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Hiroki Awano is a major antagonist in the 2015 beat em' up drama video game Yakuza 0.
He is the head of the Taihei Association, a subsidary of the Dojima Family of the Tojo Clan, and is one of the lieutenants of the Dojima Family.
He was voiced and modeled after Riki Takeuchi, while in the English dub of Yakuza 0: Director's Cut, he is voiced by Eliah Mountjoy.
Biography[]
Throughout Yakuza 0, Awano dedicates himself and the Taihei Association to aquiring the empty lot and giving it to Sohei Dojima, as the latter has promised whoever gains him the lot the position of the captain of the Dojima Family.
Awano is first seen near the start of the game, when Kiryu meets with the three lieutenants of the Dojima Family, Awano himself, Daisaku Kuze, and Keiji Shibusawa, regarding the murder Kiryu allegedly commited in the empty lot, a small area of land the Dojima Family has interest in. When Kiryu claims he has been framed Awano aggressively objects to this claim. He requests Kiryu hand himself into the police for the murder to spare the family consequences.
After Kiryu defeats Kuze for the first time, the two of them are approached by Sohei Dojima, the patriach of the Dojima Family along with Awano and Shibusawa. Dojima asks Kuze if it is true that he expelled Kiryu from the family without consulting him. Kuze denies this but Awano and Shibusawa reveal that they heard him state "Now that Kiryu is out the family, I can kill him.".
When Kiryu is leaving a sewer he has been traveling through to avoid being found by the Dojima Family, he meets Awano, who is dancing with a woman. He gives Kiryu a speech revealing that Awano does not care for the yakuza and rather sees his position in the Tojo Clan as a job that enables him to live luxuriously, the very reason he is in the Tojo Clan in the first place. Awano requests Kiryu to dance with them and offers Kiryu the chance to join the Taihei Association and end his ghetto status with the Dojima Family, but Kiryu refuses. In response, Awano shoots and kills the woman he was dancing with in hopes of intimidating Kiryu, and resorts to warning Kiryu that unless he joins him he will be killed by the Dojima Family. Regardless, Kiryu still refuses and leaves the sewer.
Awano and members of the Taihei Association later gang up on Jun Oda, a member of Tachibana Real Estate, and throw him into the bar Serena to wound him. Awano and his underlings then enter to find Kiryu and his oath brother Akira Nishikiyama drinking together. Kiryu assures Awano that Nishiki did not plan to meet him there and that both of them just happened to be in the same place, and while Awano seems to believe him, he bashes Nishiki's head on the bartender's desk and severely wounds him.
Awano's minions and Kiryu head outside the bar to fight things out. Kiryu defeats them in combat and Awano then approaches him. Awano threatens Kiryu to either help him find Tachibana or suffer the wrath of the Dojima family, and says that if Kiryu agrees to help, he is to call Awano that night or it will be assumed that Kiryu has refused the offer.
Night approaches and Kiryu does not phone Awano, so Awano rings Dojima and informs him that no contact from Kiryu has occured and then requests that he lead the Dojima Family in a manhunt for Kiryu, a request that Sohei approves of.
As Kiryu is attemping to hide from the Dojima family, he is ambused by them. Eventually after defeating several members, Awano, Kuze and the majority of the entire Dojima Family corner him. Kuze and some of his minions fight Kiryu and attempt to kill him but fail. Tachibana recklessly drives a car to the area and Kiryu enters it. The two leave the area though Awano orders, and goons to stop them and even tries shooting the car.
Makoto Makimura goes to the Dojima Family's headquarters, and tells Dojima that if he offers her Awano, Kuze, and Shibusawa's heads, she will sell him the empty lot. Dojima refuses this offer and orders Lao Gui to kill her. Goro Majima enters the room as Makoto is shot and the patriach along with the lieutenants and Lao Gui escape his wrath by flying away on a jet. Majima and Awano glare at one another as the jet is flying away.
Dojima, Kuze, Shibusawa, and Awano have a meeting in which it is announced that Shibusawa will become the captain of the Dojima Family. Awano is dissapointed that he lost this position.
When Goro Majima invades the Dojima Family HQ and defeats all the minions, he arrives at the hall outside Dojima's office where he sees Awano. Awano reveals that the reason he joined the Tojo Clan in the first place was not truly to live luxuriously but rather because he enjoyed fighting and living the "easy life" for so long has left him feeling bored. He rips his shirt off and prepares to fight Majima, as Majima rips his own shirt off and the two engage in combat. Majima defeats Awano and the two engage in conversation. Awano begins to feel inspiration and respect toward Majima, though their discussion is cut short by the door to Dojima's office opening and Lao Gui entering the hall with a gun pointed at Majima. Lao Gui attempts to shoot Majima several times, but Awano jumps in the way and block all the bullets. When Gui runs out of bullets, Awano runs at the assassin to attack him, but the former stabs him with sharp claws. Awano then topples over and slowly dies.
Powers and Abilities[]
Awano was described as being an incredible powerhouse in his prime had he not decided to indulge in the pleasures of the Bubble period of Japan, with the ink on his Momotaro irezumi fading as proof he let himself go and be swept up by time. Goro Majima even comments fists of his kind would've easily taken him to the top after their fight.
In Yakuza 0, he uses a modernized version of Masaru Watase's Heavy Street Fighting moveset from Yakuza 5, with new additions:
- A more upright stance
- A new rush combo
- A downed lunging punch attack
- A Flying Cross Leg Kick
- Quickstep attacks for forward and left/right directions (although the left and right quickstep attacks reuse the same Rear Crescent Kick animation)
- A Double Gut Punch to Haymaker command grab attack, and
- a new hair-sweeping provocation taunt.
Awano's version of Watase's moveset is reused by the coliseum fighter Isamu Kumada in Yakuza Kiwami's Purgatory coliseum minigame (and as one of the enemies Kiryu must fight as part of Sotaro Komaki's training substories).
Later, Satoshi Shioya reuses it once more in the 2018 spinoff Judgment, with the addition of a new Mortal Attack (a Dashing Rear Hook Grab Attempt to a Jumping Head Slam) and a different, somewhat silly "Yoinky Sploinky"-esque taunt.
These would be the only two times Awano's version of the Watase moveset got reused in the franchise, as Masaru Watase himself later reuses a significantly stripped and watered down of his original Yakuza 5 moveset as an NPC ally in the final chapter of Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, with no visual effects and lack of command grab attacks.
External links[]
- Hiroki Awano at the Yakuza/Like a Dragon Wiki
- Hiroki Awano at the SEGA Wiki
- Hiroki Awano at the VS Battles Wiki
[]
 Villains
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Tojo Clan Chairmen: Masaru Sera | Yukio Terada Dojima Family: Sohei Dojima |
Daisaku Kuze |
Hiroki Awano |
Keiji Shibusawa |
Lao Gui |
Yoneda Others Omi Alliance Chairmen: Tsubasa Kurosawa Go-ryu Clan: Ryuji Goda |
Hiroshi Hayashi |
Self Proclaimed Third Patriarch Others Daidoji Faction Other Criminal Organizations Jingweon Mafia: Daejin Kim |
Yeongmin Ji |
Joon-gi Han Police Bleach Japan Mr. Shakedowns Mutoh Realty
Amon Clan Other Spin-offs
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