I made the joke while we were going through Y7 “OMG Daigo, you couldn’t manage four years without Kiryu?!?” And while I realize Daigo had some shit going on and all kinds of stuff, I also can’t help but feel that Kiryu almost certainly puts some of this on himself.
And then when you take into account some of the other factors not directly in Y7 (that the government made that deal with Kiryu to make him be ‘dead’, that the Fixer died, that a member of the Yakuza deeply embarrassed the Japanese government, that ANOTHER member of the Yakuza got a major government official in deep shit with his testimony (Judgment plot)
And for Kiryu, it’s so much less about Arakawa and so much more about the government and the police dismantling everything that he and people like him had built.
I’m still playing through Lost Judgment so I don’t have the most complete understanding of how that panned out on a longer scale than Y7 shows, but from what I can tell? NOT GREAT.
And when you take into account some of the struggle he was having near the end, some of the regrets in his letter, the frustrations he has with his earlier actions, with his choices in life, with what it means to have given up power and how really, genuinely, HE DOESN’T LIKE IT in a lot of ways.
But it really puts what his second deal might be into a very interesting position. Because previously, he was very much figuring that he should keep things small, localized, very deliberate. Only certain people and only certain situations. Rikiya, the one that Rags is currently working towards, is a straight up debt as far as he’s concerned. The man
Stepped between him and a bullet. But the more these things wear on him and the more he looks at how he’s been positioned at the moment, the more I think he might start thinking bigger. And it’s something I’d be really interested in working towards/working with, his feelings about power
His comfort and discomfort with having it and the relationship it has in his mind with freedom, with what he wants in life, with doing right by those that he cares about.
And one thing that drives me nuts in the fandom is... NO, GUYS, He’S ACTUALLY REALLY GOOD WITH LEADING. Like, if you listen in YK1 especially, every one of the dudes in Kiryu’s group of men are 100% all about thinking he’s awesome. Like he’s not some goody two-shoes that no one can stand
He’s a stand up guy who takes care of his people, is tough as shit, and has a good work ethic. Which makes SENSE given what he told Majima right at the get go: he wants to show people that you don’t have to be violent and abusive to your subordinates.
He’s the idealized version of a yakuza. But he’s IDEALIZED, not softened. And he wants to spread that. His goals shift when he loses everyone, when Haruka becomes the most important person to him, but then you get to the current time.
And What Does That Mean to a man who just saw everything he’d done, every sacrifice he’s made, every death in his arms, amount to an angry brawl and UNorganized crime
...and then it’s all gone in Y7. Accomplished. Done.
Kiryu: FUCK THEM FUCKERS
fuck the police, fuck the government, half the time fuck the Tojo Clan