i'm glad you mentioned kiryu tends to push responsibility onto others, because as much as i adore the guy (2nd fave after majima of course) that flaw of his is the biggest. i always felt bad in y2/kiwami 2 when he's essentially pushing daigo to become chairman, despite knowing he's young and inexperienced and clearly going through something too. and then like you mentioned in the ask, y3 majima and him sort of pushing responsibility of looking after daigo onto majima, also makes it sound appealing but we end up seeing how miserable majima becomes cause of what happens in y3. kiryu just has a very big selfish streak, i love him but man, let your buddies live in peace for a bit
It’s selfishness for sure, but not a deliberate one, I think. Kiryu and Nishiki chose to join the yakuza as teens, under the naive impression that this would lead to an accomplished career. To orphans who’d never had much in life except each other, driving a fancy car and dressing in expensive suits equaled success and I totally get that. It’s only as things progress that they discover the flashiness is a facade behind which lies a lot of dirty business, violence and bloodshed...
Still, Kiryu keeps at it for a while, believing he can still stick to his principles even in spite of this environment, but the more he sticks to these principles, the narrower his view becomes. “Protect the ones close to me, do the right thing.” Problem is, the right thing is not always obvious. I think he comes to realize this first in Kiwami, where he reflects on his decision to take the fall for Nishiki by basically saying: “I should’ve let him assume responsibility.” By shouldering the burden instead, Kiryu only managed to increase his fame, hogging the spotlight, keeping Nishiki in his shadow, like he’s always, unknowingly, done.
So he has this realization and then in later games... keeps trying to “unburden” himself by putting others in charge, in essence doing the same thing. Because he doesn’t want to keep living in the shadow of the Tojo, he’s still forcing others to live in his shadow. He’s not giving them agency over their own fate, he’s merely pretending that this is their “duty”. As if Majima and Daigo were bound by different laws than him.
For Kiryu, the yakuza should have a full refund policy, such that, former chairman or not, he should be able walk away for good if he so chooses. But Daigo... Daigo is the heir, he has to lead the clan. And Majima is the most trusted and arguably strongest officer the Tojo has, he has to be there to support him.
This sounds like I’m assigning malice to Kiryu’s actions, but I think there’s just a dissonance in his head where he’s somehow convinced this is all for the best, for everyone. He cares about both Majima and Daigo and maybe even feels guilty for abandoning them, but that’s just all the more reason why he wants to steer them in the “right” direction. The road to hell is paved with good intentions I suppose...
I like Kiryu as a character, precisely because he’s a flawed person, but it’s also a bit frustrating to see how he doesn’t really learn from his mistakes. Instead, it seems all he learns is that only way to not be The Fourth Chairman anymore is by literally killing the Kazuma Kiryu name and all it represents... I still gotta finish Y6 but from what I’ve seen of people’s reactions to the ending, it’s not a particularly satisfying conclusion to his arc 😔
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