Please, my father is very old and has earned his rest
Look, I’m maybe a little too into tragic heroic sacrifices, but I was a little disappointed that they couldn’t let Kiryu go. It felt a little cheap in Yakuza 6, and it especially feels cheap now he’s properly back. Even if I do quite like the idea of him as a secret agent man (I do hopeRC Succession’s Japanese versionis on karaoke machines).
Kiryu could never actually retire, of course. He couldn’t help but get involved to protect the innocent and parent the helpless. If he saw a tired salaryman bump into a young girl in the supermarket, he’d go to raise his fist in anger before realising no, this salaryman needs a father figure to help him learn about responsibility by playing Scalextric. As long as he draws breath, Kiryu will be a hero. He cannot be anything else. But I was at least ready to let him be that hero off-screen, to live a life of his own away from our prying eyes. Knowing that Kiryu is out there somewhere (and he is a real person, and all of these games are real, and it all really did happen, especially the bicycles) is enough for me.
Sega will tell you thatthe series now officially follows its Japanese name, Like A Dragon, not Yakuza, but don’t listen to them, it’s not true.
