Latest / Replay Reviews / It’s Raining Yen - Yakuza Kiwami - Part 7

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It’s Raining Yen - Yakuza Kiwami - Part 7 · Replay Reviews

0:00
In this episode, Kiryu fights an entire army while Date gets winded, walking up some stairs,
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jacket tossing makes a comeback, and Kamurocho experiences some interesting precipitation.
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Thank you for coming back from our replay reviews. My name is Leah.
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And my name is Cathy.
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We are two friends who are here to replay, review, and analyze your favorite video games.
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And since Cathy has never seen the games before, it helps me view them through her fresh eyes,
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almost like I'm discovering them again for the first time.
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We hope it'll be a similar experience for you.
1:00
I guess we just have to start with scene one.
1:03
To summarize it, Kiryu fights his way into the Millennium Tower.
1:07
So he follows Cosmo's instructions and heads to Aris, but Hina Haruka are stopped by an army
1:15
sent by Nishiki. And it sounds like they intend to kill him.
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That's where I don't know if Nishiki's just acting out on emotion or if he really does have the
1:25
intention to really have them dead. We know he's a bit hotheaded and makes rash decisions.
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So I don't know if I really trust that he wants them dead dead or if he just saying like,
1:37
just kill them. Or if people are misinterpreting him thinking that they want him dead for reals.
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I want to agree with you, except this is the second time now that he sent people to kill him.
1:51
That's true.
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I don't know.
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I- okay, slap aside. I still am a fan of Nishiki. And I say this as I watch this,
2:03
and we're talking about this chronologically. So at this moment of the game,
2:06
I still have a lot of faith for Nishiki for writing his wrongs, or maybe he's misunderstood.
2:13
You have hope, and there's nothing wrong with that. He's not in the right frame of mind,
2:18
though. I think we can agree with that. But it sounds like he is placing this order to kill Kiryu
2:24
because basically Kiryu is the last thing standing in his way of becoming the fourth chairman.
2:30
I have a question. It's kind of a loaded one. And if you want to answer it later,
2:35
just let me know. But here's what I wrote. I wrote that Nishiki has come a long way,
2:41
but what has it cost him?
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Him? Everything. When we think about what has it cost him, what has he gained from this? That's
2:48
the other thing. Just maybe some respect and power, but what has he lost? He lost his respect from
2:56
his friends. He's lost his sister. He's lost the only woman who's ever loved him. And that's not
3:02
something you can buy with money or with fear. He's lost decades of work into every relationship up
3:08
until the point when he killed Dojima. His sister's death, that really put him over the edge. But it
3:14
really started from the moment he killed Dojima that it all went downhill from him.
3:19
And that brings back our age-old question. Was it Nishiki killing him? Or was it Kiryu refusing to
3:26
let him take the fall? I think we should hold on to that question and come back to this.
3:32
Okay, so after the brawl, we change locations and we see Date in a dark room doing some research on
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a computer. He sees a newspaper article from January 20th, 1977 that says,
3:45
Anti-government student activist? Last protest leader arrested Masaru Sarah. He also uncovers
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a photo of Sarah and Jingu together. So were they partners in crime, so to speak, way back in
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college? Is that how their relationship started? I think so. It almost seems like in a way,
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Jingu probably helped bail Sarah out because he has deep pockets. I'm curious, was this when he was
4:16
already in politics or he wasn't? And was Sarah already involved in Yakuza Pekora? Or was he
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in Yakuza business or not? Because I would think that as a politician, you probably want to stray
4:30
away from Yakuza because it's just bad reputation. But at the flip side, I'm also thinking that
4:38
maybe Jingu either wants to help Sarah or he pushes Sarah into the Yakuza business because he needs
4:46
someone to do his dirty business for him. Yeah, my interpretation is they were both part of
4:53
this student activist group. And that's how they became friends or whatever. And then yeah, from
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there, Jingu went into the politics side, Sarah went into the Yakuza organized crime side. And
5:05
we'll have a comment later that sort of backs up what we've been talking about. But does that kind
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of explain a little bit more about why Sarah initially accepted the hit that Jingu ordered on
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Haruka and Yumi? Yeah, it's almost like Sarah owed him. But at the same time, I have a hard time
5:22
believing that Sarah could be anyone's right hand man and not his own man. I agree. That is a little
5:28
odd. But pseudo comes barging in, yelling who's in here with a flashlight. I don't know why he
5:35
didn't just turn on the lights. And then that ends scene one. Anything else you want to talk about
5:42
before we move on? Nope. All right. We are now on our way to the Millennium Tower. Unfortunately,
5:50
Kiryu is greeted by a lot of MIA agents. After fighting through a ton of them, we then see
5:57
Date and Pseudo again, they're running up some stairs. They both now know the truth about Jingu
6:03
and the 10 billion, but they feel there's still a missing piece, which is what is Jingu's plan
6:08
for the money? My first question is, how do we feel about Pseudo now? I feel like he's proven
6:14
his loyalty in solving business and not necessarily trying to one up someone. Because otherwise,
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if he was trying to pull a fast one over Date's head, then he probably wouldn't have shared all
6:30
this information with Date. And the question still remains for me, because I feel like Pseudo is
6:35
being given orders to find Haruka, push Date out. But do you think he was ever crooked, or was he
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just getting orders from crooked people? I have a hard time even thinking that they're crooked. I
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feel like it's just one of those cases where the police try to step in, and they're going about it
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the wrong way. So I feel like maybe the intention is good, the way to do it is bad, and Pseudo should
7:04
just be caught in one of those positions where he knows good and bad, but he has no choice if he
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wants promotion. I think the question we need answered is, who are those two guys that pop out
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of that side room? Because without that information, we don't know if this is just standard police work,
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or if someone's pulling some strings that shouldn't be pulled. At that end, when they're looking at
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the helicopter, Pseudo is just leaning against the wall, and he's still very, very close to Date.
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They're standing a foot apart. And just the way he looks at Date. Tower over me again, Date.
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Except this time he's leaning away and just posing.
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So after Kiryu defeats the MIA, he and Haruka make it up to Aris, where we see a knife wielding Yumi
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carrying a briefcase. The three meet up and have a sweet reunion, but it is quickly over when Jingu
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arrives. Freaking Jingu, here he comes ruining everything. He just wants his 10 billion, and to
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tie up some loose ends, which is double homicide. So during the reunion, though, after hugging Haruka
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very much so she should, that's her daughter. It's a very sweet moment. But then you also have Yumi
8:28
hugging Kiryu like they're long lost lovers, which makes me question who Haruka's father really is.
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I know the timeline, it wouldn't make sense and everything because he would have been in jail.
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But still, the way she hugs him, we had to go back to see where Kiryu was putting his arm.
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I wasn't sure where that hand was.
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Yeah. And almost like it rivals the intimacy that we see between Sudo and Date. It's like,
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are they, aren't they?
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A requited love.
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Yes. But we also see Yumi with a whole new appearance and everything. Yeah, we know Sarah
9:05
and Kazama helped her. But also we see Yumi now with the tat. It's a real tat.
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The tit tat.
9:18
Yes. Also, I can't freaking believe they're making Haruka suffer as if this child hasn't suffered
9:24
enough. Haka knows about her dad's history of wanting to kill her and yet she still has to face
9:29
him again, who's a back to killer.
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Tries to kill her. Takes a shot.
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Yeah. I think Kiryu learned something from Majima though, because he jumps in front of the bullet.
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Thankfully, it only grazes his shoulder.
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Ironically, Kiryu is more like a father figure to Haruka at this moment than her actual biological
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dad, who tried to kill her not once but twice.
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Called her baggage.
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Yeah, to her face.
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Everything this guy is saying is so bad.
10:01
Yeah, it's really bad.
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Well then, Turada shows up with a couple of grunts, evening the odds a little bit against
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Jingu's army until Jingu gives an order and Turada's grunts detain him. So it turns out
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Jingu is using the 10 billion to pay the Omi for a partnership and he's betraying the Tojo
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clan at this point.
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The confidence this man has to think that he can be handing out money and paying these people when
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he doesn't even have the actual cash with him. I mean, it takes guts.
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But also he mentions his political ties are too hard to refuse and his ultimate plan is to use
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the Omi to take down the Tojo clan and control politics and organized crime.
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So, okay. I know we have varying opinions about Kazuma. I just have a question to ask you.
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Mm hmm. Because we know that Turada was helping out Kazuma because he owed him or whatever.
11:01
And that's how he got involved in this whole thing.
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Look at him now, Kathy. He's been outed from the Omi Alliance.
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He's being held at gunpoint by his own men.
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I mean, is this what loyalty to Kazuma ultimately gets you?
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How many times have we seen it go right? That's my question.
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We've only seen two games. And so, but I don't know. I agree with you that we haven't seen it
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go right all the time so far.
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Yeah, I don't think he necessarily intends to put people in bad situations, but I don't think that
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he minds the possibility of it.
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Mm hmm.
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But I agree with you that he's overconfident. I think he needs a Tachibana. I don't think he can
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keep doing what he did in Y0 without a Tachibana. And let's be honest, there's no one else out there
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like Tachibana.
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Tachibana was literally the equal of Kazuma in terms of ability and skill, competency, power,
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influence and everything.
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Yep. And he just, he just let him die.
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Only he had better kidneys.
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If only he didn't get kidnapped, tortured and sludge-shamered to the head.
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Kiri then questions Jingu about Nishiki. And Jingu says he told him about the 10 billion and
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the will, I think, to manipulate him and cause rifts in the Tojo.
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I think that kind of pisses Kiri off because you think that helped lead Nishiki farther down this
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path.
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It definitely did. It was just, it might not have been the straw that broke the camel's back,
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but it definitely added to the weight. So in talking about the 10 billion, talking about
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Nishiki, so it is confirmed that Nishiki killed Sarah because I'm still in a bit of denial that
12:58
thinking Sarah is actually dead.
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I think it's safe to assume. If you can believe Jingu, yes. And if Nishiki shot at Kazuma,
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I don't think he'd have any problem assassinating Sarah.
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That's true. It wasn't really even about Nishiki killing Sarah. It was more of Sarah knew it was
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coming and I refused to believe he let it happen to him.
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Yeah. Maybe he just knew that it was the end of the line for him.
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The other one I was going to talk about was also he, Jingu had a sentence where he's saying that
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Kiri is the reason for the brink of Tojo Clan's collapse. I'm questioning whether you think it
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really is Kiri is the reason or if he was just the final straw that broke the camel's back.
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Yeah, I get a little confused by that line because what is he referencing? The biggest thing he's
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done is, in quotes, killed Dojima that caused a re-off, but then he's been in prison for 10 years
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and then this stuff started when Nishiki outed the missing 10 billion and all that stuff.
14:02
And when Kiryu gets released, I mean, what is he's just looking for Yumi.
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He didn't even step his toes in the Tojo Clan really. He had Shinji working for him, but Shinji
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was ultimately working for Kazama. Based on Jingu's personality type, I think he just wants
14:21
someone to blame it on and he also seems like someone who's more emotionally manipulative.
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And so I think this is one of the other reasons how he got to Nishiki was saying it's your fault
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or it's his fault and really playing to their emotions. I'd agree with that. Unless we're
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completely missing something, I don't see how Kiryu is responsible for all this because he
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certainly didn't steal the 10 billion. He certainly wasn't involved in Jingu laundering it through
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the Yakuza. Yeah, and he didn't kill Sarah. No. So I don't know what he's talking about.
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Someone tell us, did we miss something? On the flip side, then you have someone who's awesome,
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like Yumi, who has a backup plan. And maybe it's because she knows Jingu enough to know that she
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can die at any time. She's awesome at saying that you kill me and everything's gone. She played the
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long game like Shimano claims to play didn't work for him. But yeah, this is a move that you can't
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really get around because she knows him well enough to know what he wants and that he's not gonna
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leave without it. And that's a weakness for him, honestly, because it helps her know how to control
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him how to manipulate him. But yeah, she says if the bomb goes off, it will destroy the 10 billion,
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and then says that I won't let you have this money. So here's my question. According to Kazuma,
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he and Sarah were going to steal the money to out the money laundering, and Yumi volunteered to help.
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Is this just to get back at him? Like, I'm wondering why is she involving herself? Because
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is that not what ultimately puts her and Haruka back on Jingu's radar? I think maybe she just knows
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that even though Sarah and Kazuma are smart enough to get the money, their lack of knowledge and
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experience and time around Jingu is going to affect their ability to really get to him. And you know,
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she's probably the only person who knows him enough to know how to truly not only just
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create on his nerves, but also to go and play defense and offense at the same time.
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That's fair. I guess I would be pretty mad if someone tried to kill me. So,
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and my daughter, right. Um, okay, but honestly, though,
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this guy's laugh. I cannot handle this guy's laugh. It's weird. I mean, his mouth doesn't even move.
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It's a bit much. So Yumi's move allows her and Haruka to safely retreat inside. Well,
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Kiryu presents Sarah's will, and this is when we see a flashback to when it was created.
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Sarah left the name of the fourth chairman off of the will and decided that it'll be up to Kazuma.
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Who do you think he chose? Big surprise. I had definitely not surprised, but I do want to get
17:24
again huge Sarah fan here. What's really awesome about Sarah is that he knows that he's weak in
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certain areas and he's not afraid to admit it. I just, again, cannot compliment this man enough.
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I agree. And I think it goes back to the conversation we were just having of we think he knew his time was up.
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And I think this is proof of him knowing like, I might not get through this whole thing alive.
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So I'm entrusting this to you. After Kiryu reveals that he is the next chairman, the fight breaks out,
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but it's interrupted when Date and Sudo show up in a helicopter, announcing a warrant for Jingu's
18:02
arrest, to which Jingu responds, you have no proof. But then his his agents start shooting the
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helicopter. And I feel like right there, if you didn't have a warrant before, you certainly have one now.
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I think them flying in is one of the useless scenes in this finale, because you go in without guns,
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without any backup. Did you really expect them to be in the same place?
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Because you go in without guns, without any backup. Did you really expect Jingu like,
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oh, you got me now, ha ha, let me put my guns down. Like, you know, that was gonna happen.
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So why would you just go in without any guns or support or anything?
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I question it as well. And this won't be the first time that we see Date in a helicopter being useless.
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After they get shot at, like, who would have guessed? They have to leave because
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if they crash, they're gonna kill a bunch of people in the city. So they leave.
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Okay, great little cameo from those two. Are we ready for the final scene?
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After defeating Jingu, Kiryu returns inside to Haruka and Yumi.
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And the bomb. But then enters Nishiki. Things get a little complicated.
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He still wants to be the chairman. Is it because like, why does he want this so bad?
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Is it because he has nothing else to look forward to?
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I think deep down, it's not about competition with Kiryu. I think it's the only way to stay
19:29
connected with Kiryu. And also, I'm curious if he even knows if Kasama's dead.
19:34
I'm gonna say most likely he does just because he's got a lot of he's got a lot of men in his family.
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I think he's got a lot of reach. He knew where Kiryu was. Well, that was Rena, I guess.
19:46
But I think he has his information channels. But that's a good point, because Nishiki says that
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because of his unthinkable betrayal of Kiryu and Kasama, he can't trust anybody anymore.
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And therefore, he never trusted Jingu. And he knew he'd probably betray him all along.
20:04
What do you think is going on with me? Like, I don't even know what to ask you.
20:07
Like, what are you thinking right now? I feel like deep down, and maybe I'm trying
20:12
to see things that aren't there. I almost feel like Nishiki wants to
20:20
be like this to feel something because he's just so numb from everything going he's lost everything.
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And even without this position, if he loses his position, then he literally has nothing.
20:32
And he's already not feeling much. So I think staying angry and staying greedy is the only way he feels things.
20:40
Even the start of all of this, I think it might have even been him trying to ask for help.
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I mean, I don't want to compare him to a child, because that's kind of condescending.
20:51
But you know, when a kid wants help or attention, they sort of act out.
20:56
Well, the thing is that he just has never learned how to ask for things. His level of support is different than Kiryu,
21:04
because his support is all within the realm of the Yakuza. And let's be honest,
21:11
they're not going to be the best type of people to show you how to express their emotions freely.
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He's kind of going the only route that he knows how to, which is being in the Yakuza.
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It's hard for Nishiki not trying to defend him, but just trying to understand him that maybe he does this
21:32
is because he wants to be closer to Kiryu. Like he wants to be Kiryu. He's not jealous of him.
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He wants to be him. And he wants to be loved. And maybe he's hoping that by being powerful enough,
21:44
he'll earn a similar respect and love from the people around him.
21:49
Yeah, I wouldn't even necessarily say it's jealousy in every aspect. Maybe when it comes to Yumi, it is.
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But I think it's sort of like, why is Kiryu getting all this attention? I can do it too.
22:02
And so he does it arguably better within the Yakuza lifestyle. And he still doesn't really get
22:10
the same respect that Kiryu gets. And that my biggest question though is, and maybe they try
22:17
to answer it from when Nishiki says that people always flock to Kiryu. Maybe that's all it is.
22:22
But my question is, what has Kiryu done? I mean, did we not see it? Is it between Y0 and this game?
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Is there all the stuff that he's done to earn respect and trust?
22:33
You're making me smile and I don't know if you can tell if I'm smiling. Because this was exactly
22:38
the question that I had. They both started with the same deck of cards. Yet, why is it that Kiryu
22:45
gets more admiration and everything when Nishiki stayed in the Yakuza? So that's exactly why I'm
22:54
thinking the same thing as you is what really has he done besides having Kazama's veritism?
23:01
Yeah, Kiryu can kill the patriarch and is forgiven.
23:06
And that makes me kind of angry is that I really do think that the only thing he did right was
23:13
Kazama deciding to choose him.
23:17
So moving on, Nishiki has a line that says, I don't want to lose to you, Kiryu. And I believe
23:22
that this is in regards to getting the 10 billion, becoming the chairman, and getting Yumi.
23:30
And it's kind of like what we were saying, so many people have compared Nishiki to Kiryu,
23:33
and not even compared him, but been like, oh him, like, this guy's here too, you know? So I don't,
23:40
I just don't blame him for feeling this way at all. Is it right? No. But if you treat people
23:46
better, maybe they don't turn out like this. This is when he mentions, like you said, that he's
23:52
in love with Yumi, but she never gave him a second glance. And then after the incident,
23:58
the Dojima incident, it felt like a big piece of his life was taken away from him, which is fair.
24:04
He lost two of the most important people in his life. And then he continues to say that after
24:11
this happened that he'd sacrifice everything to change the fates.
24:15
When you talk about all the loss and everythings, I can't help but draw parallels to what Makoto,
24:23
what she has gone through, except the thing is Nishiki went through everything with
24:28
eyes wide open. He's just suffering blow after blow, and he's trying to make something out of
24:34
it. And even though it's the wrong decision. Yeah, he is suffering. And unlike Makoto,
24:38
he doesn't have a Li or a Majima. And I think this is why he says that he's suffering.
24:44
This is why he says for the first time, I will control my fate. And this is not the first time
24:48
that we've talked about trying to control fate. And I don't know, I mean, can you control fate?
24:56
I think you can try. Well, that's exactly what Nishiki is doing. If anything, I actually thought
25:02
that he took the reins and tried to make himself something like the moment after he kills the guy
25:11
and just slicks back his hair with the guy's blood and everything. So cool. Anything. I know.
25:18
And that's how you feel. Yeah. We should bottle fake blood and we should sell it as Nishiki's hair
25:27
gel. Oh my god, Leigh-en. But no, I think that Nishiki is just, he's changing his fate. And
25:37
exactly what Yumi is telling him that he should be doing. He shouldn't run away and change your
25:42
fate. But that's exactly what he's doing. So I don't know. I'm just going in a loop right now.
25:47
Yeah. Well, let's read the line. Nishiki says that he's going to control his own fate, take over the
25:53
Tojo Clan, take Yumi. And then she says, first of all, she starts it out with, don't you get it?
25:59
Which irks me. And then continues to say, what good will that do? Changing your fate that way
26:06
won't make you happy. And I agree. I think she completely misses the mark. She has more to say,
26:14
but before we get there, she completely misses the mark. The point is, he's already lost everything
26:20
that makes him happy. What is he running? He has nothing left to run away from. Exactly. It's one
26:27
of those positions where if you haven't suffered, you don't really know what the suffering is going
26:32
through. She's not the one who lost his sister to cancer and betrayed everyone he did to help his
26:39
sister. She's not the one who lost the best friend. So I also feel like she has no grounds to stay in
26:47
when she's saying that. Don't be going at him saying that, oh, you made the wrong choices and
26:53
everything. For that reason, I'm kind of mad at Yumi for doing that. I don't even know if Kiryu
26:59
understands the level of hurt that Nishiki has been through. I don't think he does either. I
27:06
really don't. And then to make things worse, Yumi's next quote is, you're just running from things
27:12
you don't want to face. What exactly is that? Because in my opinion, he's literally faced things
27:20
head on by taking shots at Kasuma, showing up right now, involving himself in this whole 10 billion
27:28
conspiracy. I mean, what is he running from? Just her and Kiryu being in love and poor Nishiki's,
27:37
the third point in the triangle. I don't understand how she can even blame him. Do you want him to
27:43
hang out around you and do you want him to turn into an ugly green monster full of jealousy and
27:48
everything? And I almost feel like she's judging Nishiki as if he was Jingu and I don't think it's
27:56
fair. Nishiki had to crawl his way through hell and up and yet you still compare it as if they're
28:04
both the same men and accusing them of running away from problems. Right. And Yumi, let's not
28:10
forget, Nishiki is the one who shot the man trying to rape you. So have some respect for what he
28:16
saved you from. Yeah. Yumi continues to say, if you really want to change your fate, doesn't that
28:23
mean you have to stay and accept the suffering? What has he been doing for the last 10 years?
28:29
Yes, thank you. I was like, this woman. Yeah. I know you had amnesia. Yeah. But he didn't. He's
28:38
been dealing with this suffering for 10 straight years and trying to make the best of it. And like
28:43
you said, putting that energy into into rising in the Tojo Clan because he lost, he had nothing else.
28:49
Well, what have you done? You abandoned your daughter, you blacked out your memory so you
28:56
weren't even able to help and everything and you live a blissful life. And you had money,
29:01
you had Kazama and Sarah supporting you every step of the way. And now you also have Kiryu,
29:07
the man you love and everything. You also had Reina's support when you worked there.
29:11
And you had people buying you fake IDs and everything. And building you a bar at the top
29:17
of a skyrise. Yeah. Clearly Kazuma could have helped pay for his, was it Akame, for her surgery.
29:26
Where was that money when Nishiki needed it Kazuma? Right. And then to finish it out, she tells him,
29:32
don't run away, face it, like Kazuma, Kazuma, Kiryu, and Haruka. What? Yeah. What does that mean?
29:40
What's Haruka facing? Her mother abandoning her? Is that fair to say? I don't know. First of all,
29:47
I want Arian to leave Haruka out of this because she hasn't taken action. She's responded to actions
29:54
besides running away to protect people. She really hasn't gotten herself into trouble.
29:59
If anything, it's all these adults causing trouble for her. Yeah. So leave her alone first. But also
30:05
I think the other question is what does Yumi want for Nishiki? I hate saying this and I make her sound
30:11
terrible, but I feel like she's just judging everyone off of Kiryu's standards where it's
30:17
impossible because Kiryu can do no wrong in her eyes. Yeah. No, that's fair. And I think to break
30:23
apart what you said a little bit. First point, yeah, what does she want from him to come back
30:28
and be friends with them? You can't ask someone to do that. So then what does he have? He has to
30:33
be constantly tortured and in pain. He's got nothing else on the other side. So what are you
30:38
asking him to do? But anyway, I don't think we blame Nishiki when he stands up and yells, shut up.
30:45
Yeah. And then follows it with, why can't you acknowledge what I've achieved? She pushed his
30:52
buttons. She was the final straw to get Nishiki to admit to sort of her own feelings. Yeah. And
31:01
then she was the final straw to get Nishiki to admit to sort of in a way like ask for help. But
31:08
it's too late at this point. I think this is him backing up everything we've said, which is why is
31:15
he always the bad guy? Why is he always second? Why is everything that he has done not important?
31:22
I feel exactly how you feel and I think you said it really well. He just seeing him and knowing
31:28
everything he's gone through in Y0, how one moment you can be at the top of the world and the next
31:34
is just everything's flipped around. It hurts me because for those that played Kiwami before Y0
31:40
was released, they'll never understand the amount of pain and the downfall and everything he loses
31:47
and everything. Like we've seen Nishiki be so boyishly cheerful in the beginning of Y0 and
31:53
then you ended through here where it's just there's just so much pain and hurt in him.
32:02
And I'm so glad we watched Y0 first to establish the backstory to it, even though it hurts me worse.
32:09
Well, that's why it's good though. That's how you know that they did a good job.
32:13
I'm sorry. I started laughing because I was making sure there was no other important quotes right
32:16
here. And after Nishiki, so she like scolds him, lectures him and then he says, shut up. Why can't
32:23
you acknowledge what I've achieved? And just those two lines causes her to break down into tears and
32:27
collapse to the floor after what she just fed to him. They can't agree. No one can agree. And so
32:35
Nishiki and Kiryu decide it's time to settle things once and for all. This is not really a parallel,
32:41
but sort of an opposite to the Y0 fight when they fought together. So in the first game in Y0 when
32:49
Nishiki decides screw the consequences, I'm all in, I'm on Kiryu's side. They fight together. Their
32:56
tattoos are just the lines at this point. Now they're fighting each other and their tattoos are
33:02
filled in. They're complete. What do you think the filled in means? Like the symbolism behind filling
33:08
in a tattoo? I'm going to answer that opposite. Okay. The lining having just the line, the line
33:15
work done. I think that, I mean, we talked about it, it's symbolic of not being complete. Their
33:20
legends aren't complete. Their character arcs aren't complete. They're still inexperienced.
33:26
They're still finding their way. Having them filled in is sort of the, okay, this is the end
33:34
of their story. Their tattoos are complete. The Koi has become the dragon and there can only be
33:41
one dragon, as Shibusawa said at the end of Y0. And so I think it's sort of the loss of the innocence,
33:48
the loss of the hope, the loss of this is what we can turn the Yakuza into with you and me together.
33:55
That's over. And that was never going to happen. I'm thinking really similar, but at the same time,
34:02
kind of opposite, because I think it's complete, but the colors are representing of the experience
34:08
that they had going through everything. The way it's filled in and everything just shows a different
34:13
kind of life experience that they had that maybe in all of the filled in, like some of the red and
34:20
the orange represents the pain and the bloodshed that Nishiki had to go through versus maybe some
34:27
of his colors are like a happy and a lucky kind of thing. I think you're pretty much spot on.
34:34
And this is maybe another reason why Nishiki has the Koi and Kiryu has the dragon. If we go back to
34:40
the symbolism of their tattoos, Nishiki had to swim up the river and endure these challenges to
34:46
become the dragon. Kiryu was born as the dragon, probably arguably because of Kazuma. And I think
34:52
that's the heart of the issue between them is one of them from the start was the dragon and one of
34:58
them had to earn it, but the one who earned it still didn't get recognized for having earned it.
35:03
I love that. That's really good, Leah. You said that so well.
35:08
You got me there.
35:09
Yeah. You really said that very, very well. And the symbolism is undeniably true. Kiryu might not
35:19
even realize that he was always born six steps in front of Nishiki. And when you see them, you can't
35:26
say that they started on the same. It's the equity piece of everything. And even the end of the
35:33
end, he wasn't recognized for the transition of him becoming powerful and everything, which
35:40
kind of goes back to Nishiki's point about, can't you recognize what I've done and what I've earned?
35:48
And why wouldn't you have that question when you've suffered so much to get to where you are,
35:53
even if some of it was questionable? I mean, you still have a choice, but no one tried to stop him.
35:59
And when Nishiki needed him, he wasn't there. Yeah. Well, let's talk about why Kiryu wasn't there.
36:06
Was it just to find Yumi? Is it because Kazuma told him, find Yumi, figure out the 10 billion?
36:11
He set him on this path, which by the way, he knew where they were the whole time.
36:15
Freaking Kazuma. Why did he have to do this? I just realized that when he gets shot, does he
36:21
not say, find Yumi and the 10 billion? Why didn't you just tell the truth and everything?
36:26
Or why doesn't he tell Shinji and Shinji tell him? This is why I hate Kazuma, because he,
36:32
instead of telling Kiryu right then, oh yeah, go to ours. You can get there by doing this. Yumi's
36:38
there. That's where the 10 billion is. Oh, and by the way, Jingu is Haruka's father, this girl.
36:43
And he was laundering the money, which is why I stole it with Sarah and Yumi. Instead, he says,
36:48
go find it. Like he doesn't know where it is and puts Kiryu through all of this.
36:52
This. Leah, you just, you broke me. I think going back to last week's episode, Kazuma is a mother.
37:00
He's a mother. It's no longer a hint of, of it's, it's a heaping load. That realization. I just,
37:08
yeah, it's not Kazuma's fault, but Kazuma got the ball rolling that he could have evened out the
37:14
playing fields, but he didn't do that for Nishiki. And he just played mind games. And, and I,
37:19
I think it took me a moment for me to get there, but I'm here. I'm, I'm with you with, he's the
37:24
mother. I'm starting to simmer and getting angry at the way he's treating. Cause I just feel Nishiki's
37:30
hurt to different level. Oh, what? I just, sorry. I just had a crazy theory because the reason we
37:35
got here is because I was thinking, why wasn't Kiryu so focused on Nishiki? He was focused on
37:41
finding the 10 billion and on finding Yumi, which Kazuma told him to do, even though he knew what
37:46
was going on the whole time, he could have told the truth. So did he send Kiryu on this goose chase
37:51
so that he could not focus on Nishiki because he knows Kiryu is loyal to me. He'll listen to me.
37:56
And this distracts him from helping Nishiki. And what does Kazuma have to gain from,
38:02
from allowing Nishiki to continue on this destructive path? He gets revenge on Nishiki for
38:10
betraying the Kazuma family and weakening it. There is motive for him to not want Kiryu to help Nishiki.
38:17
Oh, I think you're right. Let me, let me noodle on that.
38:26
I think I've said it before, Nishiki and Kiryu are two sides of the same coin.
38:30
And this coin is in Kazuma's hand. Even if he's not intentionally doing it, I think he's realizing
38:36
like, oh, Kiryu is the one who is more trusting, more moldable. Nishiki is a little more up in the
38:43
air. He almost has them controlling each other, but he's controlling both of them and using them
38:50
to control each other. Because here's the thing, they both are dragons, they both are powerful.
38:55
And if anything, Nishiki probably is, would have been the more powerful one, which he does kind of
39:01
prove that. And he had what it takes to become the top guy. And maybe Kazuma was just acting out of
39:07
fear that he knew Nishiki is going to be one day powerful enough and Kazuma knew that he couldn't
39:14
get behind that. So he decides to make it hard for Nishiki and make it good for Kiryu who he can
39:20
control. He wants his legacy to continue and Kiryu is the best way to do that. Okay, and we need to
39:26
move on. We spent like 30 minutes on this. I know. I will say that during the fight between Nishiki
39:33
and Kiryu, we get a lot of bromance flashback scenes and all the promises that they made to each
39:39
other and to themselves. And in a way, I feel like they've broken every single one of them.
39:44
The cinematography, the feelings behind this, it's just so well put together, so well directed. I
39:50
feel like this is stuff that even some movies can't even achieve this level of emotion and it's just
39:56
so well done. That's why video games just hit me different because you play as these characters,
40:01
you just get more attached. You just do. It's not the same as watching them. You're controlling them.
40:07
So yeah, it hits different and I agree. It fuels to their fight because I think they both realize
40:13
that what you're saying is it's all been lost. After beating Nishiki, Yumi and Kiryu have another
40:21
reunion while Nishiki's just on the floor. Yumi tells Kiryu that she couldn't forget him.
40:27
Even when she had amnesia, she had flashes of him and opens the pendant to reveal a picture of Kiryu.
40:33
Is this not just a little bit creepy? What pisses me off is that this pendant,
40:39
with Kiryu's face in it, is what puts Haruka at so much risk. You're putting your daughter through
40:50
all this and she can't even defend herself. Look at her. She's just like a little deer and everything.
40:55
She isn't going to be able to fight people off and you put her in so much danger because of a stupid
41:00
pendant holding a photo of some random dude to her. Oh sorry, there's one more thing to just be sad
41:07
about for Nishiki when she says that she could never forget Kiryu. I guess she forgot Nishiki though.
41:13
The man who literally killed for her. I was so angry watching this scene.
41:23
I know. She started out so cool. Yumi then uses the pendant to open the vault containing the missing
41:29
10 billion, but she wants to destroy it and plants the bomb, at which point Kiryu gets shot in the leg
41:36
by a recovered Jingu. Then he takes another shot and we think Haruka is going to get hit because
41:43
she jumps in front of Kiryu. But then it turns out Yumi jumped in front of Haruka and she takes the
41:49
bullet to the stomach. My question is just how many times can someone take a bullet for someone else
41:55
in one game? Too much. That's what it is. We literally just saw a Russian doll trying to take
42:00
a bullet for somebody. What's going on here? Had Kiryu actually done what Nishiki can do,
42:08
which is to kill Jingu and put a bullet through his head, which you said you would like him to
42:12
put a bullet through the mole. That mole is just asking for it. He's asking to be shot right there.
42:19
No offense to anyone with moles, beauty marks. They look good on people who are nice, but if you're an
42:26
a**, everything about you just starts to look worse. That's just how it works. Yeah. Unfortunately
42:32
for Jingu, Nishiki has regained consciousness and stabs him quite angrily and forcefully, pushing
42:38
them both into the vault, at which point Jingu's gun goes off during the struggle and Nishiki has
42:44
been hit. I'm mad that Nishiki didn't push the gun away. You know he has a gun, but at the same time,
42:53
I think deep down Nishiki wanted to die. I think he knew he wasn't going to make it out alive.
42:59
So I was going to talk a little bit about this after, but I think that this is a good time to
43:03
talk about it. We've been talking about people taking bullets for each other and we've never
43:09
seen anyone take a bullet for Nishiki, but what does he do right here? He saves Kiryu. He saves
43:16
Haruka. He kills Jingu. Is it out of not wanting to lose to Jingu? Sure, you could make that argument,
43:25
but I think based off of what he'll say next, the answer is no. I think he does it in at least some
43:34
part of him out of protecting Kiryu, because he points his gun at the bomb and says,
43:41
Responsibility is mine, so let me do this. And I know you have something to say about this line,
43:47
because this is the overarching theme in Yakuza 0 that we beat to death in his back.
43:55
Why does Nishiki feel like he needs to redeem himself? Is this as a result of everything that
44:01
happened? Is this the fate of what was supposed to happen to Nishiki full circle? And then the other
44:08
thoughts that I had going through my mind is that why does Nishiki need to feel responsible and who
44:15
has made him feel like he needs to take responsibility? I feel like it's just so unfair.
44:20
At the same time, I feel like if Nishiki didn't end it this way, what does he have left if he
44:28
stayed behind? So I don't know if I answered your question, but... I don't know, but let me just go
44:34
into how I see this moment. Number one, for the responsibility theme, we know this is big for
44:38
these characters being in the Yakuza, responsibility is key. They harped on that theme hard in Y0,
44:45
and it's interesting that just now it's returning. I find that very interesting, because we don't...
44:50
I don't know if we hear the word responsibility at all until this moment. He says responsibility is
44:56
mine. And that leads me to believe that he has guilt. He sees Yumi dead and sees that he played
45:04
a part in events that caused this to happen. I think that maybe even the fight with Kiryu sort of
45:09
knocked something loose, so to speak. I think old Nishiki is back. I think he feels guilt for
45:17
the betrayals. And I think he is essentially erasing what he's done. Do you think Nishiki's
45:24
responsibility is to protect Kiryu and to be that shell that takes all the impact constantly
45:30
and leaves Kiryu good and shiny? Yes and no. I think the responsibility is... Undo what I've done.
45:39
Responsibility is the Yakuza word, but I think a better word is redemption. I think that this is
45:46
Nishiki's redemption. I think that he is old Nishiki again. This is him putting the blame on
45:52
Kiryu. This is him paying back for what he's done. This is what, in his mind, all he can do
46:00
to repay Kiryu for what he did. Well, Kiryu begs him, don't do it, but it's too late. Nishiki has
46:09
his mind set and we cut to outside where we see a massive explosion and the 10 billion rains down
46:15
onto the streets. Kind of poetic. It's going to the to the citizens that it was probably
46:19
stolen from, extorted from, laundered from. Which again kind of goes back to when Yumi originally
46:26
wanted to set it all off and everything. Why couldn't she have just donated it? There's so
46:31
many good things you could do. You can use it to feed the homeless and everything. I don't know if
46:35
the homeless population was massive back then. You don't even know what you're saying, but
46:40
there's a funny tie to what you just said. What was she thinking of setting a bomb in there
46:48
without any kind of bomb-proof firewall or whatever? Why would Nishiki think that everyone's
46:55
going to survive? He's just a few feet away from Kiryu. If you're going to die and there's an
47:00
explosion, I'm pretty sure you're going to kill off your brother who you're trying to redeem.
47:05
Unless Yumi was bluffing when she said, if you shoot me, the 10 billion goes up and the bomb is
47:10
really just a lot smaller than that and the blast wouldn't have reached that far. Or if in the scene
47:16
that we don't see where he actually fires a shot but we have the outside view, maybe he closed the
47:20
vault door? I don't know, but the question remains, how? How did they not get hurt?
47:27
Kiryu not suffer from third degree burns when he literally has no shirt on?
47:32
They're definitely going to have some internal bleeding from the shockwave.
47:35
Poor Haruka. She's going to get cancer.
47:39
But that's not the only reason to say poor Haruka because on Yumi's deathbed,
47:43
she pretty much ignores Haruka. She says, you're my real treasure.
47:47
99% of the time was to Kiryu and talking to him.
47:52
Pretty one-sided, in my opinion. I think that's time for a so long for Yumi.
48:00
Here's where I'm struggling with it. With Yumi, I thought she was cool and she had her moments.
48:06
She could have reached out to Kiryu instead of making him run around the entire city and everything.
48:12
I don't think she's a mother-respecter, but I don't think she is also a mother-****.
48:19
I think you're right. I think if we have to put her in one of the categories, I'd say a tone-deaf
48:25
mother-respecter. She doesn't know how to read the room. I don't really know if we have enough
48:33
information on her to make a sound judgment. I think she makes a lot of mistakes
48:39
and she does some good things. I think if anything, it's just very low tier mother-respecter.
48:47
Well, we have to do a so long for Nishiki Cathy. It pains me to say it.
48:52
It hurts me. I feel like I'm too biased to give a good one. The love I had for him in Y-Zero,
49:02
and I know the pain is what really drives his actions. Not saying that his actions are correct,
49:09
but I just feel so much for him and I just want to give him a massive hug. I think in the end,
49:14
he redeemed himself and he's just misunderstood after you net everything together. I think he's
49:21
a mother-respecter. For me, I think if he hadn't done, and I guess it's up to interpretation,
49:27
but I think we both are pretty square in that this was him accepting responsibility. He
49:33
already said that and trying to redeem himself. If he hadn't done that, you would have to put him in
49:38
the mother-c*** category begrudgingly. Comparing him, I think it was in Oda's so long segment,
49:46
we can compare them because both of them betrayed their sworn brother. I think one of the
49:53
arguments I made for Oda being a mother-c***er, which wasn't much of an argument, but is he did
49:57
nothing to redeem himself, whereas Nishiki does. For that reason, I think though they're similar
50:06
situations, Nishiki does enough to end up in the mother-respecter category.
50:12
I agree. I think you're right. When you net everything, he does earn it. I do want to back
50:18
paddle real quick. For Yumi, I think one thing that might take her a step above the neutral
50:25
category is that she died because she took the bullet for her daughter, even though her daughter
50:30
stepped in front of Kiryu. It's like, yes, she did take the bullet for Kiryu, but it's really more so
50:35
Haruka. I feel like that takes it a step above neutral. Nishiki's probably several steps above
50:44
that. I agree. Because she was forced to take that bullet in a way, whereas Nishiki got up
50:52
and said that responsibility is mine. That's an apology in my opinion. It wasn't even an instinct.
50:58
It was a conscious decision to step up and to take action to right his wrongs. He almost reminds me a
51:05
bit of what's the pervert's name, the guy who asks for consent, but is a pervert?
51:10
Nishitani. Nishitani, yeah. In terms of redeeming for the brother, despite all the crazy stuff he
51:19
causes Majima, he does in the end try to protect Majima. Nishiki's in the same way, despite all the
51:27
troubles that his ripple effect has on everyone. He does try to right some wrongs.
51:34
And I think that the act of being able to do that, especially after 10 years of not doing that,
51:39
I think he took enough steps to account for the things that he did that were not good and would
51:45
have landed him in the mother-c***er category. Talking about mother-c***ers, did we already say
51:49
about Jingu? No. Are we ready? Uh, mother-c***er. Multiple, multiple mother-c***ers because he tried
51:57
to kill his baby mama and daughter multiple times and he tried to kill his mother-c***er multiple
52:03
times. Can't even say anything positive about this man. He's making me think that we need to have,
52:10
in our season wrap-up episode, an ultimate mother-c***er. Who is the biggest mother-c***er?
52:16
I think until now it's kind of been Oda. All right, well, so long, mother-neutral respecter,
52:25
mother-respecter, and mother-c***er. One of each. After all of this happened, Date and Sudo and the
52:36
PD arrive and Date is able to pull Kiryu out of his despair to see that Haruka needs him. And so he
52:45
and Sudo are able to prevent Kiryu from being arrested. And then some time later, Kiryu's being
52:52
chased out of Tojo HQ. Turns out that he was inducted as chairman and then immediately retired.
52:59
And we see who Kiryu has selected as the fifth chairman. So the guy Kiryu chooses to be the
53:06
fifth chairman is Turada. Do you think that Turada was the right pick? I'm gonna say yes.
53:14
Number one reason being, I don't know who else he would pick. Kashiwagi? Yeah, honestly, it should
53:21
have been Kashiwagi maybe. I think Turada is a good choice just because he's got a good hatred
53:27
probably for the Omi by now and for the MIA. So you can trust him to not make deals with them.
53:35
But I do agree. I think Kashiwagi is like Nishiki if Nishiki never went bad. I feel like Kashiwagi
53:41
doesn't get a lot of the credit and the respect he deserves. He's saved their skin two games in a
53:46
row now. What motivates Kiryu to leave the Yakuza? I think Haruka. Well, he could bring Haruka in the
53:54
fold. Yeah, but I think he just realizes it's not a good idea. That's really my only thought or just
54:03
that all the memories are too painful. My thought would be that he has nothing to give to them.
54:11
I don't think his drive is to rule. I think his drive in life is to just be in the background and
54:20
supporting character, even though he gets looped into all these different issues and everything.
54:26
Oh, I was gonna say like, you raised a good question because at the end of Yakuza Zero Kiryu's
54:30
like, I'm gonna make my own way. I'm gonna be my kind of Yakuza. And now he's just running away
54:36
from the Yakuza. Ironic because Yumi would not approve. I was kind of surprised that we don't
54:44
get a Majima kind of shout out or like peekaboo from him. I thought this would have been a great
54:51
place to loop it back in Majima standing behind the fences or behind the Mabu people leaning
54:57
against the fence. We want more Majima. We want more. For all we know, he's still in the basement
55:03
of the Shangri-La or whatever. Yeah. All right. So after the credits, Date tells Kira that he's
55:11
gonna live with his daughter. Kiryu and Haruka are gonna start their little life, but not with the
55:17
dog. Haruka doesn't want the dog. What if the dog doesn't have a mom like her? I know. Poor dog.
55:25
I will say that the feelings I have to this, I really struggled. I was really emotionally stunned.
55:31
I felt like too much, too short time, not necessarily in a good way, at least better than
55:36
Heavy Rain ending, not frustrated. The death of one of my favorite characters, Nishiki, really did
55:43
make me feel like that. I don't know. What was your feelings and reactions at the end of
55:49
Yakuza Kiwami? I really like it, but you know I like sad things. I think it takes for writers to
55:57
write this kind of thing. It takes an understanding of this kind of situation of betrayal, of regret.
56:05
That's why I like these kind of endings, because you know it's real, I guess. It's more realistic
56:12
in most cases, and I appreciate that. But I like this ending because obviously I don't like that
56:19
Nishiki dies. I absolutely do love his character. I think he's a great good guy, and he's a great
56:26
bad guy. He does both very well. But I like it because it gives you enough questions of like,
56:34
who is Nishiki, to kind of like form your own opinion. I do like the ending, but how I felt
56:42
when it ended was sad, but a little bit happy or relieved to believe that Nishiki did come back
56:52
around and redeem himself and be the old Nishiki and not the villain Nishiki. I felt the relief
56:58
that Nishiki felt when he was finally able to redeem, and we get the glimpse of why Zero Nishiki,
57:05
and I felt like that is not a feel-good moment, it's a feel-good conclusion for his character arc
57:11
of how it landed in the full circle moment. I'm trying to figure out why I feel a bit empty.
57:17
Like there's something missing, and I don't know what exactly it is. Well I think maybe
57:22
empty is a good word, and maybe you're supposed to feel empty because I think that's kind of how
57:27
Kiryu is feeling, and I think that's evident when Date has to remind him like, you still have Haruka
57:33
because he lost Yumi, and he lost Nishiki, and he lost Kazuma. He's lost these three core people.
57:39
He probably feels pretty empty, so maybe it's by design that you feel that way.
57:44
Okay, is that it? We've been recording for over two hours. I need to go to the bathroom.
57:50
I know right? Didn't I call it Tia at the beginning? It's like it's gonna take us to midnight.
57:55
Oh okay. Yeah. Adacity on one, three, two, one. Thank you for listening, and don't forget to send
58:02
in any questions, comments, or game suggestions. You can find all our contact info on our website
58:07
replayreviewspod.com or contact us directly through our site. Do we completely miss something? Are we
58:12
way off the mark, or do you just want us to take a deeper look at anything from the game? We'll
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tackle any topics you all want to hear in our season wrap-up episode. We also have our Reddit,
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where we discuss anything we're curious about. Go take a look and let us know what you're thinking.
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Our theme music is Condemned by Eggy Toast. They'll play you out,
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and we'll be back next week with a summary episode.
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Thank you.