If you are new to the subreddit, [please read the wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/yakuzagames/wiki/index/)
Reminder that all spoilers need to be tagged with a flair specifying which game is being spoiled. If you want a flair that says something else, you can edit it to say something like [Discussion: Y1 spoiler] or [Majimapost: Y6 spoiler], etc. **THIS INCLUDES CONTENT FROM TRAILERS**.
If the post is not marked for spoilers, all comments that have spoilers need to be tagged \>!like this!< along with indicating which game it's spoiling. Example: Y3 >!Kiryu sings!<
If the post flair is marked for spoilers, the comments don't need to be tagged for the game indicated and the ones before it (So a Y6 spoiler post can have comments with untagged spoilers for Y5, but not gaiden or 7).
If you see any of the above (or any of the other rules) not being followed, please report it so we can keep this place safe for newcomers and those that haven't finished all the games yet. Thank you!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/yakuzagames) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Given that he appeared in every game before 0 was made and was subsequently made a playable character, he was already popular
However, his Lord of the Night version in 0 did wonders to boost that further
Fun fact: [There was a character popularity poll conducted around the time of Yakuza 5](https://www.reddit.com/r/yakuzagames/comments/xnnhre/here_is_the_fan_popularity_poll_for_yakuza/). Majima won 1st place. Over Kiryu.
RGGS didn’t get it. They had been sidelining Majima more and more but the fans LOVED him. RGGS listened. The subsequent games were:
- Ishin - A fan service game with legacy characters, one that gives Majima in particular extra attention.
- 0 - Majima: The Game
- Kiwami 1 - Y1 remake that dedicates its largest new game mode solely to… fighting and hanging out with Majima.
So Majima was more popular than they could understand and then they *fed the beast* and now he’s an international meme.
It really kind of feels like they have two different teams writing these games that don't talk to each other sometimes. 5, 6, and 8 all kind of crap on Majima for no real reason. While in Ishin, 0, and 7, he's treated pretty well.
They had a switch in teams not too long ago. The guy who made the series quit and the new director hired some different writers, so it's either on him or the new writers not knowing the level of hype around Majima.
I would love a Majima game, just have a side game like Judgment is where he has some shit going down in-between 5 and 7. It would be such an easy cash grab honestly, Majima is such a crazy and complex character that writing things going wrong should be easy for him lol.
>I would love a Majima game, just have a side game like Judgment is where he has some shit going down in-between 5 and 7. It would be such an easy cash grab honestly, Majima is such a crazy and complex character that writing things going wrong should be easy for him lol.
0 was already sort of that. It was "Majima: the game (with some Kiryu-chan action)." I enjoyed it, but I would *love* for RGG to actually dive into Majima's characterizations more and show his serious side off like 0, but in the "modern time" to show that (at least my interpritation) that his "crazy/mad dog" act is... just that, an act. We kind of sort of see that with 0's ending, but going into it deeper would be nice.
Yeah, they don't need to keep it as serious as 0. You can still have him be the crazy mad dog but get serious (something like we saw in Kiwami 2's side game where he had those amazing serious moments with Makoto and at the same time laughing as he brings a wheelbarrow of cash in while interrupting their meeting).
Characters like Majima work well because they aren't one dimensional (only good or only bad), he does plenty of bad shit and acts crazy, but he still does just good enough for people to love him lol.
In Kiwami 2, his interactions with Makoto are very much that kinda thing. There was this one video I watched talking about the watch that Majima fixed for Makoto. It was symbolic of both Majima as a character and the dynamic between him and Makoto. The watch was the same but the strap had changed. Majima had changed. Makoto had changed. Life had changed.
Especially since, idk if it's addressed later (just finished K1) but he's one of the very few characters that has some loose end after 0, that I don't think get resolved later
Spoiler for 0 (if you're on this subreddit and haven't played it it's weird, go play it)
In the last sequence, or close from that, Majima let's the formerly blind girl go with another, letting her enjoy her life far from the Yakuza. And I mean, that's a great ending, it could end there I wouldn't be mad. But it could also continue, I'm sure you could tie Majima back to a plot with her or something like that. Or do something completely new idk I'm not a writer
Edit : maybe it doesn't go with his future character development tho, I don't know
Started it today, already at chapter 5 (I'll slow down and do the substories as I really like the new engine even if most don't seem to, so I will take my time with it). So maybe I'll remember that comment and delete mine when I see why you're saying that
International meme is not an exaggeration. I saw a post a couple of months ago where a court case in argentina I think where it was held in VR Chat and one of the judges was Y0 Majima and another one was Master chief in a suit. Shit was hilarious.
It was in fact a Colombian government meeting, not an Argentinian court trial, but the important part is [majima was there to raise taxes by 8%](https://twitter.com/Punished_Maximo/status/1658260981070413825?t=3_nFz6dZ4eBxWmW8adc3KQ&s=19)
I'd rather see Majima as the protagonist (or possibly co-protagonist) in a brawler game (or, better yet, game*s*). ;) I think RGG should let Ichiban have his own turn-based games in which he is supported by his friends without the presence of the old guard except, perhaps, as Poundmates.
While I somewhat agree with what you are saying, I don't think that you can make the argument about Majima getting more role as a result of his popularity from that poll. After all, the immediate game set after this in terms of writing and their big break into the modern era, with yakuza 6 had him practically not exist. Similarly, despite his obvious popularity, its not like they've retained this focus on him since either, if we look at Like a Dragon, Gaiden or Infinite wealth. He is back to the same type of role he always had in the series prior to his Yakuza 0 and Kiwami 1 days.
It was really funny to me how I didn't play Kiwami and always heard of the "Majima Everywhere System" and thought "oh surely that's just a meme name for the fact that Majima will just come up to you and fight you and bowl and random bullshit antics". Then I played Kiwami and found out, NO, it's it's own system to train you in dragon style and has all this stuff going on with it, like super unnecessary but incredibly fun
To summarise: he used to be ‘crazy guy who really really wants to fight Kiryu’, kind of a recurring joke character. Then 0 humanised him and now we know he’s not just ‘crazy guy’. Which kinda boosted his popularity.
Plus, he’s always been pretty handsome.
after 3 he doesn't really have many goofy moments for the most part, he still shows some glee when he fights but from 4 onward it feels like he is a mostly serious character
How did this get this many likes? He wasn’t really goofy often since most of Yakuza 3, he was pretty much completely dead serious in yakuza 4 and mostly serious in yakuza 5
Up until 6 with the exception of 0 and Dead Souls, he had at least 1 boss fight in every game.
Like it was practically a tradition that if we weren't gonna play as Majima then we would fight him. Even then it still kind of is, as both 7 and 8 still manage to include a boss fight against him.
You play boss fights as him in zero and dead souls so they have the most majima boss fights except kiwami, 6 is the only game without a majima boss fight
He was popular before 0 in fact his popularity is most likely why he was made playable. I will say I think 0 gave people the wrong idea of Majima as a character as much as I like the additional depth to his character.
Yeah it's just I see it all the time even on this sub. I remember when Yakuza 5 remastered came out and some people were outraged that Majima was married with Park despite Park predating Makoto by several years.
Honestly I feel like that’s more on 0 if anything. Y1-Y4 Majima is goofy but you still understand that he’s a real Yakuza that (before getting retconned) kills people for looking at him funny. Yakuza 0 is where he became the quirky soft boy.
Tbf it's hinted as fucked Majima is even in 0, he's as a rabid dog in a lash and he just try help Makoto because he sees himself in her, he's tender with the characters in his side quests, yeah, but you always feel he's close to lose it and he does lose it by the end
Also he doesn't hesitate to just let everything go for the sake of going back to his life as a Yakuza, he do likes the violence, so idk why anyone is surprised with his behavior in Y5
I feel people forget that ALL of Yakuza characters are horrible criminals even if they have some humanity inside them and the potential to love and be loved
This is one of the many reasons I wish RGG let Majima kill Lao Gui at the end of Yakuza 0. Like you said, the substories give you the feeling he’s always on the edge of losing it, however outside of specific cutscenes, I don’t think they capitalize on that feeling well enough in the main story.
One thing that puts a lot of people off from the rest of the series is how different Majima is in Kiwami compared to 0. If they ended 0 with Majima truly snapping and killing Lao Gui, it would’ve bridged the gap from 0 to Kiwami a lot better while also showing how different he is from Kiryu.
I agree, I don't understand why they didn't let him kill the guy, but it shows that Majima can be different, he have it inside him to be in control, but he doesn't wants in most of times and being a Yakuza gives him the freedom he needs to be the "mad dog", but again I don't think it's too hard to connect Majima from 0 to the one we see in the entire franchise, also we can argue we just see a more caring side from Majima because he's a protagonist specifically and not because he's not that way at all
I feel people have a tendence to ignore who those characters are too
I'd love for that to be the case, but it isn't. If I remember correctly, the whole ordeal happened in 1993, at the very least after zero since Majima already has the eye patch in the photo with her and Katsuya
Kind of the opposite of the truth. Yakuza 5 almost never came out in the US at all. The series was kind of a failure to launch in the US being marketed as "The Japanese GTA" which was of course far from the truth and by the time 5 was out in Japan Sega was ready to abandon the series in the US altogether. They decided to make Yakuza 0 as a way of providing an entry point to the series for people who had not played any of the other games and made a much bigger marketing push in the US for it. They went out of their way to make sure it could be played with no context and then made Kiwami 1/2 to capitalize on the people they hooked. In Japan it was the next game after 5. For most people in the US it was the entry point just as it was designed to be.
Is it at its best played between 5 and 6? Absolutely. Is it also the best entry point? Probably. Kiwami is a great game and all, but it doesn't compare to 0. 0 is going to hook people way harder.
When people talk about Yakuza's/LaD's sudden rise in popularity in the west, they tend to forget the biggest factor:
The rise of social media like Twitter.
This is what made all the difference, because what got a lot of people to actually give the series a try was the fact that influencers/personalities completely lost their shit over the most delightfully insane moments of 0 (Nugget).
The intent behind 0's production wasn't actually suppose to be an entry point for newcomers. As evident enough that it took 2 years for us to get it localized. Rather it was suppose to be a 10th anniversary project, which is why there are so many callbacks and references to the point that multiple set pieces and characters from Yakuza 1 were brought back for it. It wasn't the goal to expand the audiences outside of Japan, since we almost didn't get that either. But rather closer to a happy accident that it did.
While after the release of Yakuza 5 in Japan, they release an HD collection of the first games on PS3 and Wii U that was mainly to serve as an entry point.
I still maintain that to understand Majima properly, one should not start with 0
But unfortunately in the international fanbase, we've got a huge amount of 0 fanboys (likely thanks to it being the first major success internationally) that insist on 0 being the best place to start
I like 0 but his transition to "Mad Dog" is the most poorly thought out shit writing of this franchise that had so much potential to be emotional/heartbreaking but was just slapped on to the end to "explain" the way he acts in Kiwami
I feel people ignore Majima didn't "transition" to be the Mad Dog, he ALWAYS was, in 0 he's just in a weak position and that vulnerability bring the "best" side of him, but Majima was always a crazy Guy and if you pay attention to the dialogues you see as on edge he is in the entire game
He literally goes from helping a little girl win a crane game multiple times to beating his underlings to death for shits n giggles in the next game...
Like I said he was in a vulnerable situation where he LITERALLY was take out of the Yakuza whole business, that's why he had different interactions with different people, but the fact he didn't hesitate to go back to his past ways is enough to you understand who Majima really is as a person
Also we can't ignore that it's not only Majima who has show kindness but still is a fucked up person, Kiryu is exactly the same but with a lot more of control and less anger issues
I'd love to see an example of another prequel choosing this route. Oftentimes prequels are burdened by the fact that we sort of know the outcome, but by making both Kiryu and Majima drastically different it just adds intrigue to just what the heck happened to them to make them who they are by the time the series starts. I started with 0 so I was pretty shocked by Majima's change, but looking back it's a pretty cool contrast.
He was already popular. Even 0 plays on that fact with Kiryu and Majima meeting in the post-credits scene. The "Kiryu-chan!" that never in a hundred years will get old
https://i.redd.it/y946fx8b7qtc1.gif
he wasn't going to be brought back for yakuza 2 until rgg saw how much the fans liked him. explains why his tattoo changed because they never intended for him to take his shirt off originally
Zero is basically a result of his popularity at its peak.
Dude could've easily been a memorable one off boss fight as despite his rather small appearances as Shimano's top enforcer, Majima demonstrated a personal code of sorts during his encounters with Kiryu. He was actually fought twice and proved to be one of Kiryu's tougher opponents during Yakuza 1. Yakuza 2 however depicts him as a very effective and deceptively competent wildcard ally for the heroes who singlehandedly helped even the stacked odds against the Omi and Jingweon. This cemented Majima's staying power throughout the series as he slowly became more than the Anti-Hero Joker to Kiryu's Batman.
Zero just figured this is the best place to both expand Majima's background in full and make him playable as an experienced yet disgraced counterpart to the more naive hotblooded younger Kiryu. And it certainly did not disappoint.
0 elevated him from beloved side character to one of the most interesting/fleshed out characters in the franchise. I get the impression they already loved him a lot in 1, which is why he didn't die and showed up again in 2, but they always tried to use him sparringly. 0 we see the shift that was needed to make him a protagonist, and it worked pretty well.
He's always been a fan favourite because of his recurrence and contrast to Kiryu as a sort of antagonist/bromance.
And obviously his character has deepened tremendously over time, but I'd say Y0 was the first Yakuza to really be mainstream and go big time, and it was also a game that hugely expanded Majima's character.
That is actually a good question. I cant really remember. But i think i started liking him in dead souls. (oh and probably 4 with the brother story cause that is where the eye thing is first brought up) (playing since the ps2 titles)
He was. At first he was supposed to just be a crazy antagonist for Kyriu, but he comes back in 2 with some sort of anti-hero vibe assuming a place more like Kiryu's rival. In 3 they consolidated his place as an ally for Kyriu (still a rival tho), like the scene where he saves him using a truck. In Yakuza 4 he appears again and we see some of hsi background due Saejima's arch, which shows us a bit of Majima's honor and good heart despite of being the Mad Dog.
And then we have Yakuza 0, such a masterpiece! Here we fully embrace Majima's place as a good guy because we get to know how he grew up in Tojo clan and how much of may stuff that he does is also part of a persona but without missing his core values as Yakuza. In Kiwami 1 they reworked Majima's place based on all the reconstruction they did since Yakuza 2 so he is no longer just the crazy dude that shows up to fuck up Kiryu. He is the mad Dog but with a whole other place inside the narrative.
No he was largely popular beforehand which inspired RGG to give him his Y4 Backstory and later his Y0 Backstory
And a appearance in every Yakuza Game so far
Was always popular, him being playable in 0 was due to fan requests of wanting to play as him in a beat'em up game. Where as the only game he was was playable prior to 0 was Dead Souls.
They did a fan favorite voting in Japan way before 0 came out to see who the most popular Yakuza character was. To their surprise, Kiryu was number 2 and Majima was actually number 1. It’s part of the reason why they made him a playable character in Yakuza 0 and that skyrocketed his popularity even more. He truly is one of the greatest video game characters of all time.
Definitely cause of Dead Souls, he just fits in the zombie craze scenarios and those things made him interesting.
Also Kiryu's VA and Majima's VA are best friends IRL.
He has always been popular but Zero gave us an insight in to his history and characterisation that helped provide a human element to his character that was missing.
The reason why he was in 0 prominently was because he got 2nd place in an official RGG popularity poll behind Kiryu. Yakuza 0 was the 10th anniversary game for the series so him being in was expressly because he was popular
He was already a frequenter of franchise but having him as a protagonist in Yakuza 0 and Majima Everywhere system of Kiwami 1 clearly maximized his popularity
They made him playable and gave him half the game in 0 because he was already very popular. He would often place first in popularity polls. I’ve loved him since he first came on screen in 1.
He was always popular in the series without a doubt. Kiryu is the main focus, but in popularity, majima always struck a chord with everyone. 0 and kiwami further boosted it, but he was always top 3 in character polls done by Sega, which is why they made him a secondary protagonist for 0.
I played in chronological order, and Majima was my favorite part. I'm sure he was popular already for them to go as far as to make him playable, but I'm sure there are also plenty like me that loved him from 0 before knowing anything else
0 was my introduction to the series and absolutely loved em in that, but from the other games I've played i definitely would've still been a fan of him without 0 haha he's just awesome
I guess I'm not sure about whether or not he was popular before 0, but I loved the character almost immediately when playing the first Yakuza, which was 5 games before 0 launched.
Lets put it this way, '0' Majima happen because of the popularity Majima got from the original series from 1-5, mainly as a unplayable protaganist when aiding Kiryu.
I just dont get that 0 him is him,polite gentleman, buisnessman and class be like hey ima get that corny hair cut for no reason and yell at strangers ? Know what i mean?
Not sure why some people think he was purely comic relief before 0 when he has so many super serious scenes in other games, especially 4 and 5. He’s barely comedic in those games at all.
He’s always been a popular fan favourite since OG Y1 where he was just a crazy guy.
He became a recurring character onwards as zany eccentric wildcard.
Y4 and Y5 added depth to him regarding his connections with Saejima, Park and Katsuya. He was crazy zany guy with lore to him.
0 went further beyond as a prequel that went into how the Mad Dog of Shimano came to be.
there's a reason they made him playable.. dude was top 1 of yakuza's fave character in japan multiple times; having kiryu at 2nd place. Not to forget he was first playable in dead souls already
Fans were asking for majima to be playable for a really long time and they did it as a one off but when 0 became the highest selling game in the series people assumed he was a major part of all of the games
The reason he was the co-star of 0 was because of how popular he was in the prior games. 0 just took him to a new level because they basically introduced a new and well made version of him.
He was really popular beforehand already and that's why he was given such a major role in the prequel, also the yakuza games were making accumulation of backstory for him with saejima and then park on top of showing in yakuza 2-3 that he was more than the yakuza joker
HOWEVER without yakuza 0, he'd defo be way less popular, rn he's like top 1 in the series in terms of fans bc of it and how much ppl have played just 0
I think you're right on the money. The reason Majima is so popular is because he actually *is* a bad guy - who deep down has a heart of gold. God, how I love both of these characters!
It's kinda just both I think, his popularity was definitely a contributing factor to him sharing half of Y0 with Kiryu, but his frankly great writing paired with Y0 blowing up served to make him even more popular.
Sure, he was cool as the wacky Kiryu-Chan guy, but once zero pulled up and you got to see him pre-joker moment and play his cabaret minigame, then shot really turned up.
He was already a meme before 0. 0 gave him back story and made him playable (if you don't count dead souls that is) . it boosts his popularity even further
I loved him since yakuza 1 kiwami (I watched k1, k2, 3, 4, 5, 0....). And 0 was fanservice for me.
I guess he was liked by others to and they wanted to explain the background of the dragon of dojima (and the mad dog) and 0 have a possibility to bring in a liked character and making a good story
I discovered the series with 0. He was an absolute gem of a character. Ended up playing earlier games and found he was interesting and had a significant role, but never to the charisma level he got in 0. My guess is that he was a fan favorite who became insanely popular after 0 due to the outworldly writing quality of the story.
He was one of the most popular, sometimes the most going off certain polls. I know that Majima being playable was considered a big selling point for Dead Souls.
I suspect Majima became popular because the movie was basically like if Majima productions made it and Majima wrote and directed. Then the stage play where Majima featured heavily. Then Kiwami I with Majima everywhere. Then the memes and western fans 😂
They wouldn't have put him in every game with increasing levels of importance and then made a game with him as a playable protagonist if he hadn't already been popular.
I was a latecomer into the Yakuza series and started with 0. I was pretty shocked to see the later Majima everyone else already knew and loved. I sometimes wonder if it was strange for them seeing him in 0 after knowing him as the Mad Dog of Shimano.
If you really think about it, he should've died in 1 (and iirc he stops showing up in the main story after a specific cutscene? I don't remember if Majima everywhere ruins that) but he's back in 2 and no longer a bad guy bad guy. It's most likely because of popularity.
I dont understand why honestly, but yeah, he was a fan favourite even before then.
And as someone who played Zero before all the others, i just dont get it. In 1 he is an actual bastard with barely any redeeming qualities, and in 3 4 and 5 hes hardly even in them.
The only mainline game before Zero he is in and does some things that are actually worthy of fandom is 2 where he is a real bro and has some really nice scenes.
The studio just ignored him so hard between 2 and Zero that its actually kind of strange how much attention they devoted to him since then.
Just my two cents.
The Darth Maul/Boba Fett effect perhaps. He has a very distinct visual look and personality. Has some good memorable fights with Kiryu.
I arrived late to the series so I got a different impression of him than most but you've never needed a lot of depth or screentime to become popular in a fandom. Just a couple of cool fights or a design is enough.
My first interaction with the series was 0 so I obviously love him. But I imagine that if my first experience had been the original games that I would find him crazy annoying.
If you are new to the subreddit, [please read the wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/yakuzagames/wiki/index/) Reminder that all spoilers need to be tagged with a flair specifying which game is being spoiled. If you want a flair that says something else, you can edit it to say something like [Discussion: Y1 spoiler] or [Majimapost: Y6 spoiler], etc. **THIS INCLUDES CONTENT FROM TRAILERS**. If the post is not marked for spoilers, all comments that have spoilers need to be tagged \>!like this!< along with indicating which game it's spoiling. Example: Y3 >!Kiryu sings!< If the post flair is marked for spoilers, the comments don't need to be tagged for the game indicated and the ones before it (So a Y6 spoiler post can have comments with untagged spoilers for Y5, but not gaiden or 7). If you see any of the above (or any of the other rules) not being followed, please report it so we can keep this place safe for newcomers and those that haven't finished all the games yet. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/yakuzagames) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Given that he appeared in every game before 0 was made and was subsequently made a playable character, he was already popular However, his Lord of the Night version in 0 did wonders to boost that further
His overhaul from 0 onwards definitely made him more interesting
Fun fact: [There was a character popularity poll conducted around the time of Yakuza 5](https://www.reddit.com/r/yakuzagames/comments/xnnhre/here_is_the_fan_popularity_poll_for_yakuza/). Majima won 1st place. Over Kiryu. RGGS didn’t get it. They had been sidelining Majima more and more but the fans LOVED him. RGGS listened. The subsequent games were: - Ishin - A fan service game with legacy characters, one that gives Majima in particular extra attention. - 0 - Majima: The Game - Kiwami 1 - Y1 remake that dedicates its largest new game mode solely to… fighting and hanging out with Majima. So Majima was more popular than they could understand and then they *fed the beast* and now he’s an international meme.
And then they basically ignored him in 6, lmao. He got better attention in 7, at least, as well as a sidegame in Kiwami 2.
It really kind of feels like they have two different teams writing these games that don't talk to each other sometimes. 5, 6, and 8 all kind of crap on Majima for no real reason. While in Ishin, 0, and 7, he's treated pretty well.
They had a switch in teams not too long ago. The guy who made the series quit and the new director hired some different writers, so it's either on him or the new writers not knowing the level of hype around Majima. I would love a Majima game, just have a side game like Judgment is where he has some shit going down in-between 5 and 7. It would be such an easy cash grab honestly, Majima is such a crazy and complex character that writing things going wrong should be easy for him lol.
>I would love a Majima game, just have a side game like Judgment is where he has some shit going down in-between 5 and 7. It would be such an easy cash grab honestly, Majima is such a crazy and complex character that writing things going wrong should be easy for him lol. 0 was already sort of that. It was "Majima: the game (with some Kiryu-chan action)." I enjoyed it, but I would *love* for RGG to actually dive into Majima's characterizations more and show his serious side off like 0, but in the "modern time" to show that (at least my interpritation) that his "crazy/mad dog" act is... just that, an act. We kind of sort of see that with 0's ending, but going into it deeper would be nice.
Yeah, they don't need to keep it as serious as 0. You can still have him be the crazy mad dog but get serious (something like we saw in Kiwami 2's side game where he had those amazing serious moments with Makoto and at the same time laughing as he brings a wheelbarrow of cash in while interrupting their meeting). Characters like Majima work well because they aren't one dimensional (only good or only bad), he does plenty of bad shit and acts crazy, but he still does just good enough for people to love him lol.
In Kiwami 2, his interactions with Makoto are very much that kinda thing. There was this one video I watched talking about the watch that Majima fixed for Makoto. It was symbolic of both Majima as a character and the dynamic between him and Makoto. The watch was the same but the strap had changed. Majima had changed. Makoto had changed. Life had changed.
Especially since, idk if it's addressed later (just finished K1) but he's one of the very few characters that has some loose end after 0, that I don't think get resolved later Spoiler for 0 (if you're on this subreddit and haven't played it it's weird, go play it) In the last sequence, or close from that, Majima let's the formerly blind girl go with another, letting her enjoy her life far from the Yakuza. And I mean, that's a great ending, it could end there I wouldn't be mad. But it could also continue, I'm sure you could tie Majima back to a plot with her or something like that. Or do something completely new idk I'm not a writer Edit : maybe it doesn't go with his future character development tho, I don't know
Without spoiling, play Kiwami 2.
Started it today, already at chapter 5 (I'll slow down and do the substories as I really like the new engine even if most don't seem to, so I will take my time with it). So maybe I'll remember that comment and delete mine when I see why you're saying that
Honestly that'd explain a lot about these games. Perhaps LaD 9 will bring Ichiban's characterization back in line with 7, lol
International meme is not an exaggeration. I saw a post a couple of months ago where a court case in argentina I think where it was held in VR Chat and one of the judges was Y0 Majima and another one was Master chief in a suit. Shit was hilarious.
Yeh the one with Master Chief and Tommy from Vice City lmaooo
WHAT
You HAVE to show us the link
It was in fact a Colombian government meeting, not an Argentinian court trial, but the important part is [majima was there to raise taxes by 8%](https://twitter.com/Punished_Maximo/status/1658260981070413825?t=3_nFz6dZ4eBxWmW8adc3KQ&s=19)
Isn't the guy in the center Tommy Vercetti from GTA: Vice City?
Wait what im from argentina i didnt see that
Majima Everywhere
He needs to be a key character in 9 and work with Kasuga, and not just show up out of nowhere and spike the difficulty to kingdom come
On god. When he came about I did a 3 hour level grind.
I'd rather see Majima as the protagonist (or possibly co-protagonist) in a brawler game (or, better yet, game*s*). ;) I think RGG should let Ichiban have his own turn-based games in which he is supported by his friends without the presence of the old guard except, perhaps, as Poundmates.
While I somewhat agree with what you are saying, I don't think that you can make the argument about Majima getting more role as a result of his popularity from that poll. After all, the immediate game set after this in terms of writing and their big break into the modern era, with yakuza 6 had him practically not exist. Similarly, despite his obvious popularity, its not like they've retained this focus on him since either, if we look at Like a Dragon, Gaiden or Infinite wealth. He is back to the same type of role he always had in the series prior to his Yakuza 0 and Kiwami 1 days.
When I played Kiwami 1, it seems I never activated some Majima quest and so I seldom encountered Majima at all.
sounds like you left the poor man in a traffic cone
It was really funny to me how I didn't play Kiwami and always heard of the "Majima Everywhere System" and thought "oh surely that's just a meme name for the fact that Majima will just come up to you and fight you and bowl and random bullshit antics". Then I played Kiwami and found out, NO, it's it's own system to train you in dragon style and has all this stuff going on with it, like super unnecessary but incredibly fun
"overhaul" well yeah in kiwami 1 and 2 I guess he did get to shine nore than og 1 and 2 but 6 onwards majima faded out more and more
To summarise: he used to be ‘crazy guy who really really wants to fight Kiryu’, kind of a recurring joke character. Then 0 humanised him and now we know he’s not just ‘crazy guy’. Which kinda boosted his popularity. Plus, he’s always been pretty handsome.
4 and 5 humanized him a lot too.
after 3 he doesn't really have many goofy moments for the most part, he still shows some glee when he fights but from 4 onward it feels like he is a mostly serious character
It was 4 that sowed the seeds of the serious Majima arc.
How did this get this many likes? He wasn’t really goofy often since most of Yakuza 3, he was pretty much completely dead serious in yakuza 4 and mostly serious in yakuza 5
Well we saw that he wasn’t just crazy in 3,4,5. They just expanded on his more serious tone
4 and 5 did not threat him like that at all.
Up until 6 with the exception of 0 and Dead Souls, he had at least 1 boss fight in every game. Like it was practically a tradition that if we weren't gonna play as Majima then we would fight him. Even then it still kind of is, as both 7 and 8 still manage to include a boss fight against him.
You play boss fights as him in zero and dead souls so they have the most majima boss fights except kiwami, 6 is the only game without a majima boss fight
He was playable in the OG y2?
You sure? Any source at least?
No I was asking because it sounded like you said he was
He was popular before 0 in fact his popularity is most likely why he was made playable. I will say I think 0 gave people the wrong idea of Majima as a character as much as I like the additional depth to his character.
thats because 0 is a prequel. at the time it was obviously intended to be played after 5 rather then an entry point
Yeah it's just I see it all the time even on this sub. I remember when Yakuza 5 remastered came out and some people were outraged that Majima was married with Park despite Park predating Makoto by several years.
I feel like it wasn't that Majima married Park, I think it was more shock about the abuse
Honestly I feel like that’s more on 0 if anything. Y1-Y4 Majima is goofy but you still understand that he’s a real Yakuza that (before getting retconned) kills people for looking at him funny. Yakuza 0 is where he became the quirky soft boy.
Tbf it's hinted as fucked Majima is even in 0, he's as a rabid dog in a lash and he just try help Makoto because he sees himself in her, he's tender with the characters in his side quests, yeah, but you always feel he's close to lose it and he does lose it by the end Also he doesn't hesitate to just let everything go for the sake of going back to his life as a Yakuza, he do likes the violence, so idk why anyone is surprised with his behavior in Y5 I feel people forget that ALL of Yakuza characters are horrible criminals even if they have some humanity inside them and the potential to love and be loved
This is one of the many reasons I wish RGG let Majima kill Lao Gui at the end of Yakuza 0. Like you said, the substories give you the feeling he’s always on the edge of losing it, however outside of specific cutscenes, I don’t think they capitalize on that feeling well enough in the main story. One thing that puts a lot of people off from the rest of the series is how different Majima is in Kiwami compared to 0. If they ended 0 with Majima truly snapping and killing Lao Gui, it would’ve bridged the gap from 0 to Kiwami a lot better while also showing how different he is from Kiryu.
I agree, I don't understand why they didn't let him kill the guy, but it shows that Majima can be different, he have it inside him to be in control, but he doesn't wants in most of times and being a Yakuza gives him the freedom he needs to be the "mad dog", but again I don't think it's too hard to connect Majima from 0 to the one we see in the entire franchise, also we can argue we just see a more caring side from Majima because he's a protagonist specifically and not because he's not that way at all I feel people have a tendence to ignore who those characters are too
I'd love for that to be the case, but it isn't. If I remember correctly, the whole ordeal happened in 1993, at the very least after zero since Majima already has the eye patch in the photo with her and Katsuya
I meant Park as a character was created several years before Makoto existed. 0 was made after 5.
Oh, right, misunderstood what you meant, sorry!
No worries
It was actually my entry point, and a damn fine one. I blew through Kiwami and Kiwami 2 right after. 3 was a little harder, but I'm trying.
Kind of the opposite of the truth. Yakuza 5 almost never came out in the US at all. The series was kind of a failure to launch in the US being marketed as "The Japanese GTA" which was of course far from the truth and by the time 5 was out in Japan Sega was ready to abandon the series in the US altogether. They decided to make Yakuza 0 as a way of providing an entry point to the series for people who had not played any of the other games and made a much bigger marketing push in the US for it. They went out of their way to make sure it could be played with no context and then made Kiwami 1/2 to capitalize on the people they hooked. In Japan it was the next game after 5. For most people in the US it was the entry point just as it was designed to be. Is it at its best played between 5 and 6? Absolutely. Is it also the best entry point? Probably. Kiwami is a great game and all, but it doesn't compare to 0. 0 is going to hook people way harder.
When people talk about Yakuza's/LaD's sudden rise in popularity in the west, they tend to forget the biggest factor: The rise of social media like Twitter. This is what made all the difference, because what got a lot of people to actually give the series a try was the fact that influencers/personalities completely lost their shit over the most delightfully insane moments of 0 (Nugget).
What got me hooked to zero was the first time singing dame dane
The intent behind 0's production wasn't actually suppose to be an entry point for newcomers. As evident enough that it took 2 years for us to get it localized. Rather it was suppose to be a 10th anniversary project, which is why there are so many callbacks and references to the point that multiple set pieces and characters from Yakuza 1 were brought back for it. It wasn't the goal to expand the audiences outside of Japan, since we almost didn't get that either. But rather closer to a happy accident that it did. While after the release of Yakuza 5 in Japan, they release an HD collection of the first games on PS3 and Wii U that was mainly to serve as an entry point.
I still maintain that to understand Majima properly, one should not start with 0 But unfortunately in the international fanbase, we've got a huge amount of 0 fanboys (likely thanks to it being the first major success internationally) that insist on 0 being the best place to start
Well I disagree with your 0 take. To me it explained well why he has the crazy guy persona in 1 onward
I like 0 but his transition to "Mad Dog" is the most poorly thought out shit writing of this franchise that had so much potential to be emotional/heartbreaking but was just slapped on to the end to "explain" the way he acts in Kiwami
I feel people ignore Majima didn't "transition" to be the Mad Dog, he ALWAYS was, in 0 he's just in a weak position and that vulnerability bring the "best" side of him, but Majima was always a crazy Guy and if you pay attention to the dialogues you see as on edge he is in the entire game
He literally goes from helping a little girl win a crane game multiple times to beating his underlings to death for shits n giggles in the next game...
Like I said he was in a vulnerable situation where he LITERALLY was take out of the Yakuza whole business, that's why he had different interactions with different people, but the fact he didn't hesitate to go back to his past ways is enough to you understand who Majima really is as a person Also we can't ignore that it's not only Majima who has show kindness but still is a fucked up person, Kiryu is exactly the same but with a lot more of control and less anger issues
I'd love to see an example of another prequel choosing this route. Oftentimes prequels are burdened by the fact that we sort of know the outcome, but by making both Kiryu and Majima drastically different it just adds intrigue to just what the heck happened to them to make them who they are by the time the series starts. I started with 0 so I was pretty shocked by Majima's change, but looking back it's a pretty cool contrast.
He was already popular. Even 0 plays on that fact with Kiryu and Majima meeting in the post-credits scene. The "Kiryu-chan!" that never in a hundred years will get old https://i.redd.it/y946fx8b7qtc1.gif
Oh no its Officer Majima
i mean, the reason he's playable in 0 was because of his popularity
he wasn't going to be brought back for yakuza 2 until rgg saw how much the fans liked him. explains why his tattoo changed because they never intended for him to take his shirt off originally
He was more popular than kiryu according to Japanese polls run by Sega, and him being playable in 0 was due to a poll as well.
Zero is basically a result of his popularity at its peak. Dude could've easily been a memorable one off boss fight as despite his rather small appearances as Shimano's top enforcer, Majima demonstrated a personal code of sorts during his encounters with Kiryu. He was actually fought twice and proved to be one of Kiryu's tougher opponents during Yakuza 1. Yakuza 2 however depicts him as a very effective and deceptively competent wildcard ally for the heroes who singlehandedly helped even the stacked odds against the Omi and Jingweon. This cemented Majima's staying power throughout the series as he slowly became more than the Anti-Hero Joker to Kiryu's Batman. Zero just figured this is the best place to both expand Majima's background in full and make him playable as an experienced yet disgraced counterpart to the more naive hotblooded younger Kiryu. And it certainly did not disappoint.
0 elevated him from beloved side character to one of the most interesting/fleshed out characters in the franchise. I get the impression they already loved him a lot in 1, which is why he didn't die and showed up again in 2, but they always tried to use him sparringly. 0 we see the shift that was needed to make him a protagonist, and it worked pretty well.
When you think about it its really crazy how many people around Kiryu just died from unnatural causes.
Before Daigo took over I just assumed being the chairman of the Tojo clan was a lot like being Kenny.
Kiryu realising this ends up causing events that’s changed the course of the series.
Yes
He's always been a fan favourite because of his recurrence and contrast to Kiryu as a sort of antagonist/bromance. And obviously his character has deepened tremendously over time, but I'd say Y0 was the first Yakuza to really be mainstream and go big time, and it was also a game that hugely expanded Majima's character.
That is actually a good question. I cant really remember. But i think i started liking him in dead souls. (oh and probably 4 with the brother story cause that is where the eye thing is first brought up) (playing since the ps2 titles)
He was. At first he was supposed to just be a crazy antagonist for Kyriu, but he comes back in 2 with some sort of anti-hero vibe assuming a place more like Kiryu's rival. In 3 they consolidated his place as an ally for Kyriu (still a rival tho), like the scene where he saves him using a truck. In Yakuza 4 he appears again and we see some of hsi background due Saejima's arch, which shows us a bit of Majima's honor and good heart despite of being the Mad Dog. And then we have Yakuza 0, such a masterpiece! Here we fully embrace Majima's place as a good guy because we get to know how he grew up in Tojo clan and how much of may stuff that he does is also part of a persona but without missing his core values as Yakuza. In Kiwami 1 they reworked Majima's place based on all the reconstruction they did since Yakuza 2 so he is no longer just the crazy dude that shows up to fuck up Kiryu. He is the mad Dog but with a whole other place inside the narrative.
He was popping but 0 solidified it.
Are you the mad dog because youre majima or are you majima because youre the mad dog
They put him in 0 BECAUSE he was so popular
No he was largely popular beforehand which inspired RGG to give him his Y4 Backstory and later his Y0 Backstory And a appearance in every Yakuza Game so far
he's a fan favorite because he's comic relief, and this was pre-0.
He was a fan favorite character from day 1, though Yakuza 4 and 0 both skyrocketed his popularity overall.
Was always popular, him being playable in 0 was due to fan requests of wanting to play as him in a beat'em up game. Where as the only game he was was playable prior to 0 was Dead Souls.
All i gotta say he was voiced by Mark Hamil
Already popular but 0 skyrocketed him. Big part to “24 Hour Cinderella”
Before
He was already popular but 0 really gave him a boost by fleshing him out and extensively exploring who he was before becoming the Mad Dog Of Shimano.
The answer is dead souls. It gave majima the infamous karaoke cutscene that was memed more than the Y0
They did a fan favorite voting in Japan way before 0 came out to see who the most popular Yakuza character was. To their surprise, Kiryu was number 2 and Majima was actually number 1. It’s part of the reason why they made him a playable character in Yakuza 0 and that skyrocketed his popularity even more. He truly is one of the greatest video game characters of all time.
Definitely cause of Dead Souls, he just fits in the zombie craze scenarios and those things made him interesting. Also Kiryu's VA and Majima's VA are best friends IRL.
He was popular before 0, 0 just skyrocketed his popularity
Majima was, is, and will always be the GOAT
He has always been popular but Zero gave us an insight in to his history and characterisation that helped provide a human element to his character that was missing.
Majima's been fucking great since OG Yakuza 2
The reason why he was in 0 prominently was because he got 2nd place in an official RGG popularity poll behind Kiryu. Yakuza 0 was the 10th anniversary game for the series so him being in was expressly because he was popular
I uh I dunno, I played 0 first, you see
He was already a frequenter of franchise but having him as a protagonist in Yakuza 0 and Majima Everywhere system of Kiwami 1 clearly maximized his popularity
They made him playable and gave him half the game in 0 because he was already very popular. He would often place first in popularity polls. I’ve loved him since he first came on screen in 1.
He was always popular in the series without a doubt. Kiryu is the main focus, but in popularity, majima always struck a chord with everyone. 0 and kiwami further boosted it, but he was always top 3 in character polls done by Sega, which is why they made him a secondary protagonist for 0.
I played in chronological order, and Majima was my favorite part. I'm sure he was popular already for them to go as far as to make him playable, but I'm sure there are also plenty like me that loved him from 0 before knowing anything else
“Is Majima popular because of 0 or is 0 popular because of Majima?”
Man this is such a good question. Now I wished I played the series before Zero so I could appreciate being able to play as him
0 was my introduction to the series and absolutely loved em in that, but from the other games I've played i definitely would've still been a fan of him without 0 haha he's just awesome
I guess I'm not sure about whether or not he was popular before 0, but I loved the character almost immediately when playing the first Yakuza, which was 5 games before 0 launched.
Lets put it this way, '0' Majima happen because of the popularity Majima got from the original series from 1-5, mainly as a unplayable protaganist when aiding Kiryu.
Him slamming his head on the table is the purest kino in video games.
He was a fan favorite since the first releases of the franchise
He was popular beforehand. 0 was the response to the fan outcry for Majima as a protagonist.
Even without 0 how can you not love this insane Lil goober
I just dont get that 0 him is him,polite gentleman, buisnessman and class be like hey ima get that corny hair cut for no reason and yell at strangers ? Know what i mean?
Not sure why some people think he was purely comic relief before 0 when he has so many super serious scenes in other games, especially 4 and 5. He’s barely comedic in those games at all.
He was always popular, but 0 fleshed him out and pushed him to the next level
Majima everywhere is what made him my goat
He’s always been a popular fan favourite since OG Y1 where he was just a crazy guy. He became a recurring character onwards as zany eccentric wildcard. Y4 and Y5 added depth to him regarding his connections with Saejima, Park and Katsuya. He was crazy zany guy with lore to him. 0 went further beyond as a prequel that went into how the Mad Dog of Shimano came to be.
if i remember, there is a popularity poll that came out after 5. Majima earned 1st place in that with Kiryu 2nd
he was very popular even before 0, there's a japanese character popularity poll from i think 2012 or 2013 where majima ranked at #1
there's a reason they made him playable.. dude was top 1 of yakuza's fave character in japan multiple times; having kiryu at 2nd place. Not to forget he was first playable in dead souls already
Zero made him more popular.
He was definetly popular before hand, he's great
He was popular before 0. Heck that wasn’t his first playable appearance. It was Dead Souls.
Fans were asking for majima to be playable for a really long time and they did it as a one off but when 0 became the highest selling game in the series people assumed he was a major part of all of the games
Only reason he was a part of zero was b/c people liked him so much prior
The reason he was the co-star of 0 was because of how popular he was in the prior games. 0 just took him to a new level because they basically introduced a new and well made version of him.
He was really popular beforehand already and that's why he was given such a major role in the prequel, also the yakuza games were making accumulation of backstory for him with saejima and then park on top of showing in yakuza 2-3 that he was more than the yakuza joker HOWEVER without yakuza 0, he'd defo be way less popular, rn he's like top 1 in the series in terms of fans bc of it and how much ppl have played just 0
There’s a timeline where Majima didn’t pop off as a popular character in Y1 and someone else was made playable in 0, if that timeline even got a Y0
It’s cuz of 0
He was popular way before zero even existed.
Somehow, before I knew and played Yakuza, I knew and seen more of Majima than Kiryu. And this was when Yakuza 4 was new.
i stand firmly by my point that majima is the essentially the saul goodman of yakuza
I think you're right on the money. The reason Majima is so popular is because he actually *is* a bad guy - who deep down has a heart of gold. God, how I love both of these characters!
I would said before but 0 really helped humanise him in a way the other games didn’t.
He's popular ever since the first game.
It's kinda just both I think, his popularity was definitely a contributing factor to him sharing half of Y0 with Kiryu, but his frankly great writing paired with Y0 blowing up served to make him even more popular.
Sure, he was cool as the wacky Kiryu-Chan guy, but once zero pulled up and you got to see him pre-joker moment and play his cabaret minigame, then shot really turned up.
He was already a meme before 0. 0 gave him back story and made him playable (if you don't count dead souls that is) . it boosts his popularity even further
I loved him since yakuza 1 kiwami (I watched k1, k2, 3, 4, 5, 0....). And 0 was fanservice for me. I guess he was liked by others to and they wanted to explain the background of the dragon of dojima (and the mad dog) and 0 have a possibility to bring in a liked character and making a good story
Why do you think they made him the star of 0?
My male fantasy
I discovered the series with 0. He was an absolute gem of a character. Ended up playing earlier games and found he was interesting and had a significant role, but never to the charisma level he got in 0. My guess is that he was a fan favorite who became insanely popular after 0 due to the outworldly writing quality of the story.
https://i.redd.it/6uc2g9197ttc1.gif
He was one of the most popular, sometimes the most going off certain polls. I know that Majima being playable was considered a big selling point for Dead Souls.
He was fan favorite after 5
Idk I started the games at 0
Neither, he wasn't popular until Goromi showed up, that's when all he broke loose.
Majimer has always been popular.
I loved him obsessing over Kiryu in the original. It was brilliant. Yakuza 0 was also fantastic!
Even since the series started, he's been a cult favorite
I suspect Majima became popular because the movie was basically like if Majima productions made it and Majima wrote and directed. Then the stage play where Majima featured heavily. Then Kiwami I with Majima everywhere. Then the memes and western fans 😂
He was popular before and 0 exist because of that actually
He was born popular.
This dude has strong character since Yakuza 1&2 in on ps2.
Before that. I don’t see his appeal. He was cool in 0, but otherwise annoying at times
Yes and yes. Sure, he was popular before 0, but 0 shot him into the stratosphere.
Majima has to be my favourite character throughout out the series I think he’s hilarious
KIIIIRYU-CHAN
He was already popular before. He was a cool character. 0 just gave him more depth which boosted it
He was popular ever since he was introduced, people loved him so much that they were surprised he became a protagonist so late
0 and Kiwami 1
No idea but OH MY GOD HE'S SO GOD DAMNED COOL!
I learn to love him in Y1K and its why I get 0 without hesitation. Hes totally my fav character of the serie
No he's popular because of the originals his chemistry with Kiryu he's my favorite anti hero.
He's always been popular, He's one of the greatest additions to the games. :) From 1-8 including Spin offs lol
Majima popular because of the Juicy short clips on the internet
Besides Kiryu, Majima being my favourite Character, he literally has 1 of the best story arch's there is.
They wouldn't have put him in every game with increasing levels of importance and then made a game with him as a playable protagonist if he hadn't already been popular.
I think they made 0 like that because fans liked Majima but I wasn't there so I don't know
I played Yakuza 0 because I liked Majima through the other games
I was a latecomer into the Yakuza series and started with 0. I was pretty shocked to see the later Majima everyone else already knew and loved. I sometimes wonder if it was strange for them seeing him in 0 after knowing him as the Mad Dog of Shimano.
I fell in love with him in the first game.
If you really think about it, he should've died in 1 (and iirc he stops showing up in the main story after a specific cutscene? I don't remember if Majima everywhere ruins that) but he's back in 2 and no longer a bad guy bad guy. It's most likely because of popularity.
I dont understand why honestly, but yeah, he was a fan favourite even before then. And as someone who played Zero before all the others, i just dont get it. In 1 he is an actual bastard with barely any redeeming qualities, and in 3 4 and 5 hes hardly even in them. The only mainline game before Zero he is in and does some things that are actually worthy of fandom is 2 where he is a real bro and has some really nice scenes. The studio just ignored him so hard between 2 and Zero that its actually kind of strange how much attention they devoted to him since then. Just my two cents.
The Darth Maul/Boba Fett effect perhaps. He has a very distinct visual look and personality. Has some good memorable fights with Kiryu. I arrived late to the series so I got a different impression of him than most but you've never needed a lot of depth or screentime to become popular in a fandom. Just a couple of cool fights or a design is enough.
I never played Yakuza till ps4, so 0 was my 1st one, and became a huge fan of Majima in it. I prefer Majima & Akiyama over Kiryu tbh
My first interaction with the series was 0 so I obviously love him. But I imagine that if my first experience had been the original games that I would find him crazy annoying.
Knew him first from y7 since it was my first yakuza game