I don't use this account much anymore out of a desire to separate myself from fandoms and social media in general nowadays. But I've still lingered around enough to know what's happened with RGG and to have seen the discussions and protests surrounding it. And I came back here despite not wanting much to do with this place anymore because the more time passes, the more my anger is turning the blood running through my veins into lava. And this volcano has to erupt. I need that relief.
For anyone not aware (meaning you probably follow me and aren't part of the Yakuza fandom), Yakuza Kiwami 3 had several recasts. One of which was for the character of Hamazaki. For him, they brought in Teruyuki Kagawa. Kagawa has sexually assaulted two hostesses, only one of which he has even apologized to. This has led to a lot of the fans protesting and vowing to not buy the game unless Kagawa is removed. So far, RGG has only responded to this with attempts to block out the protests (removing comments) and thinly veiled annoyance (looking at Horii).
To that, I don't have much to add that hasn't already been said other than my own vow to not buy Kiwami 3 and hope that if Kagawa isn't removed (and I'm not optimistic), then at least people like Horii are in for a long and difficult ride of not knowing any peace on social media due to how they've turned their backs on the fans.
Here's the part that I want to say that I haven't seen be said all that much. Many fans are saying this all contradicts the messaging in these games and that this isn't being true to what they're about.
Really? Is that actually true?
I think there are two versions of the Yakuza games in this situation. The really progressive one that that fans want to exist and have convinced themselves does exist. And the one that is not without at least some good points on their depictions of marginalized groups but is overall deeply flawed in this regard. Especially when it comes to women.
The RGG I know had its first game open up with an attempted sexual assault where instead of lingering any time whatsoever on the victim, we instead focus on what this means for her two male friends. One of which killed the perpetrator, the other about to take the fall for him. Her and her feelings don't matter much outside of what they mean for those two men and the plot. The RGG I know has thrown in jokes about ugly women assaulting the main character. They've had a fat girl thrown in as a minor character just to make her whole thing being fat and unfashionable in contrast to the much more conventionally pretty, fashionable, and skinny Haruka. In the game prior to that one, they had a fat woman romantically interested in a character who was not lacking in shitty comments about her weight (one of which seemed to be implying she's too fat to be assaulted). She ended up starving the weight off due to stress. Their social media actually tweeted about that a few days ago. Called it a "diet". The RGG I know introduced a major female character in their second game as confident and capable only for her to fall apart and become dependent on Kiryu later in the game and get pushed to the side so Kiryu could have his fight to the death with her brother. As the series as a whole went on, their main female character was eventually sidelined and the very last thing Kiryu said to her before "dying" and disappearing from her life before only very recently reuniting with her after his cancer diagnosis emphasized her responsibility to be a good mom and wife. Because that's just what a woman ought to be. Mirei didn't get that when she (unlike Haruka) chose her idol career over having a family. The RGG I know has a trend of pairing their men up with women much younger than them. The worst of it being Majima hooking up with Mirei when she was still a teenager and he was in his late 20s. And can't forget what happened between Saejima and Haruka in 4. But he was fresh out of prison and hadn't been around a "woman" in a long time. He couldn't help it. According to this teenage girl's adoptive dad who saw the whole thing. The latter two things mentioned in this long list being things so egregious, that the fandom just kind of ignores them and at least in Saejima and Haruka's case, straight up pretends didn't happen. We got so good at pretending, we seem to have forgotten about it entirely since what is happening now is apparently really unlike RGG based off the content of the games.
That's the RGG we're seeing right now.
RGG is not good to women. It never has been. It clearly isn't now. And I don't know when it ever will be. They took baby steps in 7. Baby steps. That was it.
It could be difficult sitting through some of the stuff in these games as a woman. But I had hope they'd get better. But this is all getting to be too much. They need to remove this guy of course. But there is clearly an underlying problem.
I'm a SA victim myself. Aside from what happened in the incident that makes me say that I've also dealt with some really scary sexual harassment. I've been chased to my car. I've had a man lash out at me over not wanting to be with him. I've had men make disgusting sexual comments to me out of nowhere. I have firsthand experience with the severity of actions like what Kagawa did. I also have almost 30 years of experience as a woman (I'm almost an old hag in RGG woman years). And at times, it's so damn hard to be that and be a fan of these games and exist in this fandom (which is why I chose to not do the latter anymore). The cherry on top is I guess a lot of people don't even see the problem to the full extent that it exists and that this is not an isolated incident. Though it is definitely crossing a new line.
I've been ranting for a while to get all of my feelings out. I'm sorry if it's incoherent. But hopefully at least one person sees this and resonates with it.
