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| “ | I'll wipe that stupid grin off your face and leave it bloody on the floor! | „ |
| ~ Aoki, right before his final battle with Ichiban |
Ryo Aoki (born Masato Arakawa) is the main antagonist and final boss of the 2019 turn-based tactical role-playing crime drama video game Yakuza: Like A Dragon.
Starting as the paraplegic son of infamous Yakuza patriarch Masumi Arakawa, he fakes his death and travels to the United States to get rid of his illness. After doing so, he decides to form an activist club called Bleach Japan so he can eliminate what he calls the grey zones of Japan, and later becomes the governor of Tokyo. He's also the adopted brother of and former arch-rival of Ichiban Kasuga.
He is voiced by Kōsuke Toriumi in Japanese and by Will Yun Lee in English.
Biography[]
Born to a young Jo Sawashiro and an unnamed mother on December 31, 1976, in the brink of New Years at a department store, both of his parents young and unprepared, decide to leave him locked in a Coin Locker as the can't take care of him. Feeling remorseful for their actions, the unnamed woman convinces Sawashiro to return for him.
As Sawashiro and the woman return to the coin lockers, they see a desperate man punching the locker they left their baby in open, and then runs with it. Although confused by this, Sawashiro and the woman are relieved as they think it's for the better. After hanging out in the same place for a while, Sawashiro watches as a soapland owner retrieves another baby from a coin locker, and recounts to a subordinate of his how a woman she worked under him told him that she would leave her baby in one and if anything happens, he should go and retrieve it.
Years after this, Sawashiro encounters the man he saw at the coin lockers with a wheelchair bound son. He correctly deduces it's his son, now named Masato Arakawa. After joining the man's Yakuza family, he learns the truth: In a twist of fate, another baby was also put on a Coin Locker after his mother, Akane, gets chased off by a yakuza family and later killed, in hopes her boyfriend Masumi Arakawa can later retrieve him and care for him. When Masumi arrives to the scene, he hears a baby crying and punches the coin locker open and retrieves it, unknowingly rescuing the wrong baby as the other baby was in the coin locker by the side. This other baby is later known to be Ichiban Kasuga.
Having been birthed and then hidden in a coin locker in a really cold night, Masato becomes a paraplegic after a really bad organ failure following hypothermia. He grows up feeling shameful about his condition alone since his status as the son of a Yakuza makes it hard for him to make new friends, eventually resenting his father and the Yakuza as a whole. After Ichiban joins the Arakawa, the game implies they were initially on good terms, but shortly after Kasuga becomes some sort of servant and henchman for him, he also starts to resent him and treat him as little more than a bumbling fool who'd do anything for him.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon[]
On his 24th birthday, Masato is taken by Kasuga to visit Yumeno's hostess club for her birthday celebration. Taking an illegal Ephedrine injection, he is able to walk for the evening. He meets Juro Horinouchi, a law enforcement official who rebukes Masato's bribe to see Yumeno. That day he learns of Yumeno's true feelings while she talks with Horiuchi, that she sees him as nothing more than someone to squeeze money from.
Dejected, he attempts to go home by himself only for the medication to wear off before he can make it back to his wheelchair. He is attacked by Chikao Suzumori, who believes he was trespassing. Provoked and driven by desperation, he murders Suzumori and calls Sawashiro to report the murder that Kasuga would take the fall for.
The events that happened on that fateful birthday inspired Masato's hatred for the yakuza and by extension, grey zones. With the Arakawa Family's help, he fakes his death and steals an identity to travel to America under the alias of Ryo Aoki and receives a lung transplant that allows his body to function properly. He aims for the position of Tokyo Governor to gain popularity and suppress grey zones, as he was not satisfied with the power his criminal connections afforded.
Attending Harvard University, Aoki majors in politics and economics, and he meets Hajime Ogasawara in his classes. From Aoki's idea, the two form Bleach Japan and Aoki uses the Arakawa Family to make it appear a success and gain traction, with Sota Kume being one of his most loyal supporters. Aoki leaves Bleach Japan to enter politics, and runs for the House of Councilors in 2010. He receives the endorsment of the Citizens' Liberal Party and wins with a great lead over his competition.
At some point, he visits Horinouchi and his now-wife Yumeno, who does not recognize Masato and praises him. This perceived hypocrisy deepens his resentment and accelerates his implementation of the Kamurocho 3K plan. In order to obtain the support of the police, he bribes Horinouchi and several other senior police officers into collaborating with him. In 2017, Aoki becomes the governor of Tokyo with assistance from the Arakawa Family. He enacts the Kamurocho 3K Plan to crack down on crime and drives the Tojo Clan out of Kamurocho. He threatens his father Arakawa into leaking intel that allows the plan to succeed, unaware that Arakawa is collaborating with Daigo Dojima to allow the 3K Plan to succeed for Dojima's own agenda.
By 2019, the Tojo Clan's presence in Kamurocho is no more and Arakawa surprises Aoki by having the Omi Alliance take over thanks to the bribed officers allowing it, with Aoki intending to use the Omi to further his ambitions. He aims to take Yutaka Ogikubo, his last political opponent, out of power by exposing the underworld connections Aoki detects from him. He approves Akira Mabuchi's plan to kill Isao Nonomiya to find that connection, then lends men to Ogasawara when he learns of Ogikubo's operation with the Ijin Three. Although the offensive is defused by Kasuga and others, it also leads to the destruction of the Geomijul's intelligence network and the end of the counterfeit money business.
Afterward, Aoki orders a hit on Ogasawara when he sees from his eyes that he gave up confidential information while captured. Then, in order to bolster his popularity, he holds a funeral for Ogasawara and feigns mourning him. Aoki promotes Kume's campaign for the Kanagawa District Two seat, during which Kasuga approaches Kume and humiliates him. Kasuga soon approaches Aoki, making arrangements to meet at Otohime Land. After they exchange greetings, Aoki leaves during Kasuga's declaration and orders his men to dispose of him.
Aoki loses an important asset when Dojima and Watase dissolve the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance. He orders Sawashiro - now the chairman of the Tokyo Omi Alliance - to kill Arakawa for assisting with the dissolution, but he refuses. He instead orders Sawashiro to kill Ryuhei Hoshino while Yosuke Tendo kills Arakawa. Sawashiro is arrested after Hoshino dies, and Aoki sends Ishioda and Mirror Face to silence him, but they fail thanks to the intervention of Kasuga and his party. Tendo informs Aoki of this failure and is given permission to detonate a bomb meant to kill everyone present.
Kasuga pretends to be dead and approaches Aoki in Kamurocho, claiming that Sawashiro left a recording as criminal evidence in the Millennium Tower office. Although Aoki is skeptical, he sends Tendo to investigate while he attends a conference. During the conference, Nick Ogata pressures Aoki to leave by issuing a fake criminal charge against him and revealing his real name in front of the press. He attempts to call Tendo, but at the time Tendo was engaged in combat with Kasuga and his party so the calls go unanswered. Aoki then arrives at Millenium Tower, but is unaware that Mirror Face is now standing in for an unconscious Tendo, Mirror Face full of resent for Aoki's lack of care that almost saw him killed in the earlier bomb explosion. Mirror Face as Tendo asks Aoki's next move while Kasuga and his allies play dead. Aoki orders that Kasuga and his accomplices are hunted down and killed, but is unaware that he is being secretly recorded by two of Kasuga's allies in the next room over. The footage of the murder order is uploaded to the internet, exposing Aoki and ruining his reputation instantly. Aoki's men are defeated and Kasuga himself beats Aoki in a fight. Kasuga tries to persuade Aoki into atoning for his mistakes, but is unaffected and escapes by holding a policeman hostage and taking his gun.
Aoki arrives at the locker where he was born, Kasuga meeting him there. Aoki complains about his life to Kasuga and then contemplates killing himself. Kasuga cries and begs him not to commit suicide, which eventually works and Aoki places his gun inside the same locker he was born, ready to turn himself in. However, just as Aoki says goodbye to his secretary, Kume, who is outraged by Aoki's hypocrisy and lies, fatally stabs him in the gut. In his dying moments, Aoki gives words of encouragement to Kasuga before he bleeds out. A joint funeral is later held for both Aoki and Masumi Arakawa in Ijincho.
Personality[]
Though he and Ichiban Kasuga are the same age, Aoki can be considered the opposite of his adoptive brother, as a calm and quiet individual who prefers to keep to himself. Though the story implies that Aoki and Kasuga were close friends when they were younger, by the year 2000, Aoki is deeply resentful of having to be chauffeured by Kasuga due to his disability and treats him as little more than a servant.
As the Governor of Tokyo, Aoki is very conscious of his image and optics, maintaining a seemingly down-to-earth image. However, behind the scenes, he is obsessed with power and control. Aoki is ruthless in pursuit of what he calls "front-facing power", enacting complex schemes to manipulate Japan's political apparatus, with the singular aim of concentrating authority on himself. He is also very controlling of his associates and allies, viewing all of them as sacrificial pawns, demanding that none of them act without his approval when their actions could affect his plans or public image.
Aoki's desire for popularity and front-facing power stems from his youth. He resented being completely dependent on others due to his disability and being socially ostracized due to being the son of a yakuza boss. However, instead of developing empathy for people facing similar plights to the one he faced, he came to hate the vulnerable and marginalized because he hated being one of them. This stems from the belief that nobody, not even close family or friends, would ever appreciate him for who he is on the inside. After going into politics, Aoki campaigned against Japan's most vulnerable (like the homeless, foreign migrants and sex workers) in order to expand his popularity with a Japanese public that shared similarly negative view of those marginalized groups.
Aoki is also a deeply hypocritical person, criticizing the "gray zones" of legality in public, while employing the yakuza as hired thugs and assassins behind the scenes in order to advance his political objectives.
Gallery[]
External links[]
- Ryo Aoki on the Yakuza/Like a Dragon Wiki.
[]
 Villains
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Tojo Clan Chairmen: Masaru Sera | Yukio Terada | Daigo Dojima Dojima Family: Sohei Dojima |
Daisaku Kuze |
Hiroki Awano |
Keiji Shibusawa |
Lao Gui |
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 | ||