Many of us have a game franchise that, despite liking everything we hear about it, we have never actually played any of the games. I have a few, but one notable blind spot in my gaming resume was Yakuza, or as it’s called now, Like A Dragon.
I’d been told by many friends that the series has something for everyone, from heavy action scenes to lighthearted goofiness, all with real emotion at the center… and yet I still never found the time. This year saw the release of Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, and for a while I thought it would be just another game to add to my backlog. However, thanks to a freelance opportunity, I finally found my excuse to play a Like A Dragon game for the first time.
Through the first few chapters, I was enjoying myself, but I wasn’t yet seeing what others had told me about the series all these years. That changed in Chapter 4, when I approached a shaved-ice shop on the streets of Hawaii, and Substory 24: Let It Snow began.
Let It Snow begins with Ichiban finding a man in a plaid shirt buying shaved ice (also known as a snow cone) at a local shop. Curiously, the man asks for no toppings on his dessert, and then once he receives the treat, he throws it into the air. As the ice immediately melts–this is Hawaii, after all–the man screams in anguish and leaves distraught. Ichiban watches this happen, and other than feeling it’s really strange, doesn’t think much more of it.
Later, we find the same man being denied shaved ice at a second stand, as the proprietor had caught wind of his weird motives. Dejected, the man sits at a nearby bench, where Ichiban can sit with him and learn his story.
It turns out this man, whose name we learn is Orlando, is trying to fulfill his wife Ellie’s dying wish: “I want to see the snow with you again.” The couple, Orlando explains, have a lot of fond memories involving snow, including their honeymoon in Japan, and while he wanted to take her back, real-life responsibilities got in the way. She wants to see snow fall with her beloved one more time before she dies, which can be any time now. Ichiban agrees to help, and the two part ways for the moment.
So, uh, yeah…when I first saw a weird old dude throwing shaved ice into the sky, I did not think it would lead me to “super emotional story about a man trying to help his wife on her deathbed.” This is exactly the kind of thing my friends have been telling me about, and I have to admit it’s effective. That’s the beauty of the writing at work here; just when you think you have it all figured out, Like A Dragon surprises you. And, as the Substory continued, surprise me it absolutely did.
Later on in a nearby shopping center, Ichiban watches a woman lose a stroller down an escalator. Ichiban chases the stroller–the chase consisting of quick-time events to complete–until he catches it and brings it to a stop. Ichiban looks into the stroller, only to find a grown man in a diaper staring back at him.
This is Susumu Gondawara, a yakuza boss from a previous game who veteran Like A Dragon players would know to expect, but I was completely caught off guard. This hulking baby man says his stroller got away from the “nanny” he hired, and he wants Ichiban to take him back to her. However, three of Gondawara’s henchmen–also, inexplicably, in nothing but diapers–accuse Ichiban of kidnapping Gondawara, and the fight is on.
Once they’re defeated, Gondawara asks for some milk–and the only place to find it is a nearby shaved-ice truck, which uses condensed milk as a topping. One of the henchmen gets in line, only for a man in a familiar plaid shirt to force himself into the front and ask for a shaved ice with no topping.
Eventually, Ichiban, Orlando, and Gondawara all speak together, and try to come up with a solution to the problem. Orlando worries they’re running out of time, and Ichiban throws his shaved ice to the ground in frustration… however, the group notices that the ice didn’t melt, and instead turned to a snow-like substance. How did this happen?
Are you ready?
You’ll never guess…
It turns out that the absorbent of the diapers Gondawara and his men are wearing mixed with the shaved ice, and the combination created the “snow.” I’d heard Like A Dragon could be wacky, but I don’t think I realized just how wacky things could get. After Gondawara explains the difference between his group’s “baby play” fantasy and real-world honor, the three agree to a plan.
The scene then shifts to the hotel where Orlando and Ellie are staying, where–and I cannot believe I’m typing these words–Ichiban, Gondawara, and the underlings mix diaper absorbent with shaved ice, then throw it off of the rooftop of the hotel. Orlando and Ellie, together in their room just below said rooftop, see the “snow” come through the window and are delighted.
Ellie calls Orlando a “magician,” before asking for one more last wish: She wants to see Orlando smile one last time before she falls asleep. He obliges, tears welling in his eyes, and she eventually falls asleep for the final time.
So, to recap, in order to help a desperate man fulfill the final wish of his dying wife, our hero Ichiban:
- Enlisted the help of a man who likes to act as a baby
- Mixed absorbent from that man’s adult diaper supply with shaved ice to create “snow”
- Threw the mixture off of a roof, so the desperate man and his wife could see it fall from the room below.
And yet, despite the sheer wackiness making this whole thing happen, the heart at the core of the scene cannot be denied. Ichiban stepped up to help a stranger, simply because he could, and he made a dying woman’s final wish come true in the process. Once the “snow” started to fall, and the scene focused on Orlando and Ellie, I forgot about the absurdities of it all and focused on the relatable, human story at the center of the Substory, and it filled me with a warmth that most games aren’t capable of creating… until the scene switches back to Ichiban and company, where Gondawara’s henchmen are laying on the rooftop exhausted–and buck naked. It’s a last bit of wackiness to send us off; this is Like A Dragon, after all.
After years of being told I would like this series, and never having time to check it out, Infinite Wealth was officially my first foray into what Like A Dragon/Yakuza has to offer. Thanks to Substory 24: Let It Snow, I’ve seen the light. I’m sold, and I plan to go back and see what I’ve been missing all this time as soon as possible–and all it took was a little “winter” magic.
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