"Haruka's arc feels much more like filler compared to the more serious drama going on in the rest of Yakuza 5." There's drama with rival duo T-Set, and mini-games that reflect some of the social minefields an idol (or come to think of it, women in general) has to deal with - whether that’s being able to grin-and-bear handshaking events with creepy guys, or not getting flustered by gossip journalists. ![]() There’s more depth to Haruka’s arc than you might expect, as we also experience some of the ugly side of the idol business. Okay, so she's not canonically going around beating up thugs (although that hasn’t stopped modders) - instead, she's out on the streets of Sotenbori to fulfil many a Japanese high school girl’s dream - making it as a pop idol. ![]() More importantly, she also becomes the series' first playable female protagonist in Yakuza 5. Haruka is a more interesting case, as players watched her grow up from a precocious nine-year-old to a young woman and mother, and the time we spent getting to know gives her more depth than any other female character in the series. It’s telling that, when she’s briefly referenced in Yakuza 5, we learn her police department in Osaka became a joke after she fell in love with Kiryu. But while Kiryu might consider her his equal, the plot somewhat neuters her character, from the moment you’re having to carry her around town when she gets shot, to the inevitable point that she becomes a love interest. That doesn't mean the series hasn't tried a different tack, as it did early on in the sequel (which we get with remake Yakuza Kiwami 2) with bad-ass detective Kaoru, who’s introduced as 'the Yakuza Huntress'. Part of the draw for Japanese players is that most of these women you see, both virtually and in FMV, are also played by real adult actresses. In this context, the women you encounter in mini-games are purely there to titillate the assumed adult male player, whether you’re chatting up hostesses in cabaret clubs, on a table tennis date in Yakuza 4 (where ogling your opponent's chest is a genuine key to victory), or typing hilariously horny phrases to make cam girls take their clothes off in Yakuza 6. On Yakuza's lighter, sillier side, your romps in the seedy red light district of Kamurocho also mean an excuse to double down on the male gaze. A few of them meet tragic ends, and even if it's not outright fridging, their deaths are still also used as a way to affect the men in the story. From Makoto in Yakuza 0, to Yuri in Kiwami and Lilly in Yakuza 4, most fit the damsel trope of desperate victims in need of rescue from men. Memes aside, that is actually the running theme for most women in the series. Coming to the latest entry, Yakuza: Like A Dragon (LAD for short), there are a lot of drastic changes to the formula, from new protagonist Ichiban to a turn-based JRPG battle system - but one notable shift is its relationship with women.Įven as a macho-centric series, women have always played a role in Yakuza, notably Kiryu’s adopted daughter Haruka, a series regular who must be protected at all costs. Yet, as the entire mainline series is finally available on PC, Yakuza has become an international hit for Sega, and I’m thrilled that many new converts and some of the most vocal cheerleaders are women. It’s a point that its creators have previously brought up when interviewed about the games. ![]() From the beginning of its inception, Yakuza was a game made for the adult male audience in Japan.
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