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Episode 21. It's been a long week.
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That's our segue. That's our intro.
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Should we do out of context?
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Yes.
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In this episode, we repeatedly learn never to trust a man in purple.
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Kiryu gets upset when he doesn't get a Christmas present.
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And I feel like pulling it out was definitely the wrong move.
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Thank you for coming back from our replay reviews.
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My name is Leah.
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And my name is Cathy.
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We are two friends who are here to replay, review, and analyze your favorite video games.
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And since Cathy has never seen the games before, it helps me view them through her fresh eyes.
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Almost like I'm discovering them again for the first time.
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We hope it will be a similar experience for you.
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Chapter 11. The Iron Creed.
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Kiryu meets back up with Sayama who, after thinking things over, is worried she may be one of the Jinguyan survivors.
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Kiryu asks if she'd rather call off the meeting with Korai in light of this, but she still wants to follow through, so they head out.
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But she also just like, browses Sigaret and goes like, let's go.
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As if he can't smoke and walk at the same time.
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After another way too long scavenger hunt, they find a place called Keima where they locate Mirai.
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After some convincing, he reveals the names of the other two survivors.
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And that there were two additional survivors, the boss's wife and child.
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What's about doing the puzzles and about finding a plump hostess?
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Like, what is up with this game for making us do the most weird things?
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I wish I could say that that seems weird, but after playing the whole series, it's pretty mild.
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So we then see another flashback of the incident.
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We see that Kazuma did not shoot Mirai.
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Shimano did shoot him, and thinks he killed him, but he did not.
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And then they make it sound like, I guess Saima is the boss's daughter, who Kazuma killed.
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And he says they both escaped with Koara.
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What I don't understand is why does everyone keep making the assumption that she is a Jinguyan.
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You can be an orphan, but you don't automatically jump to that, right?
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I'm also kind of annoyed at this character because she keeps defying everyone's orders or advice.
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Just about leaving things alone.
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This guy dies because of them.
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They lead the Jinguyan mafia right to him.
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Was it worth it? I don't know.
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And then Kiryu just casually mentions that he was there too.
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But we don't get to hear about it because this is when the Jinguyan mafia shows up.
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But what? How many people were there?
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That's the other part too.
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If in the beginning she just talks about knowing that she may be part of the Jinguyan mafia,
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why didn't Kiryu say anything if he knew he was involved too?
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Why didn't he give her some perspective?
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Why hold it and keep it a secret up until now?
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After being defeated, all of the Jinguyan kill themselves.
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But not before one of them kills Mirai.
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I do have a question. One of the themes he talks about is he sold out the family, right?
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But am I missing something?
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I don't feel like we got much details about who did he exactly sell it to.
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I don't really understand. What was he selling out?
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Was it specific information? Was it about how to kill the boss?
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Was it that I'm going to help you, Dojima?
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Do we know the details?
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What Besho told us was he hid him because he basically didn't kill himself.
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So he didn't follow the code.
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But in this scene they're making it sound like he did something to out somebody.
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So I don't know. I'm a little bit confused on what exactly he did.
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Chapter 12. That was a short chapter.
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Osaka Castle.
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We start out with Kiryu telling Sayama his side of the story.
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So we're back in time again.
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He was worried about Kazuma and snuck out of Sunflower to find him.
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He needs to learn how to take directions better.
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Yeah, Kazuma's like, don't follow me. But what does he do?
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He follows him.
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Kazuma was going to let the Jinguyan live. We see him telling them to just run away.
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But Kiryu ruined it.
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I feel like again, the game is trying to make Kazuma a saint by letting these people go.
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I'm sorry, I don't buy it.
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I don't feel like they give us any reason for the sudden character change.
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And then Kiryu thinks he mistakes the situation, thinks Kazuma's in danger,
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and essentially forces the situation where Kazuma has to shoot.
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I don't understand how Kiryu can misread the situation
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because it's pretty obvious that his father is fine.
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So it's very stupid of him.
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Okay, can we talk about young Kiryu?
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In general, it kind of freaks me out.
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I don't like it. I feel like the voice actor was not a good choice.
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Maybe he was going through puberty and he's just kind of going through ups and downs.
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I don't know, but it freaks me out. I don't know why.
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I think it's because, well, because this is obviously before Y0,
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but he has his current hairstyle.
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Yeah, I didn't notice that.
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That just weirds me out because I obviously associate that hairstyle with older Kiryu,
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but it's on child Kiryu.
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I don't know, it does something to my brain that I don't like.
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Yeah, I'm not very comfortable with it.
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Okay, so an angry Sayama storms off,
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but I kind of feel like she's more angry at Kiryu for how he's acting now
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versus what he did as a kid.
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He's being kind of mopey.
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He's being pathetic.
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I get where he's coming from, but dude, you've had so long to process,
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and why are you being so dramatic?
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Since the montage, I mean, he annoyed me before then too,
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but since that moment on the roof,
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I don't think there's anything he's done that hasn't pissed me off or annoyed me.
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I don't.
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Well, okay, I guess he's going to get what's coming to him
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because as he's being dramatic, he unknowingly provides the perfect opportunity to be attacked,
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and he gets stabbed in the gut.
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How long was he standing there for?
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Because it's nighttime now.
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Why are you just standing there?
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Why didn't you call for help?
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I mean, he ends up moving somewhere,
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and there's a lot of actions he could have done to prolong himself from dying.
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A, don't pull out the freaking knife and just bleed all over the place.
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I feel like everybody knows that, right?
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And if you don't, know that.
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Don't do that.
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It's all that's holding your guts in there.
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And then again, we don't go to a hospital.
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We don't use our cell phone.
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Okay, and so in the midst of all this dramatic kind of thing,
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what did Sayama say? I can't remember what she said,
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but he's repeating that in his mind.
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All he just wrote was that it wasn't even that great of a line
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for Kiryu to be repeating the words in his head.
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And then also, where's the music coming from in this entire scene?
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Yes. Okay, let's start with the quote in Kiryu's head.
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Not only is it not a very impactful quote,
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it's also the complete opposite of what she said she would do
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in that bar scene when she's like, I'm not going to be able to forgive.
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But here she's completely flipped.
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Kiryu's not going to make it even.
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Is it just because it's Kiryu now?
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Obviously it is.
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The music. It's not the first time we'll hear it.
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It's so random.
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I wasn't expecting that, and it kind of comes and goes
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in very unexpected times.
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Yeah.
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Well, anyway, I think we should move on.
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So Kiryu arrives at the bar where a Kawhara is also present,
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as well as Tamiyo.
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But we don't really see anything because I guess Kiryu passes out.
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I can't believe a former Tojo Clan boss can die or get stabbed so easily.
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He should be ashamed of himself.
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He's off his game in this game.
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So we cut pretty quickly to meeting with Pistachio, Ryuji, and some other guy,
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who I'm not sure if we've seen before or not.
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Pistachio picks on Ryuji a bit and thinks he's going to be the next Omi chairman.
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Basically, it sounds like whoever takes down the Tojo Clan gets to become the next Omi chairman.
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Is that what you're picking up?
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Well, isn't that the whole point of the Dragon of Kansai?
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I assume it's the same idea as the one true leader, the one true boss,
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is if you can defeat them, you can defeat anyone.
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Is that the vibe you're getting or am I off?
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So I think Ryuji has his own motive of he wants to be the only dragon, so Kiryu has to die.
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He's kind of going for two birds, one stone, which is taking out Kiryu and taking out the Tojo Clan.
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And then Pistachio is also trying to take out the Tojo Clan,
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and Kiryu is just the best way to do that.
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The agreement is whoever takes down the Tojo Clan becomes the next Omi chairman.
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Okay, that makes sense.
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So Pistachio is pretty confident that he's going to beat Ryuji,
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and we learn that that's because he's kidnapped Haruka.
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He says, Kiryu takes my bait, I take his head. Bam.
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And then Ryuji says, I'm taking down Kiryu and the Tojo Clan my own way.
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And the Pistachio laughs so many different laughs that nobody has ever laughed, ever.
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Yeah, it's disturbing.
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So going back, we previously mentioned that Ryuji was a bit of a thug, like a traditional one.
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Unlike a lot of the other characters that are more strategic,
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I feel like this really does demonstrate his trust in his own skills and competency of being able to fight his way.
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Traditional style instead of playing dirty.
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And I feel like this has earned me a few points of respect for him,
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because I think it's just awesome how he's not resorting to a defenseless child.
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He's actually doing his competency test against someone he admires but wants to fight evenly.
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Yeah, I think we'll talk more about it, so I won't say too much,
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but I've never liked a villain as much as I like Ryuji.
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Should we go back to the bar?
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Mm-hmm.
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So we cut back to Kiryu in the bar.
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He's starting to recover and asks why Kawara was there.
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Tomio says to check in on Sayama, and she kind of dodges the question by handing him a note that was in his pocket.
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This note is Sengoku's bait.
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It's telling him that Haruka's been kidnapped.
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I knew that she's going to get kidnapped and nonetheless by someone who plays dirty.
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Kiryu, I think, goes out to look for Haruka, and as he's wandering around, he gets a phone call.
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There's an NPC walking behind him, and he pulls out his phone and then immediately turns away when Kiryu answers his phone.
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It looks like he's the one that called it.
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Yeah, I did notice that.
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So the caller, probably not the NPC, tells Kiryu to go to the golf center alone if he wants Haruka back.
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So he heads there where he finds one single man who was told to kill him, but fails.
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So after this, he then gets a call from Kurokawa who tells him to get down to the river.
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And it turns out this is all just him trying to get Kiryu for the bounty.
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Is this the same bounty that was from...
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Yeah.
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So much of these problems that Kiryu has been facing in this game could be avoided if he would just stop picking up the phones.
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Kurokawa's asking him to meet him, but not tell him anything.
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Well, Kiryu does beat a location out of Kurokawa.
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He says the acupuncture clinic where Isaki should be.
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And Isaki is the information dealer who originally tried to kill Kiryu for the bounty,
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which I guess it makes sense now because Kurokawa knows Isaki, who was told about the bounty from Sengoku.
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And so Kiryu fights Isaki, who tells him that Sengoku wants him to bring Kiryu to him.
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So in this exchange, we learn that Haruka is at Osaka Castle.
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So Kiryu arrives there and what the hell is the castle doing?
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That castle just like splits open and like pushes another one from the ground.
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Kiryu is just standing there while the ground is about to like open up and swallow him.
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The staircases? Quite accurate.
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But the castle birthing another building? Not so much.
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How are they hiding that hidden castle too?
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And what's the point? I don't know who thought of that and decided it was worth all the time to animate it.
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Yeah, truly confusing.
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So anyway, Kiryu fights his way up to Haruka and Sengoku, who then releases tigers.
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Where is all these things coming from?
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Like, where did the tiger come from? How did they get the tiger there?
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How is the tiger not eating Sengoku or Haruka?
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How are these tigers knowing to target Kiryu and fight him like that?
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I feel like the writers were like high or something.
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Because where is this all coming from?
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I mean, I know it's Yakuza. I know it gets real odd.
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But I feel like we just jumped up like three levels of odd in this scene.
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After beating the tigers, Kiryu chases Sengoku out of his office or to his office.
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Ryuji is waiting to Sengoku's surprise.
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He's disapproving of Sengoku's methods and kills him.
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This is why we call him a thug.
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He's a thug, but he's got, I don't know, his code.
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Morals.
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Yeah, he kills Sengoku and then delivers Haruka to Kiryu.
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He's so disapproving of using her.
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Is it weird that I find that kind of behavior attractive?
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No, it's not weird at all.
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It's a red flag because there's so much moral to that.
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He's the type of guy who would, if he had a girlfriend, it would be like touch her and you die.
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But also very like, I'll hold the door open for you and call you kitten or something.
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I don't know where this is going.
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But it's like his willingness to protect the vulnerable like Haruka is and ask for a fair fight.
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I like that. I like that a lot.
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Ryuji is the best part of this game.
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And he's the only saving grace for the scene because the ridiculousness of fighting tigers and castles split open.
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Not just tigers, Ferocious Tigers was their official name.
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Really?
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Yeah.
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Oh, yeah.
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Also, why is Ryuji like five times bigger in size than pistachio man?
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Right. It's the camera angle too, but it makes him Goku look like a tiny little ant.
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Like a little pistachio.
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Oh, he got his shell cracked in this scene.
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I mean, I don't think we've done any so long.
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Do we need to do one?
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Yeah, we have not done any so long.
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The first time I mentioned doing it so long was later in this game, so I completely forgot.
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I think it's safe to say, though, he's a so long mother.
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Agreed. I don't think we've seen a single redeeming quality.
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He's just dumb.
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Anyway, okay, back on track.
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So Ryuji says, day after tomorrow, we're coming at Kamurocho with all we've got.
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Are you ready? And then leaves.
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And this is where in my notes I said, why is he kind of cool?
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He's telling Kiryu the plan.
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He's not trying to like hide anything from him.
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It is really cool. And it again, I think why we like it so much is also for the same reasons why we like Majima is that he's not afraid of going against the traditional norms.
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He's doing things on his own merit.
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And when he wins, it's going to be because he earned it fair and square.
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Then it makes me want him to be the Omi chairman, because like, honestly, he's kind of earned it.
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Kiryu apologizes to Haruka as well he should.
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And then Sayama arrives just as Kiryu is collapsing.
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And they all leave.
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Well, where did Sayama come from?
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Yeah, another question. Where'd she come from? Also, Kawara spying on them?
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Moving on to Chapter 13, Settling Accounts.
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We're back at Aoi where Sayama finds a note from Tamio that says her dad is still alive.
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So Sayama leaves to go try to find her.
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What is with this? Why would you just leave that in a note?
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Everyone needs communication training in this game. It is absolutely the worst.
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While she's out looking, Kiryu and Haruka explore Sotenbori, where they bump into an agent that really wants to represent Haruka.
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Kiryu has a meeting with him and eventually decides it's in Haruka's best interest to pawn her off on this agency.
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We as the player don't get a choice. I tried to fight it.
00:18:00
Which I know I'll give you credit for that, but I'm so creeped out by whoever's writing these lines.
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Because this is what sex traffickers are probably saying to people.
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I feel like he's ready to sell her to the porn industry because he's such a creepy guy.
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Definitely a child kidnapper.
00:18:22
Anyway, let's put him behind us and move on back to the bar where Kiryu gets a call from Kurohashi, the Tokyo PT guy, who has Date hostage.
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Turns out he is one of the survivors from the incident 20 years ago.
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Okay, so we need to talk about this real quick.
00:18:42
Correct me if I'm wrong, but throughout this game they're saying the incident 20 years ago.
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Or like, it was around 20 years ago, about 20 years ago.
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But then on this phone call Kiryu says, who are you after?
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And he responds, people who ruined our lives 26 years ago.
00:18:58
So now it's 26 years. Why have we been saying 20, about 20, this whole time?
00:19:04
Because that makes a big difference.
00:19:06
It does, and the only way I can make this math work is if it's been six years of suffering prior to this final moment 20 years ago.
00:19:17
But maybe he remembers it more clearly and everyone else doesn't.
00:19:21
See, that's why I was confused, because this game is...what is it?
00:19:26
It just says, when we see at the start of the game, the 20 years ago, early 1980s.
00:19:33
So I was confused how many years ago it was because of Kiryu's flashback.
00:19:38
He seems significantly younger than his age in Yakuza 0.
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If it's in early 1980s, Yakuza 0 was like, what, 88, 89?
00:19:47
So 26 years makes sense.
00:19:51
So yeah, he tells Kiryu to go to the Millennium Tower at dawn and to bring Sayama.
00:19:56
Anything else on that scene?
00:19:59
No.
00:20:00
When they arrive, Kurahashi's waiting for them.
00:20:03
Date's tied up with the florist and other hostages.
00:20:06
And he yells to them that the building is wired to blow.
00:20:10
So Kawara and Tamiyo get there and then they're chatting with Kurahashi.
00:20:16
Turns out that Kawara has had suspicions, which we knew nothing about in this entire game.
00:20:23
There's plenty of opportunity for Kawara to kind of show some of his cards and what's up his sleeves.
00:20:29
But no, we don't get that.
00:20:31
Yeah, I agree.
00:20:33
Kawara maybe should have done something about Kurahashi a while ago.
00:20:37
But to each their own, I guess that's just his strategy.
00:20:42
And he says to him, once I take care of you and Daijin, it'll all be over.
00:20:47
And Kurahashi responds, you could kill a man with your daughter watching.
00:20:52
Big reveal.
00:20:54
I'm glad that is not about Sayama being truly a Jingwan.
00:21:06
At the same time, I feel like I'm not that surprised, but I mean, like, cool.
00:21:11
The buildup was kinda weak.
00:21:14
Kawara is then shot.
00:21:16
This is when we learned that for sure that he is Sayama's father and that he got together with the boss's wife.
00:21:24
And then he gets shot a few more times.
00:21:27
Kiryu frees the hostages.
00:21:29
Kawara takes another bullet shielding Sayama.
00:21:33
And then we see more events of the past.
00:21:37
And before we talk about all that, how annoying is it that he got shot so many times?
00:21:44
So many.
00:21:45
Like, there's so many people in there that could have done something.
00:21:49
Anyways, going back to the flashback, so we pretty much learn the woman he slapped who was trying to throw her baby out the window.
00:21:59
That is Sayama's mom.
00:22:01
We also learn the flashback that Kawara left for work for a year.
00:22:06
And during this time, she was killed by the Jingwan mafia.
00:22:10
And then her mother, before she was murdered, gave her up to Tamayo.
00:22:16
I'm kinda frustrated that Kawara isn't telling Sayama more details about her brother.
00:22:23
Just spit the truth out.
00:22:25
Why withhold this piece of information?
00:22:28
I know.
00:22:29
It pissed me off too.
00:22:30
They should have just had him die before he could answer.
00:22:33
Yeah.
00:22:34
Would that have been so hard?
00:22:36
I feel like they're just trying to make us mad at every character in this game, to be honest.
00:22:40
I'm kinda annoyed too because I feel like they're trying to repeat it back to YZ where Tachibana has to figure out what happened to his sibling.
00:22:48
And so she's now trying to figure out what happened to her sibling.
00:22:52
If we're talking about Yakuza 0, that was a complicated storyline as well, but it all came together in a way that made sense.
00:23:00
And I feel like in this game, it's not really coming together in a way that makes a whole lot of sense.
00:23:06
And I think it's because we don't really know the characters that well.
00:23:11
Or there's too many of them.
00:23:13
It remains a bit messy for me.
00:23:17
But yeah, Karua dies.
00:23:19
Then ends the chapter.
00:23:21
I feel like if we do a Solong for him, I kinda want to put him a step above neutral as in Solong, Mother Respector, just because he took the bullet for his daughter.
00:23:34
Yeah.
00:23:35
And he tried to protect her.
00:23:37
But his lack of communications skills and ability to justify his actions to protect himself, that is what made me feel like it was closer to neutral.
00:23:47
I don't feel like he did too much. That was like totally outside of morality.
00:23:54
But he definitely made some mistakes.
00:23:57
But I think he generally made mistakes just out of desperation to protect people.
00:24:02
So I feel like he's not a bad guy, but he's not great.
00:24:07
With that, should we end it?
00:24:09
Yes. We will finish out the last chapters of the game next week.
00:24:15
Adacity on 1, 3, 2, 1.
00:24:45
This is the end of the first chapter of the game.
00:24:48
I hope you enjoyed it.
00:24:50
If you did, please leave a like and subscribe.
00:24:53
Thanks for watching.