Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii can’t be Majima’s swansong

On the surface, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii seems to be a silly game about a silly little guy living his best life. Sure, Goro Majima’s Hawaiian vacation goes wrong, but Majima was born a pirate. That much becomes clear when you consider how well this hackneyed concept seems to fit into the world of Like a dragon. And actually, many of the original characters from the Yakuza Series deserve a vacation. Kiryu perhaps more than anyone, but also Majima, Saejima and Daigo. After all, Majima is 54 inches tall Yakuza: Like a dragon and would be approximately 58 years old Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.

The age of Kiryu and these other original characters is a problem (albeit a good one) for RGG Studio. Not only do they need to be written off at some point lest they simply become too old, but the decision to include them in games or not is also a double-edged sword. Some fans will be okay with this, some won’t. But I’m afraid that’s a problem Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii doesn’t shy away from it, and that scares me in the biggest way possible.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza could just be a fun story about a vacation gone wrong, where players as Majima compete against other pirates to collect treasure and pure fun. It’s something Majima would do, but this Like a dragon A series would be nothing if it didn’t have strong, emotional stories. That much has already been hinted at. In one of Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in HawaiiIn the trailers, players can see Majima getting into a confrontation with his oath brother Saejima. Not only does Majima put a knife to Saejima’s neck and tell him to stop calling him “brother”, but in the dialogue that follows, Majima also says that he doesn’t care if he doesn’t get his memories back because the pirate life is fun might. It’s very unlikely that with these two things, Majima can come close to avoiding reconciliation with his past.

A Gaiden by any other name

Regardless of the exact coincidence, it’s clear that Majima’s past, his relationships, and his time as a yakuza are significant. And that scares me because it may go down a similar path to Kiryu’s storyline. This is worth mentioning Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii maybe not Gaiden in his English name but in his Japanese name, meaning the expectations of him should be equivalent The man who erased his name. However, given Kiryu and Majima’s close relationship, these expectations could be exactly the same.

The Man Who Erased His Name and “Like a Dragon 8”

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Cleared His Name reveals what happens to Kiryu afterwards Yakuza 6: everything he has lost and everything his past has taken from him. Kiryu was born a Yakuza boss, but desperately wanted to raise children like the man who raised him. The man who erased his name shows us what he has lost. The man who erased his name gives us the saddest ending of the entire series: Kiryu’s always stoic sobs. Don’t cry, don’t burst into tears, sob brokenly when confronted with his reality. There’s this old writing advice: If you want to make a character lovable, you basically have to destroy their life. Well that wasn’t enough for poor Kiryu, because next Like a dragon Game, Infinite wealthHe got cancer.

I spent the entire time Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth I was worried about what would happen to Kiryu, but luckily it seemed to be a proper goodbye. He deserved a happy ending, and what he got was basically just that. The problem is that Majima has always harbored tragedy within him.

Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii and Like a Dragon 9

Of course, this could be a pure coincidence, but it seems plausible that Gaiden Stories are a way to connect the character’s past to the present before being written off in the next main game. The good news is that a Saejima or Daigo game would be cool, but the bad news is how Majima could return LAD9 be written off. If Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii When, after decades as a yakuza, he deals with his conscience, with the relationship bonds that were formed and broken along the way, and he explores his mental and emotional development, as was the case with Kiryu, the question then arises: what is to come next? As for Majima, I’m not sure I like the sound of that question.

Just let him be a pirate and let him live his best life. The man who erased his name Tap danced on my heart, Infinite wealth played with his strings, and I’m not sure I could survive that cycle again if he focused on Majima. At the same time, tap dancing absolutely gets on my heart because I’m a glutton for punishment and with Majima it would hurt twice as much.

Released

February 20, 2025

ESRB

Mature 17+ // Blood, intense violence, partial nudity, sexual themes, strong language, alcohol consumption

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