Majima’s shouting of “Kiryu-chan!!!” is so iconic that even if I die at 100 and never play Yakuza until then, it will probably reverberate in my ears on my deathbed. Majima, the only character in the Yakuza series that is even more popular than Kiryu, is a crazy gangster who is the opposite of Kiryu’s flatness. But despite their contrast, you won’t find another duo in the series who understand each other so well and trust each other so much. Of course, when you say understanding and trust, don’t get too hung up on details like Majima trying to kill Kiryu once in a while.
In fact, at first, it’s kind of like six years into trying to kill. That’s why majima’s only strength was when Kiryu and Kiryu spent years in prison and when she was weak, she helped him regain his strength as a nuisance. But although some of them were serious encounters, Kiryu vs Majima never had exactly deadly consequences, came close to happening. Their rivalry never ran out, but whenever Kiryu needed help, and it’s no less than that she needed help, majima was the first one to come to her aid, taking on responsibilities she never wanted to take for her. Over the years, they’ve become two comrades in arms in contrast to each other.
He was always a colorful, thrilling character to see, Majima, but the part of his life that I found most interesting was what he experienced in Yakuza 0, which tells the story of the history of the Yakuza series. He was very different before he got the nickname “Mad Dog” and earned it properly. He ran a casino in his suit, his master manner. He went to the water of his trouble-causing customers, even tolerated people pushing him around.
It was used continuously throughout the game, Majima. Unlike Kiryu, he had no character ready to disregard his duties to pursue his truths, he adhered to the rules of the yakuza. And knowing that, his brothers lied to him and used him as a pawn for his own purposes, infecting him with things he never wanted to get involved in. He was asked to commit murder, he fell in love with the blind girl he was supposed to kill; He ran away with her, did his best to protect her, then found out that he was being used again in the whole process. Not to mention the forced to let down Saejima, whom he had sworn to be a brotherhood in the past, while losing one eye. He kept losing; your eye, your sworn brother, your love, where you belong.
And at the end of the game, when Majima threw all the dirty work off her back, when she was between her duties and the right ones, when she realized that she wanted to choose the truth, she swore that she would live the way she wanted to live from now on, came out of her cage, and suddenly, she went crazy for her own free. He’s gone from a tragic hero to a powerful anti-hero.
There’s no doubt that Majima is a sane, decision-making person. Mad Dog is a mask of his choice to wear, making him a yakuza leader who is both feared and respected. But it’s a mask that he’s so internalized, so much loved and so embraced that it’s safe to say that the real Majima is this “broken” mask.
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