Update: I am currently real unhappy with a number of shitty decisions RGG Studio is making right now but I have put way too much time and energy into the Tactics characters and story to just scrap it all now. To that end, I am currently brainstorming ways in which I might file the serial numbers off this shit--and whether I want to keep writing it as a TRPG script, or just write a fuckin' Serious Crime Novel instead. Either way, the story is going to change. The character lineup is almost certainly going to change. Take everything below with a HUGE grain of salt.
"Beefgnaw, who the fuck are all these Yakuza OCs you keep posting about, what is this story you keep babbling about"
tl;dr: I played YK2, got to the Majima Construction part, thought "haha imagine being the safety guy for Majima Construction, would that be fucked up or what," made up a guy, and... stuff kinda went out of control from there and turned into "you know what, a Yakuza tactical RPG would slap and also I don't think I'm quite done with some of those OCs from The Bit." And thus King Cobra: Like a Dragon Tactics was born.
The most important bit: the main story script (in progress). Mostly set in 2005 concurrent with certain major events of Y1, begins in 2002, has roots in Y0 and The Bit. Substory and Cat Cafe Grand Prix/Chef League sideplot scripts will be released in the general vicinity of the main story chapters they pop up in.
There's also a series of assorted oneshots (including the aforementioned "Safety Man") set in the Tactics timeline plus the 2024 OC-Tober/Tojoctober series. WARNING: these may contain heinous spoilers and/or stuff that falls out of "canon" as the main story progresses.
Finally, here is a list of most of the OCs involved in this shit, which will be updated as the story gets hashed out.
Hiroshi Aoyagi (aka Sojiro Amano): the protagonist of RGG Tactics. A Majima Family man with a knack for turning restaurants into licenses to print money. General manager of Kiwami Cafe in Kamurocho and later Neko-Kai Cafe in Sotenbori. A little guy with a big mouth. Loyal to a fault and stubborn as shit. Nishida's oath brother. Later forced to be Majima Construction's chief of safety and compliance and he hates every second of it.
Eiji Yamaoka: A Nishikiyama Family hitman who presents himself as a protective big brother to Aoyagi, but neither Aoyagi nor the audience are fooled by his bullshit. Clean and methodical on the clock, charming and outgoing on his own time, rarely seen without at least one pretty girl on his arm.
Yusuke Kuroshi/Homare Nishitani II: Current patriarch of the Kijin Clan, retainer to the Omi Alliance chairman, chairman of the Sotenbori Civic Association's Board of Directors, and legendary info broker. By all appearances, the exact opposite of his predecessor. Cold, calculating, refined, sometimes cruel, always in control. Or... almost always.
Keiichi Sugihara (Kei-chan): Nishitani II's better half, Civic Association member, owner of a video game store with a slightly illegal console chop shop in the back room, tech hobbyist who believes in better ass-kicking through technology.
Nobuaki Chiba: Kijin Clan lieutenant. Very intimidating if you don't know him. Kind of intimidating if you do know him, but for the most part he's Just A Guy who likes beer and fried shit and sportsball and throwing some good old fashioned hands in the street. Aoyagi's first friend in Sotenbori.
Shigeo "Doc" Nakamura: A doctor working for the Sotenbori Civic Association. Nobody's a hundred percent sure he actually has a license to practice but he does good work and he doesn't ask uncomfortable questions. Took on a sketchy case back in '89 and it's about to come back to haunt him.
Shiori Hanada: A hostess at Club Sunshine who personally puts the fear of God into some asshole who's been snapping covert hostess foot pics under the tables and selling them on the street. She later goes to work at Cabaret Grand after Sunshine's current owner becomes too shitty a boss to stand.
Daikichi "b0ngl0rd69" Tomita: A friend(?) of Sugihara's who makes him look downright normal about games by comparison. Walks around Sotenbori with an honest to God gunblade. Is absolutely aware that the number in his handle has some... connotations in English.
Ikumi "Crystal Star Sapphire" Sakurai: A hostess at Jewel... and Kamurocho's own real live magical girl. She is an engineering major at Touto University who combines her technical knowhow with her prop-building skill to create ice-based weapons that are as dangerous (and possibly illegal) as they are pretty. (yes her name used to be Akemi. you didn't imagine that. there is kind of another important Akemi working as a hostess at Jewel during YK1 and I Forgor)
Minoru "Unlucky" Uchida: A string of poor life choices starting on the morning of his 42nd birthday have rendered him the unluckiest yakuza alive. Every single time his turn comes up, he will get hit by a random environmental hazard--and usually one with splash damage. His only real use in battle is to be sent into the middle of enemy formations like a laser-guided misfortune missile.
Stephanie Velucci: A professional MMA fighter from Arizona, temporarily living and fighting in Japan after an uncomfortably close call with a potential PR nightmare. She does not care for men in general but she seems to have especially personal beef with Aoyagi. (strangely, she befriends Yamaoka of all people in the postgame, which Aoyagi finds both bewildering and a little insulting)
Minako "Minadeath" Takai: The frontwoman of an all-girl death metal band. One of the few units who can deal non-elemental magic damage.
Ms. Yoshino: Sales rep for a pyramid scheme reputable company selling garbage water straight from the Sotenbori River delicious mineral-rich water in its most natural state. A support unit whose special ability involves her running out onto the battlefield and delivering her sales pitch to an enemy. If successful, the enemy will buy and chug a bottle of Heaven's Water on the spot. You get money and the enemy gets multiple stacked status ailments.
Shakedown Jr.: A pesky little pickpocket plaguing Sotenbori Street. The son of one of the original Messrs. Shakedown, though you wouldn't know it by looking at him. What he lacks in his old man's brute strength and physical stature he more than makes up for in fast feet and faster fingers. A support unit who occasionally dashes across the battlefield to relieve enemies of cash and items and one of the rare few supports whose ability works on bosses.
Officer Friendly: An Osaka PD officer with connections to the Sotenbori Civic Association. Usually found fishing under Bishamon Bridge when he's off duty.
Mighty Morita: A pro wrestler who wrestles a literal bear. He survives the match but we never hear whether he won or lost. Has a unique ability: he can pick other units up, friend and foe alike, and yeet them across the battlefield. Could be especially fun with Unlucky Uchida...
Cynthia-chan: the literal bear in question. Eventually she and Morita can learn a Tag Team attack. This takes a lot of work, trust, and fish.
Takeshi Yoshimura: Former Sagawa Family captain. Disappeared in the days following the death of his boss... along with every yen in the family vault.
Torahiko Kogawa: Cat cafe mogul and terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad person. The antagonist of the Cat Cafe Grand Prix sideplot.
Matsuo Ito: Former Murasaki Family lieutenant. Spent some time in jail after The Bit. Still mad about it.
Yashiro Noguchi: CEO of Millennium Holdings in Kyoto. Seems to have some shady connections.
Ryo Amon: Personal chef to the Amon Clan, challenges Aoyagi and his crew to a cooking battle at the end of the Chef League sideplot.
Gen Amon: Leader of a breakaway sect of the Amon Clan, takes issue with certain rules of engagement the Amon Clan adheres to. He and his team are the requisite RGG Secret Boss Battle. Yes, Aoyagi gets not one but TWO rounds of Amon Clan Bullshit to deal with in this game.
Miyuki: Mysteriously dumped at the animal shelter in the dead of night and subsequently entrusted to Aoyagi's care as his first cafe cat. Pure white with the prettiest deep blue eyes. Magnificently fluffy, amazingly sociable, and stone deaf. Like all the "special needs" cats, has super high stats but can't be adopted (the in-universe explanation is that the rescue org that supplies the cats requires more thorough vetting of prospective special needs cat parents before they'll approve the adoption).
Shio and Kosho: a bonded pair of gray tabby cats, classified as "special needs" cats because they have to be adopted together. They count as one cat for cast configuration purposes, effectively giving you a bonus 11th cat on the floor.
Nyan-han: A big battle-scarred orange cat with half a tail and a meow like he smokes two packs a day. Lost his fighting spirit along with his 'nads and shredded his feral card the second he woke up. Now enjoys sitting in laps, sleeping in sunbeams, and cuddling with people and other cats.
Nyamon: A huge stocky black cat with God tier stats, who mysteriously shows up at the cat cafe shortly after you beat Gen Amon's team. Classified as a "special needs" cat because he has to meet with an Animal Control parole officer every week (apparently he was involved in a raid on the "Jigoku Inu Clan," whatever that is?) and while he never shows the least bit of aggression towards Aoyagi or the cafe's patrons (other than hissing at you if you try to swap his aviator shades out for another accessory) it is strongly implied that even Jo Amon himself is terrified of this beast.
Ono Meowchio: A white cat with black socks wearing a certain mascot's trademark sweater, cute fish pouch, and hassaku orange cat hat (the kind with a nice comfy face hole cut out, don't worry). His meow SFX are absolutely 110% just Kuroda saying "nya" in Kiryu's voice. Nobody comments on this or acknowledges it in any way.
And just for funsies, some counterparts from the extremely early and vague concept of Tactics Ishin:
Shigehiro Aoyagi - once again our protagonist, except even more of a chaotic menace than he is in mainline. Got into the Shinsengumi First Division by being a stubborn little turd and annoying the shit out of Okita for months and months and months and months, currently serving as Shinsengumi head cook. Has been known to stab people for failing to vacate his kitchen when told to. Has a nervous breakdown over this Saito guy being given recruiting privileges and then immediately demonstrating why he should not be trusted with said privileges. Survives the Shinsengumi implosion by sheer dumb luck. Goes on to open a restaurant in Kyo with Nishida.
Heizo Yamaoka - Some Sonno Joui asshole that struts around Kyo with two revolvers. Doesn't really care much about what the Sonno Joui stand for other than it being an excuse for him to pick fights with foreigners. Would rather just collect his paycheck and drink/gamble/fuck it away. Yae kicks the shit out of him on at least two occasions and he kinda gets off on it. Better in a close fight than his counterpart, but still prefers to show off with his guns.
(Yamaoka's thing with Aoyagi is about a million times more gay in Ishin than it is in mainline and there is a non-zero chance that Ishin Aoyagi and Yamaoka engage in hate hanky-panky on screen. At the very least, there is a fight between them that ends up being half drift compatibility demonstration and half pharmaceutical grade Jackie Chan bullshit when they are surrounded by bad guys just as they're about to throw down with each other.)
The Shadow of Kyo - A legendary info broker, supposedly a mysterious man in black who's rarely seen in public. It turns out the "Shadow" is actually a couple--the man in black, and Just A Guy who just blends in with the average folks in Kyo.
Kuroshi. It doesn't help that his sense of humor is also very dry and deadpan.
The people closest to him--Kei-chan, and to an extent Aoyagi, Chiba, and Doc--are used to it. Everyone else kind of watches to see how Kei-chan reacts before they laugh or shit bricks or both.
Aoyagi: Generally doesn't yell as such unless he's super pissed but has had to make a "sorry for what I said when we were in the weeds" cake for a coworker or employee more than once.
Chiba: Prefers punching to yelling.
Sugihara: I think he's only ever seen yelling at b0ngl0rd.
Doc Nakamura: Doesn't yell.
Shiori: Rips the Footographer a new one right in the middle of the street in front of God and everyone, but generally has other ways besides yelling at you to make you feel bad about whatever stupid shit you did.
b0ngl0rd69: We see him yell at some weirdo cult running a kiddie game once. Other than that, he's pretty chill IRL but has had to commission Aoyagi for a "sorry for what I said on voice chat during Mario Kart/when we wiped on that raid" cake more than once.
Yamaoka: Tch. It's not his style. (he will absolutely lose his entire shit at Aoyagi before, during, and after their last fight in the finale)
Kuroshi: If he raises his voice, and especially if he happens to use "ore" instead of "watashi" when he does it... run.
you can’t call something a crackship if they have multiple scenes together and insane sexual tension. not even if only a few people ship them. that’s just a rarepair. the line must be drawn here.
people saying "write what you want to see in the world!" and that's always a good sentiment but this post isn't really about "oh no there's no content for my ship", more the feeling of "i looked up something that i thought was so obvious that surely plenty of more seasoned ao3 perverts would have thought of it already, but apparently i'm the weird one"
chat reminder to just write whatever the fuck you want. write that overused trope. write that obscure shit that no one will have heard of. just. do it. your writing is yours stop depriving it of that.
honestly in the era of AI slop it is more important than ever for you to write or draw that incredibly niche/strange/unpalatable thing you want to make. the world needs the unique weirdness of people more than ever
Hey babies, I had some sudden medical bills last month and I could use some help! 🥺
My commissions are always open if you're interested in getting one 💕 I will draw any character from any fandom!
More info and samples on my Carrd 👉 gazkerber.carrd.co/#commission
If commissions are not your thing I also have merch shops and my Patreon where you can get access to exclusive content! There's a Gold Chocobo and a Fat Chocobo slot available where you can regularly request full body sketches and short comics!
In the process of filing the serial numbers off Tactics I was beaten about the head and face with an absolutely hilarious name for Fictional Kabukicho: Kofukucho.
Why is it hilarious?
1) because this place that is just ate up with crime and miserable assholes is basically called Happy Town and
2) because although Aoyagi's cat cafe is not in Fake Kabukicho it is a major part of the story and. well. you know.
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This issue’s theme is [REDACTED]: For this ██████ issue, we ██████████ capitalism and ██████ sanitized for algorithmic ██████████████████ q████ and t████ ███████████ euphemisms that serve to █████████████ family-friendly ██████████████████ normative b█lls█t. Fuck that. Let your freak flags fly.
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Fuck censorship. Fuck AI. Fuck age verification. Fuck marketability. Fuck respectability. Join us. Make weird horny art. Share it with like-minded reprobates. Be free.
I still have no plans to play this game but let’s all give a round of applause to the mod community
Someone upload a modded LP to YouTube and I’ll watch it and give it eyeball minutes or likes or whatever is valuable to YouTube people.
(In b4 “the old Hamazaki actor was a creep too” because yeah, he sure was. The old Hamazaki was also a cartoon character design, not a face scan of anyone, and the actor isn’t making any money off of this)
rgg studio: no we hired a sex offender because his character is awful and disgusting and we wanted to be disgusted when we looked at his face so, actually, our casting choice is based as hell. Please Buy Our Game
