Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life Review [SPOILERS]

One of the main things I praised Yakuza 5 for was its variety in locations. Yakuza 6 doesn’t have as many, but there are two main cities that the game takes place in. The first, of course, is Kamurocho. Every Yakuza game up to this point spends time here, to the point where the map has become very familiar. The other new location is Onomichi, located in the Hiroshima Prefecture of Japan. Onomichi is a beautiful coastal town known for shipbuilding. It becomes a very important piece of the story when Kiryu has to go there to find out who the father of Haruka’s baby boy, Haruto is. 

The story of Yakuza 6, like those that came before it, is very complicated and full of twists and turns. After Yakuza 5, Kiryu spends three years in prison to atone for all his actions and eventually live peacefully with Haruka and the children at Morning Glory. However, a lot happened in that timeframe. Haruka left Morning Glory so as to not be a burden to the other children; she brought a lot of unwanted media attention after her sudden retirement in Yakuza 5. Another key event was the arrival of the Saio Triad, a Chinese criminal organization, after the area of Little Asia was burned down. Daigo Dojima and Goro Majima are framed for this arson and sent to prison, while Taiga Saejima is also out of the picture due to his prison break from Hokkaido. After Kiryu gets out of prison himself, he reunites with Shun Akiyama to find Haruka. They learn that Haruka is hospitalized from being hit by a car. At the hospital, Kiryu and Akiyama encounter Haruto, a one year old boy who is Haruka’s son. 

Through tracking the origins of a picture in Haruka’s phone, Kiryu is led to Onomichi, where he meets a bartender named Kiyomi. Soon after arriving, Tsuyoshi Nagumo, a local yakuza captain for the Hirose Family, picks a fight with Kiryu. However, after Kiryu saves him from Koji Masuzoe, a Yomei Alliance superior, he does a complete 180 and refers to Kiryu as his aniki. He then meets the rest of the Hirose Family; Yuta Usami, Takaaki Matsunaga, Naoto Tagashira, and patriarch Toru Hirose. He is told that Haruka did, in fact, spend time in Onomichi, and everyone kept it secret to protect her privacy. 

Kiryu learns about the Yomei Alliance and their connection to Iwami Shipbuilding, a very important corporation to Onomichi. Their leaders are one and the same, Heizo Iwami, known to the yakuza world as Takeru Kurusu. Heizo’s son, Tsuneo Iwami, is the CEO of Iwami Shipbuilding, the legitimate corporation serving as a front. Kiryu learns that the war between the Saio Triad and Tojo Clan was a front by Takumi Someya and Katsumi Sugai to frame Daigo and take over the Tojo. However, what was once a fake war has become real hostility thanks to the murder of Jimmy Lo, son of the Saio leader. From there, Kiryu, Nagumo, and Yuta must go to Kamurocho to find a man named Tatsukawa, a former member of the Hirose Family who was involved with the Saio and may be Haruto's father.

Kiryu and the Hirose Family go through many trials and tribulations, including the return of Yakuza 2’s Jingweon Mafia (now led by the charismatic Joon-gi Han), to find the truth about Haruto’s father. It is revealed from Patriarch Hirose that Yuta is Haruto’s father, and that he is also the estranged heir to the Saio Triad. Yuta goes to confront his father, Saio leader Big Lo, in Little Asia. He learns that there is a secret in Onomichi, and that Hirose and the Yomei Alliance will stop at nothing to keep it hidden. Kiryu and the gang return to Onomichi to find the secret, revealed to be a massive battleship called the Yamato Mark II, built in secret by Iwami Shipbuilding after World War II. The Yomei Alliance and the corrupt politician they were in league with, Minoru Daidoji, needed their illegal dealings, including the ship, hidden at all costs. As a result of Kiryu revealing the secret, Tsuneo Iwami puts his master plan into action; to kill Kiryu and take over both the Yomei Alliance and the Tojo Clan. Kiryu determines that he has to kill Sugai and Iwami, no matter the cost. He and Nagumo go to confront them, fully prepared to die in the process. During the confrontation, at the funeral for Heizo Iwami (who Tsuneo killed), Kiryu is ready to fight, but is held powerless after the Yomei Alliance is revealed to have taken Haruka and held her at gunpoint. Kiryu is forced to take punches from Sugai and Iwami until the other Hirose Family members come to save the day. Kiryu then defeats Iwami, but is wounded by multiple gunshots trying to save Haruka and Yuta. Kazuma Kiryu is dead. 

OR NOT. After the epilogue, which shows everyone’s lives after Kiryu’s death and the end of Iwami, it is revealed that Kiryu is still alive. He is asked by a politician to keep quiet about the true nature of the secret of Onomichi in exchange for a ton of money. Kiryu refuses initially, but accepts on the condition that Daigo and the others are released from prison. Daigo, Majima, and Saejima are initially ready to launch an attack on Hiroshima to avenge Kiryu, but Daigo calls it off in order to honor Kiryu's wishes. Kiryu then asks Makoto Date, the only other person who knows he’s alive, to forge his death certificate. He does this in order to let Haruka, Yuta, and the others live in peace. The game ends with Haruka, Yuta, and the Morning Glory kids watching Haruto learn to walk, with Kiryu looking on from a distance.

In addition to the epic and complex crime drama story, Yakuza 6 has a lot of the slice of life elements that I enjoyed in Yakuza 3, particularly when it comes to Kiryu taking care of Haruto. While in Onomichi the first time, Kiryu must do several things for Haruto, such as finding milk for him and calming him down. The latter is done through an additional first person minigame. These sections of the game provide relief from the pressure and tension of the main story, enhanced by Haruto just being a really cute little baby. There are also a lot more “random” substories that involve Kiryu learning about and solving people’s strange problems. One of the main themes of Yakuza 6 is relationships, both familial and otherwise. The game shows relationships that have gone badly, such as Yuta’s estrangement from his father Lo and Tsuneo Iwami’s ambition to surpass his father. Conversely, it shows the good side of parental relationships with Haruka’s sacrifice to protect Haruto. The game writes off many other supporting characters, leading to Kiryu finding new friends in the Hirose Family. The Hirose Family is actually like a family, unlike other yakuza groups that just call themselves as such. Kiryu being accepted into this family is great for him after all of the losses of friends and family he’s dealt with throughout the series.

If there was one word I had to use to describe Yakuza 6, it would be ‘emotional.’ There is a whole spectrum of emotions felt through different moments in the game. There are happy moments like the sections in Onomichi with Haruto, sad moments and grief from the passing of characters like Hirose and Kiryu (allegedly), and moments of pure rage during the confrontations with Sugai and Tsuneo Iwami. Iwami might be my new most hated villain in Yakuza, surpassing Yoshitaka Mine in Yakuza 3 before he redeemed himself. Iwami takes a lot of what I hated about Mine, such as the smug demeanor and targeting of innocents, and turns it up to 11. I was truly angry watching this guy punch Kiryu, powerless to stop him since he had Haruka at gunpoint. This made it all the more satisfying when the Hirose Family came in. From there, Kiryu is finally able to release his pent-up rage and defeat Iwami. However, this leads to the bittersweet ending with Kiryu’s supposed death. Everyone is heartbroken, from the Hirose Family to Haruka and Akiyama. In the face of this loss, the other characters find solace in each other and move forward in life. Haruka and Yuta take on the responsibility of raising Haruto and continuing the circle of life. 

Overall, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life is a great game that concludes Kiryu’s story pretty well. One minor nitpick I had was that I wish that Masayoshi Tanimura from Yakuza 4 could have been used. It would have made sense for him to make an appearance since the story had a direct effect on Little Asia, the place where he was raised. However, outside events likely had an effect on the devs being able to use Tanimura’s character. Besides that, I thought the story was interesting as always and offered some truly insane and unpredictable plot twists. The story, characters, and gameplay improvements make Yakuza 6 a very solid entry into the legendary series, and ultimately the end of an era.