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| “ | ...Well, I suppose I've been going on long enough. It's almost ironic, wouldn't you say? Masumi Arakawa leaves two sons behind... One who worships the ground he walks on. And the other who spits on his grave. One works to rehabilitate the yakuza. And the other, in all his hatred, sends them to their doom. We're mirror images, he and I. | „ |
| ~ Ebina comparing himself to Ichiban Kasuga before fighting Kiryu. |
Masataka Hikawa, also known as Masataka Ebina, is one of the two main antagonists (alongside Bryce Fairchild) of the 2024 action-adventure RPG video game Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (specifically being the main antagonist of the Yokohama arc) as well as the final boss.
He is the captain (later Acting Chairman) of the Seiryu Clan who is planning the "Second Great Dissolution", a seemingly innocent scheme in which he recruits every ex-yakuza into the Seiryu Clan and rehabilitates them into a normal life in society. In reality, he holds a severe hatred for the yakuza and is desperately plotting ways to eradicate all of their kind in an act of revenge against his father, who is revealed to be Masumi Arakawa.
He was voiced by Hiroki Hasegawa in Japanese and by Daniel Dae Kim in English (who also voiced Johnny Gat in the Saints Row franchise and Hiroshi Sato in the Legend of Korra series).
Appearance[]
Ebina is a tall, middle-aged man with an oval face, a light goatee and mustache, and black hair that parts on the right. He possesses a lean build with well-defined muscles.
Tattoo[]
Ebina's tattoo provides major symbolism. It depicts an Oni, a demonic yokai in Japanese mythology. An Oni is a bloodthirsty demon known for their superhuman strength and power. The oni was syncretized with Hindu-Buddhist creatures such as the man-devouring yaksha and the rakshasa, and became the oni who tormented sinners as wardens of Hell (Jigoku), administering sentences passed down by Hell's magistrate, King Yama (Enma Daiō). The hungry ghosts called gaki (餓鬼) have also been sometimes considered a type of oni (the Kanji for "ki" 鬼 is also read "oni").
A snake is also depicted on the tattoo, and snakes in Japanese mythology are often associated with intelligence, transformation, cunning-ability, but also rebirth and regeneration. With the snake breathing out fire, in can be inferred that it symbolizes eternal suffering, which fits Ebina as a bloodthristy man who seeks to kill and take revenge against the Yakuza by condemning and isolating the Yakuza on the Palekana Island, much like how Oni would torment sinners in Hell. The three pronged flame also resembles the Palekana's flame, which provides his connection to the Palekana.
Personality[]
In the beginning, Ebina was seen to be that of a polite and formal gentleman, always speaking in a calm and polite tone. As Kasuga points out, Ebina appeared to be a humble man, since he admits that he only became captain of the clan, mainly because he earned it, since the Great Dissolution and the death of the Seiryu clan's previous chairman, Ryuhei Hoshino has left the Seiryu clan short-handed. He also apologize for the trouble his security caused for Kasuga and his friends, admitting that the clan takes security measures very seriously, and does also admit that he merely wanted to test the "Heroes of Yokohama" in action. He also shows shades of nobility, since he was willing to follow Takabe's orders on accomplishing the Second Great Dissolution, which would mark the end of the yakuza and give all of them honest lives.
However as the story progressed, Ebina's nature began showing some sinister shades, as he been moving his operations to Hawaii to move waste that can't be dispose of, with his business partner, Palekana, which quickly rose Kiryu's and the others' suspicion, since Palekana is hunting down Akane (Kasuga's possible biological mother) and Lani (Palekana's true successor). Not only that, but he and Sawashiro also did an interview with Tatara channel, revealing that Kazuma Kiryu was alive and that they did indeed meet. This caused Seonhee to believe that both Ebina and Tatara are in cahoots with each other, using Tatara's influence to his advantage. To make matters worse, it was revealed that Ebina was one of Japan's best cops, before joining the Seiryu clan to takeover the clan.
Eventually, all of that was confirm true when Sawashiro reveals that Ebina is not only using the Second Great Dissolution as a ruse to gather the yakuza, but he also propose that Kasuga goes to Hawaii to seek out Akane, just so he could curry favor with Bryce. When it was revealed, Ebina's true nature begins to surface out as he stabbed Masafumi Narasaki, the Seiryu clan lieutenant, to death and tortures Sawashiro, to the point of losing his eye. He then reveals that he has disdain for the yakuza, name-calling them insults like "filth" or "trash"
It is later revealed why he has such extreme hatred towards the yakuza: It is revealed that Ebina is actually the son of the late Masumi Arakawa and the late Yuriko Hikawa, with Ebina's past being a hard life since his mother was always frail and the burden of raising Ebina took a toll on her, which was made worse when Hikawa's underlings abandoned the clan. Despite his mother's last request of not wanting her son to hate Masumi or the Hikawa underlings who abandoned her, his heart was full of hatred and rage towards the yakuza who made their lives a living hell. He first joined as a police officer to get his shot, but when the Great Dissolution occurred and following that, the death of Arakawa, his desire of vengeance only grew worse and he worked with both Bryce and Eiji to get his chance to destroy the yakuza, no matter what. After revealing this, more of his true nature begins to show that underneath that formal image of his, is a insane but yet clearly broken man driven by hatred towards the yakuza who ruined his and Yuriko's lives.
Despite this, Ebina clearly has signs that all for his hatred of yakuza, he knows that revenge will not satisfy him at all. After all, he joins them in order to infiltrate the Seiryu clan, even getting a tattoo. He's painfully aware of his hypocrisy and doesn't even want to deny them. After getting defeated by Kiryu, he doesn't understand why Kiryu won't finish him off, believing that no matter if they retire to an honest life, disband their clan for good, or apologize for their deeds, they'll always return to the life of a yakuza, something that Ebina believes he'll be capable of, stating that Kiryu should finish him off before he'll return, heavily implying that he wishes to die. It only takes Kiryu, who is crying with tears, apologizing and begging Ebina to give all yakuza (including Ebina himself) the chance to atone for their deeds to let go of his self-destructive vendetta against the yakuza.
Trivia[]
- Due to the fact that Kiryu's role in Infinite Wealth may be his final role in the Yakuza/Like A Dragon franchise as a whole, Ebina is ultimately the final opponent for The Dragon of Dojima.
- Ebina and Kosei Shishido are noted to be different parallels when it comes to the yakuza. Where Shishido wanted to ensure the survival of the yakuza, as that life was the only life he ever had, Ebina ultimately wants to destroy it, due to the yakuza being responsible for his personal tragedy.
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Tojo Clan Chairmen: Masaru Sera | Yukio Terada | Daigo Dojima Dojima Family: Sohei Dojima |
Daisaku Kuze |
Hiroki Awano |
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Yoneda Others Omi Alliance Go-ryu Clan (Ryuji Goda | Hiroshi Hayashi) | Tsubasa Kurosawa | Hiroshi Kugihara | Shigeki Baba | Homare Nishitani | Homare Nishitani III | Kamon Kanai | Tsukasa Sagawa | Toranosuke Sengoku | Ryo Takashima | Jo Sawashiro | Kosei Shishido | Reiji Ishioda | Yosuke Tendo Daidoji Faction Other Criminal Organizations Jingweon Mafia: Daejin Kim |
Yeongmin Ji |
Joon-gi Han Police Bleach Japan Mr. Shakedowns Mutoh Realty Order of Munan Chohept Onast Amon Clan Other Spin-offs See Also | ||