Like a Dragon/YMMV

Bittersweet Ending: The first game may have resulted in Kazuma saving the Tojo from absolute ruin but led to the death of nearly all his old friends, his mentor/father figure, former best friend, and love interest to the point he was actually willing to go back to jail if Date hadn't snapped him out of it by pointing out he still had Haruka to watch over.
Complete Monster: This game has a fair amount of them but Futo Shimano, Dojima since he started everything in first place when he tried to get Yumi for himself and Tamashiro are the ones who you certainly will remember.
- A strong contender for top of the list is Kyohei Jingu, who was not only willing to kill a reporter to cover up his past romance after marrying into power, but was also quite eager to kill his former mistress and daughter to ensure there wouldn't be another close call.
Crazy Awesome: Goro Majima. Completely off his rocker and loving it.
- Of The End. It's Yakuzas vs Zombie Apocalypse, place your bets!
Crowning Moment of Awesome: Kazuma does these with alarming frequency, as does most of the cast. A few good examples include, surviving numerous gun battles with limited or no access to firearms, defeating well over a dozen elite enforcers, assassins and government agents, and finally, killing two tigers with a punch to the skull and a hammer blow to the groin respectively.
- He can also take on lions in the arena, for Christ's sake!
- Another such moment from the second game is Goro Majima taking on an entire contingent of Sengoku's Kansai gangsters single-handedly... and winning. Kazuma can follow the trail of trashed thugs all the way to Majima himself in the aftermath.
- Another in the second game. Daigo Dojima gets one for fighting Ryuji Goda first before Kazuma. Considering Ryuji's role here, that's pretty impressive and goes to show that Daigo's sticking around for this game.
- In Yakuza 3, Kazuma becomes an internationally known badass. so much so that the CIA shuttles him around in a prototype spy plane to help track down an intelligence unit gone rogue.
- Again in Yakuza 3: at the climax of the game, Kazuma, Mine and a currently comatose Daigo Dojima are cornered on a rooftop by Richardson and his henchmen. Things look bad, and then Daigo rolls off his hospital cart, picks up Mine's gun and takes out two of the goons before shooting Richardson, proclaiming "I can't afford to die just yet".
- In 3, Nakahara, the tubby, wrinkled patriarch of the Ryudo Family, FLIPS A BULL BY THE HORNS. WHILE RECOVERING FROM A GUNSHOT WOUND. Holy crap! Of course, Kazuma repeats the same insane feat moments later to prove no one can take his status as the king of badass.
- Hell's Floor, the final boss finisher Kazuma can learn in 3: a German suplex, followed by an arm bar, followed by a triangle choke, followed by an ANACONDA choke, followed by a GUILLOTINE choke, finished with a mounted punch to the face. Just the chokes would probably leave the opponent's trachea reduced to the consistency of burger.
- This HEAT action from Kenzan!... while it can be used in any fight after learning it from a Revelation, the timing, setting and music are just perfect; the only downer is that it wasn't the killing blow.
Crowning Moment of Funny: "I peacocked your mom." This being said by a frustrated Kazuma to one of the many, many people he beats up.
- Majima's bomb disposal technique culminates in playing the Japanese version of eeny-meeny-miney-moe.
- Also "TITS! TITS! TITS!" and in the same sidequest you can spot yakuzas wearing diapers and behaving like babies, literally.
- All the revelations in the third game. No exception.
Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: A great deal many. 3, specifically, has loads of them between Kazuma and his kids. These moments can also overlap with someone getting the living shit beat out of them by an angry Kazuma protecting his kids. DO NOT fuck with Kazuma's kids. EVER.
- Some of the moments with the kids include: teaching Shiro to stand up to his bully (the teacher's child, making Izumi feel better about not having a mom or dad by showing her she has a real family (Izumi ran away before dinner. Kazuma told the kids to not worry about waiting for them and that they could begin eating. When they got back to the orphanage, they all waited on Izumi to return before she began eating) and trying to make Mitsuo look cooler so he could impress Riona (another girl at the orphanage).
- Goh Hamazaki of all people gets one in the forth game. In the third game he reacts with scorn to Kazuma's speech about redemption, stabbing him in the gut before asking 'where his redemption is now'. In the forth game he is obviously touched by Saejima's concern and declarations of brotherhood during their jailbreak and ends up mortally wounded saving him, after he could have quite easily left Saejima behind and got away scot free. Perhaps having a Heel Realisation, he then tells Saejima to find Kazama when he gets to the mainland and that 'he's a good guy' before taking the sadistic guard with him and allowing Saejima to escape. What really drives it home is Kazuma's reaction when he hears the name. Haruka states that she cannot forgive Hamazaki for what he did, which leads Kazuma to state that if Hamazaki came to him today and asked for forgiveness, he would give it without question. Knowing that as nasty a guy as Hamazaki finally managed to earn the qualities that Kazuma tried to inspire just warms the heart.
- In the second game, Kawara's story of helping Suyeon, a Korean woman who lost everything in one night, is touching as someone who is often seen as a hardass reveals he really went out of his way to give her a new start on life. It eventually led to the birth of their daughter, Karou. If you thought that was it, he then reassures Kaoru herself that she does not have the blood of a criminal in her veins but that of Suyeon, a hard working and loving woman and all this happens during Kawara's Heroic Sacrifice which doubles as a Tear Jerker...Holy crap
  - and another one that overlaps with Tear Jerker.
- In Dead Souls Akiyama goes to collects a debt from a father who borrowed money to send his daughter that he abandoned to college and his test was giving the money to the daughter himself. However it turns out he was turned into a zombie. But he leaves the money he owes Akiyama in an envelope with a letter thanking Akiyama for his help.
Crowning Music of Awesome: There's quite a few in the games, but one in particular plays during the duel between Kazuma and Nishiki, setting the tone for the fight.
- "Fly", Yakuza 3's main theme and the Final Boss theme.
- For Face from Yakuza 4
Ensemble Darkhorse: Goro Majima, the series' personification of Crazy Awesome.
- Hiroshi Hayashi is this to some degree as he was just another soldier to the Omi Family that got his ass kicked by Kazuma and somehow managed to come back in the second game with plenty of new fancy moves.
- Gunman Kazuto Arase. He returns as a sidequest boss in 3, and in Of The End he can become an ally.
Fan Dumb: More offended and boisterous fans advocated boycotting Yakuza 3 because ~13% of the original content was cut from the game. Some of the content could be justified by being too Japan-centric (a trivia minigame), but others, such as Kazuma running his own host club, were not (it was practically rehashed from Yakuza 2).
- Whether or not you think cutting these elements was justified, the fanbase who claimed that about 1/5 of the game was cut out (the cut missions comprise approximately 18% of the missions) qualify... apparently the entire unedited main storyline doesn't get counted as part of the game.
Goddamned Bats: The random mooks in the streets may sometimes be this, especially if you're trying to progress to the plot. Not to mention they even chase you down just to pick a fight. You can NEVER run away from these encountered once started.
- The monkey boys in Dead Souls, They are Fragile Speedsters without the fragile part and they are not only hard to shoot but they also take alot hits before they finally die.... Again.. Not to mention they've got a grapple attack the holds you in place for other enemies AND causes damage. They are also the most common of the mutant zombies. The only thing keeping them from being Demonic Spiders is the fact their offensive capabilities are pretty mediocre at best.
  - And also the fact that if you kick them they go down hard, and stay down for a good 10 seconds, letting you unload with impunity in their carcass.
Goddamned Boss: Kanda in the third game. While not particularly difficult, there will be a point when he will always go for a random piece of forniture 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 forniture for him to use.
Jerkass / The Scrappy: Koji Shindo from the second game is one of your lieutenants, but seems to have absolutely no redeeming qualities. He betrays you later on and you get to kick his ass
Mood Whiplash: The contrast between how serious the games' storyline is and how STUPID the sidequests can be is mindblowing. It's hard to believe Kazuma can be fighting for his life against the most bloodthirsty gangsters in the world in one mission, and then running from a lovesick transvestite in another.
- Of The End would count as a major one if it is part of the canon storyline as opposed to being Alternate Continuity.
Nightmare Fuel:
- One subquest involves Kazuma fleeing for his manhood from a trio of drag queens. With dire consequences should he fail.
- The scene in the first game when Nishiki is punishing his underlings for Killing the supposed Mizuki is scary as hell.
- Then we have a scene towards the end of the third game, when calm and collected Mine suddenly flips out and stabs one of his men's hand with a dinner knife, yelling out in rage. It really catches you by surprise.
Rated "M" for Manly: The Series itself, being that nearly anyone is capable of pulling off CMOAs at the drop of a hat.
Serial Escalation: Tiger punching.
- For a game that repeatedly escalates, the zombie apocalypse in Of The End shatters every known perception of possibility.
Tear Jerker: For a series filled with many CMOAs and Badasses, it sure has its equal share of moments that would at least give a few tears. One example is the death of Shintaro Fuma, who despite revealing his darkest secret to Kazuma, is forgiven and even considered to be the only parent figure from the latter. Worst of all, Fuma likely passed before Kaumza finished telling him this.
- Rikiya's death in 3 is also pretty weep-inducing, especially since Kazuma actually turns on the waterworks when it happens. When someone as totally badass as Kazuma is reduced to tears, you can't help but follow suit.
- Kawara's death in the second game, especially when the gang finds out He is Kaoru's father, taking a bullet for her that would eventually killed him. Poor Kaoru
  - And then after losing her dad, Kaoru gets a second dose of sadness when she finds out Ryuji Goda is in fact her half-brother- and then has to watch him take on Kazuma in a final showdown. Discovering family members only to lose them, she probably needs therapy. And more beer.
Too Cool to Live: Rikiya. God damn it.
Developing Doomed Characters: One of the most criticized aspects of the third game is that the beggining (and one point in the middle) is spent taking care of the Sunsine Orphanage's children and their minial problems, as opposed to the dealings and conflicts of the Japanese mafia, which is the main hook of the series.
Video Game Cruelty Potential: Of the Enemies only type. Sure, the various mooks and bosses Kazuma meet are either punks or scum but did they really need to suffer that badly by various brutal heat actions? Of course, it is kind of their fault for provoking him in the first place.
Wham! Episode: Chapter 11 of the third game. Sunshine Orphanage is bulldozed by Mine and the Tamashiro family, Mikio is almost killed via a sledgehammer to the skull, Nakahara is captured and thrown into a bullring, Saki finds her voice at last, the Tamashiro family and it's bulls get a collective ass-whooping, and Rikiya heroically takes a bullet meant for Kazuma and dies. The last one is particuarly shocking, as Rikiya is the only ally in the entire game who dies.
What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: "Revelations" in the third game. Kazuma has mad texting skillz.
- And in the fourth, Saejima's epic woodcarving.