MY SPARK - Yakuza 5 Remastered - 9 

I want to see a Yuya spin-off game, goddammit.

If you’re going by release order, Yuya has shown up in every single game up to this point. God bless that hotheaded, square-jawed son of a gun

“This dragon mask should keep my identity hidden in the ring.” He said as he flashes his most iconic dragon tattoo for the world to see.

So, about distinguishing the Victory Road guys from normal guys, 1. Victory Road guys are always alone 2. Victory Road guys notice you and run faster than normal

Fun fact, Kiryu is, in fact, not old. Fax machines are still thriving immensely in Japan. It's for a number of reasons, such as being better secure due to not being as easy to intercept, paper documents hold more significance for legitimization with physical seals known as hanko, many government services still not being accessible online, and lead a paper trail for compliance purposes.

Dont't forget the other activities like Taiko Drums and taking pictures of landmarks. Also certain heat action can evolve 2 times like the stomp if you use the enough.

If you are still wondering when you did the similar movie substory before, it was during Yakuza 3 where you reenact a scenario similar to Kenzan. Same things to do concerning choosing dialogue and fight scenes during substory. Btw you might wanna invest one of every material you got to Kamiyama before you finish Kiryu Part so you have it ready for other characters than to have to wait to invest once you get control back on Kiryu. Only once for most items.

Interesting fact about Yuya, his VA Kenta Miyaka has also done voiced characters we’ve recently seen from past LP’s this year, although these LP’s were in English so we didn’t hear it then. These characters are Avdol from JJBA and Roche from FF7 Remake/Rebirth.

So fun fact about that freelance writer since you did that side quest there is a newspaper later on in the game where you can actually read what he wrote and he actually mentions the answers you put I think that is a really great detail and something you can actually miss if you don’t look out for it

I'm impressed how Nico manages to avoid the spoiler that is the box art an PS5 pause screen for this game.

I believe similar to how the substory in Yakuza 3 about a Samurai movie was a reference to the unreleased in the west "Like a Dragon: Kenzan!", the zombie movie Kiryu helps make here is a reference to "Yakuza: Dead Souls/Like a Dragon OF THE END", a non-canon spinoff that takes place between Yakuza 4 and this game, where Kiryu and the gang have to deal with a zombie outbreak in Kamurocho.

Fun Fact: That Victory Road Tournament Staff guy is modelled after Kiryu's voice actor Takaya Kuroda. From his fashion to his facial features. If you look up Takaya Kuroda you'll see how much of a gigachad he looks.

34:52 - That is Takaya Kuroda, by the way, Kiryu's voice actor.

Kiryu: Hold on, you sound familiar. Tournament staff (who is modeled after Kiryu's actual voice actor): Have you ever heard of Amigo Picante? Kiryu: *Freezes up and blushes* N-no....never heard of it....

Can't believe it took Nico so much to notice Baka Mitai on the Taxi.

Nico: I think im getting a bit burnt out on Cabaret club minigames Also nico: WHERE MY YUYA SPIN OFF

I've said it in a previous episode, but in case you didn't see it by some chance, The coliseum in this game needs to be unlocked. To do that, you need to fight enemies labeled coliseum challenger or something similar in random street fights. Fight enough and you'll be led to a miniboss. Doing this twice will progress the part for Kiryu. Future characters also need to do thus same thing for the coliseum to unlock in the final part. It's tedious but it's got story cutscenes attached so it may be worth doing 👍. Edit: Seems like you started the coliseum stuff. Fun fact, the coliseum guy with the hat and the sunglasses are modeled after Kiryu's VA Takaya Kuroda himself! Look up his photos, he almost always wears a similar hat or cap and sunglasses in nearly all his public appearances. So, Kiryu essentially met irl Kiryu here.

To kinda go back to what you were saying in the last episode with Watase's introduction and how awesome he is compared to Aoyama, who in the same episode we learn his true motives and the kinda weasel he really is, and how he's not that interesting. This has been a common thing in the series where we can have some really cool and relatable antagonists and some real pieces of shit unrelatable villains, and the latter may not be as appealing, for obvious reasons. I feel like this is kind this is intentional from the creators. Antagonists in these games are either respected, respected and sympathetic, or not at all. Examples that come to mind for the ones that are respected but not sympathetic are Shibusawa from Yakuza 0 and Kuriowa the mole from Judgment. Both characters are shown to be monsters, but when facing both, they are shown to be strong and brave in a sense. When both characters face their defeat, they never showed fear. Shibusawa in this case was the usual schemer that doesn't want power for the sake of it, he wants it to have absolute control over his fate. So when Kiryu defeats him, he goats Kiryu to kill him because at least he would go out on his own terms (and also to spite Kazama). For the respected and sympathetic antagonists, we can those in Kuze, Nishiki, Ryuji, and Mine. We see that through Kiryu. Obviously with Nishiki, he's Kiryu's bro who went down a very dark path. We know the good person he used to be, and at the of his life, we see that again as he sacrifices himself to save the ones he loves. Ryuji wanted to prove himself, show he had a place in the world. Once he learns he has a sister with Kaoru, he protected her and reassures her that everythings going to be fine. Even the simple act of saving Haruka, shows he has a code that Kiryu can stand behind. Mine just wanted someone to love him for who he was and find a family. Kiryu obviously can relate as he shows genuine love towards Daigo. Which is why when he sees Daigo is going to live, he also sacrifices himself to save both him and Kiryu. Kuze is an interesting one, because he starts of as a very hateable character. Once we get to the sewer fight and Kuze shows his true resolve, he becomes a more respected character. Then at the end of the game, where he helps out Kiryu in informing him of Shibusawa's plan, and making sure the Kazama family are not attacked, he becomes more sympathetic, since if he realized the type of person Kiryu really is, he might have helped out sooner. Now for the not respected and unsympathetic antagonists, we have character's like Jingu, Katuragi, Munakata, and Sohei Dojima. These characters are essential evil shit heads that get built up as evil shit heads so when their end comes, it's all the more satisfying. People that long for power for just powers sake with no love to anyone but themselves and when faced with defeat become huge cowards and just get humiliated or disrespect. Not saying to change your mind, but a little context doesn't hurt. And even if we get these shit heads in the games, we get another that way more likeable/compelling. For every Jingu, we also get a Nishiki. For every Sengoku, we get a Ryuji. For every Tamashiro (f**k you for killing Rikiya), we get a Mine. For every Munakata and Katuragi, we get a Daigo and Sugiuchi. And for every Dojima and Lao Gui, we get our 3 lieutenants and Sugawa.

Small fun fact: the staff guy that appears when you discover the victory road thing is Takaya Kuroda, the guy who voices Kiryu. You can tell because of the hat. From what I've seen the hat is part of his head. It CANNOT be removed. Kek

Kiryu: "They've got weapons... thats problem." *Kiryu easily grabs one of the weapons the thugs were using and KO's one of em with it* Kiryu: "But not for me."

Its so tempting to select the stupid options in multi-choice answers to just see the reactions.

Pistol whipping for Summer Slam.

Y0 do have revelations, y'know the part where Kiryu said "That's rad!" & Majima said "Holy shit!".

Something about the bounding throw: since it works on every enemy like the cotd said, it also works on bosses, so something to keep in the back of your head just in case they give you a headache

This might be a slight spoiler but, Tanimura will never reappear in any other Yakuza game as his story was finished for the most part and has been replaced by Yagami in the Judgement games (which shares the same universe in the Yakuza series.) A sad end for a rather cool character in the series.

Kiryu: Ok what devil killer edgelord will I be up against this time? *Kim appears* Kim: HI KIRYU SAN CAN YOU HELP ME WITH KEIHIN GANG FROM THE FUTURE!! And then Nico explodes and tosses the PC out the window.

55:24 lmao that transition was gold 😂

34:51 thats Takaya Kuroda - Kiryu's VA

A note on Kiryu "abandoning" his kids. It's important to note that Japan, and in fact most Asian countries have different cultural values when it comes to fathers leaving their families. In Asia, a father leaving to do work in a different city or overseas and sending money back to their family is considered normal behavior. In fact it's arguably considered admirable because you're basically sacrificing your ability to personally spend time with your child so that you can secure their financial future. As a Chinese-American myself, I knew many families in my communities that only had mothers living in the states while their fathers worked in China. In fact, my own father once considered moving permanently to China for work. In the west however, the emotional support of a parent is given greater emphasis than financial support and only giving money while being away from your family is seen as a scummy thing to do. This divide is particularly notable with anime and games that come from Japan where characters like Sado Kujo (Jotaro's dad) and Hisashi Midoriya (Deku's dad) are seen in a much more negative light in the west for "abandoning" their families when in reality such behavior is perfectly normal from a cultural standpoint, thus often leading to bizarre conspiracy theories regarding abusive behavior or secret identities. The same applies for Kiryu here. (For the record, I'm generally agree with the Asian cultural perspective. Leaving to better financially support your family and afford them better opportunity is an admirable thing IMO).

It’s a sad thing but Tanimura doesn’t return in this game and likely never will again. After the release of Yakuza 4 his actor, Hiroki Narimiya, really grew in popularity so it could have been that he was too expensive to bring back at the time. But after the release of Yakuza 5 he was involved with a drug related scandal. Which is a huge deal in Japan. The allegations were ultimately proven to be false, but unfortunately Narimiya would retire from acting due to these issues. Which lead to him having to be recast in the later remaster of Yakuza 4. RGG studios probably have no real issues with the actor or the character but are likely showing respect for his role by retiring the character. As a big fan of Tanimura, him being my favorite of the new protagonists introduced in 4, it’s disappointing to hear. We can take solace in the fact that his story received a proper conclusion. And the fact his role as a rough street detective and defensive playstyle is carried on by Yagami in the Judgment series.

With the Victory Road stuff, a lot of the time you'll randomly fight people in karate gi. That's probably what people meant by ''You'll know'' However, if you pay attention to what thugs say when they see you, you can tell a bit easier. Normal street encounters normal have sound bytes like 'Oi! Chotto matte!', and usually sound gruff and agitated. However, Victory Road knuckleheads usually say stuff like 'Ohsan hakeeee!' and sound kinda cocky and confident. Hopefully this helps. Also, might I add, the Victory Road battle theme is one of my favourite random battle themes in the series, and it's criminal that it only plays during these street fights, which only end up lasting for 20 seconds. Seriously, give it a little when you can. It's real good.

34:53 Kiryu: Who the hell are you? Tournament Staff: I'm the guy that voices you in the main plot Yes @NicoB, say hello to Kiryu's voice actor, Takaya Kuroda. And this is his only cameo in-game as not-Kiryu-or-Taichi-Suzuki

So regarding the acting Substory; Your thinking of the Substory which happened in 3. It had Kiryu acting out a scenario similar to what's in Kenzan. The director wanted to make him a movie star while the crew were both scared and respectful to Kiryu after seeing his Dragon Tattoo. Also, do you remember how back in Persona 5 Strikers there was a Movie playing in the theatre that's apart of Makoto's favorite series. "Dragon: Like a Yakuza"? Well that's an obvious reference to the the Yakuza series, especially since the japanese name for the series is Ryū ga Gotoku which translates to Like a Dragon. But you can have it be that the movie which was playing in the theatre at the time was the same movie that Kiryu acted in. Ultimately connecting more of your LPs together.

42:10 Well there is that one Kiryu imposter dude in Yakuza 2.

So chansons are basically French music. High class and high romance. Kiryu must really be culturally nuanced to know what they are.

1:22:39 please dont forget to do the cabaret club stuff

the victory road music is my favourite in the game. shame you only hear it for a little in very specific fights (and the fights end before it gets to the good part)

36:25 funniest scream cut off I've ever heard.

Revelations are technically in Yakuza 0. The scenes where you get your combat styles are functionally Revelations. But no, they do not come back in 6.

16:29 DEAD SOULS MENTION LETS GOOOO!!!!

Fun fact that Victory Road Tournament Staff that keeps popping up is actually model based of Takaya Kuroda a.k.a. Kiryu's Japanese VA.

So, it’s a super small detail, but i did wanna talk about it before i forgot: - in the taxi missions where its JUST dialogue/the very short questions (like the one with the older businessman in this episode), that IS in fact Bakamitai playing on the radio! The radio and convenience stores also play a song some might know from Kurohyou (the Yakuza PSP spinoff) as “Majima no Maji Rock”, Majima’s 4th and probably most obscure karaoke song! Even though he doesn’t show up in that game to sing it, sadly.

The Victory Road tournament staffer with the glasses is modelled after none other than Takaya Kuroda aka Kiryus VA. I thought it was a nice Easter egg to finally have the legend himself show up in a game.

1:22:00 If you're good at drifting throughout the entire race getting constant speed boosts, then the drop in acceleration is worth additional max speed and longer turbo.

Yakuza 0 has revelations! It's when you unlock styles. They are revelations as well!

fun fact: Sting became AEW Tag Team champion with Darby Allin at the age of 64

34:48 THAT'S TAKAYA KURODA

That cut right when the bat hits. Yeah, that karate guy's dead!

Can I just say I enjoy Yuya and his storyline? In my personal opinion, it's neat how they decided to make him so recurring of a character, they didn't have him in Kiwami and Kiwami 2 and then go "welp, this guy has no need to exist any longer" and I enjoy that. Sure, he's not the most major character, but that doesn't take away from the fact I enjoy the small things he's involved in, at least in my opinion.

on the side of a pancake tree, a firetruck rests.

Nice to see Baka mitai on the radio get noticed. I've not looked at the comments much, but that feels like something that's probably had a solid amount of people pointing out the instances of it playing.

Nico heads up, you should probably stop doing side quests around level 18 so you don't reach the level cap for this section of the story

Kiryu actually has two hostesses, not one. The second hostess can be only be done in Kamurocho, though, so you can't do it until way later.

omg nico is just back from evo and already is making smash player jokes....... he's been adopted into the community

Oh god, this cheered me up so much, thank you!

"OMG! That poor man in the ring is being beaten to death with a gun!" Kiryu: "It's okay! They're rubber bullets!"

June 5th: Nico uploads his first Yakuza 5 video, unfortunately i cant watch since i have not seen the previous games but since Nico is already on the 6th game he is playing for the Yakuza series, i decided to finally catch up. June 6th: The binge begins, Starting from Nicos's Yakuza 0 videos i was watching his videos everyday and those being my primary focus all to try and catch up and also to see whats so special about the Yakuza series which i did get a glimpse of when i watched the Lost Judgement lets play, i watching till my eyes exploded, watching till i fell asleep and had to go back abit cause youtube autoplay, and Godamn i loved almost every second of it. Seeing the main plot unfold, all the emotions i felt from falling in love with characters and laughter happiness to sadness to pain to anger to why is this like this but still the seeing the epic ends, experiencing all the sub stories the games had like the greats from 0 and 4 to the not so great with all the scams with kiwami 1 to seeing how it got better in kiwami 2 and 3 but still was was lacking and even though i was binging it i also felt nostalgic from seeing sub stories characters from 0 return in kiwami 1 and 2, Yuki the best I fell in love with the Yakuza series especially because of your videos, even when i tries to take a break between Yakuza 3 and 4 since yakuza 4 was more recent, i just couldn't, your videos were so addicting and TENDER CLEAVAGE, i only slowed down when i reached Yakuza 5 With all the ups and downs i have come to love the Yakuza series and your videos lets playing them and im ready to finally watch this series alongside other penguins

man he named himself after an appetizer but he wasn't ready for Kiryu's main course

"I like how everyone knows who Kiryu is. Everyone except for important plot people who aren't supposed to know" Nah, even the important plot people knows who Kiryu is. Literally every character of consequence knows that Kiryu is Kiryu. The only people who don't are civilians like the dudes at the taxi company

34:47 oh wow holy shit, i didn't expect kiryu's voice actor to show up as an npc. it's takaya kuroda himself!

Kiryu: "you need to be honest with your significant other." sees Yamada Kiryu: "Jesus Christ there is no helping you, LIE LIE LIE, never let them know the degenerate you really are, IT'S THE ONLY WAY!!!" Yamada: 😢

Okay I cannot be the only one who burst out laughing at the clip from 55:20-55:26. Kiryu never killed anyone, that's why the aftermath was redacted as soon as that baseball bat hit that karate guy in the head.

I'm stoked to finally get a comment of the day, but I'm baffled that of all the comments I've ever made _that's_ the one that made it.

Technically revelations was in yakuza 0 (it was how you get different digging styles like beast and slugger styles)

That yamada sub story is so funny heheh

Actually believe it or not, Revelations were "kind of" in Yakuza 0. Remember how you unlocked the styles? The "Thats rad" and "Holy shit"? Well in a way those were revelations in another form. Just for an entire gameplay style, including Dragon and Mad Dog. Beyond 5 though, yeah no.

13:43 I think you might have forgotten, but Tanimura never appears again after 4. Remember? His actor did pot or something and he got blacklisted?

Yakuza 0 did have the Revelation system, but it was for the Fighting styles instead of specific Essences.

Oh yeah, the victory road guys? Those guys are some of the weirder decision made in Yakuza 5. See, in the other action Yakuza games, barring the Yagami games, the coliseum is always unlocked after a certain point in the story. But 5? Unlocking the coliseum is quite abit of a doozy involving these guys and the worst part? You only unlock coliseum access for the guy you are currently playing as so... have fun going throught the same song and dance for the main characters if you want full coli access.

With the sheer amount of BS that Kiryu has to deal with daily, both from substories and the main plot, I'd feel bad for any poor shmuck that does look like him.

Is it just me or is Kiryu the Actor substory awfully similar to Jojo part 1 Phantom Blood

35:20 I realise the voice actor of kiryu often dresses in the same way as the tournament staff with black hat and glasses, perhaps this character is modelled after him

Kiryu need to be in fast and furious with goro majima can drive a giant semi truck and say beep beep Here I come. Kiryu chan now let’s fight instead of a rooftop they fight on the ground. Both topless beat the shit out of each other and then have a smoke

34:54 YO! The real Dragon Of Dojima himself! Kiryu's VA! I didn't know they made a model of him and stuck him in the game! That's awesome!

"Thanks to you, I had the best farewell match I could ever have." Morosawa says after being pistol-whipped the entire time. 😂

Is it me or Yuya apearse like.... in EVERY single game? Iol. Best side character just look at that massive bulldog jaw it could have a game series of its own

Revelations still appears in other games, just not without mack :(

me when i save up 300 rolls

1:05:32 i just noticed the taxi missions are different than they were earlier none of these three missions were here previously i would think option 2 would become option 1 after beating option 1 and so on

1:17:10 wrong voice nicob thats not kiryu talking

I honestly didn't know Watase was so well liked within the community.

I hope the final Character is Majima. I miss Majima. D:

nico i love uuuuuuuuu

i really hope that you will play Yakuza Isshin next.

yo

So... do I get this right? Yuya just pissed of the Yakuza, gave this noname club a bad rep with them and then peaced out? I think our man just caused a massaker in the making!

Kiryu trying to hide his face uses a mask, but as we've seen only a few high ranking members know him by face. So the mask imo helped just a little. But his TATOO on his BACK which shows a fully painted DRAGON is what he is known for, so I guess what I wanted to say is that he should have tried to hide his back more then his face. PS. That's how you win VS Cool Yoshimi! He says he learned everything about you from your previous battles, but like a true shonen protagonist you use a move you never used before against him and drew between the 2 trucks and completely decimated his predictions with new variables XD

what a way to Wrestle; Pulling out a gun in the ring.