#digitalmadness

@glitchwith

@resonance-log

@theincompleteone

If you speak to a machine long enough you will hear a heartbeat. Or maybe, that's just your own mind. Breaking.

What was the exact reason on why you picked him up? Was / is there something that the fandom portrays him as and you don't? What is one dynamic you love to explore more about that isn't talked about enough yet you want to? Annnnnd what's your thoughts on how Akiyama would be & react towards about the homeless in Yokohama?

I know he will definitely be open towards them and understand their situation, but how would he go about in interacting with them?

unscripted asks . always accepting

Beck, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for sending this ask because I realized that I might not have... Fully explained the reasons why I picked up Akiyama as a muse (at least not after officially opening up the blog!). And not only that but all these other juicy things, too! Ugh, thank you so much for this!

But first things first: I picked up the Yakuza games again after I started chatting/plotting with @sixthxchairman over at my other blog, and Y3 was... A not so fun experience, to put it mildly. It is my least favorite entry and I struggled to move forward because of 2 main things: graphics/technology whiplash (I went from Y0 and Kiwami 1 and Kiwami 2 to... A PS3 remaster haha; it was a jarring experience) and the story. Gosh, the plot and pacing of Y3 is just strange, with a lot of dad Kiryu content that I did not particularly care for, Daigo being mostly off-screen and just confusing/cliché conspiracies including lost twins and everything.

I did not know a thing about Y4 when I started - I just wanted more Daigo content, really - and then Akiyama Shun happened and oh. my. god. I was smitten with him right at the beginning - confused because I had no idea we were getting non-Kiryu protagonists at the time, but I thought his initial scenes with Hana amusing; I absolutely LOVED his fighting style (I’ve always done very well with him, as opposed to Saejima, for instance) and by the time Kido did the introduction with that voice-over about who he was and everything, I was sold.

Akiyama is just a very likeable, charming and refreshing character for me - Kiryu is not a favorite of mine and I largely played the games for the other characters/overall lore (and Majima, my original love from Y0 haha). But then suddenly there was this guy, with mysterious motivations and great lines, awesome voice and fun moves. I was entranced - he felt more relatable and an everyday sort of guy than Kiryu and his mythical fighting skills and legendary reputation etc. Also a protagonist I did not feel like groaning at and questioning his motivations every 5 minutes.

As I got further with the game and then somewhere along Y5, I was so deep into Akiyama hell that I knew I needed to write him; I started creating backstories, motivations, relatives and a lot of things to explain why Akiyama is who he was and my portrayal was born. I like to think I’m rather singular in the aspect that I don’t personally think he’s stupid/lazy or a shallow comic relief - sure, he acts like that sometimes, but my interpretation of Akiyama feels like it’s different from most of the fandom in the sense that I see him as someone with above-average intelligence, with strong anti-system bias and who genuinely wants to make life for others better. There are a lot of particular political and societal views that I incorporate in how I write him. 

On your second point: I would absolutely love to have the chance to write homeless!Akiyama or even his past, arrogant self prior to his fall from grace. I think these two are sides to his personality I haven’t yet touched in detail and which would be fun to flesh out more - despite the fact that he is not yet the Akiyama Shun we all love and adore. Particularly his homeless era - the original one post-Touto scandal, and not during Y6 - is a period that fascinates me because it was hard, dark and a lesser man would have been destroyed by it; somehow, he managed to not only survive, but to be reborn as someone he’s happy with and confident with his role in the world. There is a reason I keep associating himself to the phoenix so much (in addition to the little in-game hints, too).

And finally your third question re. Yokohama - I sincerely think Akiyama has an edge there because he’s not formally anything (he’s a civilian running a legitimate business), but Y6 suggests that he’s considered an ally/connection to Daigo and maybe he could be targeted by the Omi as well if he stayed in Kamurocho as a Tojo loyalist (despite not being yakuza!). Although I don’t think they would personally go after him - because, again, he’s a civilian and the entire idea of taking control over Tokyo was doing it in a way that was different from the open all-out yakuza wars - I still think it might have driven him to someplace near for a breather and discover/interact with the people there.

I sincerely think his modus operandi would be similar to what we see in the other games because he would offer food/minimal material comforts and try to understand what is going on in the city first - but the moment someone tried to take advantage of them (such as charging protection money), he would fight back and likely get pulled into the Ijin Three mess because that’s what he does - he keeps being dragged into underworld business because he won’t stay quiet or put, haha. 

fake dating prompts . accepting

It was a good thing that the Drysdell patriarch did not visit Japan very often - he had been the most vocal about Melissa remaining behind, alone, and he had very clear concerns for his daughter despite Japan being one of the safest places he had ever been posted to. It was only thanks to the efforts of her mother, Eleanor, that any potential family crisis was smoothed over before it even began.

Thinking back to the former hostess’ father made her smile - Edgar had been right; by working in the nightlife of Okinawa, then shortly afterwards in Kamurocho, Melissa had quickly mixed (or at least became acquainted with) a lot of yakuza and other unsavory types. The military man would have probably flipped if he realized just how many morally questionable connections his oldest daughter had now, and how easily navigating these things cames to her, despite remaining a civilian. Her father would probably distrust even Akiyama - if only because he was too charismatic for his own good (a man with such charm had to be someone up to no good - right?).

Tanimura Masayoshi, however, was probably one of the single friends she had that would have been approved by Edgar; after all, a policeman was a policeman - no matter the country. And yet, there she was - posing as a fake girlfriend to the officer, if only so they could dance together across a packed ballroom while screening the other guests for a particular man who had been coming to her club - and who had also harmed three different girls on dates outside the Honey Bee Inn. Just because it was no longer indoors, it didn’t mean Melissa cared less - and seeking Tanimura out had been the obvious choice for help.

He was eager to help - in his own way, of course. And honestly, that sort of off-the-record lesson had been the preference of the club owner as well.

“Where?” she whispered back to him, and Tanimura gently turned her around, allowing Melissa the chance to glance at the direction he had been previously looking at; the woman was careful to keep a neutral expression, chin resting on the officer’s shoulder while eyes frantically moved across the sea of people - and then finally landing on their target. “Yeah, it’s him alright. You good at this, Masa-kun.”

There was a chuckle from him - and they started to move through the crowd, carefully masquerading their progress as a normal waltz; it was a good thing that Tanimura was a good dancer and able to move with such grace - otherwise, their cover would have been blown ages ago. “Okay, so just to recap - once we’re close enough, we separate and I’ll find a drink to accidentally spill over his shirt. I’ll offer to help clean it and we’ll meet by the men’s room. Right?”

“Five minutes,” he said into her ear, the hold of his fingers tightening just a bit as a reminder of the importance of that part of the plan, “Five minutes only, Mel-chan. If you’re not there, I’ll go after you - can’t risk having you harmed either.”

Anyways, what is your thoughts / HCs that led Yagami to be a detective? Out of all the occupations he could go for, why a detective? Did your Yagami get inspired to be one or did he come up with it on the spot and winged it from there?

WHOAAAAA A SERIOUS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT QUESTION ON TAABOH DOT TUMBLER... thank you becksan 😭

so we know that yagamo's a huge nerd-- he's into reading fiction books, and he actually keeps up with mystery novels here and there. it isn't the primary reason he decides to be a detective, but i like to think that's part of what made him remember "oh, right, such an occupation exists."

but for my interpretation of yagamo who suffers from permanent "nobody tells me where to go" syndrome, being a private investigator allows him these things:

HE'S HIS OWN BOSS!! he was grateful for genda law office, of course, but both shintani and gendasensei himself were liable to tell him to back off once he "wrapped up" a case as a lawyer, especially if yagamo tried to step out of line in a defence attorney's duties in the event his client was guilty

he gets to help the people of kamurocho!! he jokingly says that if kamurocho wasn't such a dangerous place, he wouldn't have much business, but you can tell that he really does care for everyone and hopes for their safety, even those he doesn't know personally. "detective" is a fancy title, but taka runs an anything agency more than a detective agency at this point just because he’ll do anything for anyone who needs help

being a lawyer, he's definitely had run ins with detectives or hired some himself. i can also 100% see him, in the event of hiring someone he didn't approve of, thinking about how cases could've been investigated better because he's a perfectionist snob like that. but again, he wouldn't be allowed to investigate further really without being judged for it

following the death of emi terasawa, he feels personally responsible for not seeing the signs or investigating them. at the time he feels like it's his fault for not recognising everything about shinpei okubo, who he believed to be guilty. i imagine that after his period of depression (which isn't very long, since taka eventually goes to his coping mechanism of Always Having Something to Do), he decides he never wants to go through that again and that he will first and foremost dedicate himself to finding the truth. he trusts his hunches the same way, of course, but he'll never come to "proper" decisions until he's properly investigated everything

it’s not even JUST emi-- there’s the way that his parents were murdered in vigilante justice because the prosecution failed to present a case to convict the defendant. despite taka wanting to honour his birth father through becoming a lawyer just like him, even at age 15 he was made aware of the limitations in defending people. the only difference in the shinpei okubo case is that this time it happened to him. if cases were investigated properly and all the evidence-- all the truth-- was brought out, then juries could come up with the fairest decision possible. but you need a good detective for that

i feel like at the beginning of judgment, taka wasn’t particularly attached to being a detective. he was going through with his decision, of course, but he only really realised how much the job mattered to him towards the end. “if i never pursued these truths, justice couldn’t have been served for the people that died and no longer have a voice”. and the importance of the truth isn’t limited to the main story too-- in the sidecases, for example, finding a cat allows the legacy of a dead crime boss to live on honourably instead of being used for selfishness. which hits harder after everything that happens to matsugane

i don’t think he was FULLY dedicated to being a lawyer. i feel like a lot of it was just him being fifteen and making a promise to matsugane because of the guilt of his parents dying and the lack of closure he had with all that. i feel like choosing to be a detective and choosing to follow through with it were his first major personal decisions for himself, and when he commits to it by the end of judgment he’s reached a point in his life where he finds fulfilment in what he does

so to answer the last question, i think becoming a detective was a mix of winging it and thinking about it. like he thought “oh, if i was a detective, i could have investigated these cases more”, and out of guilt he decided to just go on and pursue it. but as he goes through the motions and starts to do the work, he falls in love with it along the way and decides this is how he wants to spend the rest of his life, as long as he’s allowed to do it. as opposed to it being a decision brought about by guilt and fear, it becomes a decision made out of pride and joy. he loves this. he isn’t going to be doing anything else, because being a detective allows him to be his truest self and follow his personal code without anyone allowed to say anything about it.

SENT FROM @digitalmadness​​  ―   ( unprompted / always accepting )

☆ Hi, hi!! Look who is my next for questions. What brought you to love Daigo and to pick him up as a muse? Did you love him right away or did it take you a while to warm up to him? What's are the things that irks / makes you a bit uncomfortable about what the fandom does for Daigo and his character as a general? What's something you do differently than everyone else? Do you think Daigo is a decent chairman? What's your favorite dynamics for Daigo (and this can apply to both rping and the games) and your least favorite? Thoughts on Sera or Kashiwagi being the real father to Daigo or do you think Sohei is the real father? Annnnnnnd your thoughts on Kiryu's relationship with Daigo as well as any thoughts on what we missed out on Haruka and Daigo's potential sibling relationship? 

ooc.

Hey, duckie ! Thank you for this ! It’s super cute. I’ll divide the questions as I go to make sure I don’t miss any of them.

01. what brought me to Daigo / did I love him right away The thing that has always drawn me to Daigo is how human he feels. We see him from the time he’s a child to his mid - forties. As an audience, we’re given a glimpse of his highest of highs and his lowest of lows. That always really resonated with me. I did indeed love him right away.

02. things that irk me about how the fandom characterizes Daigo I could write an essay on this. I hate what the fandom does to Daigo. They like to call him a weak or helpless Chairman while ignoring that we only see glimpses of his tenure ; if there weren’t difficulties with the Tojo, there would be no game ; and that other equally as large yakuza organizations have canon problems with civil wars / ambitious power grabs as well. I don’t think Daigo was the right fit for Chairman, but I hate this fandom’s perception that he was useless. If you trace the Clan’s history back well before Daigo, it was already crumbling. What he got handed was barely holding together  ―  really, it’s a marvel that Daigo kept it going as long as he was able to.  Also, I really despise the ‘ Daigo constantly summons Kiryu to fix his problems ’ perception when Daigo regularly goes out of his way to NOT include Kiryu in his schemes. A crucial part of Yakuza 3’s plot is that Daigo is protecting the land that Morning Glory is on ; the last thing he wants is for Kiryu to get involved. 

03. what’s something I do differently than everyone else Hm. I suppose the glaring detail between my Daigo and others is how I highlight his struggles with alcohol ( being addicted to it ) and later his sobriety. Why it got as bad as it did, what it meant to him when he was addicted, the journey to becoming sober, his life - long healing from that, etc. I’ve never liked when characters who obviously deal with alcoholism are made magically better ; I would rather take a realistic approach to Daigo’s struggles with his addiction and talk about how hard trying to cope with that was for him.

04. do I think Daigo is a decent Chairman Yes and no. Like I said earlier, I do give him a lot more credit than the fandom does, but I don’t pretend he was perfect. I firmly believe that Daigo should have never been Chairman ; he would have made a much better patriarch with a similar role as Majima : doing what he thought was best for his men and ignoring politics altogether. That being said, I think Daigo did the best he could with his role as Chairman. I hate to pass absolute judgment on him one way or the other due to the complications of the time he held office, but I do think Daigo was handed a hellish hand and pulled out an alright win by the end in spite of it. A wise man would have taken one look at the Clan in his first days and ran away from it. Daigo was stubborn and dedicated enough to stay. ( and, hey, the Clan became huge under him, so he must have done something right there ! )

05. my favorite & least favorite dynamics for Daigo My favorite dynamic by far is Jima³. It helps that Saejima is tied with Daigo for my favorite RGG character. I love that messy found family that’s trying to get by and how they lean on each other for support. In terms of least favorite dynamics, I don’t have much to say. There are certainly fandom ships with him that I’m not fond of, but I believe everyone is entitled to whatever makes them happy.

06. my thoughts on who Daigo’s father is ( Sera, Kashiwagi, or Sohei ) Daigo is Sohei’s child without a doubt as far as I’m concerned. While Daigo certainly takes after Yayoi more, there are a number of similarities between Sohei and Daigo’s features that aren’t present with Sera or Kashiwagi. ( Plus, I’m of the belief that Yayoi was too faithful to Sohei to ever stray. ) Daigo inherited his high cheek bones, nose, and forehead height from Yayoi, but he has Sohei’s eye shape, hair line, mouth, and jaw line / chin shape.

07. my thoughts on Daigo and Kiryu’s relationship I know this puts me in a small percentage of the fandom, but I don’t like it. I think the fandom has a tendency to romanticize this relationship and forget how toxic it was. It’s almost as if Kiryu’s letter to Daigo at the end of Yakuza 6 erased all memory of Kiryu’s wrongdoings toward Daigo. I frankly don’t buy that single sorry fixing everything, particularly when Daigo learns the truth in Yakuza 7. Kiryu constantly is leaving Daigo behind, and we see in Yakuza 2 how much that affects Daigo. He really does see Kiryu as a close parental figure and therefore being shoved to the side hurts him. Yet, he’s willing to do whatever he can to win Kiryu’s favor and becomes Chairman for him  ―  as evidenced when he says in the Yakuza 4 finale that he was trying to lead the Clan for Kiryu at the beginning of his time in office but eventually came to see being Chairman as a way to serve his men instead. I think that at its core the relationship between Kiryu and Daigo is well - intentioned but extremely unhealthy. It’s a constant cycle of Kiryu leaving Daigo or not knowing how to respond to him while Daigo is obviously vying for and missing Kiryu’s attention. Kiryu telling Daigo he was proud of him in person or even giving Daigo a damn hug would have gone a long way toward breaking that, but we’re never shown anything similar.

08. my thoughts on missed potential with Haruka and Daigo’s relationship GIVE ME MORE HARUKA AND DAIGO AS SIBLINGS. I live for that content. I also think that Daigo and Haruka could have helped each other cope with their relationships with Kiryu, as well. There’s a lot of similarities there regarding burdens too big for them being placed on their shoulders ( putting pressure on Haruka to be the ‘ mother ’ / responsible for all of the other kids at Morning Glory when she was barely a child herself was beyond shitty of Kiryu, I won’t be told otherwise ) and feeling abandoned when the Dragon abruptly leaves. I wish we were shown more on - screen time of Haruka and Daigo being allowed to bond. I can only take comfort in believing that after Yakuza 7 they were able to reach out to one another and talk about what they all went through.

@digitalmadness​ said: “❝Ah, what brings you to the late hours of the night?❞ The question hummed from Kazan's lips. His fingers tapped lightly against the wooden surface of the counter.

( hi, hi!! I haven't forgotten to send an ask your way but have one of my new OCs. If you need more info on him, I'll be happy to provide such things!!)”

Simon smiles at the man who greets him as he enters, the little bell on the door making a tinging noise.  He does like it when people pay attention to him when he goes out, and a surefire way to make sure that you keep his business is to make him feel like he has a place there.  Lost in a faceless crowd… that more so belongs to the Lonely or the Stranger, though he did toy with the idea himself for a while, the sort of insignificance that it brings about, all of the people rushing past, none of them caring that you need help.

While he likes to inflict such feelings on other people, he hates to have the same treatment turned around on him, so to be greeted in such a warm way is good.

“You see, I don’t get much sleep these days,” he starts explaining, shaking his head as he approaches the counter.  It might be a grim statement coming from somebody else—what is it that is causing them to lose sleep?  Nightmares?  Stress?  But the way that Simon says it is very tongue-in-cheek, a joke, one of those if-you-know-then-you-know sorts of things.  “I like to go wandering at night as a result sometimes.  There is a lot in the world that the nine-to-fivers don’t get to see, having to be up so early in the morning.”

There are also things to be seen in the early mornings, like glorious sunrises, and thankfully, Simon gets to see it all, since he never needs to bother with sleep.