Ryu ga Gotoku/Characters

A list of characters from the Yakuza/Ryu Ga Gotoku series of games and the tropes they embody.

Kazuma Kiryu
The Dragon of Dojima, and our hero. Big and scary, but very kind and gentle as long as you don't get on his bad side.


 * Alliterative Name
 * A Protagonist Is Ryu: It's part of his name. The dragon tattoo on his back is also an allusion to this.
 * Badass: Oh, hell yeah.
 * Berserk Button: hurt a kid or a woman in front of Kazuma. Hope you didn't mean to use those teeth.
 * Cool Old Guy: By the time of the third game he's forty.
 * Does Not Like Guns: To the point that he outright brawls with zombies in Dead Souls. He manages to live with them, though.
 * He can use them as weapons in the main games, and the conflict in Dead Souls practically required usage of these to some extent, but he will default to melee combat when at all possible.
 * Doting Parent: Although he's not very outspoken about it(he's not very outspoken about anything), Kazuma is very, VERY proud of his kids, and does all he can to give them a happy, wholesome life. He also doesn't take it overboard: he'll teach his kids a lesson, but he won't enforce it too much, letting his kids learn it on their own.
 * The Dragon: To Dojima before the events of the first game.
 * Experienced Protagonist: Kazuma Kiryu has already had a multi-year career as a gangster and renown as the "Dragon of Dojima" when the first game starts. Unfortunately, a 10-year stint in prison early on leaves him rusty and in need of regaining his strength.
 * Fallen Hero: In the first game, as the Tojo Clan used to hold him in high regard until, in which a majority of the clan holds a grudge against him upon his return.
 * Friend to All Children: He's very good with kids, and actually runs an orphanage in the third game.
 * The Hero
 * Knight Errant: Very much so, though he often tries to settle down. It never works.
 * Neighborhood Friendly Gangsters: To the point he's probably the most decent character in the series. He even does a better job cleaning up crime than most cops. He's still affiliated with the yakuza by default, even if he's not serving them officially, if only because he's been with them for so long he's regarded as one by default.
 * Nice Guy: Kazuma missed his calling in life as the Patron Saint of Niceness. He helps any innocent bystander no matter how big or small the problem, rescues young girls, pets, old women crossing the street, and forgives men who try to kill him on several occasions at the slightest hint of their redemption. This makes his status as the entire underworld's Butt Monkey so far as picking fights go all the more hilarious.
 * One-Man Army: Over the course of the series, Kazuma has shown that yes, he is most definitely this.
 * Papa Wolf: Mess with his kids and you die, especially his adopted daughter Haruka.
 * Pet the Dog: Kazuma is pretty much made of this trope. If you don't know who he is, you'd swear he's the nicest guy around. If you DO know him, he's still the nicest guy around, but you know what to do for him to STAY that way.
 * Real Men Wear Pink: His shirt. Real Life yakuza commented rather derisively on it, amusingly enough.
 * Red Baron: "The Dragon Of Dojima".
 * Shirtless Scene: A lot of them.
 * Smoking Is Cool
 * The Stoic
 * Not So Stoic
 * Tattooed Crook: An appropriate silver dragon on his back.
 * Warrior Poet: Kazuma is very much the Samurai, and frequently displays a very sensitive, cultured side. He even starts a photography blog in the third game!
 * Wife-Basher Basher: Yeaaaaah, be nice to your girl in front of Kazuma.
 * Would Not Hit a Girl: Together with children, Kazuma has a huge soft spot for women, and will never hit a girl, no matter what.
 * Well, almost. He got into a fight with one disguised as aguy and learned they were female later, but consider how much of a POS she turned out to be, she was added as a very rare exception to this trope for him.
 * Younger Than They Look: The PS2 games didn't really change his appearance much between his twenties and thirties. He finally started resembling his age from the PS3 era onwards.
 * Younger Than They Look: The PS2 games didn't really change his appearance much between his twenties and thirties. He finally started resembling his age from the PS3 era onwards.

Haruka Sawamura
Kazama's adopted daughter, whose job is to be cute and get kidnapped once a game.


 * Moe
 * Parental Abandonment - Her quest to find her mother is what brings Kazuma deeper into all the intrigue during the first game after he gets out of jail.
 * Plot Coupon: She has one in the first game, which is why everyone's trying to grab her.
 * She's All Grown Up: Puberty has made her almost unrecognizable by the third game, and she's become much more independent and confident in her role as big sister over the orphanage. By the fourth game, she is a high schooler.
 * Tagalong Kid
 * The Woobie: Oh yes.

Yumi
Kazuma's true love, who along with Nishiki was one of his closest friends as a child.


 * Easy Amnesia: Averted. She spends a good few years recovering from the horror of seeing Nishiki kill Dojima.
 * First Girl Wins:

The Tojo Clan
The main clan of the games, Kazuma's former employer and the most unhealthy place to work in the universe (over 8 onscreen lieutenant deaths and counting...). A large organization, with over 2000 employees and several families.

Masaru Sera
Third Chairman of the Tojo Clan.


 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * Screw the Money, I Have Rules! -

Yukio Terada
, and former Omi Clan member. A nice, friendly guy, he was friends with many people in the Tojo Clan and worked hard to avert a war between the two.


 * Stout Strength
 * Supporting Leader
 * Supporting Leader

Dojima Family
A very important family, counting Kazuma and Shintaro Kazama/Fuma as members. It didn't survive his death however, and breaks up shortly afterwards.

Sohei Dojima

 * The Strategist: How he's normally described.
 * Demoted to Extra: We still know almost nothing about him, despite being awesome enough to
 * He's actually implied to be
 * Power Trio: With both Fuma/Kazama and Shimano in regards of the Jingweon incident flashback in the second game.

Yayoi Dojima
Dojima's widow, who nurses a grudge towards Kazama for killing her husband.


 * Action Girl: All the more notable for being one of the few examples in the Yakuza world. Don't underestimate her skill with that sword she carries, and she's the only who manages to last an entire game without being killed or injured.
 * Quickly-Demoted Woman: She's not counted among the Still it's impressive that she managed to attain leadership at all.
 * Hot Mom: Unfortunately one of the villains agrees.
 * Katanas Are Just Better

Daigo Dojima
Dojima's son, when first encountered he's pretty much just another street punk.


 * Kick the Son of a Bitch:
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: He wants to do what's best for the Clan, but won't betray his friends to do so.
 * The Lancer: In the second game.
 * The Captain: In the third game.
 * Tattooed Crook: Has a tattoo of a either a deity or warrior of sorts, perhaps reflecting on his
 * The Woobie: His father was murdered, the man he looked up to (Kazuma) went to jail for it, and he went through a brief stint in jail thanks to Ryuji Goda. It's no wonder he decided to back off from the Tojo Clan's affairs before Kazuma convinces him by Warrior Therapist methods.
 * Young Gun: In the second game as The Lancer. While he is skilled as a fighter, he isn't quite there compare to those like Kazuma or Majima, both who Daigo looks up to.
 * The Captain: In the third game.
 * Tattooed Crook: Has a tattoo of a either a deity or warrior of sorts, perhaps reflecting on his
 * The Woobie: His father was murdered, the man he looked up to (Kazuma) went to jail for it, and he went through a brief stint in jail thanks to Ryuji Goda. It's no wonder he decided to back off from the Tojo Clan's affairs before Kazuma convinces him by Warrior Therapist methods.
 * Young Gun: In the second game as The Lancer. While he is skilled as a fighter, he isn't quite there compare to those like Kazuma or Majima, both who Daigo looks up to.

Nishiki Family
One of the youngest Families, and unfortunately one of the most ambitious and traitorous. Their Patriarchs try to kill Kazuma at least once a game, which never ends well (for them).

Akira Nishiki
Kazama's best friend, and far more idealistic and ambitious than his friend. Eventually the second trait leads him to his downfall.


 * Dead Little Sister: The death of his sister takes away his idealism, leaving only ambition to keep him going.
 * Despair Event Horizon: Took this pretty damn hard after he  as Kazuma goes to jail, Yumi suddenly vanishes, and his ill sister dies. From that point on, he decides to ditch his ideals and complete his transformation into the Evil Counterpart
 * Evil Counterpart: He's pretty much a more ambition filled Kazuma that will do anything to be at the top once he hits the Despair Event Horizon.
 * Expository Hairstyle Change
 * Tattooed Crook: A carp, in contrast with Kazuma's dragon.
 * Also meaningful if one hears about the story that if a carp reaches high enough in a waterfall, it will be become a dragon, which fits Nishiki's ambition to be in the top of the Tojo Clan.
 * Tattooed Crook: A carp, in contrast with Kazuma's dragon.
 * Also meaningful if one hears about the story that if a carp reaches high enough in a waterfall, it will be become a dragon, which fits Nishiki's ambition to be in the top of the Tojo Clan.

Koji Shindo
The second patriarch of the Nishiki Family, and living up to the family's growing reputation by being an overly ambitious jerk.


 * Ascended Extra: In the first game he was Nishiki's lieutenant, in fact the one who lead the ambush against Kazuma in Serena's back alley.
 * Jerkass
 * Katanas Are Just Better
 * Smug Snake
 * Smug Snake
 * Smug Snake

Tsuyoshi Kanda
The third patriarch of the Nishki family, he's... well, read above.


 * Big Bad Wannabe: He is simply too violent, and ignorant to be main villain material..
 * Jerkass
 * Goddamned Boss: While not particularly difficult, there will be a point when he will always go for a random piece of furniture in the room and use it as a weapon, which makes Kazuma fall on the floor with one hit. And the room is full of furniture for him to use.
 * Fat Bastard
 * No Indoor Voice

Kazama/Fuma Family
The 'nice' family, which spawned from the remnants of the Dojima family. Kazuma's main allies through the games, though they are thought of as somewhat ineffectual due to their focus on the needs of the Clan over their own.

Shintaro Fuma (Shintaro Kazama in the original Japanese)
Kazuma's father figure, and premier hitman for the Tojo Clan.


 * The Atoner -
 * Badass: He got a reputation one for being really good at killing people.
 * Badass Mustache
 * Dirty Business
 * Dub Name Change: Called Fuma in the English versions. While a tad confusing to follow if you played the Japanese versions first, it does serve to give him a slightly different name from another guy named Kazama later in the English versions.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Appears to do this early in the game, taking a bullet that almost got Kazuma too, but he survives that..
 * Hitman with a Heart: Despite his prowess at killing, it's pretty clear he's not proud of it, and as his life has worn on, he's built up enough guilt over it to start his own religion. When you find out his darkest reason why, it's really sad:.
 * The Obi-Wan

Osamu Kashiwagi
Shintaro's loyal assistant, and a very calm, controlled individual.


 * Big Damn Heroes: Brings the Kazama/Fuma family to support Kazuma and Shintaro against Shimano and his men for all out battle in the first game, making it his sole Awesome Moment in the series.
 * The Captain
 * Flat Character: Which can be lampshaded in the third game.
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: His face is very scarred.
 * You Gotta Have Green Hair: His hair is tinted green for some odd reason. Strange, since this is a realistic game series.

Shimano Family
A big, powerful family, they are one of the backbones of the Tojo clan under their ruthless Patriarch.

Futo Shimano
The Patriarch of the Shimano family, Futo is big, nasty and shamelessly using greater events to grab himself greater power.


 * Stout Strength
 * Complete Monster: He hurled a grenade at a little girl!
 * Fat Bastard

The Majima Family
Another family that emerged from the Dojima break up, and as loose in their allegiances as their unpredictable Patriarch. In the second game Majima turns them into a (mostly) legitimate construction company, though they are no less dangerous because of it.

Goro Majima
Head of the Majima family, and all round crazy dude. Known to be completely unpredictable, he is none the less highly respected for his skill and deceptive intelligence.


 * Badass: Even Kazuma admitsMajima is the one opponent he can't read at all.
 * Bash Brothers: He and Kazuma might be rivals, but they will team up if need be, with Project X Zone making them an explicit pair unit.
 * Beware the Silly Ones: He can be a little spastic and bizarre at times, but make no mistake when things he get serious, he can wipe out everyone who looks at him funny.
 * Eyepatch of Power: Has only one eye, but he no less a badass for this.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: Yeah, he might seem like a Psycho for Hire, but this guy runs a legitimate construction company, has won incredible loyalty from his employees and has become one of the most senior Yakuza Lieutenants. He's no uncontrolled fool, just a little... eccentric.
 * Confusion Fu: This is arguably Majima's style of fighting.
 * Crazy Awesome
 * Crowning Music of Awesome / Leitmotif: "Receive You" and all it's remixes, including "Receive You The Prototype", "Receive And Stab You", and "Receive And Bite You".
 * The Dragon: To Kazuma from 2 onwards, making him one of the incredibly rare and incredibly awesome HEROIC examples: he's less The Lancer, and more just a force of nature that Kazuma unleashes on the underworld when needed.
 * Early Installment Weirdness: Majima in the first game is almost a different person from all later appearances, or so it seems, as he seems far more villainous and a Bad Boss than in all later appearances..
 * Ensemble Darkhorse: Easily the most long lived character in the series, bar Kazuma himself.
 * Foe Yay: He is very attached to Kazuma, and tends to take a rather flirtatious tone with him.
 * Knife Nut: In SPADES. His signature weapon seems to be a tanto, which he handles with... rather disturbing fondness.
 * Even more disturbingly, the fourth game reveals
 * Historical In-Joke: He implied to be responsible for the Japanese stock market tanking and the subsequent "Lost Decade", as that period was referred to.
 * Pet the Dog: Goro Majima can be unpredictable at times, showing that he's not a Complete Monster despite being a Psycho For Hire.
 * Tattooed Crook: His tattoo is a very appropriate Oni figure.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Makes it clear to anyone Kazuma Kiryu can only be taken down by him alone. Kazuma himself is actually pretty cool with this.

Daisaku Minami
Appears in the fourth game as Lieutenant of the Majima family. Like his patriarch, he is both tough and crazy, but has been influenced by Western culture as well. Is also bad at karaoke.


 * Booze Flamethrower: Weilds one against Saejima.
 * Drunken Master
 * Hollywood Tone Deaf

The Hakuho Clan
A family that emerged during the time gap between the second and third games.

Yoshitaka Mine
An extremely rich young man who was brought into the Tojo Clan by  Kanda. Since then, he's come into his own under Daigo's wing.


 * Stoic Woobie: Your mileage may vary of course, but it's hard not to feel some sympathy for him.
 * The Stoic: He never shows any emotion, commented one several times by other characters.
 * Stoic Woobie: Your mileage may vary of course, but it's hard not to feel some sympathy for him.
 * The Stoic: He never shows any emotion, commented one several times by other characters.
 * Stoic Woobie: Your mileage may vary of course, but it's hard not to feel some sympathy for him.
 * The Stoic: He never shows any emotion, commented one several times by other characters.
 * Stoic Woobie: Your mileage may vary of course, but it's hard not to feel some sympathy for him.
 * The Stoic: He never shows any emotion, commented one several times by other characters.

The Hamazaki Clan
An family working on the fringes of the Tojo, they are vital but mistrusted for their close links to the chinese Triads.

Goh Hamazaki
Big, ugly and nasty, he's an opportunistic thug who will do whatever it takes to succeed.


 * Bonus Boss: He can be fought in the arena after the main game.
 * The Unfought: Though he's a major bad guy in the third game, you never actually fight him. It's even more odd since - as stated above - he is a non-canon bonus fight in the arena, which shows that he's certainly got the skills.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: He vanishes off screen once his plans have been screwed up and his family destroyed.
 * Fighting for Survival: His jailbreak with Saejima in the forth game actually has him act admirably, despite still being an asshole.

Toranosuke Sengoku
The man behind most of the wealth of the Omi Alliance, he's a smug, smirking jerk whose only redeeming attribute is his skill with money.


 * Badass in a Nice Suit
 * Smug Snake: The worst, in a game filled with them.
 * Sissy Villain
 * Too Dumb to Live:

Ryuji Goda
The son of Omi Alliance Chairman Jin Goda and the Patriarch of the Go-Ryu Clan, Ryuji Goda engineers a war between the Omi and the Tojo Clan while seeking out Kazuma in order to defeat him and claim the title of The One True Dragon.


 * Arm Cannon: One of the things he returned to the series with, and that is only the beginning of his awesome
 * Berserk Button: Never refer to him as "The Dragon of Kansai". There is only one True Dragon, and he aims to be the one.
 * Character Development: His arc in Of The End/Dead Souls is full of it.
 * Even Evil Has Standards:
 * Evil Counterpart: Like Kazuma he's known as The Dragon and has a tattoo of one on his back, along with a certain sense of honour and a similar fighting style. He however lacks both Kazuma's loyalty and kind spirit, and so frequently misuses all of those virtues.
 * Honour Before Reason: He openly dislikes trickery and manipulation, preferring to strike head on.
 * Insistent Terminology: In Of The End/Dead Souls, he hates it or scowls whenever someone refers to him as Dragon of Kansai, and reminds them that he is no longer yakuza
 * Spanner in the Works: His sense of honour and fairplay are why the various Chessmasters consider him a predictable pawn in their plans,
 * Tattooed Crook: Like Kazuma, his is a Dragon.
 * There Can Only Be One: Goda's adversarial role with fellow Dragon Kazuma boils down to a belief that there can only be One True Dragon in the underworld, and he tries to face down Kazuma to that end.
 * Unknown Rival: Daigo has a good reason to dislike Ryuji, who the latter actually send the former to prison due to a set-up prior to the main story. However, Ryuji quite honestly doesn't remember or care about the incident when they meet again.
 * Worthy Opponent: He considers Kazuma one, and Kazuma is nice enough to return the favour.
 * Worthy Opponent: He considers Kazuma one, and Kazuma is nice enough to return the favour.
 * Worthy Opponent: He considers Kazuma one, and Kazuma is nice enough to return the favour.

Politicians
As always, heavily tied up in the Yakuza and normally evil.

Kyohei Jingu
A wealthy businessman and politician, Jingu is very tied up in the Yakuza and seeks to use their wealth to gain greater political power for himself.


 * Big Bad: Of the first game.
 * Flunky Boss: By himself he is quite wimpy but he has a couple of SWATs to back him up.
 * Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: He used to be a nice guy, but making deals with Yakuza eventually led to greed and ambition consuming him.

Ryuzo Tamiya
The Defence Minster, Ryuzo appears in the third game as one of the two politicians vying for the Prime Minister job. His big plan for winning the position revolves around a new missile defence system for Japan, built in co-operation with the Americans.


 * Chessmaster
 * Knight in Sour Armor
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: He's actually a suprisingly nice guy, and gets along very well with Kazuma.

Makoto Date
A scruffy, rather down on his luck detective, Date is one of Kazuma's closest allies.


 * Papa Wolf: While his relationship with his daughter, Saya, is not exactly stellar, he will kick the ass of anyone who harasses her.
 * Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: He was originally a detective in the Homicide division who interrogated Kazuma following his arrest in the Dojima shooting, and came to suspect that Kazuma was taking the fall for someone else. Despite it being deemed an open-and-shut case, his persistence in investigating the matter didn't sit well with his superiors and they transferred him to the Organized Crime unit as punishment.
 * The Lancer: One of the most frequent and obvious.

Junichi Sudo
A police detective, Sudo is very cool and collected and very much the professional. His sense of justice is shown however when he defies his bosses at the end of the first game, and since then has becoming a staunch ally of Kazuma.


 * By-The-Book Cop

Jiro Kawara
Or 'Killer Kawara', so named for the amount of suspects who die resisting arrest. A cop in the second game, he's viewed with suspicion by the other characters for his obvious keeping of secrets and lack of morals.


 * Cowboy Cop: Even worse considering he's Japanese, yet is more than a little fond of his service revolver.
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Knight in Sour Armor: He does have morals, but is generally so bitter about everything that it's easy to mistake them for something else.
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When you realize why he tends to shoot up illegal aliens
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When you realize why he tends to shoot up illegal aliens
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When you realize why he tends to shoot up illegal aliens
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When you realize why he tends to shoot up illegal aliens
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When you realize why he tends to shoot up illegal aliens

Kaoru Sayama
A Osakan cop famed for her spirit and determination, she's earned the title of 'Yakuza Eater' for her work in dealing with the clans.


 * Action Girl: She can certainly handle herself just as well as any of the men.
 * Break the Cutie: The second game is most definitely this to Kaoru once
 * Fair Cop
 * Parental Abandonment: She grew up in the care of a woman who explicitly wasn't her mother, but would never tell her who was.

Jouji
An agent of the CIA who seeks to ensure the Okinawa resort deal goes through by any means necessary.


 * Badass Grandpa: While not technically a grandpa, he's sixty years old and still thoroughly kicks some ass.
 * Duel Boss: The inevitable confrontation with him is quite hyped, and he is one of the few bosses in the third game that fights fair and square, no weapons, no cheating, just straight up honorable beatdown.

The Unidentified Agent /
A mysterious individual who's only known motive is that he wants Kazuma dead. .



Shun Akiyama
The first of the three new playable characters. A moneylender known as "The Lifeline of Kamurocho." He's famous for helping those nobody else will, and uses strange tests for applicants in lieu of charging interest or collateral. Once an up-and-coming financier, he was betrayed by his bank and left homeless, until he got caught in a literal rain of money. After some clever investing, he opened Sky Finance and became the man he is today. He's also friendly with the Tojo family and generally just a nice guy.


 * Arbitrarily-Large Bank Account: It's not said exactly how much Akiyama made of his initial million, but it's enough for him to casually loan out tens of millions of yen to perfect strangers without charging interest or even usually bothering to collect.
 * Badass in a Nice Suit
 * Beware the Nice Ones: He's probably the nicest guy in Kamurocho, but he won't hesitate to break some teeth if he needs to.
 * The Charmer
 * Chivalrous Pervert: He owns and frequents the most popular hostess club in Kamurocho, and his tests for his female clients always seem to include becoming a hostess for a period of time and/or going on a date with him. He can also romance the most hostesses of the four protagonists.
 * Extremity Extremist: He fights almost exclusively with kicks, though he's not entirely averse to using his hands.
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation: Despite being loaded and throwing around millions of yen at the drop of a hat, Akiyama apparently only limits his expendable income to what he gets from sidequests and thugs.
 * Loan Shark: A weird subversion: he loans out money with no interest and no collateral on the condition that people pass a Secret Test of Character. However, like regular loan sharks, he is very, very good at beating the crap out of people; in his case, though, it's usually either rival loan sharks or muggers looking to fleece him.
 * Magnificent Bastard: A staunchly heroic example.
 * Nice Guy: With a little shopping, his niceness can get to the point where half of Kamurocho's vendors and homeless guys will glady help him out in a fight.
 * Secret Test of Character: How he decides if his clients are deserving of a loan or not.
 * Secret Test of Character: How he decides if his clients are deserving of a loan or not.

Taiga Saejima
New playable character number two. An ex-yakuza who infamously gunned down 18 yakuza in a noodle shop, and has spent 25 years in death row. After breaking out of prison, he returns to Kamurocho to find out what happened to his old family and why he was abandoned on that fateful night before the police catch up to him again. He is the oldest and strongest of the four protagonists.


 * Animal Motifs: The tiger. Naturally, he and Kazuma end up fighting after they've barely spoken.
 * Badass Longcoat
 * Celibate Hero: To a degree. Saejima probably would if he could, but he has far more important things to do with what little time he has.
 * Charles Atlas Superpower
 * Combat Pragmatist: Weapons, walls, enemies in any conceivable position...if it exists, Saejima has a finisher for it.
 * Desperation Attack: Saejima gets more and better finishers at critical health.
 * Fish Out of Temporal Water: A lot has changed in the 25 years since Saejima was put away.
 * Friend to All Children: For a self-admitted bad guy and convicted mass murderer, Saejima sure has a soft spot for kids.
 * Good Old Ways: Saejima's general reaction to just about everything, especially the state of the yakuza.
 * Homeless Pigeon Person: Saejima himself as well as most of his friendly contacts.
 * Manly Tears
 * Mighty Glacier
 * Rated "M" for Manly: Aside from being a hulking giant and stone-cold badass, there's also Saejima's way of capturing Revelations - since he doesn't have a camera, he carves elaborate sculptures out of chunks of wood. With a chisel, in a few seconds, while roaring.
 * Unfortunately, this also means he's too manly to try karaoke or woo some hostess.
 * Remember the New Guy?: He's actually Majima's best friend and they were a huge influence on each other in their early yakuza days. Funny that Majima never mentioned him.
 * Shaming the Mob: The mob in this case being
 * Shaming the Mob: The mob in this case being

Masayoshi Tanimura
The last of the new playable characters. A corrupt cop called "The Parasite of Kamurocho." He takes bribes, tickets anyone who looks at him funny, and ignores his beat to go gambling, drinking, and visiting hostesses. The death of his father at the hands of the Tojo family has left him with a venomous hatred of yakuza. Despite his flaws, he does genuinely care about the people of Kamurocho.


 * Counter Attack: The meat of Tanimura's fighting style involves parries and counters.
 * Cowboy Cop
 * Dirty Cop
 * Fair Cop: Several characters remark on how pretty he is. A couple guys even capitalize on it to pick up some girls.
 * The Gambling Addict
 * Guns Are Worthless: Tanimura carries a revolver, apparently for no other reason than to shoot it into the air every now and then.
 * Justified in that the police aren't supposed to use deadly force unless absolutely necessary.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He gladly takes bribes and is a vicious gambler, but almost all of his dirty money goes on to support immigrant orphans.
 * Older Than They Look: He's around 30, but looks 18.
 * Omniglot: Tanimura knows just about every language you'd hear in Southeast Asia.
 * Weak but Skilled: Has the lowest health of all four characters, but can counter any strike thrown at him and has powerful grappling moves.
 * Would Hit a Girl: He's the only protagonist that can fight a woman. Granted, it's a friendly sparring match, but neither one pulls any punches.

Hana
Akiyama's secretary at Sky Finance. She is very organized and tries to be Akiyama's voice of reason. She starts out as little more than a comic foil, but she eventually shows some very cool Hidden Depths.


 * Beware the Nice Ones
 * Big Eater: She loves kalbi, and can eat at least two deluxe plates of it per meal. Usually she just goes for the all-you-can-eat deal.
 * Brawn Hilda: Hana is a big girl, but she's also a martial arts expert that surpasses Akiyama. In contrast to the usual type, she's cute as a button.
 * Cannot Spit It Out: She's clearly carrying a torch for Akiyama. Even he realizes it, but she just isn't his type, which makes it all the more painful when every other girl in Kamurocho apparently is.
 * Hidden Depths: She's a martial arts expert with the singing voice of an angel.
 * Tsundere: Type B. She's a sweet girl, but all sorts of things can set her off.
 * Tsundere: Type B. She's a sweet girl, but all sorts of things can set her off.

Yasuko
First introduced as "Lily" in Akiyama's chapter, asking to borrow an astronomical amount of money. A mysterious and beautiful woman.


 * Break the Cutie: Happened long before the game ever started. She takes it better than most, but there's still something a little off about her.
 * Christmas Cake: She's well into her thirties, but has never married.
 * Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: Her time as a hostess for Akiyama. She looks genuinely happy.
 * Femme Fatale: She plays up this angle to
 * Woman in White: Her outfit for most of her appearances is a white trenchcoat.
 * The Woobie: She lost the only important person in her life 25 years ago, and has spent the time in between as a Chew Toy. It Gets Worse.

Hiroaki Arai
A close friend of Akiyama and a high-ranking member of the Shibata family. Akiyama has him pegged as the next successor to the Tojo clan.


 * Nice Guy
 * A Father to His Men
 * Xanatos Gambit: There is a carefully calculated reason for every risk he takes.

Takeshi Kido
Arai's underling and a sort of little brother to Akiyama. He seems like a non-threatening punk. "Seems" is the key word.


 * The Dragon: To Arai.
 * Killer Rabbit: Kido seems like kind of a wimp at first, but there are constant teases of his fighting ability throughout. Then he goes toe-to-toe with Saejima for the finale...
 * Undying Loyalty: Again, to Arai.

Isao Katsuragi
The lieutenant of the Ueno Seiwa clan, and its acting leader. He is a bad, bad man.


 * Big Bad:
 * Magnificent Bastard
 * Not Quite Dead: It's easy to lose track of how many times he gets shot, to no effect. He's either wearing bulletproof armor or the bullets are fake.
 * Smug Snake
 * The Unfought: Despite being the major bad guy for the first three quarters of the game, you never get to fight him. Justified, as he's more of a thinker.

Junji Sugiuchi
A veteran detective, and something like a (very harsh) father figure to Tanimura.


 * Da Chief: Not the actual chief, but he fulfills this role for Tanimura.
 * Dead Partner: For him, it was Tanimura's dad, which explains why Sugiuchi looks out for him.
 * Dead Partner: For him, it was Tanimura's dad, which explains why Sugiuchi looks out for him.

Seishiro Munakata
The assistant commissioner of the police force. He has big plans for cracking down on crime.


 * Evil Plan:
 * Flunky Boss