FUN FACT: I found out in post, but Takemura can actually TELL V about Jackie being in Mikoshi. I've never had that happen or even heard of it, but damn. It happens during the Bakeneko conversation, I believe. As crappy as that information is for V, it says a lot that he let V know. AGAIN. A COOL DUDE. ALSO! He was initially considered as a romance option, but there wasn't enough time to properly implement that story. Which, hey, understandable!
Takemura's life was devoted to Arasaka. Even being framed and attacked by them he still tried to go save Hanako. As much as a stubborn dog he is, his character and honour is rare for Night city. Too bad it also blinded him.
In the Arisaka space ending, I think Tak felt more uncomfortable taking Saburos' orders from Yorinobus body. Imagine if the corpse of your sworn enemy started barking orders. It would be like the Nick Valentine/Kellog interaction in F4.
I use the convo between V and Takemura bout corporate order to show how the most dystopian part of cyberpunk is how people can't imagine a better world. They either claim the evils are necessary, or they want to tear the evil apart (maybe even, say, use a nuke in a densely populated area) without constructive progress. Cyberpunk dystopias happen when we imagine a world without people who trust each other to build a better world for the sake of everyone. It's a warning against living in fear and looking only to despair or corporate authoritarianism as solution. I wonder why it feels so relevant?
Definitely watching this after work. On a side note, have you ever thought about making a video on the bullet necklace? Like what it represents and its fate in all the endings. I think that would be an interesting topic to cover.
Such an interesting dichotomy between him and those he serves; Takemura is loyal, honest, unambitious, incorruptible and, tragically, trusting. Makes sense why Arasaka would make use of him. He’s the perfect tool, one that will expend himself for a terrible cause without wavering. When he inevitably dies in service of Arasaka no one will mourn him, because the only people who value him do so for his usefulness. I feel like V is the first person Goro’s truly known in years, probably decades.
If there's one thing I love about this game's characters, it's seeing how good, principled people cope with living in a world that is completely and viciously amoral and how it leads to their downfall, especially with Takemura, Johnny, and Reed. Takemura can't accept that his masters aren't worthy of his dedication and lives in denial. Like you said in the video, when you boil it down, his loyalty to Arasaka is derived completely from his sense of indebtedness to the corporation for pulling him out of a life that would have been harsh and short, but at the same time he knows deep down that he and so many others were only in that position in the first place because of the megacorps' complete disregard for human life, so he clings to the most idealized and naive image of Arasaka possible to justify his loyalty to to it and it's founder, in a way that's pretty one sided. Johnny on the other hand is completely disgusted by the injustice of the status quo, and wants to upend the whole system on his own terms without selling out to anyone. However, this complete inability to compromise isolates him and means he's limited to just lashing out at the powers that without actually solving any of the world's underlying problems. The AHQ bombing is emblematic of this, his swan song was nuking Arasaka tower, and after all the death and carnage that bombing caused it ended up solving nothing, and he ended up accomplishing essentially nothing beyond getting himself killed. As for Reed (who I can't wait to see your video on), I find him the most interesting character in the whole game. Reed is a relic from a bygone era that refuses to accept he's fighting for a lost cause. In a world of megacorps and cyborgs, Reed is an old-school intelligence operative working for one of the last vestiges of the old American prestige that was destroyed decades prior. He's similar to Takemura in that he's loyal to people who don't appreciate him, but he's far more sober about it than Takemura and makes it clear he's under no illusions about president Myers' nature and is solely motivated by duty to country. It's why he was fine with being betrayed by Myers and sold out to Arasaka, he's so hellbent on saving what's left of his country that he's 100% willing to pay any price for himself or others as long as it advances America's interests. He's incapable of leaving the FIA no matter how often he gets burned or how terrible he feels, because leaving would mean admitting complete and utter defeat and the loss of any hope of a revitalized America.
That choice right before the shuttle is one of the best moments in any game. You hold two lives in your hands, neither of whom perhaps deserves death, yet if you wanted vengeance on either it would be so completely understandable.
Classic samurai turned ronin story. The only difference is that it's a more realistic depiction rather than the romanticized version from stuff like old samurai movies. Historical samurai were never "honorable" in our modern sense. They were only honorable in the sense that they were loyal. That meant following their lord's orders including rape, murder, and pillaging of innocents. Even stuff like seppuku was treated as a way of retaining/redeeming any lost honor.
This game, man. My opinion of just about every character changed through my first time playing. Jackie went from the most obvious redshirt to someone I genuinely hoped would survive, I resented Takemura at first but wound up regretting his death, and Songbird and Reed…I’m still mind-boggled from those two 😂
I'm very uncomfortable with Takemura's character. Because I see myself in him, putting loyality over all else. And that's a sign of great writing, if your viewers can connect empathise, and see themselfs in your characters you've done it right. It's the same with Arcane or Ghost of Tsushima. Masterful writing. I hope they'll have a similar level of character depth and development in Cyberpunk Orion.
I really love your thoughtful review of Takemura's character. You’ve painted a vivid picture of his complexities, and I find myself agreeing with so much of your analysis. However, I’m less convinced of the depth of his feelings, and I think his steadfast refusal to change-despite undeniable evidence-is telling and here is why i think that. Takemura tends to justify his actions with clever quotes like, 'All hands are dirty, it’s just how you get them dirty,' it's nothing more than a shield for his self-preservation (even though its a great quote). It's a classic rationalization strategy: he frames his morally ambiguous decisions as 'necessary evil,' he avoids acknowledging his culpability. Saburo didn't choose Takemura just for his skills and i think Goro knows this too deep down; he really chose him because Takemura is, at his core, a loyal dog. He’ll do anything to protect the hand that feeds him and not ask questions, even if that hand is abusive. This blind loyalty makes him complicit, and his justifications serve as a means to maintain a sense of moral superiority over other mercs, who he sees as beneath him. Yet, Takemura is no different-he's just as willing to get his hands dirty, only he cloaks his actions in a veneer of righteousness. In short his unwavering loyalty, even to an abusive master, strips him of agency and reduces him to a cold and mostly (not entirely) unfeeling follower who rationalizes his actions to maintain a false sense of righteousness, making him more of a slave to his duty than a man of genuine feeling toward V, but thats just my opinion and does not mean im right.
Another reason Takamura is so disappointed when V rejects becoming an engram is because (as far as I know) V has been the only real friend he's ever known. Sure, he's had apprentices and superiors, but as far as we know, he's never truly had a friend who saw him as Takamura, then just as Suburo's bodyguard.
Goro’s blindness to Arasaka’s evil is a combination of two things. On the one hand, there’s a self interest motive. He does benefit a lot from his relationship with Arasaka, even if the corporation itself views him as disposable. Elite level training, cutting edge combat implants, probably a pretty good lifestyle including a decent place to live, good medical care and good food. He’s better off than probably 90% of people. There’s also the Arasaka training itself. He’s been conditioned to be a good little corporate drone, to ignore his doubts, fears, and even outright manipulation and malfeasance by the corporation. His sense of what honour, loyalty and integrity look like are warped. Bushido is kind of an overly romanticized concept of the Samurai version of the knightly code of chivalry, which is in itself a romanticized version of “proper” knighthood. In truth, these ruminations on proper behaviour only came about very late into the game for both knights, and Samurai. If you study historical accounts of what both groups of warrior aristocracy actually did, how they behaved, it doesn’t really resemble the purported “code” at all. The reality is that the expectations for both knights and samurai for most of their existence was “Maintain your military skills and be loyal to your paymaster.” Game of Thrones provides a very interesting example of this in the personages of the brothers Clegane. Gregor, “The Mountain” is an anointed knight, and a complete monster, while Sandor “The Hound” has a character arc where he slowly turns into what some people would describe as “the quintessential knight.” He’s still crass, violent, and a bully, but you actually see him standing up for the weak and taking vengeance for them when he fails, and Sandor isn’t even an anointed knight. The Hound is the romanticized knight to an extent, while The Mountain is closer to what a real knight looks like, from a temperament perspective. For the Samurai in particular, Bushido only became codified the way we understand it today around the time that the samurai fell out of favour as military forces and began to be replaced with standing armies of peasants. It’s during this period where the Imperial Court began doing things like passing laws banning the wearing of swords for anyone not on official military duty. Then Arasaka comes along and perverts this “code” for its own ends.
I abandoned Goro in the motel when Arasaka came after Hanako because I thought that he was dead. I'm dozens of hours past that point in my current playthrough, so I'm gonna save him next time.
Part of me wishes that there was one more ending. One where you can go along with Arasaka, until you get to Yorinob, but then instead of capturing him, you execute/let him die. Although from V's perspective, you would also be accepting a death yourself without access to Mikoshi.
I always thought that the reason Takemura stuck around while V was recovering was simply duty. Duty to Saburo. That one moment V comes round to see Takemura leaning over them? I don't see that as sweet, I see that as Takemura placing a tracker in V. He really doesn't care about V, he cares about a valuable asset. Nothing more. Takemura is part of Arasaka. Arasaka is V's enemy. Ergo, my V never goes back for him. They will play nice, charming, chatty, teasing. But when push comes to shove, my V simply doesn't care about Takemura, only what they can get from him. Goro taught that lesson well I think.
Another banger of a video Lydi! I am not sure how familiar with Pink Floyd you are, but there is a song called Dogs on the brilliant concept album Animals. This song seems to me to sum up Takamura as a whole. He’s an attack dog who finds out when his time is up, how little the system cares for him. It would have been a great song to associate with him in game. (Which takes me to my biggest criticism of Cyberpunk, they make music so important to the story but do a poor job tying the themes and songs themselves to the story, like Peralez has the quest Dream On, the title works but the actual song doesn’t connect at all to the themes.) Takamura spent his whole life trying to avoid being a Sheep and working for Pigs that he is shocked to learn the Pigs think of him about as highly as the Sheep.
I perceive Takemura as a traitor. V really treat him like a friend. But just imagine what a real friend would do in his place. Imagine that Jackie promised us that he would help us. And then he didn't. I can't imagine that. I guess Jackie would have died trying to save V's life. But Takemura just... continue working on Arasaka, who treat his friend like garbage.
Takemura is a true samurai loyal to his Daimiyo to the death and beyond. While i understand the loyalty, it strikes to see how he doesn't see the monster Saburo is. For justice or to set things right sure but for Saburo? He is blinded by loyalty
Takemura is actually a bit of a snake. Not the whole time but in the Saka ending. A slip of the tongue reveals he's once more a loyal hound, willing to be deceptive toward allies to further master's ambitions. He says Hanako forgot about V after their role was fulfilled, but that's just a ploy to ensure they sell their souls. Literally just a few lines later the slip of the tongue becomes apparent when he says that Hanako is actually the one who sent him. There's a video by Big Dan Gaming called why you shouldn't Save Takemura which goes into detail.
Goro is the living embodiment of self-imposed delusion, blind faith, and sunk-cost fallacy. It's infuriating that you can't help him escape this trap. But it also probably the most real example of human flaws in the entire game until DLC.
One of the things that CDP did with him is that he is also representative of ALL the life paths by the time we meet him. First a Street Kid, then a Corpo, before finally being an Outcast and Nomad
I let him die in the raid usually. Die a hero or love long enough to be the villain, and as much as I feel he's a fool, I'd rather he die while he believes in something rather than being thrown aside like everything else no longer useful to a megacorp
Excellent content as always! I'm glad you did a deep dive on Takemura as he was such an interesting character. He kind of represents V if they were unable to overcome and adapt to their existential challenges, a victim of circumstance. As you mentioned, his blind loyalty imprisons him and prevents him from changing course no matter what so there is no good ending for him. I think this can be best summed up by good ol' Benny “Truth is, the game was rigged from the start.”
Nice! I always love your cyberpunk videos. I hope you can cover the phantom liberty characters at some point. Theres so much intrigue and material to examine there
Ahhh thank you! Absolutely, I'm excited to get into all the PL characters. I keep intending to start covering it, but then I remember "oh right there's this other character in the base game I need to cover first" lmao
I was with Johnny for most of my conversations with Takemura. The slavish devotion he had to that company, even in the face of what a hellscape Night City, which is a city that exists currently under the "protection" of Arasaka (and thus the oppression of it) just pissed me off. He turns a blind eye to the parts that he didn't want to think about and kept his rose-tinted glasses on the entire time. Made me happy when I took the Nomad ending and he hates me for it. A fitting end, for a corporate dog. Right back where he started, and now no hope left. Maybe now he can understand V's desperation.
From Takemura's perspective, he stood among 100 of the best of the best and was singled out as something special by the Emperor himself - that the Emperor had stared into Takemura's soul and was somehow uniquely qualified. From the Emperor's prespective, Takemura was just one among 100 possible bodyguards and there was no wrong answer. They were all interchangeable and fit for the purpose.
It always felt like Takemura was manipulating me when I played. You might be giving him too much credit. In the devil ending, he gets even more manipulative and tries to cajole you into selling your soul. The giving up your rights bit isn't some esoteric piece of legalese, it's the whole point. And I know I wouldn't trust Arasaka to act in my best interest.
I didn’t realize you could save him on my first play through - I read that and had to restart everything - he’s such an amazing character with such depth
I hate Takemura. No matter how well you treat him V is never his friend. Takemura is 100% devoted to Arasaka and never sides with V. He is best described as a corpo dog.(as you said jokingly)
your videos are really well done, thank you for this great content! hope you get more and more into what night city has to offer, this game feels like the real deal, everything feels so ALIVE. You can tell this story was planned long ago
From the moment that Hanako reveals that everyone in power already knew that Yorinobu had murdered their father there was no possibility of a happy ending for Takemura. He was disillusioned and forced to see the reality behind the curtain. The myths he believed about Arasaka were broken. More importantly, Hanako was supposed to be the heart of Arasaka - the moral center to balance Yorinobu and the Emperor - and yet in this situation she was playing politics and being pragmatic. He couldn't go back to being a loyal soldier. He couldn't get revenge on those who betrayed & murdered his liege and somehow atone or make things right. He was forced to become a tragic figure who realized there was no right answer - even restoring the Emperor's engram to control wasn't good. He blames V, because V always knew Takemura's beliefs were lies. He can't bring himself to outwardly blame Hanako or Arasaka, so he blames V for exposing him to this truth.
I love these videos on deep dives into characters. I wonder if there is enough materials to do one on rosalind myers? In my eyes she is in the awkward position of being simultaneously important but not really present (??) in PL.
19:50 love... I feel quite the opposite... I wish that jackie had kept the biochip and v was so pissed and mentally prepared that the ambush had the opposite effect, with them being the only one that leaves the no-tell hotel... after days of isolation and grieving in the apartment, a shaken misty barges in and urgently drags them to victor's clinic... and there he is, that sunuvabish with his big dumb smile... "hey v, thought you got rid of me, huh?!" I would turn all of nightcity upside-down to help him get rid of johnny :,,,,)
I’m a takemura simp. I’ll admit it. Honestly though I always choose the devil’s ending cause I trust him the most to honor V’s life. Plus Hanako isn’t going to waste us. I like to assume V gets a robot body or something like smashers. Dead brain our chip takes over with a robot body. Work for arasaka on and off. Live in nightcity. Maybe get a chance to eat fancy Japanese food with Goro at least once.
Nibbles likely is an engram or has one of Rache Bartmoss. Im pretty sure Nibbles was owned by Bartmoss or is a direct descendant of his cat. I also believe the Monk is Rache OG. Nibbles is just a backup. I dont think Arasaka ever killed him. I think he got out and the body in the fridge is a fake.
is it bad of me to not like Takemura? I never really liked him ; he has weak morals, atleast johnnys beliefs are sensible he knows who the enemy is; but Goro he drank the coolaid along time ago and any sympathy is wasted on him. hes had every oppertunity to course correct and just say fuck Arasaka; but he wont let himself and thats why hes so hard to keep a fucking live. dudes doomed to die and will yell at you louder if you point it out to him; johnny is far more flexible and his stories have him being more mutually beneficial. sure if ya let johnny walk away and leave V to their body alone hes dead then too- but dead and fufilled. like a ghost righting a wrong and leaving to the next world- and if V does it he still changed for the better- he still finds something meaningful outa the relationship. Meanwhile Takemura isnt even really happy in the one ending he lives in. Morals are social survival toolkit- its meant to buffer between individuals and have them meaningful find peace together and apart- Goros morals cant do that.
Blind loyalty to arasaka. Imo he was never really your friend, he was just using you to get back in arasaka. If you save him and do don’t fear the reaper, he curses you to hell lmfaoo. Ungrateful sucka, good riddance.
FUN FACT: I found out in post, but Takemura can actually TELL V about Jackie being in Mikoshi. I've never had that happen or even heard of it, but damn. It happens during the Bakeneko conversation, I believe. As crappy as that information is for V, it says a lot that he let V know. AGAIN. A COOL DUDE.
ALSO! He was initially considered as a romance option, but there wasn't enough time to properly implement that story. Which, hey, understandable!
I would of romanced him in a heart beat :(
Dam. Iono I feel about that. Takemura is like 60? Lol
Takemura's life was devoted to Arasaka. Even being framed and attacked by them he still tried to go save Hanako. As much as a stubborn dog he is, his character and honour is rare for Night city. Too bad it also blinded him.
A decent man serving a terrible cause, such a brilliant tragedy of a character.
Takemura and Solomon Reed are so similar I love them both but it seems the worst thing you can do to them is give them what they want.
Imagine them both meeting in some mission where both are needed and, both have some beer over their experiences as you sit and listen to them?
In the Arisaka space ending, I think Tak felt more uncomfortable taking Saburos' orders from Yorinobus body. Imagine if the corpse of your sworn enemy started barking orders. It would be like the Nick Valentine/Kellog interaction in F4.
I use the convo between V and Takemura bout corporate order to show how the most dystopian part of cyberpunk is how people can't imagine a better world. They either claim the evils are necessary, or they want to tear the evil apart (maybe even, say, use a nuke in a densely populated area) without constructive progress. Cyberpunk dystopias happen when we imagine a world without people who trust each other to build a better world for the sake of everyone. It's a warning against living in fear and looking only to despair or corporate authoritarianism as solution.
I wonder why it feels so relevant?
Definitely watching this after work. On a side note, have you ever thought about making a video on the bullet necklace? Like what it represents and its fate in all the endings. I think that would be an interesting topic to cover.
Such an interesting dichotomy between him and those he serves; Takemura is loyal, honest, unambitious, incorruptible and, tragically, trusting.
Makes sense why Arasaka would make use of him. He’s the perfect tool, one that will expend himself for a terrible cause without wavering. When he inevitably dies in service of Arasaka no one will mourn him, because the only people who value him do so for his usefulness. I feel like V is the first person Goro’s truly known in years, probably decades.
I think Takemura is somewhat aware that he has a dog's loyalty. As you said: "You can't teach an old dog new tricks"
If there's one thing I love about this game's characters, it's seeing how good, principled people cope with living in a world that is completely and viciously amoral and how it leads to their downfall, especially with Takemura, Johnny, and Reed.
Takemura can't accept that his masters aren't worthy of his dedication and lives in denial. Like you said in the video, when you boil it down, his loyalty to Arasaka is derived completely from his sense of indebtedness to the corporation for pulling him out of a life that would have been harsh and short, but at the same time he knows deep down that he and so many others were only in that position in the first place because of the megacorps' complete disregard for human life, so he clings to the most idealized and naive image of Arasaka possible to justify his loyalty to to it and it's founder, in a way that's pretty one sided.
Johnny on the other hand is completely disgusted by the injustice of the status quo, and wants to upend the whole system on his own terms without selling out to anyone. However, this complete inability to compromise isolates him and means he's limited to just lashing out at the powers that without actually solving any of the world's underlying problems. The AHQ bombing is emblematic of this, his swan song was nuking Arasaka tower, and after all the death and carnage that bombing caused it ended up solving nothing, and he ended up accomplishing essentially nothing beyond getting himself killed.
As for Reed (who I can't wait to see your video on), I find him the most interesting character in the whole game. Reed is a relic from a bygone era that refuses to accept he's fighting for a lost cause. In a world of megacorps and cyborgs, Reed is an old-school intelligence operative working for one of the last vestiges of the old American prestige that was destroyed decades prior. He's similar to Takemura in that he's loyal to people who don't appreciate him, but he's far more sober about it than Takemura and makes it clear he's under no illusions about president Myers' nature and is solely motivated by duty to country. It's why he was fine with being betrayed by Myers and sold out to Arasaka, he's so hellbent on saving what's left of his country that he's 100% willing to pay any price for himself or others as long as it advances America's interests. He's incapable of leaving the FIA no matter how often he gets burned or how terrible he feels, because leaving would mean admitting complete and utter defeat and the loss of any hope of a revitalized America.
Principled? Yes, absolutely. Good? Hell no.
For Corpo V, you are the Jackie to Goro's V. Kinda highlights V's shortcomings. And Goro's.
Been loving these character analysis videos. Hopefully you can do either Reed or Songbird.
Omg Songbird yesssss
FOR SURE :D
That choice right before the shuttle is one of the best moments in any game. You hold two lives in your hands, neither of whom perhaps deserves death, yet if you wanted vengeance on either it would be so completely understandable.
Classic samurai turned ronin story. The only difference is that it's a more realistic depiction rather than the romanticized version from stuff like old samurai movies. Historical samurai were never "honorable" in our modern sense. They were only honorable in the sense that they were loyal. That meant following their lord's orders including rape, murder, and pillaging of innocents. Even stuff like seppuku was treated as a way of retaining/redeeming any lost honor.
This game, man. My opinion of just about every character changed through my first time playing. Jackie went from the most obvious redshirt to someone I genuinely hoped would survive, I resented Takemura at first but wound up regretting his death, and Songbird and Reed…I’m still mind-boggled from those two 😂
I'm very uncomfortable with Takemura's character. Because I see myself in him, putting loyality over all else.
And that's a sign of great writing, if your viewers can connect empathise, and see themselfs in your characters you've done it right. It's the same with Arcane or Ghost of Tsushima. Masterful writing. I hope they'll have a similar level of character depth and development in Cyberpunk Orion.
I really love your thoughtful review of Takemura's character. You’ve painted a vivid picture of his complexities, and I find myself agreeing with so much of your analysis. However, I’m less convinced of the depth of his feelings, and I think his steadfast refusal to change-despite undeniable evidence-is telling and here is why i think that.
Takemura tends to justify his actions with clever quotes like, 'All hands are dirty, it’s just how you get them dirty,' it's nothing more than a shield for his self-preservation (even though its a great quote). It's a classic rationalization strategy: he frames his morally ambiguous decisions as 'necessary evil,' he avoids acknowledging his culpability. Saburo didn't choose Takemura just for his skills and i think Goro knows this too deep down; he really chose him because Takemura is, at his core, a loyal dog. He’ll do anything to protect the hand that feeds him and not ask questions, even if that hand is abusive. This blind loyalty makes him complicit, and his justifications serve as a means to maintain a sense of moral superiority over other mercs, who he sees as beneath him. Yet, Takemura is no different-he's just as willing to get his hands dirty, only he cloaks his actions in a veneer of righteousness.
In short his unwavering loyalty, even to an abusive master, strips him of agency and reduces him to a cold and mostly (not entirely) unfeeling follower who rationalizes his actions to maintain a false sense of righteousness, making him more of a slave to his duty than a man of genuine feeling toward V, but thats just my opinion and does not mean im right.
Another reason Takamura is so disappointed when V rejects becoming an engram is because (as far as I know) V has been the only real friend he's ever known. Sure, he's had apprentices and superiors, but as far as we know, he's never truly had a friend who saw him as Takamura, then just as Suburo's bodyguard.
Goro’s blindness to Arasaka’s evil is a combination of two things. On the one hand, there’s a self interest motive.
He does benefit a lot from his relationship with Arasaka, even if the corporation itself views him as disposable. Elite level training, cutting edge combat implants, probably a pretty good lifestyle including a decent place to live, good medical care and good food. He’s better off than probably 90% of people.
There’s also the Arasaka training itself. He’s been conditioned to be a good little corporate drone, to ignore his doubts, fears, and even outright manipulation and malfeasance by the corporation. His sense of what honour, loyalty and integrity look like are warped.
Bushido is kind of an overly romanticized concept of the Samurai version of the knightly code of chivalry, which is in itself a romanticized version of “proper” knighthood. In truth, these ruminations on proper behaviour only came about very late into the game for both knights, and Samurai. If you study historical accounts of what both groups of warrior aristocracy actually did, how they behaved, it doesn’t really resemble the purported “code” at all. The reality is that the expectations for both knights and samurai for most of their existence was “Maintain your military skills and be loyal to your paymaster.”
Game of Thrones provides a very interesting example of this in the personages of the brothers Clegane. Gregor, “The Mountain” is an anointed knight, and a complete monster, while Sandor “The Hound” has a character arc where he slowly turns into what some people would describe as “the quintessential knight.” He’s still crass, violent, and a bully, but you actually see him standing up for the weak and taking vengeance for them when he fails, and Sandor isn’t even an anointed knight. The Hound is the romanticized knight to an extent, while The Mountain is closer to what a real knight looks like, from a temperament perspective.
For the Samurai in particular, Bushido only became codified the way we understand it today around the time that the samurai fell out of favour as military forces and began to be replaced with standing armies of peasants. It’s during this period where the Imperial Court began doing things like passing laws banning the wearing of swords for anyone not on official military duty. Then Arasaka comes along and perverts this “code” for its own ends.
Minor correction, Takemura never believed Saburo was poisoned, he literally says before being cut off by Yori "I doubt--"
it took a couple of play throughs for Takemura to grow on me but now in that motel i go back & save him every time.
I abandoned Goro in the motel when Arasaka came after Hanako because I thought that he was dead. I'm dozens of hours past that point in my current playthrough, so I'm gonna save him next time.
Part of me wishes that there was one more ending. One where you can go along with Arasaka, until you get to Yorinob, but then instead of capturing him, you execute/let him die. Although from V's perspective, you would also be accepting a death yourself without access to Mikoshi.
I always thought that the reason Takemura stuck around while V was recovering was simply duty. Duty to Saburo. That one moment V comes round to see Takemura leaning over them? I don't see that as sweet, I see that as Takemura placing a tracker in V. He really doesn't care about V, he cares about a valuable asset. Nothing more.
Takemura is part of Arasaka. Arasaka is V's enemy. Ergo, my V never goes back for him. They will play nice, charming, chatty, teasing. But when push comes to shove, my V simply doesn't care about Takemura, only what they can get from him. Goro taught that lesson well I think.
Another banger of a video Lydi! I am not sure how familiar with Pink Floyd you are, but there is a song called Dogs on the brilliant concept album Animals. This song seems to me to sum up Takamura as a whole. He’s an attack dog who finds out when his time is up, how little the system cares for him. It would have been a great song to associate with him in game. (Which takes me to my biggest criticism of Cyberpunk, they make music so important to the story but do a poor job tying the themes and songs themselves to the story, like Peralez has the quest Dream On, the title works but the actual song doesn’t connect at all to the themes.) Takamura spent his whole life trying to avoid being a Sheep and working for Pigs that he is shocked to learn the Pigs think of him about as highly as the Sheep.
I perceive Takemura as a traitor. V really treat him like a friend. But just imagine what a real friend would do in his place. Imagine that Jackie promised us that he would help us. And then he didn't. I can't imagine that. I guess Jackie would have died trying to save V's life. But Takemura just... continue working on Arasaka, who treat his friend like garbage.
My headcanon is definitely that goro can leave with us in the star ending. There is good sushi to find out there, somewhere....
Takemura is a true samurai loyal to his Daimiyo to the death and beyond. While i understand the loyalty, it strikes to see how he doesn't see the monster Saburo is. For justice or to set things right sure but for Saburo? He is blinded by loyalty
I loved spying on Takemura-san after scripted interactions with V, such as the one after meeting Wakako-san on jig jig street.
Always love your videos. So well made. So well researched. From one writer to another. Thank you genuinely. 😎🤝
Seriously, thank you so much :D Means a lot!
Takemura is actually a bit of a snake. Not the whole time but in the Saka ending. A slip of the tongue reveals he's once more a loyal hound, willing to be deceptive toward allies to further master's ambitions. He says Hanako forgot about V after their role was fulfilled, but that's just a ploy to ensure they sell their souls. Literally just a few lines later the slip of the tongue becomes apparent when he says that Hanako is actually the one who sent him. There's a video by Big Dan Gaming called why you shouldn't Save Takemura which goes into detail.
He also has a why you should save him. So kinda a poor argument since there’s probably cut dialogue
@zerotodona1495 i know its one of 2 videos about it. But the truth is Goro, not cut content, tries to get his friend to sell his soul.
Goro is the living embodiment of self-imposed delusion, blind faith, and sunk-cost fallacy.
It's infuriating that you can't help him escape this trap. But it also probably the most real example of human flaws in the entire game until DLC.
One of the things that CDP did with him is that he is also representative of ALL the life paths by the time we meet him. First a Street Kid, then a Corpo, before finally being an Outcast and Nomad
I let him die in the raid usually. Die a hero or love long enough to be the villain, and as much as I feel he's a fool, I'd rather he die while he believes in something rather than being thrown aside like everything else no longer useful to a megacorp
Excellent content as always! I'm glad you did a deep dive on Takemura as he was such an interesting character. He kind of represents V if they were unable to overcome and adapt to their existential challenges, a victim of circumstance. As you mentioned, his blind loyalty imprisons him and prevents him from changing course no matter what so there is no good ending for him. I think this can be best summed up by good ol' Benny “Truth is, the game was rigged from the start.”
Nice! I always love your cyberpunk videos. I hope you can cover the phantom liberty characters at some point. Theres so much intrigue and material to examine there
Ahhh thank you! Absolutely, I'm excited to get into all the PL characters. I keep intending to start covering it, but then I remember "oh right there's this other character in the base game I need to cover first" lmao
Been loving these videos ngl good shit
Aw thank you!
I was with Johnny for most of my conversations with Takemura. The slavish devotion he had to that company, even in the face of what a hellscape Night City, which is a city that exists currently under the "protection" of Arasaka (and thus the oppression of it) just pissed me off. He turns a blind eye to the parts that he didn't want to think about and kept his rose-tinted glasses on the entire time. Made me happy when I took the Nomad ending and he hates me for it. A fitting end, for a corporate dog. Right back where he started, and now no hope left. Maybe now he can understand V's desperation.
Make one on Rita wheeler if possible please. Wish we got more of her in cyberpunk
From Takemura's perspective, he stood among 100 of the best of the best and was singled out as something special by the Emperor himself - that the Emperor had stared into Takemura's soul and was somehow uniquely qualified.
From the Emperor's prespective, Takemura was just one among 100 possible bodyguards and there was no wrong answer.
They were all interchangeable and fit for the purpose.
It always felt like Takemura was manipulating me when I played. You might be giving him too much credit. In the devil ending, he gets even more manipulative and tries to cajole you into selling your soul. The giving up your rights bit isn't some esoteric piece of legalese, it's the whole point. And I know I wouldn't trust Arasaka to act in my best interest.
I didn’t realize you could save him on my first play through - I read that and had to restart everything - he’s such an amazing character with such depth
Ohhhhhhhh, she back at it again
I hate Takemura. No matter how well you treat him V is never his friend.
Takemura is 100% devoted to Arasaka and never sides with V. He is best described as a corpo dog.(as you said jokingly)
This was a incredible breakdown. Thank you.
your videos are really well done, thank you for this great content! hope you get more and more into what night city has to offer, this game feels like the real deal, everything feels so ALIVE. You can tell this story was planned long ago
Just started to binge watch your videos! Been loving it! Keep it up!
From the moment that Hanako reveals that everyone in power already knew that Yorinobu had murdered their father there was no possibility of a happy ending for Takemura.
He was disillusioned and forced to see the reality behind the curtain. The myths he believed about Arasaka were broken.
More importantly, Hanako was supposed to be the heart of Arasaka - the moral center to balance Yorinobu and the Emperor - and yet in this situation she was playing politics and being pragmatic.
He couldn't go back to being a loyal soldier.
He couldn't get revenge on those who betrayed & murdered his liege and somehow atone or make things right.
He was forced to become a tragic figure who realized there was no right answer - even restoring the Emperor's engram to control wasn't good.
He blames V, because V always knew Takemura's beliefs were lies. He can't bring himself to outwardly blame Hanako or Arasaka, so he blames V for exposing him to this truth.
I love these videos on deep dives into characters. I wonder if there is enough materials to do one on rosalind myers? In my eyes she is in the awkward position of being simultaneously important but not really present (??) in PL.
Man I wanted to romance her for a night. She's a hell of a woman but, like Arasaka. She isn't necessarily good either.
19:50 love... I feel quite the opposite... I wish that jackie had kept the biochip and v was so pissed and mentally prepared that the ambush had the opposite effect, with them being the only one that leaves the no-tell hotel... after days of isolation and grieving in the apartment, a shaken misty barges in and urgently drags them to victor's clinic... and there he is, that sunuvabish with his big dumb smile... "hey v, thought you got rid of me, huh?!"
I would turn all of nightcity upside-down to help him get rid of johnny :,,,,)
That's too optimistic, that's not Cyberpunk.
Nice perspective! Would you consider making a video talking about the parallels between Takemura and Solomon Reed?
I’m a takemura simp. I’ll admit it.
Honestly though I always choose the devil’s ending cause I trust him the most to honor V’s life. Plus Hanako isn’t going to waste us.
I like to assume V gets a robot body or something like smashers. Dead brain our chip takes over with a robot body.
Work for arasaka on and off.
Live in nightcity. Maybe get a chance to eat fancy Japanese food with Goro at least once.
Nibbles likely is an engram or has one of Rache Bartmoss. Im pretty sure Nibbles was owned by Bartmoss or is a direct descendant of his cat.
I also believe the Monk is Rache OG. Nibbles is just a backup. I dont think Arasaka ever killed him. I think he got out and the body in the fridge is a fake.
Ahh I know what Im watching before bed
Her videos
je dois etre le seul francais a cette heure chez moi il est 1h 40 du matin ;) ta video un kiff
et merci pour les sous titres :)
is it bad of me to not like Takemura? I never really liked him ; he has weak morals, atleast johnnys beliefs are sensible he knows who the enemy is; but Goro he drank the coolaid along time ago and any sympathy is wasted on him. hes had every oppertunity to course correct and just say fuck Arasaka; but he wont let himself and thats why hes so hard to keep a fucking live. dudes doomed to die and will yell at you louder if you point it out to him; johnny is far more flexible and his stories have him being more mutually beneficial. sure if ya let johnny walk away and leave V to their body alone hes dead then too- but dead and fufilled. like a ghost righting a wrong and leaving to the next world- and if V does it he still changed for the better- he still finds something meaningful outa the relationship. Meanwhile Takemura isnt even really happy in the one ending he lives in. Morals are social survival toolkit- its meant to buffer between individuals and have them meaningful find peace together and apart- Goros morals cant do that.
What ending would you want canon for V?
Is him being specifically from Chiba 11 a Code Geass reference?
🤘
Blind loyalty to arasaka. Imo he was never really your friend, he was just using you to get back in arasaka. If you save him and do don’t fear the reaper, he curses you to hell lmfaoo. Ungrateful sucka, good riddance.