jo sawashiro is far from the most interesting yakuza character out there, but the way they’ve managed to expand on his role in infinite wealth has bewitched me body and soul. a lot of things in yakuza are, but sawashiro is genre-breaking to the next level. this shit belongs in asoiaf/game of thrones. sawashiro and arakawa, more like davos and stannis, anyone? sawashiro as the loyal knight falling on his sword to fulfill his lord and master’s dreams? except the universe won’t ever let this knight redeem his honor because of abandoning his son, all those long years ago? in karmic retribution, without even knowing, masato exploits him and spends his whole life treating sawashiro like a lackey and a fool. and sawashiro accepts this as penance. one of masato’s final acts in this world is framing his father for murder and leading to sawashiro’s arrest, which he also accepts. despite everything, sawashiro still loves him, the son he once sacrified.
masato truly haunts the narrative of infinite wealth for ichiban (i.e. eiji’s caricature and redemption), but also for sawashiro. once he’s freed from his life sentence, sawashiro is still imprisoned by ebinu’s schemes—in attempting to fulfill arakawa’s dreams, sawashiro instead manages to facilitate the reanimation of the bloated corpse of his son, as ebinu transforms the seiryu clan into bleach japan. sawashiro knows he can never atone for his sins, but why won’t the universe leave masato’s memory in peace, either? then, in what could’ve been sawashiro’s final moments, after ebinu’s beating, we see that he’s been propped up in a wheelchair.
congratulations sawashiro you ARE the father. and the bearer of the curse
