Hello! Welcome to the Aziamuth retrospectives! This will be a series of articles where I talk about my personal feelings on things I like or even love. I will mostly focus on characters, but I might talk about games as well. These articles will, for the most part, be composed of three sections:
Whenever I think about my favorite characters in fiction, on the top 5 always come the same names: Faust from Guilty Gear, Shun Akiyama from Yakuza, Vivi Ornitier from Final Fantasy IX, the protagonist from Dragon Quest V and Ramza Beoulve from Final Fantasy Tactics. Since I’ve already (partially) talked about the Dragon Quest V protagonist, it might be good to dive into another one. Creativity never stops, after all
So, today, I want to talk about Shun Akiyama from Yakuza/Like a Dragon.
The man, the myth, the legend.
Shun Akiyama is a character introduced in Yakuza 4 for the PS3, released in 2010. He is commonly called The Lifeline of Kamurocho, because of his job as a loan shark. In the Yakuza world (and maybe in real life Japan), loan sharks are usually front jobs by the yakuza to extort money from unsuspecting fools. Shun Akiyama serves as a light in this dark world, as he’s so rich that he loans money without any interest and without strict deadlines. However, he doesn’t give money to anyone who comes asking for it. For Shun Akiyama, because of his backstory, money is an opportunity towards a dream. As a result, he always gives a test related to what his clients require. Usually, these tests are very discouraging and involve giving up something very important or doing excruciating physical work. If you fail, he refuses to give you money, because he doesn’t think you’re worth it of following your dream.
Shun Akiyama is directly based off of Cowboy Bebop's protagonist, Spike Spiegel. Their laid-back attitudes, confident demeanor, goofiness with a side of seriousness, kick-based fighting style and penchant for smoking. In fact, they both share the same voice actor: Koichi Yamadera. This fact is confirmed by the developers of Yakuza 4.
For most of the series, Shun Akiyama wears black pants, black shirt and black shoes. Over the shirt he wars a maroon jacket, that stands out over all of the blackness. He has slicked-back, black hair, a short moustache and a small goatee. During his banking days, he wore a typical banker suit and didn't have facial hair. During his homeless days, he had a homeless attire and a beard. At the end of Yakuza 6, during the events, he changes the maroon jacket for a black one.
His office is called Sky Finance because money literally fell out of the sky.
His role in the series is usually more of a support character than anything. Even in Yakuza 4 and 5, where he’s a playable character and the protagonist of his parts, his role is still more about helping the actual main characters (Tanimura in Yakuza 4, Kiryu and Saejima in Yakuza 5). In Yakuza 6 he is no longer playable, and his initial appearance is somewhat antagonistic but quickly becomes an ally to Kiryu up until the end. The same happens with his samurai counterpart in Like a Dragon: Ishin!, where he goes by several names but I’ll call him Katsura Kogoro for simplicity. In that game, he’s more of a neutral party that helps Ryoma Sakamoto somewhat (although they fight a bunch of times) but is never a fully realized ally.
On that note, his adventures are similar to that of a detective, where something happens and he has to uncover the truth behind the event, but usually leaves the resolution to another character, further cementing his role as a supporting ally that works in the shadows.
Makes smoking look cool.
From the first time he appeared in the game, Akiyama immediately stood to me. He barges in a yakuza office, as if it were his home. Laid back, but taking no shit from those around him. I knew that he was a badass, but he was also a kind and caring person, because the scene immediately after shows him purchasing beer for the homeless (he was homeless at some point, after all, so he has a natural affinity with them).
Then you get to play him and see that he mostly uses kicks; automatically hooked. But why? And then, an epiphany. I felt like Anton Ego in Ratatouille, having a flashback to the past.
Hwoarang from Tekken. The character I played the most in Tekken 5, when I was a kid, he was there, before my eyes, once again. The kick-based fighting style… the cocky attitude… the youthful look… the attractiveness… Granted, Hwoarang is ruder than Akiyama, but still… That, alone, was enough to get me to like Akiyama.
However, it was not enough. I had to play Yakuza 5 after that. I simply had to. So I did! Bought it as soon as possible (it was only available digitally at that time). Unfortunately, Akiyama wouldn’t appear until the third part, and he was sharing it with Haruka Sawamura, so he didn’t have as much screen time. What little did he get, however, was succulent. Not only did he get to do cool things and solve a mystery, but he is also part of what’s probably my favorite moment in the whole franchise. It’s small and doesn’t have much weight in the whole narrative, but it’s my moment.
So, Haruka is a bit down on the dumps, because of things that happened to her during her part, and Akiyama thinks of things to cheer her up. Haruka doesn’t want to impose, but Akiyama assures that there’s no problem. And so she says she wants to eat crab, and Akiyama takes her. Afterwards, she feels better.
This little interaction is so cute, I love it so much. Haruka goes through a lot of trouble, and Akiyama tries to act as a father figure (more like an uncle figure) at one of her lowest points (not the lowest, that happened in Yakuza 1). And, from that point forward, he became one of my favorite characters of all time.
He’s also a great singer! Just listen to this! And this! Oh, man, he is SO COOL! AND he has a cute relationship with her secretary, with very one-sided feelings of love from her part (at least I think they are one-sided, he doesn’t seem very aware of the situation).
Anyways, from that moment, anytime I see Akiyama on screen, I get instantly happy. He gets plenty of action in Yakuza 6 as a sidekick. I was a bit disappointed that he didn’t appear in Yakuza 7, and in Yakuza 8 he appears, but it’s completely optional and doesn’t affect the main storyline. A pity! Nonetheless, I’m satisfied with what they did with him throughout the games, I wouldn’t want him any other way.
And that’s why I love Shun Akiyama from the Yakuza series.
- The introduction is a small summary of the characters: who they are and how they are introduced in their respective series, as well as a small description of their physical appearance and some additional trivia related to their creation.
- The presence refers to the role of the characters in their respective series: whether they are a protagonist, an antagonist, a supporting character or even nothing at all! Sometimes we like characters that do nothing.
- The feelings refers to the actual point of the article: why I like the character so much.
Whenever I think about my favorite characters in fiction, on the top 5 always come the same names: Faust from Guilty Gear, Shun Akiyama from Yakuza, Vivi Ornitier from Final Fantasy IX, the protagonist from Dragon Quest V and Ramza Beoulve from Final Fantasy Tactics. Since I’ve already (partially) talked about the Dragon Quest V protagonist, it might be good to dive into another one. Creativity never stops, after all
So, today, I want to talk about Shun Akiyama from Yakuza/Like a Dragon.
INTRODUCTION
The man, the myth, the legend.
Shun Akiyama is directly based off of Cowboy Bebop's protagonist, Spike Spiegel. Their laid-back attitudes, confident demeanor, goofiness with a side of seriousness, kick-based fighting style and penchant for smoking. In fact, they both share the same voice actor: Koichi Yamadera. This fact is confirmed by the developers of Yakuza 4.
For most of the series, Shun Akiyama wears black pants, black shirt and black shoes. Over the shirt he wars a maroon jacket, that stands out over all of the blackness. He has slicked-back, black hair, a short moustache and a small goatee. During his banking days, he wore a typical banker suit and didn't have facial hair. During his homeless days, he had a homeless attire and a beard. At the end of Yakuza 6, during the events, he changes the maroon jacket for a black one.
PRESENCE
His office is called Sky Finance because money literally fell out of the sky.
On that note, his adventures are similar to that of a detective, where something happens and he has to uncover the truth behind the event, but usually leaves the resolution to another character, further cementing his role as a supporting ally that works in the shadows.
FEELINGS
Makes smoking look cool.
Then you get to play him and see that he mostly uses kicks; automatically hooked. But why? And then, an epiphany. I felt like Anton Ego in Ratatouille, having a flashback to the past.
Hwoarang from Tekken. The character I played the most in Tekken 5, when I was a kid, he was there, before my eyes, once again. The kick-based fighting style… the cocky attitude… the youthful look… the attractiveness… Granted, Hwoarang is ruder than Akiyama, but still… That, alone, was enough to get me to like Akiyama.
However, it was not enough. I had to play Yakuza 5 after that. I simply had to. So I did! Bought it as soon as possible (it was only available digitally at that time). Unfortunately, Akiyama wouldn’t appear until the third part, and he was sharing it with Haruka Sawamura, so he didn’t have as much screen time. What little did he get, however, was succulent. Not only did he get to do cool things and solve a mystery, but he is also part of what’s probably my favorite moment in the whole franchise. It’s small and doesn’t have much weight in the whole narrative, but it’s my moment.
So, Haruka is a bit down on the dumps, because of things that happened to her during her part, and Akiyama thinks of things to cheer her up. Haruka doesn’t want to impose, but Akiyama assures that there’s no problem. And so she says she wants to eat crab, and Akiyama takes her. Afterwards, she feels better.
This little interaction is so cute, I love it so much. Haruka goes through a lot of trouble, and Akiyama tries to act as a father figure (more like an uncle figure) at one of her lowest points (not the lowest, that happened in Yakuza 1). And, from that point forward, he became one of my favorite characters of all time.
He’s also a great singer! Just listen to this! And this! Oh, man, he is SO COOL! AND he has a cute relationship with her secretary, with very one-sided feelings of love from her part (at least I think they are one-sided, he doesn’t seem very aware of the situation).
Anyways, from that moment, anytime I see Akiyama on screen, I get instantly happy. He gets plenty of action in Yakuza 6 as a sidekick. I was a bit disappointed that he didn’t appear in Yakuza 7, and in Yakuza 8 he appears, but it’s completely optional and doesn’t affect the main storyline. A pity! Nonetheless, I’m satisfied with what they did with him throughout the games, I wouldn’t want him any other way.
And that’s why I love Shun Akiyama from the Yakuza series.
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