SPOILERS AHEAD Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (and other recent games)
On the surface,Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuzain Hawaii seems like a goofy game about a goofy lil guy living his best life. Sure, Goro Majima’s Hawaii vacation goes sideways, but Majima was born to be a pirate. That much is obvious by how well this out-there concept seems to fit into the world ofLike a Dragon.And indeed, plenty of the original characters from theYakuzaseries deserve a vacation. Kiryu perhaps more than anyone, but Majima, Saejima, and Daigo too. After all,Majima is 54 inYakuza: Like a Dragonand would be 58 around the time ofLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
The ages of Kiryu and these other original characters are a problem (if kind of a good one) for RGG Studio. Not only will they eventually need to be written off, lest they just become super old, but choosing to include them or not in games is a double-edged sword. Some fans will be fine with it, some won’t. But I’m afraid this is a problemLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaiiisn’t shying away from, and that scares me in the best way possible.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuzacould simply be a fun story about a vacation gone wrong, where players as Majima go against other pirates for treasure and the pure heck of it. It’s something Majima would do, but theLike a Dragonseries is nothing if not for potent, emotional stories. That much has already been hinted at too. In one ofLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii’s trailers, players can see Majima get into a confrontation with his oath brother, Saejima. Not only does Majima put a knife to Saejima’s neck and tell him to stop calling him “bro,” but the dialogue that follows sees Majima say he doesn’t care if he doesn’t get his memories back because the pirate life is fun. It’s very unlikely that, with these two things, Majima avoiding reconciliation with his past is remotely possible.
Out-of-Left-Field Theory 1: Majima never lost his memory and just wants everyone to think he did. Out-Of-Left-Field Theory 2: Maybe he did shortly, but wants everyone to think he lost his memory permanently.
A Gaiden By Any Other Name
Regardless of exact happenstance, it’s very clear that Majima’s past, relationships, and his time as a Yakuza all matter. And why that scares me is because it might follow a similar path to Kiryu’s arc. It’s worth mentioning thatLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaiimay not haveGaidenin its English name, but it does in its Japanese name, meaning expectations for it should be on par withThe Man Who Erased His Name. However, those expectations could be the exact same given Kiryu and Majima’s close relationship too.
The Man Who Erased His Name and “Like a Dragon 8”
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Namereveals what happens to Kiryu afterYakuza 6: everything he lost and what his past took from him. Kiryu was born to be a Yakuza boss but truly wanted to raise children, like the man who raised him.The Man Who Erased His Nameshows us what he lost.The Man Who Erased His Namegives us the saddest endingin the entire franchise: the ever-stoic Kiryu sobbing. Not crying, not tearing up, brokenly sobbing when confronted with his reality. There’s this old writing advice where if you want to make a character lovable, you basically have to destroy their life. Well, this wasn’t enough for poor Kiryu because the nextLike a Dragongame,Infinite Wealth, gave him cancer.
I spent the entirety ofLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthworried about what would happen to Kiryu, but luckily, it seems it was a proper send-off. He deserved a happy ending, and what he got was pretty much just that. The problem is that Majima has tragedy written all over him and always has.
Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii and Like a Dragon 9
Of course, this could be a pure coincidence, but it seems plausible that theGaidenstories are a way of connecting the character’s past to the present before writing them off in the next main game. The good news of that is aSaejima or Daigo gamewould be cool, but the bad news is how Majima could return inLAD9to be written off. IfPirate Yakuza in Hawaiideals with his conscience after decades as a Yakuza, the relationship bonds formed and broken along the way, and explores his mental and emotional growth as it did for Kiryu, then the question becomes what next? And for Majima, I’m not sure I like the sound of that question.
Just let him be a pirate and let him live his best life.The Man Who Erased His Nametapdanced on my heart,Infinite Wealthplayed with its strings, and I’m not sure I could survive this cycle again if it focused on Majima. At the same time, absolutely tap dance on my heart because I’m a glutton for punishment, and it would hurt twice as much with Majima.
