lostgubbins

[lostgubbins]

some further thoughts:

Majima gets where he is largely because of the dirt he has on Shimano at the end of 0 (that Shimano was planning to sell the empty lot to the Omi Alliance); this is probably also why Majima is allowed to basically do anything he wants, including helping Kiryu without repercussions. Shimano knows that if he crosses Majima again, Majima has some very interesting dirt to pass along to whoever is in charge. This also means Shimano has very little reason to trust Majima with anything, since he knows Majima is in good with Sera. I imagine their relationship post-0 is more strained tolerance than anything else.

It's also probably safe to say that a good number of Tojo affiliates are probably fucking terrified of him, not only because of the "mad dog" persona, but because this man single-handedly fought his way through not one but two *entire clans* because they pissed him off. He fought the entire Nikkyo Consortium to get to Sera, and then fought through Dojima HQ and came within inches of eliminating Sohei Dojima six years early. That's the kind of shit that turns you into a legend, or a boogeyman.

I like to think about what things would have been like if Kiryu had stayed in power. Imagining him as chairman with Majima as his right hand is terrifying. They'd be unstoppable.

my massive yakuza (the game) conspiracy theory

Okay so, this is my Charlie Kelly, Pepe Silvia, smoking in the mailroom like a crazy person making red string maps on the wall theory about Goro Majima’s motivations in Yakuza 1 and kind of Yakuza 2 a little. This is using some of the stuff that was added in Kiwami because IMO there’s no reason to disregard it as canon, aside from that one weird mission where you fight with Majima against some ex-Dojima guys who held a grudge for ten years. I don’t believe that happens canonically, especially since it’s after Majima gets stabbed in the batting cages. That was added to allow new players, or players coming fresh out of Yakuza 0, the chance to fight alongside Majima that they didn’t get in 0. Everything else, though? We can work with that. Spoilers ahead for Yakuza 0, 1, and 2 (obviously). I have put way too much thought into this to keep it to myself so here we go.

Let’s start with what we know about Goro Majima. In 1985, he and his oath brother Taiga Saejima were supposed to carry out a hit on orders. Shortly before this hit happened, Majima is prevented from going. Later on down the line we learn that this whole thing was a setup from the start, but that’s not important here. As of 2005, Majima doesn’t know that, so we’ll disregard it for now. Anyways, Majima refuses to let his brother go alone and die. This gets him thrown in the hole for insubordination by Shimano, where he loses his eye and at least a year of his life. Sometime in ‘86 or maybe early ‘87, Majima is released and remanded into the custody of Shimano’s oath brother, Sagawa, where he is watched every second of every day, and told he’ll be given his freedom if he can make a certain amount of money at the Grand. Seeing as Sagawa moves the goalpost right as you start the game, I think it’s fair to say that Majima was never actually going to get out of there before Makoto came along. 

So, Majima is in Sotenbori, a place he hates, doing a job he hates, for a man he hates, and can’t even take a shit without someone reporting it back to Sagawa. Yakuza 0 starts in December of 1988, so he’s been living like this for anywhere from one to two years. Sagawa makes him a deal: kill Makoto Makimura, and your debt is cleared. Obviously Majima takes that deal, finds the person he thinks is Makoto, and then learns that Makoto is, in fact, an innocent, traumatized blind girl with no idea what’s going on or why anyone would want to kill her, and then Majima watches as the Tojo Clan systematically destroys her and everything she loves for nothing more than a scrap of land. Makoto and Lee are the first people in at least 3 years to treat Majima like he’s a person, rather than a tool or an inconvenience, and the Tojo Clan — but more specifically Sagawa and Shimano — goes out of its way to make sure they are eliminated. Majima’s first friends in three years. The first people he’s cared about since Saejima. Majima, before this, was a dead man walking. He was just biding his time until Saejima or someone else finally did him in. But Makoto and Lee — and Nishitani, to an extent — make him see that there’s something worth living for.

And then two of the three die horribly, Makoto almost dies, and Majima is forced to stay away from her to keep her safe and ensure her happiness. 

So, let’s recap: in the span of about three years, the Tojo Clan has taken everything that Majima cares about. He sees the monster at its core, and he hates it. He hates the clan, he hates his boss, and he would probably be pretty happy to see it all burn. This is where I’m going to ask you to take my hand and follow me as we play in this space.

So, at the end of 0, Majima is back in the Tojo Clan. He’s free from Shimano and Sagawa and made a patriarch in his own right. It’s probably fair to say that the reason this happens at all is because of Sera. Majima helped Sera immensely to secure the empty lot. Majima’s freedom and installation as a patriarch is probably the least Sera would do for him as thanks for his assistance in securing his spot as the third chairman of the Tojo Clan. He knows Majima can be trusted. So, 16 years later in 2005, when the sharks are circling and Sera, Terada, and Kazama need all the allies they can get, I think it’s safe to say that Sera would turn to Majima again.

That’s right: Majima was in on it.

Let’s think for a moment about what we are given as Majima’s motivations in the first game. Even in the original, all we’re given is that Majima kidnaps Haruka as a way to force Kiryu to fight him. He is introduced as an unstable lunatic with an unhealthy hyperfocus on his Kiryu-chan who will do anything he can to get satisfaction, so on a base level, with nothing else, this makes sense. However, I firmly believe that the lunacy is a front to hide what Majima is actually doing. No one questions your motivations when they think that you’re crazy. You do what you do because you’re crazy. That’s the motivation. That’s all they need. But looking at Majima through the lens of even just Yakuza 0, it doesn’t, really, make any sense at all. It makes even less sense when you look at his activities through the rest of the series. He’s shown to be unstable, sure, but he’s also shown to be very smart, very loyal, and a very shrewd businessman. In less than a year he built Majima Construction up as a well known and well-respected legitimate business. He hosts group vacations and movie nights for his family members. He ends up being one of the sole reasons the Tojo Clan lasts as long as it does while also being one of the most powerful patriarchs probably ever because his family just takes in all the guys whose bosses get shot or pinched.

So, what are his real motivations? Well, what actually happens when he kidnaps Haruka? He makes sure she’s unharmed and brings her to the batting cages. He doesn’t take her away to another city or try to use her to extort something out of Kiryu. She’s fine, she’s unharmed, she’s just a little shaken up. Majima knows that as long as he takes her somewhere Kiryu can find her, Kiryu will come and get her. Despite getting tied up and thrown in a utility closet (which I think we can blame on Majima’s guys not having the whole picture, same as Date being shot and Majima getting stabbed) Haruka was in absolutely no danger while she was under Majima’s care. In fact, given that shortly after she leaves Majima’s care, she gets kidnapped not once, but twice by people who actually want to hurt her and literally gets shot, she might have actually been safer with Majima.

While at the batting cages, Terada comes and talks to her. Now, how did Terada know where she was? How did he know Majima had her? Because Majima told him where to find her. I think that the real reason Majima grabbed Haruka was because Terada asked him to get the girl somewhere he could speak to her without Kiryu or anyone else interfering, and to distract Kiryu for him while he told her the real value of her mother’s pendant. Terada and Kazama needed Kiryu to know. Kazama couldn’t tell Kiryu himself because, at this point, he’s in a coma and on the run after being shot. So Terada reaches out to Majima and asks for his help because Sera told him Majima could be trusted.

When you think about it, Majima never gives even the tiniest hint that he’s working with Shimano at all. The only real reason we’re given to think that he might be is the knowledge that Majima is a Shimano Family captain. But at the point where Majima kidnaps Haruka, no one really knows her true value. It’s only after Terada knows she still has the pendant that things go off the rails. We know Terada was playing Shimano and Jingu and feeding them information. But when they want Haruka, they don't send Majima. They send the triads. If Majima was after Haruka on Shimano’s orders, why not just send him again? Sure, he got stabbed, but the whole thing at Shangri-La proves that doesn’t really stop him, and also being sent after Haruka again would give him another reason to fight Kiryu. If that’s all he wants, why wouldn’t he just go after the kid again? Easy: Shimano didn’t send him the first time, Terada did. Majima knows what’s up and is probably leaving Shimano on read at this point, which might actually be why Shimano and Jingu get the triads to go for Haruka. Every time Shimano himself is actually involved, Majima’s absence is conspicuous. He's the Mad Dog of Shimano, right? Surely Shimano would bring his dog to the fight, but he doesn't. There is the point at the funeral where Majima attacks Kiryu, but he straight up says he only did it because he wanted in on the fun. He even warns Kiryu that Shimano is waiting for him. 

I actually think that Majima’s involvement goes beyond Sera. I think he knew what Terada’s ultimate plan was. Remember, as we established earlier, Majima hates the Tojo Clan. Who else hates the Tojo Clan? Yukio Terada. I think that after Sera and Kazama connected Terada and Majima, Terada went to Majima on his own and explained what was up. He explained that he is helping Kazama because he owed Kazama his life, but that he had another iron in the fire that he thought Majima was really going to like: the destruction and downfall of the Tojo Clan, run into the ground by a seemingly inept and complacent chairman who surrounds himself with yes men and refuses to listen to reason.

Let’s wrap up: Majima spends the entire first game helping Kiryu and his allies in roundabout ways to keep Kiryu off his scent. He kidnaps Haruka so Terada can talk to her. He crashes a dump truck into Shangri-La to cause chaos and give Kiryu the chance to get away, because at that point he knows what happened to Shinji and Reina and knows that the walls are closing in on Kazama. He doesn’t back Shimano up in Shibaura, not because he’s out of commission, but because he’s probably actually hoping that Shimano will be eliminated. That, or Terada promised he would be if Majima agreed to help with the whole “downfall of the Tojo Clan” thing. Everything he does in the first game, he does to help Kiryu, because he was in on it all from the word go.

In conclusion, Goro Majima is not a lunatic. Goro Majima is the smartest motherfucker in the room and he knows it. 

[lostgubbins]

my massive yakuza (the game) conspiracy theory

Okay so, this is my Charlie Kelly, Pepe Silvia, smoking in the mailroom like a crazy person making red string maps on the wall theory about Goro Majima’s motivations in Yakuza 1 and kind of Yakuza 2 a little. This is using some of the stuff that was added in Kiwami because IMO there’s no reason to disregard it as canon, aside from that one weird mission where you fight with Majima against some ex-Dojima guys who held a grudge for ten years. I don’t believe that happens canonically, especially since it’s after Majima gets stabbed in the batting cages. That was added to allow new players, or players coming fresh out of Yakuza 0, the chance to fight alongside Majima that they didn’t get in 0. Everything else, though? We can work with that. Spoilers ahead for Yakuza 0, 1, and 2 (obviously). I have put way too much thought into this to keep it to myself so here we go.

Let’s start with what we know about Goro Majima. In 1985, he and his oath brother Taiga Saejima were supposed to carry out a hit on orders. Shortly before this hit happened, Majima is prevented from going. Later on down the line we learn that this whole thing was a setup from the start, but that’s not important here. As of 2005, Majima doesn’t know that, so we’ll disregard it for now. Anyways, Majima refuses to let his brother go alone and die. This gets him thrown in the hole for insubordination by Shimano, where he loses his eye and at least a year of his life. Sometime in ‘86 or maybe early ‘87, Majima is released and remanded into the custody of Shimano’s oath brother, Sagawa, where he is watched every second of every day, and told he’ll be given his freedom if he can make a certain amount of money at the Grand. Seeing as Sagawa moves the goalpost right as you start the game, I think it’s fair to say that Majima was never actually going to get out of there before Makoto came along. 

So, Majima is in Sotenbori, a place he hates, doing a job he hates, for a man he hates, and can’t even take a shit without someone reporting it back to Sagawa. Yakuza 0 starts in December of 1988, so he’s been living like this for anywhere from one to two years. Sagawa makes him a deal: kill Makoto Makimura, and your debt is cleared. Obviously Majima takes that deal, finds the person he thinks is Makoto, and then learns that Makoto is, in fact, an innocent, traumatized blind girl with no idea what’s going on or why anyone would want to kill her, and then Majima watches as the Tojo Clan systematically destroys her and everything she loves for nothing more than a scrap of land. Makoto and Lee are the first people in at least 3 years to treat Majima like he’s a person, rather than a tool or an inconvenience, and the Tojo Clan — but more specifically Sagawa and Shimano — goes out of its way to make sure they are eliminated. Majima’s first friends in three years. The first people he’s cared about since Saejima. Majima, before this, was a dead man walking. He was just biding his time until Saejima or someone else finally did him in. But Makoto and Lee — and Nishitani, to an extent — make him see that there’s something worth living for.

And then two of the three die horribly, Makoto almost dies, and Majima is forced to stay away from her to keep her safe and ensure her happiness. 

So, let’s recap: in the span of about three years, the Tojo Clan has taken everything that Majima cares about. He sees the monster at its core, and he hates it. He hates the clan, he hates his boss, and he would probably be pretty happy to see it all burn. This is where I’m going to ask you to take my hand and follow me as we play in this space.

So, at the end of 0, Majima is back in the Tojo Clan. He’s free from Shimano and Sagawa and made a patriarch in his own right. It’s probably fair to say that the reason this happens at all is because of Sera. Majima helped Sera immensely to secure the empty lot. Majima’s freedom and installation as a patriarch is probably the least Sera would do for him as thanks for his assistance in securing his spot as the third chairman of the Tojo Clan. He knows Majima can be trusted. So, 16 years later in 2005, when the sharks are circling and Sera, Terada, and Kazama need all the allies they can get, I think it’s safe to say that Sera would turn to Majima again.

That’s right: Majima was in on it.

Let’s think for a moment about what we are given as Majima’s motivations in the first game. Even in the original, all we’re given is that Majima kidnaps Haruka as a way to force Kiryu to fight him. He is introduced as an unstable lunatic with an unhealthy hyperfocus on his Kiryu-chan who will do anything he can to get satisfaction, so on a base level, with nothing else, this makes sense. However, I firmly believe that the lunacy is a front to hide what Majima is actually doing. No one questions your motivations when they think that you’re crazy. You do what you do because you’re crazy. That’s the motivation. That’s all they need. But looking at Majima through the lens of even just Yakuza 0, it doesn’t, really, make any sense at all. It makes even less sense when you look at his activities through the rest of the series. He’s shown to be unstable, sure, but he’s also shown to be very smart, very loyal, and a very shrewd businessman. In less than a year he built Majima Construction up as a well known and well-respected legitimate business. He hosts group vacations and movie nights for his family members. He ends up being one of the sole reasons the Tojo Clan lasts as long as it does while also being one of the most powerful patriarchs probably ever because his family just takes in all the guys whose bosses get shot or pinched.

So, what are his real motivations? Well, what actually happens when he kidnaps Haruka? He makes sure she’s unharmed and brings her to the batting cages. He doesn’t take her away to another city or try to use her to extort something out of Kiryu. She’s fine, she’s unharmed, she’s just a little shaken up. Majima knows that as long as he takes her somewhere Kiryu can find her, Kiryu will come and get her. Despite getting tied up and thrown in a utility closet (which I think we can blame on Majima’s guys not having the whole picture, same as Date being shot and Majima getting stabbed) Haruka was in absolutely no danger while she was under Majima’s care. In fact, given that shortly after she leaves Majima’s care, she gets kidnapped not once, but twice by people who actually want to hurt her and literally gets shot, she might have actually been safer with Majima.

While at the batting cages, Terada comes and talks to her. Now, how did Terada know where she was? How did he know Majima had her? Because Majima told him where to find her. I think that the real reason Majima grabbed Haruka was because Terada asked him to get the girl somewhere he could speak to her without Kiryu or anyone else interfering, and to distract Kiryu for him while he told her the real value of her mother’s pendant. Terada and Kazama needed Kiryu to know. Kazama couldn’t tell Kiryu himself because, at this point, he’s in a coma and on the run after being shot. So Terada reaches out to Majima and asks for his help because Sera told him Majima could be trusted.

When you think about it, Majima never gives even the tiniest hint that he’s working with Shimano at all. The only real reason we’re given to think that he might be is the knowledge that Majima is a Shimano Family captain. But at the point where Majima kidnaps Haruka, no one really knows her true value. It’s only after Terada knows she still has the pendant that things go off the rails. We know Terada was playing Shimano and Jingu and feeding them information. But when they want Haruka, they don't send Majima. They send the triads. If Majima was after Haruka on Shimano’s orders, why not just send him again? Sure, he got stabbed, but the whole thing at Shangri-La proves that doesn’t really stop him, and also being sent after Haruka again would give him another reason to fight Kiryu. If that’s all he wants, why wouldn’t he just go after the kid again? Easy: Shimano didn’t send him the first time, Terada did. Majima knows what’s up and is probably leaving Shimano on read at this point, which might actually be why Shimano and Jingu get the triads to go for Haruka. Every time Shimano himself is actually involved, Majima’s absence is conspicuous. He's the Mad Dog of Shimano, right? Surely Shimano would bring his dog to the fight, but he doesn't. There is the point at the funeral where Majima attacks Kiryu, but he straight up says he only did it because he wanted in on the fun. He even warns Kiryu that Shimano is waiting for him. 

I actually think that Majima’s involvement goes beyond Sera. I think he knew what Terada’s ultimate plan was. Remember, as we established earlier, Majima hates the Tojo Clan. Who else hates the Tojo Clan? Yukio Terada. I think that after Sera and Kazama connected Terada and Majima, Terada went to Majima on his own and explained what was up. He explained that he is helping Kazama because he owed Kazama his life, but that he had another iron in the fire that he thought Majima was really going to like: the destruction and downfall of the Tojo Clan, run into the ground by a seemingly inept and complacent chairman who surrounds himself with yes men and refuses to listen to reason.

Let’s wrap up: Majima spends the entire first game helping Kiryu and his allies in roundabout ways to keep Kiryu off his scent. He kidnaps Haruka so Terada can talk to her. He crashes a dump truck into Shangri-La to cause chaos and give Kiryu the chance to get away, because at that point he knows what happened to Shinji and Reina and knows that the walls are closing in on Kazama. He doesn’t back Shimano up in Shibaura, not because he’s out of commission, but because he’s probably actually hoping that Shimano will be eliminated. That, or Terada promised he would be if Majima agreed to help with the whole “downfall of the Tojo Clan” thing. Everything he does in the first game, he does to help Kiryu, because he was in on it all from the word go.

In conclusion, Goro Majima is not a lunatic. Goro Majima is the smartest motherfucker in the room and he knows it.