A recap of...
Yakuza 5
The game features five main protagonists, the second highest number of main protagonists of any game in the series, with the previous highest being Yakuza 4's four main protagonists (With Yakuza: Like A Dragon surpassing Yakuza 5 with a total of 7 protagonists). The game features series protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu (Takaya Kuroda), the main character since the original Yakuza game. There are also two returning protagonists from Yakuza 4, namely Shun Akiyama (Koichi Yamadera) and Taiga Saejima (Rikiya Koyama). One of the new main protagonists is Haruka Sawamura (Rie Kugimiya), a recurring character of the series since the original game. Though she has always been an integral part of the story, she has never been a playable main character before the game. She is also the only playable character whose gameplay is exclusively focused on rhythm. Nonethless, her gameplay incorporates mechanics similar to her combat-based counterparts, including a Heat gauge. Lastly is Tatsuo Shinada (Toshiyuki Morikawa), a new character to the Like a Dragon series.
For the first time in the series, the game features five distinct locales across Japan. First of which, returning from previous games, is Kamurocho (a.k.a. Kamuro City), a fictionalized yet realistic recreation of Shinjuku's red-light district, Kabukichō. Second is Sōtenbori, a fictional Osaka district based on Dōtonbori, returning from Yakuza 2. The three new cities in the game are: Nagasugai, the fictional red light district of Fukuoka, based on Nakasu; Tsukimino, part of the fictional Sapporo, based on Susukino; and Kin'eicho, part of the fictional Nagoya, based on Sakae. According to general director Toshihiro Nagoshi and producer/writer Masayoshi Yokoyama, it would be like the "San Andreas" of the Like a Dragon series, as a "massive expansion on the core concept that takes the franchise to new heights."
In December 2012, the 7th chairman of the Omi Alliance, Tsubasa Kurosawa, is terminally ill. With his impending death, the truce between the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance deteriorates. Daigo Dojima (Satoshi Tokushige) leads delegations to negotiate with Yamagasa Family patriarch Tadashi Madarame (Kenji Utsumi). Daigo then meets Kazuma Kiryu, who is working as a taxi driver under the alias Taichi Suzuki.
After work, Kiryu meets Daigo's bodyguards, Yu Morinaga (Hiroki Tōchi) and Masato Aizawa (Hiroki Yasumoto), who inform him that Daigo is missing. Minoru Aoyama (Kenyu Horiuchi) becomes interim chairman in his absence. Kiryu meets detective Kazuhiko Serizawa (Eiji Okuda), who points out Omi Alliance Captain Masaru Watase (Rintarō Nishi) as a suspect. Watase is unaware of Daigo's whereabouts, but claims that Aoyama has been secretly giving him information. At a hotel where Madarame and Aoyama are meeting, Kiryu finds Madarame stabbed by Aoyama, who plans to take over the Tojo Clan. Afterwards, Kiryu learns from Madarame that Daigo had gone into hiding in fear of Aoyama, who looks to start a conflict with the Yamagasa. Preventing bloodshed, Kiryu defeats Aoyama’s army by himself. Before Aoyama can reveal his boss's identity, Morinaga kills him, and directs Kiryu to Kamurocho. While making preparations for his return, Serizawa reveals that Goro Majima (Hidenari Ugaki) has died.
Taiga Saejima is serving his sentence at Abashiri Prison, where he learns of Majima's death. The deputy warden helps Saejima and his cellmate Shigeki Baba (Shunsuke Daito) escape. The two kidnap Taizo Kitakata (Kōzō Shioya), Majima’s supposed killer, who reveals that Majima faked his death. Baba shoots Kitakata to silence him, but he survives. Baba also reveals to Saejima that he deliberately planned to have him and Saejima escape prison so that he could be lured. Saejima subdues him but decides to spare Baba. He is then directed by Serizawa to Kamurocho.
Haruka Sawamura trains to be the top J-pop idol to earn money for her family. She had been scouted by Mirei Park (Romi Park), who forced Kiryu to hide his identity and leave the orphanage to protect Haruka's reputation. Haruka and Park bond, and Park confesses she received a letter from her ex-husband, who she plans to meet. The following day, she is found dead, of apparent suicide. Her death alerts Shun Akiyama, who reunites with Haruka. They conclude Park's suicide note was forged, at the behest of Naoyuki Katsuya (Mitsuru Fukikoshi), CEO of Osaka Enterprises, a subsidiary of the Omi Alliance. Akiyama finds Haruka's trainer, Kan Ogita (Ryōta Takeuchi), who confesses to killing Park accidentally after he tried to obtain a letter from Goro Majima from her, to find his whereabouts. Ogita is killed by Kamon Kanai (Hideo Ishikawa), the Captain of Osaka Enterprises. It is revealed that Park's ex-husband was Majima. With Haruka's competitions completed and her protected from Kanai by Akiyama, she and Akiyama head to Tokyo, with Katsuya following.
Former pro-baseball player Tatsuo Shinada is hired by a disguised Daigo to investigate a match-fixing scandal that led to his banishment from professional baseball in 1997. Shinada investigates the scandal with Koichi Takasugi (Show Aikawa), his loan shark, and finds that his former manager, Fujita (Junpei Morita), is responsible for framing him, which led to the police investigation and subsequent expulsion of the local Tojo and Omi families. Daigo reveals his true identity, and the two return to Tokyo.
As Kiryu arrives in Tokyo, he learns that Baba is an accomplice in the Omi Alliance's plan, who planned to draw out Saejima and Kiryu. Serizawa tasks Saejima with finding Morinaga, but he is revealed to be dead. Akiyama and Shinada meet, and learn that Haruka may be targeted during the Princess League. Investigation into Katsuya reveals that he was Park's friend, and did not order her death.
Baba, Kiryu, Saejima and Aizawa see a broadcast claiming Haruka's concert has been canceled. Thinking Katsuya guilty, Kiryu and Saejima confront him. They, along with Watase, reach Katsuya, who intends to lure out the actual mastermind, Serizawa who is revealed to be Chairman Kurosawa. Daigo intervenes, but is shot and knocked unconscious by Kanai, who is also affiliated with Kurosawa. Kiryu refuses to cancel Haruka's concert, and the four decide to protect her. Majima is revealed to have only faked his death so that he could secretly investigate Kurosawa.
Before the plan can start, Kurosawa's men, impersonating the Majima Family, arrive at the Millennium Tower guns blazing to destroy Majima's reputation. With Haruka's concert underway, Akiyama and Kiryu fend off Kurosawa's men while Shinada fights Baba. At the top of the Millennium Tower, Saejima and Majima fight to a stalemate. Kurosawa loses his leverage when Baba refuses to shoot Haruka. Kurosawa attempts to kill Majima and Saejima, but is stopped by Daigo and Katsuya. In the streets, Akiyama defeats Kanai before being relieved by Watase, Madarame, and Kitakata.
At the Tojo Clan Headquarters, Kiryu learns that Aizawa is Kurosawa’s son. Kurosawa wanted to leave the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance to Aizawa, but Aizawa desired to gain power independently. A wounded Kiryu defeats Aizawa. Regretting her sacrifices to become an idol, Haruka publicly confesses her background, retires and reunites with him.
For the first time in the series, the game features five distinct locales across Japan. First of which, returning from previous games, is Kamurocho (a.k.a. Kamuro City), a fictionalized yet realistic recreation of Shinjuku's red-light district, Kabukichō. Second is Sōtenbori, a fictional Osaka district based on Dōtonbori, returning from Yakuza 2. The three new cities in the game are: Nagasugai, the fictional red light district of Fukuoka, based on Nakasu; Tsukimino, part of the fictional Sapporo, based on Susukino; and Kin'eicho, part of the fictional Nagoya, based on Sakae. According to general director Toshihiro Nagoshi and producer/writer Masayoshi Yokoyama, it would be like the "San Andreas" of the Like a Dragon series, as a "massive expansion on the core concept that takes the franchise to new heights."
In December 2012, the 7th chairman of the Omi Alliance, Tsubasa Kurosawa, is terminally ill. With his impending death, the truce between the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance deteriorates. Daigo Dojima (Satoshi Tokushige) leads delegations to negotiate with Yamagasa Family patriarch Tadashi Madarame (Kenji Utsumi). Daigo then meets Kazuma Kiryu, who is working as a taxi driver under the alias Taichi Suzuki.
After work, Kiryu meets Daigo's bodyguards, Yu Morinaga (Hiroki Tōchi) and Masato Aizawa (Hiroki Yasumoto), who inform him that Daigo is missing. Minoru Aoyama (Kenyu Horiuchi) becomes interim chairman in his absence. Kiryu meets detective Kazuhiko Serizawa (Eiji Okuda), who points out Omi Alliance Captain Masaru Watase (Rintarō Nishi) as a suspect. Watase is unaware of Daigo's whereabouts, but claims that Aoyama has been secretly giving him information. At a hotel where Madarame and Aoyama are meeting, Kiryu finds Madarame stabbed by Aoyama, who plans to take over the Tojo Clan. Afterwards, Kiryu learns from Madarame that Daigo had gone into hiding in fear of Aoyama, who looks to start a conflict with the Yamagasa. Preventing bloodshed, Kiryu defeats Aoyama’s army by himself. Before Aoyama can reveal his boss's identity, Morinaga kills him, and directs Kiryu to Kamurocho. While making preparations for his return, Serizawa reveals that Goro Majima (Hidenari Ugaki) has died.
Taiga Saejima is serving his sentence at Abashiri Prison, where he learns of Majima's death. The deputy warden helps Saejima and his cellmate Shigeki Baba (Shunsuke Daito) escape. The two kidnap Taizo Kitakata (Kōzō Shioya), Majima’s supposed killer, who reveals that Majima faked his death. Baba shoots Kitakata to silence him, but he survives. Baba also reveals to Saejima that he deliberately planned to have him and Saejima escape prison so that he could be lured. Saejima subdues him but decides to spare Baba. He is then directed by Serizawa to Kamurocho.
Haruka Sawamura trains to be the top J-pop idol to earn money for her family. She had been scouted by Mirei Park (Romi Park), who forced Kiryu to hide his identity and leave the orphanage to protect Haruka's reputation. Haruka and Park bond, and Park confesses she received a letter from her ex-husband, who she plans to meet. The following day, she is found dead, of apparent suicide. Her death alerts Shun Akiyama, who reunites with Haruka. They conclude Park's suicide note was forged, at the behest of Naoyuki Katsuya (Mitsuru Fukikoshi), CEO of Osaka Enterprises, a subsidiary of the Omi Alliance. Akiyama finds Haruka's trainer, Kan Ogita (Ryōta Takeuchi), who confesses to killing Park accidentally after he tried to obtain a letter from Goro Majima from her, to find his whereabouts. Ogita is killed by Kamon Kanai (Hideo Ishikawa), the Captain of Osaka Enterprises. It is revealed that Park's ex-husband was Majima. With Haruka's competitions completed and her protected from Kanai by Akiyama, she and Akiyama head to Tokyo, with Katsuya following.
Former pro-baseball player Tatsuo Shinada is hired by a disguised Daigo to investigate a match-fixing scandal that led to his banishment from professional baseball in 1997. Shinada investigates the scandal with Koichi Takasugi (Show Aikawa), his loan shark, and finds that his former manager, Fujita (Junpei Morita), is responsible for framing him, which led to the police investigation and subsequent expulsion of the local Tojo and Omi families. Daigo reveals his true identity, and the two return to Tokyo.
As Kiryu arrives in Tokyo, he learns that Baba is an accomplice in the Omi Alliance's plan, who planned to draw out Saejima and Kiryu. Serizawa tasks Saejima with finding Morinaga, but he is revealed to be dead. Akiyama and Shinada meet, and learn that Haruka may be targeted during the Princess League. Investigation into Katsuya reveals that he was Park's friend, and did not order her death.
Baba, Kiryu, Saejima and Aizawa see a broadcast claiming Haruka's concert has been canceled. Thinking Katsuya guilty, Kiryu and Saejima confront him. They, along with Watase, reach Katsuya, who intends to lure out the actual mastermind, Serizawa who is revealed to be Chairman Kurosawa. Daigo intervenes, but is shot and knocked unconscious by Kanai, who is also affiliated with Kurosawa. Kiryu refuses to cancel Haruka's concert, and the four decide to protect her. Majima is revealed to have only faked his death so that he could secretly investigate Kurosawa.
Before the plan can start, Kurosawa's men, impersonating the Majima Family, arrive at the Millennium Tower guns blazing to destroy Majima's reputation. With Haruka's concert underway, Akiyama and Kiryu fend off Kurosawa's men while Shinada fights Baba. At the top of the Millennium Tower, Saejima and Majima fight to a stalemate. Kurosawa loses his leverage when Baba refuses to shoot Haruka. Kurosawa attempts to kill Majima and Saejima, but is stopped by Daigo and Katsuya. In the streets, Akiyama defeats Kanai before being relieved by Watase, Madarame, and Kitakata.
At the Tojo Clan Headquarters, Kiryu learns that Aizawa is Kurosawa’s son. Kurosawa wanted to leave the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance to Aizawa, but Aizawa desired to gain power independently. A wounded Kiryu defeats Aizawa. Regretting her sacrifices to become an idol, Haruka publicly confesses her background, retires and reunites with him.
