Yakuza 5 Review [SPOILERS]

There are many other game modes within Yakuza 5 for different characters. These include a racing game with Kiryu driving his taxi (more on that later), hunting animals up in the snowy mountains with Saejima, and Shinada honing his baseball skills. There are also playable arcade games at CLUB SEGA locations, those being Virtua Fighter 2 and Taiko no Tatsujin (Taiko Drum Master). In addition to the variety in gameplay, there are also more locations to explore than ever before. Kamurocho is back, obviously, but there is also the return of Sotenbori for the first time since Yakuza 2. The other three new locations are Fukuoka, Tsukimino, and Nagoya. I enjoyed exploring all of these new places, as well as returning to Sotenbori. My favorite of the new places is probably Fukuoka. It’s a really beautiful city. 

Like the previous entries, Yakuza 5 has a very complex story that I will try my best to summarize. The game is divided into four parts, the first of which involves longtime protagonist Kazuma Kiryu. In order for him to distance himself from Haruka and avoid getting involved with the yakuza, he moves to Fukuoka and becomes a taxi driver, living under the alias “Taichi Suzuki.” Inevitably, he gets involved with the Tojo Clan again when chairman Daigo Dojima goes missing after riding in Kiryu’s taxi. Daigo is in Fukuoka in order to form an alliance with the local yakuza, the Yamagasa Family, in case the successor to the terminally ill Omi Alliance chairman declares war on the Tojo Clan. Daigo’s bodyguards, Yu Morinaga and Misato Aizawa, find Kiryu and seek answers about Daigo. The three of them investigate the Yamagasa Family and interim chairman Minoru Aoyama, who seeks to start a conflict with the Yamagasa. After an investigation that leads to Morinaga killing Aoyama, detective Kazuhiko Serizawa informs Kiryu that Goro Majima is dead. Kiryu then leaves his taxi job to return to Kamurocho.

In the second part, you play as Taiga Saejima, who is serving out the remainder of his prison sentence at the Abashiri Prison in northern Japan.  Saejima is a model inmate, not retaliating against constant physical assault by an inmate named Hiroshi Kugihara and his crew. This reaches a breaking point when Kugihara frames Shigeki Baba, one of Saejima’s friends, for shanking one of his guys. Saejima mysteriously gets his parole denied. After learning that his sworn brother Goro Majima is dead from a newspaper and learning of an incoming influx of inmates, Saejima strikes a deal with the deputy warden to break out of prison and avoid a likely assassination attempt. He takes Baba on a snowmobile and escapes after fighting through prisoners and finally defeating Kugihara. The snowmobile crashes and Saejima loses Baba. After trying to hold off an attack from a giant bear, Saejima wakes up in a remote hunting village. He finds Baba barely alive in the mountains and they go to Tsukimino. He learns that the Kitakata Family, the original suspects, did not really kill Majima. Before Saejima can learn more, however, Kitakata is shot by a sniper. The assailant is Baba, who was working the entire time to extend Saejima’s sentence and eliminate him. However, Baba could not finish the job as he became close friends with Saejima. Serizawa, the detective from earlier, finds Saejima and arrests him. They agree to a deal in which Saejima helps Serizawa investigate the Tojo and Omi. 

The third part takes place in Sotenbori, as Haruka Sawamura is preparing to compete in the Princess League, an idol competition. She works with the Dyna Chair talent agency, which is run by Mirai Park. Park pushes Haruka to work very hard, but the two grow very close over time, with Haruka seeing Park as a maternal figure. Before the first round of the Princess League, Haruka encounters her competition, idol duo T-Set, who trips Haruka and causes her to fall on the show organizer, spilling his coffee. T-Set is yet another example of the Yakuza series having very hateable villains. Despite the PR disaster, Haruka beats T-Set in the first round. Just days later, Park is found dead from an apparent suicide. From there, we see the return of Shun Akiyama, who is setting up a new branch of Sky Finance in Sotenbori. After learning that Park, who borrowed money from him, died, he goes to Dyna Chair and is surprised that the girl that Park was training is none other than Haruka, the daughter of his friend Kiryu. The two conclude that Park’s suicide note was forged and begin investigating. Having Akiyama and Haruka team up is something I never would have thought of, and they work pretty well together. They learn that Park was killed by members of Ousaka Enterprises, a subsidiary of the Omi Alliance, in order to find a letter from her ex-husband, Goro Majima.

Part four is in Nagoya, and you play as Tatsuo Shinada, the only fully new playable character. Fifteen years after being falsely banned from baseball, Shinada is broke. He lives paycheck to paycheck writing for Nightlife Magazine about various “extracurriculars.” Shinada is also in a great deal of debt, owing money to his landlord, Uno, and to a loan shark named Koichi Takasugi. As Shinada gets further towards rock bottom, he is hired by a mysterious masked man to find out who was really responsible for the baseball scandal all those years ago. Reluctant at first, Shinada eventually decides to confront his past and search for answers (the offer of 20 million yen certainly helps with this decision). After learning that his former manager, Fujita, set him up, he tells the masked man, who is none other than Daigo Dojima. Shinada actually knows Daigo, as the two went to the same high school. 

The finale sees all of the characters and plot lines converge in Kamurocho. Haruka and Akiyama prepare for the big concert at the Japan Dome (the in-game equivalent of the Tokyo Dome), but Akiyama receives a warning from Shinada that something bad could happen at the concert. Kiryu meets up with Baba and learns that he is working for the Omi Alliance. It is broadcast on TV that Haruka’s concert is cancelled. Kiryu and Saejima believe that Naoyuki Katsuya, the CEO of T-Set’s agency Osaka Talent and leader of Ousaka Enterprises, cancelled the show. They confront him and learn that Katsuya did not order Park to be killed, and that the real mastermind is Kazuhiko Serizawa, who is really the terminally ill Omi Alliance chairman, Tsubasa Kurosawa. Haruka’s concert is scheduled for the following day, with her and T-Set (who have apologized for their cruelty) forming a supergroup called Dream Line. Meanwhile, Kiryu, Akiyama, Saejima, and Shinada form a plan to stop Kurosawa and protect Haruka. Saejima goes to find Majima, who is still alive. Kurosawa forces the two sworn brothers to fight lest he order Baba to shoot Haruka mid-concert. Kurosawa loses this leverage as Shinada goes to stop Baba. While all this is happening, Kiryu and Akiyama fight off Kurosawa’s men in the streets. It is revealed that Kurosawa’s plan all along was to gain control of both the Tojo and Omi and pass it to his son. Upon arriving at Tojo Clan headquarters, Kiryu learns that Kurosawa’s son is none other than Misato Aizawa, the former bodyguard of Daigo. However, Aizawa would rather earn power himself than have it passed to him, and he decides that the best way to truly earn his spot at the top is defeating the legendary Dragon of Dojima. This leads to the final boss battle between Kiryu and Aizawa. Despite all his wounds, Kiryu wins, and the game ends with Haruka announcing her retirement on stage and revealing her origins as Kiryu’s adopted daughter. 

In conclusion, I really enjoyed Yakuza 5. The amount of content and variety makes it the best entry in the series so far in my opinion. Between all the different locations, side modes, and substories, it would take 156 hours to 100% the game per HowLongToBeat.com. I spent just under 38 hours playing through the main story plus side content. You can do anything from karaoke to fighting bears to working at a convenience store. It’s incredible. The game also has a pretty good soundtrack, with some of my favorite tracks being Victory Road, Fullscale Offensive, Endless Fight, and all of Haruka’s songs. The game pretty much embodies every trait of the series, from the dramatic and complicated plot to the endless side content.