Yakuza: Like A Dragon is the seventh mainline installment to the popular Yakuza series. It marks many firsts for the series and the shift from brawler combat to turn-based. It also introduced the new frontman for the series with Ichiban Kasuga.
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Yakuza: Like A Dragon is one of the longest Yakuza entries, with 15 chapters in total. It also has the highest amount of playable characters, with seven playable party members. There is a lot going on in Yakuza: Like A Dragon, and this will be a chapter summary of what happens in each of them. Optional substories are excluded, but here are the main game chapters:
- 1: Light and Shadow
- 2: Bloody Reunion
- 3: The Town At Rock Bottom
- 4: The Dragon of Yokohama
- 5: The Liumang Man
- 6: Ignition
- 7: The Spider's Web
- 8: Bleached Black
- 9: House of Cards
- 10: Justice Tempered By mercy
- 11: The Odds
- 12: The End of Yakuza
- 13: Coin Locker Baby
- 14:Passing the Torch
- 15: To The Pinnacle
Chapter 1: Light And Shadow
Characters Introduced: Yoko Arakawa, Toshio Arakawa, Masumi Arakawa, Akane, Ichiban Kasuga, Masato Arakawa, Juro Horinouchi, Jo Sawashiro, Jiro Kasuga
Settings: 1971 Yokohama, 2000 – 2001 Kamurocho
Plot: Chapter 1 starts with Arakawa performing a play, where after a fight with his mother, is taken to a restaurant by his father. While in the bathroom, his father is killed. Time fast forwards and we're introduced to Ichiban, who is out doing collections for Arakawa (who is now the Patriarch of his own family).
Ichiban is responsible for Arakawa's son, Masato, but the two separate after a night out goes sour. At the end of the chapter, Ichiban is asked by Arakawa to take the blame for a killing and serve the punishment, to which he dutifully agrees.
Chapter 2: Bloody Reunion
Characters Introduced: Koichi Adachi
Settings: 2001 – 2019 Prison, 2019 Kamurocho
Plot: After serving his jail time, Ichiban is greeted by Adachi, an ex-cop. He tells Ichiban that he needs his help, but Ichiban denies this to try and find out what happened to the Tojo Clan and Arakawa. As it turns out, Arakawa sold out the Tojo, allowing the Omi Alliance to take over Kamurocho.
Ichiban learns that Arakawa is attending a dinner with other high-ranking Omi officers. He and Adachi break into the tower, where they separate. Ichiban meets with Arakawa, who shoots him.
Chapter 3: The Town At Rock Bottom
Characters Introduced: Yu Nanba, Zheng, Sota Kume, Hamako
Setting: 2019 Yokohama
Plot: Ichiban wakes up in a pile of garbage and meets Nanba, a homeless man who treated his wounds. Nanba lets Ichiban stay with him while he recovers. A man named Zheng of the Yokohama Liumang shows up and Ichiban and Nanba fight and defeat him. Nanba then tells of the Ijin Three consisting of the Yokohama Liumang, the Seiryu Clan, and Geomijul.
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Later, money with a blank back is found in Ichiban's pocket. Ichiban and Nanba head to Hello Work, which ultimately leads to them getting a place to live. We're also introduced to Bleach Japan, an activist group that wants to rid the world of morally gray zones.
Chapter 4: The Dragon Of Yokohama
Characters Introduced: Yamato Totsuka, Nonomiya, Mamoru Takabe, Ryuhei Hoshino, Nanoha Mukoda
Setting: 2019 Yokohama
Plot: Adachi re-unites with Ichiban, and the three men head to Hello Work to find jobs. Along the way, they find a bat on the ground that only Ichiban can pull out, which unlocks the Hero job. The trio gets a job at a soapland named Otohime Land, and a new base of operations at a bar called Survive.
They hatch a plan to infiltrate Sunlight Castle, where they are killing their patients. They succeed and wing up at Seiryu Clan headquarters. After their mission, they return to Otohime Land to find the owner dead.
Chapter 5: The Liumang Man
Characters Introduced: Eri Kamataki, Saeko Mukodam Akira Mabuchi, "The Bartender"
Setting: 2019 Yokohama
Plot: At the funeral of the Otohime owner, Saeko introduces herself and joins the party. They all want to discover the truth of the death and find and interrogate Zheng. Acting on a lead, they all take jobs at the Yokohama Trading Company.
During this, we're also introduced to Eri (who is an optional party member), who asks Ichiban to help with her dying company. They discover that the Yokohama Trading Company is using counterfeit bills, and while trying to steal one, they are caught and captured.
Chapter 6: Ignition
Characters Introduced: Tianyou Zhao
Setting: 2019 Yokohama
Plot: The party is hanging by their wrists and tortured by Mabuchi, a man who is trying to ignite a war. They are left alone where a mysterious man comes in and saves them. The party escapes, and Ichiban calls the chairman of the Seiryu Clan about Mabuchi's plan but is too late.
The captain of Seiryu, Takabe is already there and fights Ichiban, saying that he is willing to go to war to avenge those whose lives were lost. During their scuffle, the leader of the Yokohama Liumang Zhao reveals himself. He says he needs proof to believe it was all set up, the party must seek the Geomijul's help.
Chapter 7: The Spider's Web
Characters Introduced: Joon-gi Han (Yeonsu Kim), Seong-Hui
Settings: 2019 Yokohama, Koreatown
Plot: The party heads to Koreatown, where they meet Seong-Hi, the leader of the Geomijul. The Geomijul have a ton of cameras all over town and act as an intelligence agency of sorts. It's revealed that Mabuchi was the one to kill the Otohime Land owner, but is given more vital information about the counterfeit bills. Joon-gi Han is also revealed as the one who saved them in the last chapter.
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Here, it is revealed that Nanba is searching for his brother that is linked to said bills. He leaves the party as he's taken away at gunpoint. The party fight their way out and are told to meet at Heian Tower, where the leaders of the Ijin Three are sitting around a table.
Chapter 8: Bleached Black
Characters Introduced: Ryo Aoki, Hajime Ogasawara, Yutaka Ogikubo
Setting: 2019 Yokohama
Plot: At the sitdown, it is revealed that all three of them were in on the counterfeiting, and it helps keep balance and other criminal organizations out. However, since Nanba had escaped and is taken in by Bleach Japan, the Ijin Three all know that their cover was blown, and has assassins already coming for him.
The party runs into Bleach Japan and Nanba, where Mabuchi shows up and fights. They defeat him, but Nanba leaves with Mabuchi and Bleach Japan, saying it's the best chance of finding his brother. In the offices, Ichiban finds a picture of Aoki, a politician, who he recognized as Masato.
Chapter 9: House Of Cards
Characters Introduced: Reiji Ishioda
Setting: 2019 Yokohama
Plot: The party returns to Survive where they learn that Aoki helped to found Bleach Japan which is directly linked to the Omi Alliance. The Omi are invading Ijincho, to which the party takes the reigns to fight back. Zhao tells them they will stop hunting Nanba if they help hold them back.
They fight an Omi lieutenant named Ishioda. The party at the guide of Joon-gi Han return to Geomijul's base. They fight Ishioda, Nanba, and Omi thugs there. After defeating them, they reveal Nanba's brother is alive and well. They capture the other head of Bleach Japan Ogasawara and takes him for interrogation.
Chapter 10: Justice Tempered By Mercy
Characters Introduced: Yosuke Tendo
Setting: 2019 Yokohama
Plot: While interrogating Ogasawara, it's revealed that Aoki was responsible for the Kamurocho 3K Plan, which drove the Tojo out. The Omi Alliance forces the party to defend, allowing Ogasawara to escape. While searching for Zhao who's gone radio silent, they run into Mabuchi and the Omi higher-ups.
Tendo is one of them who refused to fight since they are too weak, but Ishido takes the opportunity, of which Nanba returns to the party. They defeat him, and Zhao is revealed to be safe but considered stepping down as leader. Back at the homeless camp, Ichiban learns that the homeless there are responsible to tend those who are dumped there and pretend that they are dead under Arakawa's orders. Hoshino, the Patriarch of the Seiryu clan is revealed to be the one who killed Arakawa's father, and the reason Arakawa wound up as a yakuza.
Chapter 11: The Odds
Characters Introduced:
Setting: 2019 Yokohama
Plot: Zhao officially steps down and joins Ichiban's party. After a few leads, they wind up finding Aoki, of which Ichiban wants to get answers. After a fight with his guards, Aoki tells Ichiban to meet him alone at Otohime Land.
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During their meeting, Aoki reveals that he was the one who Ichiban took the blame for at the start of the game. After Ichiban refuses Aoki's proposal that he stop going after him and Arakawa, Omi Alliance men come to take him out. Luckily, Nanba shows up to save him, and the party realizes that now they can't back down.
Chapter 12: The End Of Yakuza
Characters Introduced: Masaru Watase, Goro Majima, Taiga Saejima, Daigo Dojima, Kazuma Kiryu
Setting: 2019 Yokohama
Plot: Ichiban receives a phone call, telling him that Arakawa will need his help at the Omi Alliance headquarters. While he is supposed to wait, Ichiban proceeds before they are officially ready for him. While at Omi headquarters, the party encounters Majima and Saejima and fight them.
At the meeting, it's announced that both the Tojo and Omi Alliance are disbanding effective immediately. This leads to a brawl where the chairman of the Omi Watase is almost killed but is saved last minute by Kiryu. Afterwards, Arakawa thanks Ichiban for his help, but that night Arakawa shows up dead in the ocean.
Chapter 13: Coin Locker Baby
Characters Introduced:
Setting: 2019 Yokohama
Plot: Ichiban, distraught at Arakawa's death is called by Hoshino who invites him for a meal. There, he explains that Arakawa is at peace, and that Ichiban should get revenge on Aoki. Ichiban denies this, saying he'd rather bring Arakawa's vision of improving the yakuza to life.
In another scene, Sawashiro, a former member of the Arakawa Family is told to kill Hoshino to prove his worth as chairman of the Tokyo Omi Alliance, a replacement for the original. The party shows up to stop him but is too late. Sawashiro expresses regret and turns himself into the police.
Chapter 14: Passing The Torch
Characters Introduced:
Setting: 2019 Yokohama
Plot: Ichiban, now filled with anger over the deaths of Arakawa and Hoshino is looking to get information out of any Omi Alliance members to find Kume, the face of Bleach Japan to get a meeting with Aoki. He almost kills an Omi, but is stopped by Kiryu. Kiryu instructs Ichiban to meet him at Geomijul.
Kiryu fights the party and afterwards allows them to pass to learn what Aoki's next move is. There, it is revealed that Aoki hired an assassin named Mirror Face, a master of disguise to kill Sawashiro before he talks. Ishioda and Mirror Face are seen entering a building, of which the party goes to and defeats them. Before much can be revealed, a bomb goes off that the party escapes.
Chapter 15: To The Pinnacle
Characters Introduced: Makoto Date, Ikumi
Setting: 2019 Yokohama
Plot: The party arrives in Kamurocho, where in true Yakuza fashion heads to the Millennium Tower for the final battle. Ichiban had told Aoki there was incriminating evidence there and sends Tendo and other Omi there to find it. At the top, Tendo reveals he was the one who killed Arakawa and a fight ensues.
Aoki heads to Millennium Tower where he meets Tendo who says the whole thing was fake, of which he orders to death of all those involved in the hoax. However, it was being live-streamed, and the Tendo he was talking to was actually Mirror Face. Aoki and Ichiban fight, and while about to be detained Aoki holds an officer at gunpoint to escape.
After a long convincing, Ichiban gets through to Aoki, who finally sees the error of his ways, just before he is stabbed and killed by Kume. At the funeral for Arakawa and Aoki, Daigo and Watase offer Ichiban a job at a security company in Osaka, but declines, preferring to stay in Ijincho with his new friends.Next: Yakuza: Like A Dragon: Times Ichiban Was A Lovable Idiot
