i started playing the yakuza games about five months ago (which really goes to show how fast i hyperfixate on fictional characters and franchises LMAO shout out to being neurodivergent.) yakuza 0 was an impulse buy during the steam spring sale. i had of course seen all of the bakamitai memes from several years prior and had heard several people, including some of my friends, sing praises of the franchise itself, so when 0 went on sale for like 10 bucks during the steam sale right after i got paid, i figured why the hell not. i had just inherited my partner’s old gaming PC earlier in the year after he got a new one, and at the time, i was kind of just using it as a sims and youtube machine, so i figured it would be cool to have a non-sims game to play on it.
i was immediately hooked, and i didn’t expect to be, because i really don’t tend to reach for games like yakuza. most of what i play outside of yakuza is cozy management stuff and visual novels, stuff that doesn’t require a ton of skill, so i thought i would get really frustrated with the fighting aspect of it and just stop playing. but i found yakuza 0 surprisingly easy to play for someone who had never really played an action game like this before.
majima caught my eye right away during the opening cinematic of chapter 3, a gilded cage. i still believe it’s the greatest cutscene in the game. it just so perfectly encapsulates majima’s character-- a smooth-talking, resourceful, clever guy who’s presence demands respect and admiration. but of course, majima is plagued by his dark past after being made unable to assist saejima in the ueno seiwa hit, resulting in his year-long torture in the hole and his eventual confinement in sotenbori, bowing to the whims of sagawa, managing the cabaret grand in order to desperately try to earn his way back into the tojo clan.
but when sagawa orders the hit on makoto, majima finds himself unable to carry it out. makoto’s only "crime" is unknowingly owning the empty lot, which the entire criminal underworld of japan wants, and majima’s conscience refuses to let him bow to sagawa and end the life of an innocent civilian-- even if it means he might lose his own life in the process. while the entire yakuza is scrambling to get makoto to give up the land through whatever means necessary, majima is entirely focused on helping makoto evade danger and find her long lost brother.
in the end, it’s revealed that shimano had intended to sell the empty lot to the omi alliance, and knowing that majima was incapable of murdering someone, had actually intended for majima to gain her trust so that he could acquire the land for him. even if a resolution had been reached in the form of sera acquiring the empty lot, majima had been through so much trauma and bullshit up to this point that he decided he was gonna live life to the fullest, no matter what anyone else thought, and refuse to answer to anyone. and thus, the mad dog of shimano was born.
without going into details-- i have been through a lot of adversity in my life (and obviously i'm not a yakuza member, i'm an american hairdresser in their mid-twenties) but have had the fighting spirit and enough sheer willpower to make it through and stand up for what i believe in. there was a period of about 3 years in my life where i was really struggling mentally and truly couldn't see a way out, but i kept going regardless. even if i really, really didn't want to. and i kind of think majima went through a similar plight while he was in the hole-- having all kinds of abuse thrown at him but having the strength to stick it out by any means necessary.
i love majima’s willingness to live life as he wants without fear of judgement. this is an outlook on life i have, but at the same time, am too scared to fully put into practice. i still find myself being overly critical and judgemental of myself, and scared of what others think about me. in short, i want to be the mad dog-- but i feel like y0 majima. the drive to be unapologetically myself is there, but i’m not quite there yet. so basically, i’m working towards my mad dog era. i’ll get there someday.
