Episode 2
Episode 2 of Like A Dragon: Yakuza sees us cut back to the Children’s Home, Sunflower, in 1986. Nishiki and Miho almost get hit by a car, until the fearless Kazuma shows and tries to fight the gangsters off.
Back in 2005, we see Yumi in hospital, alive, despite the car falling out the parking lot. She fires her gun as a warning, and as the ambulance shows up, the goons – presumably from the Omi Alliance – scarper. Yumi meanwhile, collapses.
Kazuma returns home, and gets dressed up in the familiar suit we’ve become accustomed to seeing from the games. He effortlessly beats down a couple of goons before we catch up on what’s happened since Kazuma has been behind bars.
Two years back the second in command of the Tojo Clan and some of his men were found murdered in Kamurocho with an inverted pentagram carved on their skin. This is the work of an infamous killer called the Devil of Shinjuku. It’s potentially the guy behind Aiko’s heist too, and Aiko is Yumi’s sister, so this is personal for Kazuma.
Back in 1995, we see more of Kazuma and Nishiki initiated into the Dojima clan after proving their worth. They work as security detail, keeping quiet and generally enjoying the slight benefits of being part of the Clan, especially as people show them a bit of respect and keep a wide berth in the streets.
Yumi starts to become more accustomed to her role working at Serena. However, she has a moral conscience and has a hard time preying on men who have had misfortune. This doesn’t play well with those in the club, especially the head hostess, who reminds Yumi that she needs to work hard in order to pay her debt back.
She’s certainly not going to walk through this. Yumi is encouraged to get some alcohol down her and open up to clients, but at that moment we see the other extreme of this as Miho drinks too much and passes out.
The reason for this is all tied in with the construction of Millennium Tower, which is propositioned to those in Tokyo as a great prospect at the club. The Dojima clan have their eyes set on this and Dojima turns to an American businessman called Edgar Beale for help with this endeavour. He initially refuses, quite nastily too, prompting the Dojima Clan to turn toward Kazuma and Nishiki to get even.
Shibusawa enlists their help to steal the deeds from Edgar Beale, an American businessman who has all of this locked up in his safe. However, they need the hanko (a sealed stamp) to make everything official. It’s not inside the safe, thanks to Kazama’s warning earlier on. It turns out Edgar has handed this over to his sister, Alice, who is urged not to let it out of her sight.
The Dojima Clan are desperate for this hanko, so Dojima leans on new faces, Majima and Taiga, to help retrieve this. There’s no love lost between Kazuma and Majima, but the former is warned away from them given the pair have been killing ever since they were kids. Nishiki is rattled.
Speaking of rattled, that night news breaks of Keiji Shibusawa of the Tojo clan arrested on suspicion of murder. The man he allegedly murdered? Edgar Beale.
The next day, Miho recovers from pushing herself at the club, while Kazuma comes under fire in his role during the heist. Nishiki finds out where Edgar’s sister is located and urges Kazuma to join him in order to get this hanko first.
Back in 2005, Aiko awakens in bed to find Kazuma there looking over her. She pretends to be asleep though and he eventually leaves. He’s got more important fish to fry and this comes from showing up to see the Chairman at the big memorial that afternoon. He points out that there’s a war coming and they need to do what they can to stop this occurring. Nishiki volunteers himself to try and douse the flames, and in exchange for doing this, he wants the Chairman’s blessing to deal with the Oyagorshi as he sees fit.
As the episode closes out, Kazuma shows up at the manga store, which is being used as a front for money laundering. Aiko is here and she eventually hightails it when the Devil of Shinjuku arrives and causes chaos. The little girl hides in the bathrom but thankfully Kazuma works to get her out, away from the Devils as they show. However, an explosion rocks the place, leaving question marks over who survived.
The Episode Review
So the drama escalates here as the Clan war looks set to spark into action at any second. There are obviously forces working to try and ignite this powder keg, and those in positions of power are maneuvering to try and stop – or encourage – this occurring.
Most of the episode jumps back and explores more of the past, with a good deal of drama and background surrounding Kazuma and Nishiki’s ties. It’ll be interesting to see what led to the pair parting ways, and how Nishiki became head of the Tojo Clan. If this is anything like the games, it should spark the rivalry that appears to be coming in the upcoming episodes.
The drama has been decent so far, albeit a little hard to follow if you’re not completely clued up on the games and the different clans operating within the Yakuza universe, but it’s been a decent watch all the same.
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