The reason I like Judgment more than the other Yakuza games I’ve played is because of how, quite frankly, stellar the cast is.
in case you couldn’t tell by me screaming about my love for sugiura every 10 seconds
[Judgment spoilers incoming]
But the thing about Judgment’s cast is that no one could accomplish what they wanted by themselves.
Yagami could not have solved the case by himself. He was ready to write Hashiki’s murder off as just a drunken brawl. His inability to move on from the past blinded him against the truth about Okubo.
Sugiura was fueled only by hatred and fear. Hatred against the world, and hatred against Yagami. Fear of a world without Emi. This led to his obsession over Yagami and Okubo. But it was thanks to this obsession that the truth behind Emi’s murder came out. Yagami’s bias against Okubo (and frankly, how self-absorbed he was) made him unwilling to make that connection.
Kaito, dear Kaito. His reckless impulsiveness is driven solely by a fierce loyalty to his friends. He gives no thought to sacrificing himself for the sake of others, offering himself multiple times as a distraction so the others to do their work. Our resident himbo can barely articulate a coherent thought, but when he does? Holy shit.
His knowledge and familiarity of the the Matusgane family and Kamurocho’s shady side has brought to light some crucial realizations in the case. Kaito was the only one who made the connection that Hashiki was killed by a highly trained assassin. Kaito was the one who figured that the Matsugane family must still be in contact with Hamura, and it was his idea to bug the Matsugane office in order to track down Hamura’s location.
Even Higashi. God knows why this poor baby even became a yakuza in the first place. He’s way in over his head, constantly battling this dichotomy between being forcing himself to be a proper yakuza, and his moral compass trying to tell him otherwise. But it’s this exact dichotomy that gives Yagami the help he needs-- having that direct in with the Matsugane family when all other avenues are closed.
And it’s not just the protagonists that needed to rely on others to achieve their goals.
Shono, Kido, Ichinose, Hamura, Morita, and of course, Kuroiwa. If any of them flipped, the entire house of cards that is the AD-9 mess would collapse. AD-9′s success hinges on the contingency that these men will always work and cooperate together.
Even the characters in the middle, like Izumida. Yeah, he was kind of an antagonizing ass (although Yagami definitely went out of his way to push Izumida’s buttons at times), but his loyalty to the law ultimately won out, and was critical to giving Yagami the win he needed in court.
Judgment’s cast is just so good to me because in order for the story progress at all, everyone has to pool their strengths together to compensate for each other’s weaknesses. There really is no singular protagonist, and no singular antagonist. Either by force or by chance, people have to work together in order to achieve their goals. The characters just really compliment each other so well.
