In the game Yakuza: Dead Souls (© Sega), the zombie virus instills its victims with feelings of pure euphoria. This makes the zombies’ quest to infect others an almost altruistic one, as making someone undead also guarantees them perfect happiness. This dramatizes the main thematic conflict of the series: the problem of wanting to die. In Dead Souls, the prospect of death is more alluring than anywhere else in the series. Yet protagonist Kiryu Kazuma resists it. The ersatz relief offered by zombification – or by suicide, or self-sacrifice – is worth resisting because despite the bleak picture painted by terrible events or a suicidal worldview, no one is beyond redemption or hope of recovery. The game is non-canon; “dead souls” are possible only in a crazy world where zombies exist, a world not our own. Every moment you resist the urge to give up, your soul is alive and there is hope. In this essay I will
