Kazuma Kiryu is the rock upon which theYakuza(which will be undergoing aname changegoing forwards) franchise was built. Every game in the series is a whirlwind of conspiracy, intrigue, and insanity, and he stands in the middle of all of it, absolutely unmoved. Kiryu is a man who stares down assassins and routinely beats up gangs of thugs on his way to the chemists.
All that while wearing an immaculate white suit.
So he’s a Batman-level badass. A legendary ex-Yakuza with an iron-clad moral code who strikes fear into the hearts of his enemies. There’s more to Kiryu than meets the eye though. He has a softer side beneath all the violence and scowling; there’s a man with a seemingly unending willingness to offer his assistance to the hapless citizens of Tokyo, even at the risk of total humiliation. No matter what life throws at him (and it throws a lot), Kiryu takes it in his stride without so much as flinching.
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My favourite Kiryu moment is in Yakuza 2. Purely by chance, Kiryu witnesses the man due to take over management of the hostess club “Four Shine” get poached by a rival right as he’s about to take the job. The two men disappear just as Yuki, Fourshine’s owner steps outside and assumes Kiryu is the new manager. Overjoyed, she ushers him inside before he can protest.
Things are eventually straightened, but it transpires that the club is in dire straits, with only a handful of girls on staff, and now, no manager. Yuki, and the club’s best employee, Koyuki, are distraught until they are both hit by a sudden brainwave. They offer Kiryu the job, and despite his lack of management experience he reluctantly agrees to help keep the club afloat.
Some quick context for those who are out of the loop. A hostess club (or host club if you reverse the genders of staff and customer) is a type of nightclub, popular in Japan, that employs women to entertain male customers by serving them drinks, engaging them in conversation, flirting with them, and generally paying them a great deal of attention. Importantly, there is strictly no sexual contact between the staff and the customers. It might sound a little strange, but in Japan, and certainly in the world of Yakuza, these places are all the rage.
As manager Kiryu is tasked with welcoming guests, seeing them to a table, and ensuring everyone is having a good time. He also has to do a great deal of work behind the scenes, scouting for new talent, putting together a team of girls for each shift, and deciding what they wear and how they style themselves.
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The joke is twofold. First, this is the Dragon of Dojima we’re talking aboutl; Kazuma Kiryu is one of the most feared figures in the Japanese underworld, and yet here he is serving drinks, wearing a tuxedo, and deliberating on whether his best girl should wear her hair in a ponytail or cut it short, all while wearing the same furious, battle-hardened scowl as always. Watching him shout “Fever Time!” at full volume as the music kicks in for happy hour never ceases to be funny.
The fact that it seems like Kiryu was born to manage a hostess club is the icing on the cake. Under his leadership, Fourshine goes from being days away from closing down to a nightlife powerhouse, pulling in Tokyo’s glitterati and making millions of yen every shift.
There’s even an entire sub-story tied to the club management mini-game which is surprisingly involved.The dastardly nightclub baron Kanazaki forcibly enters Fourshine into the “Cabaret Club Grand Prix”, a tournament to determine the best club in Japan, which he is confident Fourshine will crash out of immediately, forever tarnishing its reputation. It all blows up in his face though as Kiryu leads his club to glory, and exposes Kanazaki as a crook while he’s at it.
The Yakuza series is known for itselaborate mini-gamesand, in typical fashion, the mechanics of managing the club are also a lot more fleshed out than I was expecting. You have to assign the right girls to customers, based on their preferences for both physical appearance and personality, and you have to intervene whenever a girl needs her drink refreshed, a guest wants to see a menu, or an ice bucket needs refilling. You also need to keep an eye out for “rich” customers, and verify you assign your best girls to them for maximum profit.
Kiryu’s limitless (and at times baffling) altruism is a huge reason why he’s one of my all-time favourite video game protagonists. I can’t picture Solid Snake taking the time to assist a struggling artist by posing for a topless photo shoot, and if a desperate man in a public toilet asked Geralt of Rivia to find him some clean underwear, he’d ignore him at best (actually, scrap that: Geralt is the reluctant helper in all kinds of silly scenarios, basically making him the Polish Kiryu).
Unlike most hard-boiled action men, Kiryu embraces life’s absurdity and is never too proud or too busy to lend a helping hand. He’s a true gentleman, who always stands up for what’s right. Don’t let that fool you though, because he’s certainly no pushover. Get on the wrong side of him, and you’ll need a dustpan and brush to gather up all those teeth that once resided in your mouth.
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