Hey, Gamers. So, a while ago I did a ‘series’ which was 2 posts defending characters in games (Haru from Persona 5 and Jaehee from Mystic Messenger) that had been spoken badly about in their respective communities. I decided to change this a little and just make character appreciation posts for… characters that I appreciate. While playing Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, I realised that this guy needed an appreciation post. Why? Because he’s not even named. RGG did him so dirty. He deserves a name, he deserves more screentime, he deserves to be happily married to Yamai. Let’s get into it!
Here is a photo of who I’m talking about:
So, this man deserved so much better than what RGG gave him. I cannot believe they left him unnamed. But anyway, you’re probably wondering why he’s so great. The thing is, he is so loyal. And I know, I know, all of Yamai’s grunts are loyal (not true, Tomi was one, checkmate atheists), but this guy is quite literally on another level. He would happily die for Yamai. He would do absolutely anything for this man. And I get it, because Yamai is great, and he does deserve the respect and loyalty that he earned. However, this guy – as I said – is just different.
This is hard to write because I’m not sure how to explain it apart from he stands out in the crowd of other grunts. I’m pretty sure he’s higher up than most of the grunts. Since the Yamai syndicate is introduced as yakuza, I’ll say that he’s probably at least a captain and would become patriarch after Yamai’s death (but we all know the Yamai Syndicate wouldn’t last post-Yamai). He clearly has some kind of power, judging by how he interacts and commands the other grunts.
But you can see how much he respects Yamai by the way he acts around him. It’s so heartwarming to see. Yamai doesn’t really use a fear technique with his grunts (apart from Tomi); instead, it’s all about respect. You can see that once you encounter them at their base. This guy in particular worships the ground Yamai walks on, and… I just don’t get how he was unnamed. Random thugs on the street that you fight for less than a minute get named, but not this guy.
Honestly, I’d go so far to say he was in love with Yamai, but I know some people don’t like it when people headcanon things like that. The only reason I am bringing it up here is because it’s actually a pretty common thing in the Like a Dragon series, so I really wouldn’t but it past them. It’s just so weird because I really feel like this one character had at least a side story that got cut.
And I remember him being so funny just before fights. I really wish I took more screenshots, because a big reason that he stood out was due to the humour in his writing. Again, this guy is unnamed but had multiple voiced lines. What’s going on RGG? He felt significantly more developed than any of the other unnamed Yamai grunts that we saw throughout the game, but nothing was done about it. He clearly had some kind of characterisation, but it feels like it either fell flat or was completely cut. Am I making this all up in my head? Maybe, but it’s fine so I’m going to keep going.
Anyway, Justice for this Unnamed Yamai Grunt.
That’s it for this post, Gamers. I know it was small but this small character has been playing on my mind for weeks and I needed to talk about it a little. Did he stand out to you? Do you agree with what I think? Let me know in the comments below. If you liked this post, give it a ‘like’ and maybe share it with some friends so you can laugh about how much I care about this unnamed character together. Follow this blog for more gaming content, and follow my socials to keep updated with a bunch of stuff. See you next post, Gamers!
Eleanor Rees Gaming 