was successful but she's yet to wake up despite the anesthesia wearing off. Sera warns that Dojima will come back to try again if they found out she's still alive, so he's transporting her somewhere she can be kept safe, with Majima's blessing. He's got something he needs to do.

We then cut to Dojima's officials discussing Shibusawa's success, but he claims there is still work to be done before he can claim being a captain: rooting out anyone who is and was associated with the Dojima traitor, Kazama. Which is a perfect segue into returning to Kiryu, who has returned to the start of it all once again. He and Nishiki still have no idea where Makoto is and are losing hope. Then Kiryu gets a strange number beeper, who turns out to be Sera when he calls back. Sera requests his visiting Little Asia to discuss something in-person.

This conversation is partially to catch up - catch Kiryu up to what Majima just went through, partially to inform Kiryu of Kazama's plan for the Nikkyo group to get the Lot and move against Dojima's growing power to prevent him becoming the next Tojo Chairman. Sera tells Kiryu Makoto is on Sera's boat and advised him - advises him to get out of town to avoid the Kazama target on his back. Kiryu, as is traditional now, hunts down Nishiki to talk it all out with him. 

And also is tradition at this point, Kuze interrupts his search for his bro, and they throw down yet again. This time, Kuze rewards Kiryu for beating him by telling him to go to Sera's yacht, as Shibusawa is on the way to destroy both her and the Nikkyo group with the full force of Dojima. So off he goes to the docks to do what he can with the Kazama Family, to protect Makoto and Sera.

We cut back to Majima to wrap up anything he can do in Kamurocho before sending him off to his final battles, too. Sagawa, hilariously enough, once again tries to stop Majima, but this time, with Makoto quote-unquote "dead" and Majima having made his promise to do whatever it takes to protect her, he ain't having any more of Sagawa's - or anyone's - shit. Some of those last protective layers peel off but he's not quite there to the psychopath we know and love yet. Although it does start becoming more apparent as we cut to the Dojima Family office and the trail of bloody bodies Majima has left behind him.

Then we cut to the docks and Sera's yacht, surrounded to hell and back by Dojima goons who are merely awaiting the order to start attacking. Just as it's given, our meathead duo roll up leading the caverly - ca-cavalry and start rolling heads. Kiryu fights his way allll the way up to the top of the boat, where Shibusawa has Makoto and her doctor currently held hostage.

Back to Majima beating the hell out of who remains in the Dojima office. He fights all the way to the patriarch's office where he has to fight Awano, which is where he finally makes the decision to be himself out loud, also admitting it's both Lee and Nishitani who are responsible for this change of personality. Lao Gui shows up, and Majima's authenticity convinces Awano to throw his body in front of the assassin until his gun's out of bullets. Now Majima has to fight Lao Gui with yet another sacrifice on his mind, but he's got the ammo with Dojima right there to rub it in his face how both Makoto and Awano died because of his greed. Majima's playable role in this story ends with him brutalizing Lao Gui in Dojima's office and staring down Dojima's gun barrel, only to- for the gun to be shot out of his hand by Sera himself.

And before we can finish that, we cut back to the final boss fight, Kiryu versus Shibusawa. This is a lot more personal of a fight for Shibusawa, and it's what earns Kiryu his series title as the Dragon of Dojima, as they both have dragon tattoos on their backs and immense power, just in different ways. And Kiryu's good nature outweighs Shibusawa's inherent selfishness at all costs, so he comes out on top. He's sorely tempted at 1 point to kill Shibusawa, but Nishiki saves him and reminds him to be a good meathead and they let Shibusawa get arrested instead, so all's well that ends well. What an oxymoron, a good yakuza.

Back to Majima, he is admitting he's also willing to kill to protect Makoto, but Sera points out that she would lose her admiration for him for killing on her behalf, and she would eventually become a target again due to revenge plots. Majima relents, especially after hearing she's awake again and the Lot transfer has completed to Sera, meaning she will never be in danger from Dojima again. Dojima, humiliated, gets to live to see his power dwindle and fade, and Majima walks out, but not before Sera tasks him with having Sagawa and Shimano take responsibility for betraying the Tojo Clan. Majima presents them with an opportunity: prove their loyalty, or he'll report them to Sera. He's still a Tojo man, after all, and he won't stoop to killing his own patriarch. Shimano kills his own family captain, saying that's his response, and swears by the murder he just committed he doesn't have anything to do with the Omi. However, that won't prevent him from still trying to gain control over the Tojo, as we'll see...

Fast forward to one month later... All the patriarchs are meeting with the Chairman, who is currently berating Dojima for his captain in jail, 1 lieutenant dead, and the other 2 now also in jail. He's no longer in the running for being the next clan captain, which relates to what everyone was called for: the announcement of Sera becoming the Tojo captain and taking over the Kamurocho development project Dojima had started and bought all that land for. To add even more insult to injury, Dojima becomes Sera's guardian; if Sera gets hurt or killed, it immediately becomes Dojima's fault. This all means, first, that Sera has been given a FUCKTON of power in both title and money, and second, if the Chairman dies, he will automatically become the new Chairman, and third, Dojima has been royally fucked over by his own hubris.

We then cut to Kiryu visiting his dad in jail, where Dad apologizes for involving Kiryu that way, and Kiryu in turn apologizes for returning to the yakuza after everything. He feels a need to, to set things straight, pay up all his debts, and find his own way instead of following Kazama's.

Our final cutscene is Majima announcing to Sagawa's face that he's going to live crazy, for himself, revealing his remainder-of-the-series duds of no shirt, suit pants and shoes, and snakeskin jacket. He and Sags share a cigarette, and then Majima walks off, leaving Sags to deal with his fate for betraying with the Tojo Clan. Betraying the Omi clan by working with the Tojo Clan. Uh, no more Sagawa, finally.

The cutscene then blends into Makoto dealing with some yakuza like a badass, with her full sight back. Right before things are going to turn violent towards Makoto, in walks Majima, who obviously recognizes her - but she doesn't recognize him, since she never got the chance to see him with her full sight until now. The yakuza harassing her are part of his family, and with a punch and some glaring, Majima gets them off her back. He never says a word intentionally, so she can't recognize who he is. Then a doctor Makoto has been seeing comes to get her, and Majima grabs the man to talk in private, essentially the usual "If you make her cry, your ear - your eyes become my next meal and your dick becomes my next trophy" kind of threatening. Which, like, if that doesn't prove how much he loves her, I don't know what does - oh, wait, there's one last cutscene, the post-credits scene.

Makoto walks in to the Empty Lot on one of the last days she can before it gets developed, carrying a massive bouquet to lay at her brother's death site. As she is begins to pray, for the last time at her brother's grave, she hears a sound that is familiar to her that forces her to stop: the cute melody of her watch before it became broken, before her life fell apart around her.

In the place that caused her life to take another drastic turn for the worse, the entire reason her brother died, returns her precious keepsake, fixed and whole again. Like she can be - without Majima in her life.

So that's it! That's the end of the story of this game. While I mill-will admit there are some character cards in the credits explaining some things vaguely to lead into Yakuza 1, all of those things also get addressed in the next game, so my lips are sealed until we get there! Which will be soon, because I'm Yakuza-ing it up and currently about 60-ish of the way through Kiwami 1's Xbox achievement list.

What a wild ride, huh? This is one of my favorite stories, and it doesn't stop here. Again, I'm going to do a story episode for 0 through 3 and then the first of 2 recap episodes for the series, to talk about my feelings and specific ridiculous things from each game I like or hate. For now, since I've already spoken for FOREVER, I want to give special attention to the fact that the Ryu ga Gotoku team manage to balance the absurdity with superb story in every single game, and further balancing that story every time with stakes, thrills, calmness, and character growth. It's ridiculously impressive, and the series certainly deserves all the praise and ratings it gets in my opinion!

So, before I go, I want to thank you for going along with this enormous story - this will not be the only episode like this, so if you like this hour of power, be sure to give the episode a like, check out the games on Gamepass, and let me know what you think using #VGTDragon . Today's opening and ending themes are, respectively, Hope the NCS Release by Tobu and Force the NCS Release by Alan Walker. All links will be in the description. My rant over with, thank you for your time today and have a good weekend! Bye!