Chase's "Kiryu-chan!" was so on point, I'm genuinely impressed. Good work on these episodes, and hearing Monty lose his shit at the plot throughout all of these has brought me no end of entertainment. Roll on Kiwami!
To note, while it is a very funny meme, Kiryu does indeed kill. He just doesn't like to kill as a first response and only does so in self-defence. The devs are baffled by the meme.
I'm not sure I buy that. He's way too willing to let bosses live. And if he does kill goons it falls straight into the expendable nooks problem. That said, having the discussion about Kiryu's reputation for not killing people in 6 is actually quite a good payoff either way.
It's a localization mix up. In the Japanese version? Those guys on the highway? Dead. So very dead. In the west? Nope! Ignored, never acknowledged. Basically a minigame! It gets weirder later on, because by 6, 7, Gaiden, and Infinite, Kiryu actually starts having lines where he is confused why people have this idea that he hasn't killed anyone, and does state that it is merely not an option he often takes, because few people are dangerous enough to merit such extreme force from someone like him. There are some other parts in Gaiden actually show Kiryu using his reputation for non-lethality to add emphasis to a threat by stating he doesn't care anymore, but I don't wanna go further into before they get there.
What are you talking about Kiryu has never killed anybody. *Deliberately ignores the 4 highways full of crashed vehicles, multiple crashed helicopters, people thrown off of 10+ story buildings, people hit by cars, people blown up by missiles, eaten by alligators and sharks, electrocuted, set on fire, drowned, cut apart with swords, shot, etc.* Yep, never killed anybody.
Fun fact about Majimas tattoo! A hannya mask traditionally represents rage and madness used as a mask for deep sadness. Rather appropriate don’t you think?
given how much majima changed over the course of the series, and the fact that 0 majima is very much the reflection of that development and depth rather than just being based on the version of him from the first game, it's kind of crazy how perfect his tattoo is as a character beat. i wasn't in the room when they designed him so i can't say for sure, but i'd lay money that the it was picked because a) hanya are scary, b) hanya are associated with madness, and c) it's an unusual tatto subject for a yakuza, which come together to tell the audience that majima is unpredictable, doesn't care about what others think of him, and even if he seems fun and friendly at first he's actually very dangerous so it's a bad idea to cross him. Which is really everything you need to know about him in 1, personality-wise, so already a fantastic design choice. but then you look at everything they do with him in 0/kiwami and the sheer amount of parallels is honestly kind of insane? the fact that it's not a real demon but of a mask used by people /pretending/ to be demons. the fact that to become hanya are ghosts so become one you have to die. the fact that hanya that that connection to grief you pointed out. the fact that obsession, usually with a man, is one of the things which can make a woman's ghost become a hanya after death and majima in 0 will do literally anything to see taiga again and fully intending to allow taiga to kill him, and then spends kiwami literally stalking kiryu. the fact that it's associated with noh specifically works on multiple levels because being stuck in a cycle playing the same part over and over is a recurring theme with him just like noh theatres have been performing the same plays for centuries. noh uses stock characters denoted by masks which ties to both that theme of cycles and adds another layer to the theme of performance vs identity because it's not just performing a role it's the performing a stock character and the actor playing them trying to make a name for themselves and standout all while knowing that the audience are here for the character not you and you could be replaced by someone else at any time and they wouldn't care. there's the way majima gets a lot of very classic, even old fashioned, tragic plot beats and tropes, and tradition being a recurring theme in every game in the franchise, and his tattoo explicitly connecting him to this art-form that hasn't changed for hundreds of years. and then there's the fact that hanya are female and from 0 onwards the writers do a whole bunch of really fascinating stuff around gender and majima's relationship with masculinity, which i could talk about for literally hours, and all of which feel like they must be part of why the hanya was chosen even though they couldn't have been. 0 repeatedly draws parrellels between majima's relationship with the yakuza, both generally and sagawa and shinamo specifically, and the way the underworld exploits and mistreats women, and that's not just something on a narrative level for the audience to pick up on, majima also makes that connection and sees himself reflected in the women he spends time with (who are all current or former sex workers). the overall theme of masculinity combines with the majima-specific theme of performance vs identity in some interesting ways and the tattoo feels so much like it's a deliberate part of that conversation even though it isn't. in both 0 and kiwami he's given a lot of plot beats or story tropes which are much more commonly associated with female characters (some of which was also present in one but not enough to make me think it was the reason they gave him that tattoo). the rewritten goromi scene in kiwami has a vibe i can only describe as 'we know some fans will interpret this a meaning majima is trans and we're cool with that even if it's not what we intended', and if kiwami was the first game where the tattoos appeared and I would absolutely think that awareness played a part in the choice of a hanya, if only in a small way. looked at from where the series and character are now, that tattoo feels like one of the single most carefully chosen bits of characters design ever, not just in gaming but in any media, and it's utterly wild that most of the reasons why it feels that way are probably just coincidences!
Shimano's introduction cutscene is such good animation but also tells us him as a character in a few seconds. He's eating fugu sashimi, a luxury expensive food that people enjoy one slice at a time to appreciate the flavour, which if prepared incorrectly is literal poison, but he scarves them down with no care about the price, the possibility of poison, or the flavours of the fish. So much layers to unpack of his characer from simply that 10/10 show don't tell in gaming.
1:57:30 a nice bit about the 5 Kuze fights - it's a recurring thing in later games around Kiryu fights that he will no-sell attacks in cutscenes and quick time events. But Kuze sucker punches Kiryu at the start and he goes down, albeit not as fast as Kuze would like. Then, in each subsequent Kuze fight, there's some kind of serious blow that Kiryu becomes more and more resistant to, until in the final fight he tries to deck Kiryu in the side of the head and Kiryu just no-sells it.
27:30 I love Kiryu disarming Oda, because he hasn't been taught the disarm move he learns in 1, so he just awkwardly grabs the gun and wrestles it out of Oda's hand. He then gives the loaded gun back intentionally and nothing bad happens, perhaps foreshadowing every single time ignoring a dropped gun backfires in basically every other game.
As someone who started from Yakuza 0 and had seen nothing from the series, the scene of Kiryu and Majima meeting for first time still sent shivers down my spine. It has that energy that whatever happens after this game, these two will be having heck of a time together.
The interesting thing about Kiryu and Majima is that they both came to the conclusion of "I'm going to live the rest of my life how I want to", but in different directions. Kiryu becomes someone who will stand up for anyone against adversity, while Majima decides to just go apeshit.
You need the Disco game to get a gold star hostess for Majima's club, which is the only reason I sat down and committed to learning it since it's kinda hard. Also it's actually impossible to beat Miracle Johnson at the Disco minigame, so there actually isn't anyone better even though he's not a final boss.
I started playing the Yakuza series October 2023, and was super excited when it was announced for a Lore Dump as this is my favorite podcast. I was a bit worried I wouldn't be able to finish playing the games myself before listening to the lore dumps, but having only Gaiden and IW left, I'm sure I can finish those before next year :)
Update: Finished Gaiden, sobbed like a fucking baby for like 20 minutes straight at the ending. Might be my favorite game in the franchise? Top 3 easy.
this was extremely fun to watch as a mega yakuza fan. Chase did a great job telling it all. cannot wait for the Monty and Neil to meet some of the upcoming characters.
Let's be clear: the scene of Majima greeting Kiryu with the iconic delivery of "Kiiiiryu-chaaan!!!" is 10,000% fan service and 0% effective storytelling. I got a big ol smile, but let's not kid ourselves and pretend it was narratively satisfying or intelligent writing. To end this game on that note sends series fans away with giddy smiles and newcomers with befuddled rage. I can't blame Monty, it's a super dumb ending when it's your entry point.
Its one of those things where you're sacrificing one groups enjoyment for another and personally? I'm okay with it. It's harmless to the overall story and it is saved to the very very end so i dont think its too disruptive. Its like when the post credits for the MCU werent ass
My favourite little detail Chase didn't get into was the motivations of Mr Shakedown. He is on a quest to become THE STRONGEST CREATURE IN THE WORLD, and that costs money, so he beats up random guys on the street to fund his way to punching a blue whale
It was so fun to hear Chase share the craziness that is Yakuza 0. Monty getting on board by the climax only to completely jump off at the ending scene, and Neil calling the tattoo twist was epic. This episode was almost as much of a roller-coaster as the actual game. Can't wait for Kiwami 1!! Let's goooo
As someone who just watched the entire Control and Kingdom Hearts Playlist for the x-time, THIS has to be my favorite Lore Dump to date! You three are great.
Im waiting for the next episode to actually be Yakuza0 part 4, and it's just a livestream of all of the minigames. Including Chicken Bowling, Billionare Kiryu, Majima's training waitresses, and of course Pocket Racing.
I’ve played a ton of these games and I never realized how much I’m relying on recognizing faces to keep up with names. If I hadn’t already played this game, I’d be so lost with the names whenever they aren’t the current screenshot
I was impressed Chase keeping the twist in as others called Tachibana human trafficker, then finding out he has been silent about it for TWO YEARS. 😂 I raise my fictional hat to you. Don't understand Tachibana hate, to my understanding he actually didn't threaten children.. 🤔 I also love Sera having the voice actor of Rufus Shinra, he has a voice acting type of white-suited masterminds 😁 This game was an amazing for Majima's voice actor, he's so good in this. And yeah, Majima's story ending here is very much "are you ok man?", they're right! Comparing Majima to Joker is so funny when ps2 original yakuza, Majima was voiced by Mark Hamil :'D
This series is my first time watching this channel, and I loved every second of this. There are a few details chase missed here and there, and I'd like to correct those real quick: The reason why there was no war with the Omi, was due to Sagawa being the fall guy. He is sworn brothers with Shimano, and he was the only other one there. Since no-one saw what happened, it wouldn't have been hard for the Omi to see all of this as his fault, especially with the mistakes he made during this game. The reason why majima chose to stay with Shimano, is due to his original goal of returning to the family to allow saejima to kill him and take his spot. Majima still sees what happened as a betrayal, and since he went after Shimano on sera's request, it was either "Kill Shimano and never atone for my "Betrayal", or "Let myself die and trust that Shimano will give my brother the message". This is also a payoff in the sense that it was the only truly unpredictable choice he made that was actually his intention. Dojima only discovered recently that the bureaucrats had no knowledge of the empty lot. He says in the cutscene "My people have been digging on that to make sure, and it's true". As a side note, which isn't going to be of any worth to anyone really, especially considering how long my comment already is, but I firmly believe that this series' story, all the way up to infinite wealth, is one of the best ever told in any series. There are writing flaws and plot-holes, but they are much fewer than people make it seem like. A lot of questions are answered in the series, either directly or subtly. A lot of people refuse admit or recognise these as "deep" in any way, because the series doesn't take itself as seriously as something like red dead or last of us 1, many found out about these games through the memes, so it's very common to be laughed at for even seeing these as Incredibly deep, and a fantastic representation of human flaws in general, but I don't have any shame in saying any of those things. You can visibly see the improvement on the writing after each game, and when it reaches 5, which has a messy narrative in parts but incredible character payoffs, that's when the series has consistently high quality.
Honestly the worst part of this is skimming over the fights in the sake of the story, and im not mad at that, i understand it must be done, buuut. Sure, _telling you_ that you fight Shibusawa is fine, but it's a whole nother experience fighting for the first time Did we even mention that Shibusawa actually uses evil™ versions of kiryus figuting styles in phases!? Phase one is Is quick moving fast pink style emblematic of rush, The second phase transitions to kiryu throwing Shibusawa off of the top of the boat to a lobby area with chairs, where Shibusawa transitions to a slow heavy, hard hitting yellow style where he hits you with the chairs and, and tanks all of your hits. That is lead up to be kiryu and Shibusawa fighting _back_ upstairs with the game coded to always play the chorus of his boss theme (titled "Two dragons"), where Shibusawa manages to tackle him back up where they started, where Shibusawa goes into his last phase, when he uses a well rounded red aura'd brawler style. Each of his punches cause the screen the shake, as you see put everything he has left into fists, and its more "it" its ever been, before kiryu just ends up wailing on him, and knocking him down with a mean final strike that knocks Shibusawa off his feet. Its one the best fights in the series for me, and one part that needs to be appreciated in these is RGG's incredible spectical and choreography. That is all.
I've been eagerly awaiting the 1st June for this release. About to be a great 3 or so hours! I seriously hope that the length of the first (chronologically) entry doesn't put them off the rest of the games, I desperately want to see them do the whole series.
We've had Neil in Kingdom Hearts 2 We've got Monty here. I wonder when Chase will be the one who says 'get f@$ked' in anger. Unless he said it already, in which case, let me know when he did please.
I'm incredibly fascinated at the end of 9 HOURS of content - Chase you hardy soul! At time of writing I've only played the turn-based games (Like a Dragon and Infinite Wealth), and yet it feels almost like nothing has changed for a decade-plus. The bombast, the juxtaposition of serious murderous drama and wacky goofy shenanigans, the MAN vibes. Really looking forward to the original and seeing how strong the vision was at the start.
An absolutely fantastic video as always, thank you guys!!! I watched a streamer play 0 ages ago, and that's about as far into the series as I got--I'm super curious to see what comes next and the shenanigans that ensue!
Ay lads perfect timing, got an 8 hour drive after a 10 hour work shift to get through. Hope y'all are doin well. Saw this in the playlist yesterday and got all excited before it disappeared, haha.
I always took Kuze getting more health bars after more and more severe beatings is he is on a lot of pain killers. That is also my explanation for why he seems to be so excited for fights to the point of being dumb.
I listen to these in the background while doing chores and such, so this is the first time I've noticed the name of the last time stamp. I can tell who edited this video ahahahaha
Ya'll really let him start like that? This is gonna be a fun ride. Edit: Man, a comment right off the bat, and then a last minute add-on. I've played every Yakuza game, (except the zombie shooters.) starting with Kiwami 1, then going to 0, then Kiwami 2, then 3, 4, etc. I completely agree with Monty. I hated most of Kiryu's part of the game, adored Majima's and literally alt-f4'd out of 0 when Majima met Kiryu in that post ending cut scene because I hated it so much. It made no sense. How the hell did he even know that was Kiryu? Even more...how did Kiryu have any idea who this nutjob was approaching him? And most importantly...why they having this meeting? Is it professional, as a Captain and a Lieutenant in families that share allegiances? Are they about to fight? If so...why? They're on the same side, and have no grudge now. It make no sense at all from a narrative stand point and just feels insulting that this...this is our origin for the epic relationship that is Kiryu and Majima. And it's such a wet fart of a start.
Ehh the origin wasn’t about their rivalry it was them becoming who they would be later in the series. It’s fine if their first meeting isn’t shown but in my eyes it’s a hint at what’s to cone
I see from the timestamps that most of the last hour is a rant-a-thon, and I am excited to see all this. Yakuza 0 is the best released-later starting point in any narrative-based game series, but I presume it still suffers a bit from not actually being the first one.
I hope Chase goes into more detail about the fights rather than just punch,punch,punch .Loys of the qte’s and fighting styles are glossed over in the Shibusawa fight and the last Kuze fight. Cause there are 2 boss fights later in the series will be decimated in anticlimax but other than that great episode
Monty with the out there takes. 😂 Never change my man!! Yeah the two leads don’t meet, but it establishes them and sets them up on their path for the future games. And we get that stinger at the end to foreshadow their dynamic. The Batman joker comparison doesn’t work because if that was the game you were playing, it would have been set up the same way because the people making the game would already assume, much like the developers of this game did, that you’d know who these characters are and what they’re relationship is. So it can work well as a jumping on point or as a prequel for long time fans.
The difficult thing of starting at Zero vs Kiwami is that some characters are much more interesting/developed when you start at one versus the other. If you start with 0, I think it gives you such a great foundation for Kiryu and Nishiki's relationship and gives you some intrigue and mystique for Kazama and Sera as you go into 1. It also gives you great context for Dojima and the peak of his family's power. If you start with 1 and return later to 0, I think it is a tremendously effective way to see Majima in a different light from how you have grown to know him from the other games and it is really satisfying to see that transformation and his tragic tale in this story (which, I'll agree with Monty, is by far the best writing in this game). I think the problem is that doing 1 before 0 makes Nishiki/Kiryu's relationship far less interesting and doing 0 before 1 is a bit of a waste of Majima/Kiryu's relationship. It's unfortunate, because both of those arcs are so important. Personally, I'm glad I started with Kiwami before I played 0. Majima's usage in Kiwami was what made me want to play more Yakuza, point blank. Nevertheless, this series is a fun and wild ride and I'm excited to see how the boys react. The excitement paired with the dismay is EXACTLY what I hope to hear from anyone hearing about this series from a fresh perspective. Appreciate you boys letting us sit in the back seat for the ride!
I started with Kiwami and then went to 0 and I think it’s easily the best way to play the series. It makes both characters stories SO much more interesting when you know how Majima, Nishki, Kazuma, etc all develop over time. Not to mention the stance based combat is consistent from 1 to 0 so you won’t be losing anything going to 0 after any other games post 1.
The sequel baiting conversation absolutely made me think I was listening to the kingdom hearts lore dumps again because they have almost that EXACT conversation there too.
11 seconds in and I had to physically put my phone down and walk ten feet away from it. And just stare at it. It’s rare that someone can make me so viscerally disturbed that I have to backpedal, physically, away from what was said. Even rarer that it happens digitally rather than irl. So. Well? Done? Chase?
To be honest, I do understand the criticism towards the unsatisfactory conclusions to the story, but I think this is only really the case if 0 is your first Yakuza (which it is, and why I understand the frustration lmao). I think 0, and especially it’s conclusion, is truly made by the way it reflects, contrasts, adheres to and disobeys what the series of Yakuza is. Understandably newcomers won’t get that until they get through later entries and the critiques towards those moments is very justified! I do think it’s something to keep in mind tho, even if in the end your minds don’t change on it.
I think there will always be contention with starting with Yakuza 0. I consider it one of the best games in the series and an alright way to understand some of the main characters. However, playing it in release order I think is the best option. Obviously the callbacks and references to future stories/characters are fun in context, but I would say Majima’s story is incredibly importance in context. I’ll keep things spoiler-lite, but from Yakuza 1-5, we see Majima as a more and more complex and compassionate character, which makes his eccentricities a mystery. With Zero, we learn how he changed and remained the same, especially in his dedication to Saejima. I think that’s the key to understanding Majima. You don’t understand why he stays with Shimano, why Sagawa calling him “Tiger” is insulting, why he does everything to remain a notable yakuza; unless you have played the later games.
-SPOILERS FOR YAKUZA KIWAMI- I think a better ending cutscene (at least for newer players) would be the cutscene from Kiwami 1 where Kiryu walks in on Nishiki after he killed Dojima. It wouldn’t be longer than like 20-30 seconds but just getting that little hint of what’s to come and how soon everything will come crashing down for Kiryu is eerie and very intriguing. I wouldn’t give up the ending we got for the world tho. Love it as a huge fan of the series
man i did love this but i agree that end was not great and hearing that majima isn't a main character for the rest of the series is a little sad because i fully agree that his story in this game is (at times, most times.. just not always) FANTASTIC! to the point where anytime Kiryu is even mentioned, i have to take a moment to remember who he is... as the main character. But maybe once the story can focus more on Kiryu i'll start to care about him if Majima isn't there to steal my attention away.
I think AW2 is planned for October, and if the DLC lines up with the gang's recording schedule, it'll get in there too. Probably not IN October if it releases then, but you know what I mean.
Monty, have you considered rotating hosts each game? As much as I love this show I think it might fatigue viewers to only watch videos of one game franchise over the span of months maybe even years. Also if this series is getting demonetized it might be good to switch between this, and another franchise each month.
2:56:12 Personally, I don't like it, for me it seems like vital character development hit them all at once offscreen. Majima went from 30 to 100 on an insanity scale and now he has this relationship that I don't understand the foundation for.
Majima going from 30 to 100 on the insanity scale out of nowhere is the point though. His entire character is that his insanity is a coping mechanism/projection because the whole Makoto thing demonstrated that he's always going to be manipulated unless he puts up the Mad Dog persona as a shield. Can't really argue with Majima + Kiryu relationship being off-screen though, since their relationship was already "off-screen started" way back in the original Yakuza 1.
@ancientspark375 even if I accept that explanation I would still want to see it incorporated into the actual story. His realization that that's what he wanted to do and a first attempt or 2. As it is there's just an unbridged gap between how he is during the actual game and how he is in the epilogue.
That would be needless.We get the jist he decides to not let himself be held back and also decides to be unpredictable we see that in the Sahara cutscene .Enough time is devoted to it to make it great
Chase's "Kiryu-chan!" was so on point, I'm genuinely impressed. Good work on these episodes, and hearing Monty lose his shit at the plot throughout all of these has brought me no end of entertainment. Roll on Kiwami!
To note, while it is a very funny meme, Kiryu does indeed kill. He just doesn't like to kill as a first response and only does so in self-defence. The devs are baffled by the meme.
I'm not sure I buy that. He's way too willing to let bosses live. And if he does kill goons it falls straight into the expendable nooks problem.
That said, having the discussion about Kiryu's reputation for not killing people in 6 is actually quite a good payoff either way.
It's a localization mix up. In the Japanese version? Those guys on the highway? Dead. So very dead. In the west? Nope! Ignored, never acknowledged. Basically a minigame! It gets weirder later on, because by 6, 7, Gaiden, and Infinite, Kiryu actually starts having lines where he is confused why people have this idea that he hasn't killed anyone, and does state that it is merely not an option he often takes, because few people are dangerous enough to merit such extreme force from someone like him. There are some other parts in Gaiden actually show Kiryu using his reputation for non-lethality to add emphasis to a threat by stating he doesn't care anymore, but I don't wanna go further into before they get there.
What are you talking about Kiryu has never killed anybody.
*Deliberately ignores the 4 highways full of crashed vehicles, multiple crashed helicopters, people thrown off of 10+ story buildings, people hit by cars, people blown up by missiles, eaten by alligators and sharks, electrocuted, set on fire, drowned, cut apart with swords, shot, etc.*
Yep, never killed anybody.
Fun fact about Majimas tattoo! A hannya mask traditionally represents rage and madness used as a mask for deep sadness. Rather appropriate don’t you think?
given how much majima changed over the course of the series, and the fact that 0 majima is very much the reflection of that development and depth rather than just being based on the version of him from the first game, it's kind of crazy how perfect his tattoo is as a character beat. i wasn't in the room when they designed him so i can't say for sure, but i'd lay money that the it was picked because a) hanya are scary, b) hanya are associated with madness, and c) it's an unusual tatto subject for a yakuza, which come together to tell the audience that majima is unpredictable, doesn't care about what others think of him, and even if he seems fun and friendly at first he's actually very dangerous so it's a bad idea to cross him. Which is really everything you need to know about him in 1, personality-wise, so already a fantastic design choice.
but then you look at everything they do with him in 0/kiwami and the sheer amount of parallels is honestly kind of insane? the fact that it's not a real demon but of a mask used by people /pretending/ to be demons. the fact that to become hanya are ghosts so become one you have to die. the fact that hanya that that connection to grief you pointed out. the fact that obsession, usually with a man, is one of the things which can make a woman's ghost become a hanya after death and majima in 0 will do literally anything to see taiga again and fully intending to allow taiga to kill him, and then spends kiwami literally stalking kiryu.
the fact that it's associated with noh specifically works on multiple levels because being stuck in a cycle playing the same part over and over is a recurring theme with him just like noh theatres have been performing the same plays for centuries. noh uses stock characters denoted by masks which ties to both that theme of cycles and adds another layer to the theme of performance vs identity because it's not just performing a role it's the performing a stock character and the actor playing them trying to make a name for themselves and standout all while knowing that the audience are here for the character not you and you could be replaced by someone else at any time and they wouldn't care. there's the way majima gets a lot of very classic, even old fashioned, tragic plot beats and tropes, and tradition being a recurring theme in every game in the franchise, and his tattoo explicitly connecting him to this art-form that hasn't changed for hundreds of years.
and then there's the fact that hanya are female and from 0 onwards the writers do a whole bunch of really fascinating stuff around gender and majima's relationship with masculinity, which i could talk about for literally hours, and all of which feel like they must be part of why the hanya was chosen even though they couldn't have been. 0 repeatedly draws parrellels between majima's relationship with the yakuza, both generally and sagawa and shinamo specifically, and the way the underworld exploits and mistreats women, and that's not just something on a narrative level for the audience to pick up on, majima also makes that connection and sees himself reflected in the women he spends time with (who are all current or former sex workers). the overall theme of masculinity combines with the majima-specific theme of performance vs identity in some interesting ways and the tattoo feels so much like it's a deliberate part of that conversation even though it isn't. in both 0 and kiwami he's given a lot of plot beats or story tropes which are much more commonly associated with female characters (some of which was also present in one but not enough to make me think it was the reason they gave him that tattoo). the rewritten goromi scene in kiwami has a vibe i can only describe as 'we know some fans will interpret this a meaning majima is trans and we're cool with that even if it's not what we intended', and if kiwami was the first game where the tattoos appeared and I would absolutely think that awareness played a part in the choice of a hanya, if only in a small way.
looked at from where the series and character are now, that tattoo feels like one of the single most carefully chosen bits of characters design ever, not just in gaming but in any media, and it's utterly wild that most of the reasons why it feels that way are probably just coincidences!
Shimano's introduction cutscene is such good animation but also tells us him as a character in a few seconds. He's eating fugu sashimi, a luxury expensive food that people enjoy one slice at a time to appreciate the flavour, which if prepared incorrectly is literal poison, but he scarves them down with no care about the price, the possibility of poison, or the flavours of the fish. So much layers to unpack of his characer from simply that 10/10 show don't tell in gaming.
Monty’s take on 0 is wild, can’t wait to see the rest. Its really funny Monty is having basically the same reaction to Yakuza 0 Chase had to RDR
1:57:30 a nice bit about the 5 Kuze fights - it's a recurring thing in later games around Kiryu fights that he will no-sell attacks in cutscenes and quick time events. But Kuze sucker punches Kiryu at the start and he goes down, albeit not as fast as Kuze would like. Then, in each subsequent Kuze fight, there's some kind of serious blow that Kiryu becomes more and more resistant to, until in the final fight he tries to deck Kiryu in the side of the head and Kiryu just no-sells it.
27:30 I love Kiryu disarming Oda, because he hasn't been taught the disarm move he learns in 1, so he just awkwardly grabs the gun and wrestles it out of Oda's hand.
He then gives the loaded gun back intentionally and nothing bad happens, perhaps foreshadowing every single time ignoring a dropped gun backfires in basically every other game.
As someone who started from Yakuza 0 and had seen nothing from the series, the scene of Kiryu and Majima meeting for first time still sent shivers down my spine. It has that energy that whatever happens after this game, these two will be having heck of a time together.
The interesting thing about Kiryu and Majima is that they both came to the conclusion of "I'm going to live the rest of my life how I want to", but in different directions. Kiryu becomes someone who will stand up for anyone against adversity, while Majima decides to just go apeshit.
sagawas death is the reason theres no war with the omi, he was the fall guy
You need the Disco game to get a gold star hostess for Majima's club, which is the only reason I sat down and committed to learning it since it's kinda hard. Also it's actually impossible to beat Miracle Johnson at the Disco minigame, so there actually isn't anyone better even though he's not a final boss.
Majima's number one desire was to be in the Yakuza and face death for failing his sworn brother Saejima. That's why he didn't betray Shimano.
I look and see a timestamp thatis just "get f@$ked" and honestly.... That feels like a timestamp for real life.
I started playing the Yakuza series October 2023, and was super excited when it was announced for a Lore Dump as this is my favorite podcast. I was a bit worried I wouldn't be able to finish playing the games myself before listening to the lore dumps, but having only Gaiden and IW left, I'm sure I can finish those before next year :)
Update: Finished Gaiden, sobbed like a fucking baby for like 20 minutes straight at the ending. Might be my favorite game in the franchise? Top 3 easy.
@@jdhdpthat gaiden ending hits like a truck man. Along with the majima chapters for kiwami 2
this was extremely fun to watch as a mega yakuza fan. Chase did a great job telling it all. cannot wait for the Monty and Neil to meet some of the upcoming characters.
Let's be clear: the scene of Majima greeting Kiryu with the iconic delivery of "Kiiiiryu-chaaan!!!" is 10,000% fan service and 0% effective storytelling. I got a big ol smile, but let's not kid ourselves and pretend it was narratively satisfying or intelligent writing. To end this game on that note sends series fans away with giddy smiles and newcomers with befuddled rage. I can't blame Monty, it's a super dumb ending when it's your entry point.
Its one of those things where you're sacrificing one groups enjoyment for another and personally? I'm okay with it.
It's harmless to the overall story and it is saved to the very very end so i dont think its too disruptive. Its like when the post credits for the MCU werent ass
My favourite little detail Chase didn't get into was the motivations of Mr Shakedown. He is on a quest to become THE STRONGEST CREATURE IN THE WORLD, and that costs money, so he beats up random guys on the street to fund his way to punching a blue whale
I can't wait to see which game Monty will whole heartedly enjoy
Normally I read the description before I watch a Lore Dump episode...I forgot to do that here so Monty's rant caught me off guard.
It was so fun to hear Chase share the craziness that is Yakuza 0. Monty getting on board by the climax only to completely jump off at the ending scene, and Neil calling the tattoo twist was epic. This episode was almost as much of a roller-coaster as the actual game. Can't wait for Kiwami 1!! Let's goooo
As someone who just watched the entire Control and Kingdom Hearts Playlist for the x-time, THIS has to be my favorite Lore Dump to date!
You three are great.
Glad to see Monty still loving Kuze, because same.
Im waiting for the next episode to actually be Yakuza0 part 4, and it's just a livestream of all of the minigames. Including Chicken Bowling, Billionare Kiryu, Majima's training waitresses, and of course Pocket Racing.
2:55:00 I just know for a fact that Chase rehearsed this and pumped himself up in front of a mirror before the recording.
I’ve played a ton of these games and I never realized how much I’m relying on recognizing faces to keep up with names. If I hadn’t already played this game, I’d be so lost with the names whenever they aren’t the current screenshot
To be completely fair, that recap of Yakuza 0 was only a few seconds over a minute. So good work!
I was impressed Chase keeping the twist in as others called Tachibana human trafficker, then finding out he has been silent about it for TWO YEARS. 😂 I raise my fictional hat to you. Don't understand Tachibana hate, to my understanding he actually didn't threaten children.. 🤔 I also love Sera having the voice actor of Rufus Shinra, he has a voice acting type of white-suited masterminds 😁 This game was an amazing for Majima's voice actor, he's so good in this. And yeah, Majima's story ending here is very much "are you ok man?", they're right! Comparing Majima to Joker is so funny when ps2 original yakuza, Majima was voiced by Mark Hamil :'D
He didnt threaten children but he's still a bit of a dpuchey real estate mongrel
This series is my first time watching this channel, and I loved every second of this. There are a few details chase missed here and there, and I'd like to correct those real quick:
The reason why there was no war with the Omi, was due to Sagawa being the fall guy. He is sworn brothers with Shimano, and he was the only other one there. Since no-one saw what happened, it wouldn't have been hard for the Omi to see all of this as his fault, especially with the mistakes he made during this game.
The reason why majima chose to stay with Shimano, is due to his original goal of returning to the family to allow saejima to kill him and take his spot. Majima still sees what happened as a betrayal, and since he went after Shimano on sera's request, it was either "Kill Shimano and never atone for my "Betrayal", or "Let myself die and trust that Shimano will give my brother the message". This is also a payoff in the sense that it was the only truly unpredictable choice he made that was actually his intention.
Dojima only discovered recently that the bureaucrats had no knowledge of the empty lot. He says in the cutscene "My people have been digging on that to make sure, and it's true".
As a side note, which isn't going to be of any worth to anyone really, especially considering how long my comment already is, but I firmly believe that this series' story, all the way up to infinite wealth, is one of the best ever told in any series. There are writing flaws and plot-holes, but they are much fewer than people make it seem like. A lot of questions are answered in the series, either directly or subtly. A lot of people refuse admit or recognise these as "deep" in any way, because the series doesn't take itself as seriously as something like red dead or last of us 1, many found out about these games through the memes, so it's very common to be laughed at for even seeing these as Incredibly deep, and a fantastic representation of human flaws in general, but I don't have any shame in saying any of those things. You can visibly see the improvement on the writing after each game, and when it reaches 5, which has a messy narrative in parts but incredible character payoffs, that's when the series has consistently high quality.
Rubber bullets
Thats a mystery mousekatool for later
Honestly the worst part of this is skimming over the fights in the sake of the story, and im not mad at that, i understand it must be done, buuut.
Sure, _telling you_ that you fight Shibusawa is fine, but it's a whole nother experience fighting for the first time
Did we even mention that Shibusawa actually uses evil™ versions of kiryus figuting styles in phases!?
Phase one is Is quick moving fast pink style emblematic of rush,
The second phase transitions to kiryu throwing Shibusawa off of the top of the boat to a lobby area with chairs, where Shibusawa transitions to a slow heavy, hard hitting yellow style where he hits you with the chairs and, and tanks all of your hits.
That is lead up to be kiryu and Shibusawa fighting _back_ upstairs with the game coded to always play the chorus of his boss theme (titled "Two dragons"), where Shibusawa manages to tackle him back up where they started,
where Shibusawa goes into his last phase, when he uses a well rounded red aura'd brawler style.
Each of his punches cause the screen the shake, as you see put everything he has left into fists, and its more "it" its ever been,
before kiryu just ends up wailing on him, and knocking him down with a mean final strike that knocks Shibusawa off his feet.
Its one the best fights in the series for me, and one part that needs to be appreciated in these is RGG's incredible spectical and choreography.
That is all.
Kiryu is broke because the bubble bursts, I think.
yep, when the bubble burst it bankrupted his business. pretty sure majima just got bored and tired of running his club and sold it to Yuki.
@@cjirwin867well he never really owns the club. He just up and leaves at one point. Completely leaves town
He doesn't "own" it but I believe it was either kiwami or kiwami 2 but he does say he sold it when he got bored
Was just sitting and waiting for the Tachibana, Makoto reveals and everything that followed. Wasn’t disappointed
I've been eagerly awaiting the 1st June for this release. About to be a great 3 or so hours! I seriously hope that the length of the first (chronologically) entry doesn't put them off the rest of the games, I desperately want to see them do the whole series.
We've had Neil in Kingdom Hearts 2
We've got Monty here.
I wonder when Chase will be the one who says 'get f@$ked' in anger.
Unless he said it already, in which case, let me know when he did please.
I'm incredibly fascinated at the end of 9 HOURS of content - Chase you hardy soul!
At time of writing I've only played the turn-based games (Like a Dragon and Infinite Wealth), and yet it feels almost like nothing has changed for a decade-plus. The bombast, the juxtaposition of serious murderous drama and wacky goofy shenanigans, the MAN vibes. Really looking forward to the original and seeing how strong the vision was at the start.
An absolutely fantastic video as always, thank you guys!!! I watched a streamer play 0 ages ago, and that's about as far into the series as I got--I'm super curious to see what comes next and the shenanigans that ensue!
Ay lads perfect timing, got an 8 hour drive after a 10 hour work shift to get through. Hope y'all are doin well.
Saw this in the playlist yesterday and got all excited before it disappeared, haha.
I always took Kuze getting more health bars after more and more severe beatings is he is on a lot of pain killers. That is also my explanation for why he seems to be so excited for fights to the point of being dumb.
I listen to these in the background while doing chores and such, so this is the first time I've noticed the name of the last time stamp. I can tell who edited this video ahahahaha
Stupid Makoto and Majima... Making me bawl
Are you guys going to cover Yakuza: Dead Souls? I know it’s not a canon game in the series, but the plot is pretty crazy.
Ya'll really let him start like that? This is gonna be a fun ride.
Edit: Man, a comment right off the bat, and then a last minute add-on. I've played every Yakuza game, (except the zombie shooters.) starting with Kiwami 1, then going to 0, then Kiwami 2, then 3, 4, etc. I completely agree with Monty. I hated most of Kiryu's part of the game, adored Majima's and literally alt-f4'd out of 0 when Majima met Kiryu in that post ending cut scene because I hated it so much. It made no sense. How the hell did he even know that was Kiryu? Even more...how did Kiryu have any idea who this nutjob was approaching him? And most importantly...why they having this meeting? Is it professional, as a Captain and a Lieutenant in families that share allegiances? Are they about to fight? If so...why? They're on the same side, and have no grudge now. It make no sense at all from a narrative stand point and just feels insulting that this...this is our origin for the epic relationship that is Kiryu and Majima. And it's such a wet fart of a start.
Ehh the origin wasn’t about their rivalry it was them becoming who they would be later in the series. It’s fine if their first meeting isn’t shown but in my eyes it’s a hint at what’s to cone
Love the lore dump for this game great job guys😊. Hoping you also do the judgement spin-off games eventually
I see from the timestamps that most of the last hour is a rant-a-thon, and I am excited to see all this.
Yakuza 0 is the best released-later starting point in any narrative-based game series, but I presume it still suffers a bit from not actually being the first one.
Man, having seen how The Man Who Erased His Name ends, these guys are in for a WILD emotional time.
Just to add to games you should cover in lore dumps id like to see dragon age and persona
1:02:39 I hit a sad gulp and then heard "...rip." and almost pissed myself. Nice play, you guys'll kill me one day
I hope Chase goes into more detail about the fights rather than just punch,punch,punch .Loys of the qte’s and fighting styles are glossed over in the Shibusawa fight and the last Kuze fight.
Cause there are 2 boss fights later in the series will be decimated in anticlimax but other than that great episode
yes exactly
Monty with the out there takes. 😂 Never change my man!!
Yeah the two leads don’t meet, but it establishes them and sets them up on their path for the future games. And we get that stinger at the end to foreshadow their dynamic.
The Batman joker comparison doesn’t work because if that was the game you were playing, it would have been set up the same way because the people making the game would already assume, much like the developers of this game did, that you’d know who these characters are and what they’re relationship is.
So it can work well as a jumping on point or as a prequel for long time fans.
The difficult thing of starting at Zero vs Kiwami is that some characters are much more interesting/developed when you start at one versus the other.
If you start with 0, I think it gives you such a great foundation for Kiryu and Nishiki's relationship and gives you some intrigue and mystique for Kazama and Sera as you go into 1. It also gives you great context for Dojima and the peak of his family's power.
If you start with 1 and return later to 0, I think it is a tremendously effective way to see Majima in a different light from how you have grown to know him from the other games and it is really satisfying to see that transformation and his tragic tale in this story (which, I'll agree with Monty, is by far the best writing in this game).
I think the problem is that doing 1 before 0 makes Nishiki/Kiryu's relationship far less interesting and doing 0 before 1 is a bit of a waste of Majima/Kiryu's relationship. It's unfortunate, because both of those arcs are so important.
Personally, I'm glad I started with Kiwami before I played 0. Majima's usage in Kiwami was what made me want to play more Yakuza, point blank.
Nevertheless, this series is a fun and wild ride and I'm excited to see how the boys react. The excitement paired with the dismay is EXACTLY what I hope to hear from anyone hearing about this series from a fresh perspective. Appreciate you boys letting us sit in the back seat for the ride!
I started with Kiwami and then went to 0 and I think it’s easily the best way to play the series. It makes both characters stories SO much more interesting when you know how Majima, Nishki, Kazuma, etc all develop over time. Not to mention the stance based combat is consistent from 1 to 0 so you won’t be losing anything going to 0 after any other games post 1.
2:28:07 In hindsight its probably because of Taiga Saijima
The sequel baiting conversation absolutely made me think I was listening to the kingdom hearts lore dumps again because they have almost that EXACT conversation there too.
21:00 I see what you did there
11 seconds in and I had to physically put my phone down and walk ten feet away from it. And just stare at it.
It’s rare that someone can make me so viscerally disturbed that I have to backpedal, physically, away from what was said. Even rarer that it happens digitally rather than irl.
So. Well? Done? Chase?
To be honest, I do understand the criticism towards the unsatisfactory conclusions to the story, but I think this is only really the case if 0 is your first Yakuza (which it is, and why I understand the frustration lmao). I think 0, and especially it’s conclusion, is truly made by the way it reflects, contrasts, adheres to and disobeys what the series of Yakuza is. Understandably newcomers won’t get that until they get through later entries and the critiques towards those moments is very justified! I do think it’s something to keep in mind tho, even if in the end your minds don’t change on it.
I definitely agree with Monty on the ending 😂 Maybe it will change in 10 years when we get to the end of 5.
I think there will always be contention with starting with Yakuza 0. I consider it one of the best games in the series and an alright way to understand some of the main characters. However, playing it in release order I think is the best option. Obviously the callbacks and references to future stories/characters are fun in context, but I would say Majima’s story is incredibly importance in context.
I’ll keep things spoiler-lite, but from Yakuza 1-5, we see Majima as a more and more complex and compassionate character, which makes his eccentricities a mystery. With Zero, we learn how he changed and remained the same, especially in his dedication to Saejima.
I think that’s the key to understanding Majima. You don’t understand why he stays with Shimano, why Sagawa calling him “Tiger” is insulting, why he does everything to remain a notable yakuza; unless you have played the later games.
Congrats on finishing yazuza 0 hope the next lore dump is Alan wake 2 I have been waiting patiently for that one .
Yakuza 0 is one of my favorite games, I find Monty's reaction wild x)
They did, in fact, not cut that
YAY!! PART 3!!!
This was AMAZING
Umm, I feel like mokoto should be able to infer by the eyepatch, or at least consider it😂
-SPOILERS FOR YAKUZA KIWAMI-
I think a better ending cutscene (at least for newer players) would be the cutscene from Kiwami 1 where Kiryu walks in on Nishiki after he killed Dojima. It wouldn’t be longer than like 20-30 seconds but just getting that little hint of what’s to come and how soon everything will come crashing down for Kiryu is eerie and very intriguing. I wouldn’t give up the ending we got for the world tho. Love it as a huge fan of the series
Two yearsss!)))
man i did love this but i agree that end was not great and hearing that majima isn't a main character for the rest of the series is a little sad because i fully agree that his story in this game is (at times, most times.. just not always) FANTASTIC! to the point where anytime Kiryu is even mentioned, i have to take a moment to remember who he is... as the main character.
But maybe once the story can focus more on Kiryu i'll start to care about him if Majima isn't there to steal my attention away.
Its finally here
Yakuza 5 is ganna be 8 parts or they are ganna have 5 hour episodes each
We have to have a chapter just for montys dream
Also, no, Majima has not killed anyone.
I agree with Monty's feelings about Kiryu and Majima at the end.
Ahh got excited thinking this was the Alan Wake 2 episode, are you guys doing the DlC first?
I think AW2 is planned for October, and if the DLC lines up with the gang's recording schedule, it'll get in there too. Probably not IN October if it releases then, but you know what I mean.
@RougeMephilesClone yeah the DlC could add a fair bit story and lore wise so would be better than retroactively having to change theory's
Monty, have you considered rotating hosts each game? As much as I love this show I think it might fatigue viewers to only watch videos of one game franchise over the span of months maybe even years. Also if this series is getting demonetized it might be good to switch between this, and another franchise each month.
Wait did I miss it or did Chase not cover the legendary styles at all?
Algorithm feeding comment
Takoyaki is great, but I'm more of a Peking duck guy.
2:56:12 Personally, I don't like it, for me it seems like vital character development hit them all at once offscreen. Majima went from 30 to 100 on an insanity scale and now he has this relationship that I don't understand the foundation for.
Majima going from 30 to 100 on the insanity scale out of nowhere is the point though. His entire character is that his insanity is a coping mechanism/projection because the whole Makoto thing demonstrated that he's always going to be manipulated unless he puts up the Mad Dog persona as a shield.
Can't really argue with Majima + Kiryu relationship being off-screen though, since their relationship was already "off-screen started" way back in the original Yakuza 1.
@ancientspark375 even if I accept that explanation I would still want to see it incorporated into the actual story. His realization that that's what he wanted to do and a first attempt or 2. As it is there's just an unbridged gap between how he is during the actual game and how he is in the epilogue.
That would be needless.We get the jist he decides to not let himself be held back and also decides to be unpredictable we see that in the Sahara cutscene .Enough time is devoted to it to make it great
YEEEEEEEE HAWWWWWW
You guys are not real humans.