Hello, everyone. And welcome to my first ever proposal page that was approved by none other than the champ himself: The Pro-Wrestler.
Since I am in a very good mood, allow me to introduce another villain from a popular Japanese video game series. And holy hells, I really hope this gets approved, because let me tell you this. This guy is possibly one of the most immoral villains yet.
Please note that this may be my longest proposal (which is funny because this is the first time I’ve ever done a pure evil proposal), but I want to make sure that this guy stands out when it comes to the other heinous villains (with some of them being approved pure evil villains).
So with that said, let's get into the self-deluded greedy con artist himself. Bryce Fairchild.
What's the work?[]
Like a Dragon is an action-adventure RPG drama video game franchise published by Sega, which follows the story of Ichiban Kasuga, a former yakuza of the Arakawa Family of the Tojo Clan, as he and his friends go on a series of adventures, following the end of the yakuza era.
Previously, it was known as Yakuza (aka the Yakuza Saga), a awesome beat-em-up drama video game series that follows the story of Kazuma Kiryu, a former legendary yakuza known as the "Dragon of Dojima" and the Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan, who tries to escape his yakuza lifestyle, but is dragged into conflict whenever it involves the Tojo Clan and trying thwart conspiracies that just doesn't threaten the Tojo Clan, but his loved ones in general. Following Yakuza 6 (the grand finale of the Yakuza Saga), Kiryu fakes his death and becomes an agent of the Daidoji faction. He does make his return in the Like a Dragon Saga, where he serves as one of the overarching protagonists… until he makes his return as a main protagonist once again.
For this moment, we are diving into Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, a 2024 sequel to the 2019 video game, Yakuza: Like a Dragon and its 2023 spin-off, Like a Dragon: Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. Three years after the Great Dissolution, Kasuga and his friends have been living good honest lives, with Kasuga trying to help many former yakuza members to live honest lives. A year later however, their lives get into trouble when a VTuber, Hisoka Tatara, begins spreading false rumors regarding Kasuga and as a result, has led to him getting fired from his job. To make matters more troubling, the Seiryu clan begins growing in numbers, due to recruiting a lot of ex-yakuza members. Kasuga later receives a request to go to Hawaii to see Akane, Arakawa's former lover and Kasuga's biological mother. After arriving at Honolulu, Hawaii, he reunites with Kiryu, who is on a mission to locate Akane. During their time in Hawaii, they discover a conspiracy that threatens to kill every one of the ex-yakuza members, with one of the main conspirators being this man himself: Bryce Fairchild.
Who is Bryce Fairchild? What has He Done?[]
Bryce Fairchild is one of the main antagonists of the entire game (more specifically, he’s the main antagonist of the Hawaii story arc).
Bryce is the Sage of Palekana, a large religious Hawaiian organization that worships the volcano goddess known as Nele. At first glance, Bryce was a kind, noble, and wise leader who spoke with a fatherly benevolent tone. He was heavily idolized by his followers and was seen to be a father-figure to the orphans who reside in Palekana. He also spoke fondly of Akane, being deeply concerned for her when she disappeared from Palaekana and asked to inform him of her whereabouts.
However, it’s revealed that all of it was a facade. Wong Tou, the commander of the Ganzhe (a Chinese criminal organization), reveals that Bryce is actually a infamous criminal kingpin known as the Overseer, who controls the entire Hawaii criminal underworld. And he’s ultimately the main reason behind Akane’s disappearance, because she was running away from him with a young girl named Lani, who is Bryce’s main target.
According to Wong Tou's info, when he was gaining prominence in Hawaii, Bryce had been the sage by that time, and been controlling the underworld for thirty years and more disturbingly, he looked exactly the same back then (which according to Kiryu, he’s possibly 90 years old). Wong Tou revealed that while he was gaining power in Hawaii, he was visited by a visitor, who was revealed to be a messenger of Palekana, who invited the Chinese criminal to join Bryce. Wong Tou refused, but it turned out to be a grave mistake, since a week later, he received a small package which was the face of his mother. To make things more strange, it was from a sender from his hometown, which reveals that Bryce knows how to uncover someone’s identity and birth place, which he proved to Wong Tou. This caused Wong Tou to join, out of both fear of suffering the consequences while seeking to gain his revenge on Bryce for the death of his mother, gathering every man he could trust to get his chance for revenge. Wong Tou also reveals that Bryce places his spies around the Ganzhe, with Palekana being the heart of it, as they were bred from the organization, using his influence to brainwash his followers into becoming devoted zealots. He and Dwight Méndez (leader of the Barracudas) later received Bryce’s order to hunt down Lani and Akane at all cost, claiming he was trying to keep her safe, revealing that Dwight and the Barracudas are also members of Bryce’s underworld.
Bryce is later confronted by Kasuga and co., who reveals his Haku warriors, elite zealot followers of Palekana that are assigned to protect him from harm. After seeing the Barracudas/Ganzhe members arriving as well, Kasuga theorizes that despite his calmness, he’s getting very desperate and no longer cares about the gangs going out in the public’s eye. He then leaves with the children, while having his Haku warriors and Barracudas/Ganzhe members to deal with Kasuga and co. After learning the truth of Bryce, Dana reveals Bryce had adults and children make a pilgrimage to Nele Island and return to Hawaii as Haku. However, long ago, Dana saw one of the kids who were sent to Nele Island in Honolulu, with different faces, which Tomizawa theorizes that they come up with different identities, lining up with Wong Tou’s story. To make matters even stranger, they were wearing a police uniform, which Kasuga and co. realizes that Bryce is not only placing his followers into gangs, but policemen, politicians, and businessmen, giving him complete control of the city of Honolulu, and even Hawaii as a whole.
It’s later revealed that he and Palaekana are allied with Masataka Ebina of the Seiryu Clan (revealing himself as one of the main antagonists), as the two trade toxic nuclear waste: with Ebina trading the waste to Bryce’s private headquarters, Nele Island. After a meeting with Ebina and Japan government officials, he receives a message from Dwight that he and Eiji Mitamura secured Lani, to which Bryce isn’t grateful due to being force to rely on Ebina’s help (as Eiji is an agent for Ebina) and threatens Dwight if Ebina uses Lani against them. We then see him watching his… “ritual”, where he has a group of children gun down two men in cold blood, which he praises them for.
The media begins praising Bryce for his actions regarding the nuclear trade, completely unaware of his criminal status and actions. After rescuing Lani from Dwight and returning to Yokohama (thanks to Yamai’s efforts), Kiryu, Kasuga, and co. made their plans: While Kiryu, Nanba, Seonhee, Saeko, and Zhao confronts Ebina in the Millennium Tower and save Sawashiro, Kasuga, Adachi, Joongi, Chisato, and Tomizawa would travel to Hawaii to find Nele Island and stop Bryce once and for all.
After fighting off the Haku warriors (as well as the island’s guardians, which were a fucking shark & giant squid) and rescuing Wong Tou’s son, Kasuga and co. finally confront Bryce, surrounded by his Haku warriors, in a chamber containing the nuclear waste. We see that for all of his “religiousness”, Bryce holds no respect for it, merely seeing it to get more power and wealth, even trying to falsely see himself as a divine figure. It’s also revealed that seventy years ago, he was originally a normal-rank member of Palekana, who stated that he was appointed to become the next Sage, and that he had plans to use Palekana for money and power, but most importantly, he wanted to gain control of Nele Island, using it as his own personal compound with his grand ambition to use the island’s status as an international dumping ground for nuclear waste as a way to blackmail world leaders, all so he could become a “god”. After revealing his grand scheme, Bryce also revealed that he was behind the assassination of the previous Sage and his wife, hiring an assassin to kill them and take the pendant. After getting it, he killed the assassin to cover his tracks.
Kasuga however correctly deduces that the previous Sage and his wife already were suspicious of Bryce and took every chance to ensure he didn’t become the next sage, even creating a fake pendant. Because of this, Lani, who was the legitimate successor to the previous sage, was to be the rightful Sage of Palekana and Kasuga rightfully states Bryce ultimately brought his own downfall because he couldn’t handle the fact Lani was the rightful successor and rounded up every gang in Hawaii to hunt her down. After being called out, Bryce decides to kill Kasuga and co. After witnessing his Haku warriors failing to kill them, he coldly guns down one of them and takes his gun to fight Kasuga and co., alongside his remaining Haku warriors. After getting beaten up, Bryce begins losing his composure.
After getting defeated, Bryce quickly remains calm as he reveals that even if he was beaten, the reveal of nuclear operation would cause scandal around the countries’ government, which is something they aren’t willing to do. However, much to his shock, Chitose, using her Hisoka Tatara persona, exposes the operation, with the help of Kazunari Fujinomiya, the chairman of Fujinomiya Group and Chitose’s father. With his true nature and his actions exposed, Bryce tries to commit suicide by falling into the irradiated water, but Kasuga saves him, stating that Bryce must face punishment for his actions. After he’s pulled up, Adachi quickly arrests him, stating he’ll be sent to the police in a big ribbon. With his defeat, Bryce lost the occupation of being the sage, with Lani rightfully becoming the new Sage of Palekana.
Freudian Excuse? Mitigating Factors?[]
Allow the Engineer to answer that question for you.
Unlike Ebina and Eiji, both of whom suffer from a personal tragedy because of the yakuza, Yamai, who’s a tragic and honorable character, and Wong Tou, who is genuinely affably evil and is capable of family love, Bryce has no tragedy or mitigating factors that serves as his redeeming qualities.
Despite being the leader of the Hawaiian criminal underworld, everyone greatly hates and/or fears him, due to his ruthlessness and callous nature. Dwight in particular, is incredibly nervous when speaking to him, as he fears the possibility of failing Bryce. Wong Tou hates the man justifiably as Bryce was responsible for killing his mother and kidnapping his son. The only ones who have respect for him are the devoted Haku warriors, something Bryce clearly doesn’t share, as he has them kill each other in a “ritual” and coldly murders one of his own just to take his gun to fight Ichiban.
His partnership with Ebina is merely pragmatic at best, as it’s clearly obvious the two don’t really like each other much. Ebina even admits to Kiryu that he sees Bryce as nothing more but a power-hungry fool, whereas Bryce worries that Ebina would use Lani against him, and threatens Dwight that it better not be the case.
One could say that he’s friendly and fatherly to children, as he spoke softly with the orphans at Palekana and wanted Wong Tou’s son to be treated with absolute care. But that gets ruined greatly when it’s revealed he’s been training kids to be indoctrinated into his cult. So yeah, like his partnership with Ebina, his friendliness towards children is just for pragmatic reasons.
Other than that, Bryce really has no excuse or any redeeming qualities whatsoever.
Heinous Standards[]
Okay, so the heinous standards are fairly high in this franchise. I mean, we're talking about a franchise that deals with not just murder, but torture, rape, betrayal, blackmail, etc. Not only that, but these villains have either a good amount of resources to commit their deeds, or some small amount of resources that makes them stand out, whether they be Yakuza crime lords, government officials, or just small-time criminals in general, who have no allegiance to anyone but themselves. For example, we have:
- Sohei Dojima, the ruthless patriarch of the Dojima Family and one of the overarching antagonists of the Yakuza Saga and arguably one of the most personal villains in the entire franchise. For starters, Sohei has a high killcount, due to ordering a brutal Chinese immigration raid which left many women and children dead and the Jingweon Mafia Massacre, which left 32 members dead. In Yakuza 0, he allowed Kuze, the Kenno Clan, and Yoneda to torture Tetsu Tachibana, which led to his death, and later had Lao Guai shoot Makoto Makimura, after refusing to hand her over his three captains (she thankfully survived), all so he could take the Empty Lot and become the next chairman of the Tojo Clan. After his defeat in 0, he would go on to rape many drunk women, and even attempt to rape Yumi Sawamura, mainly to spite Kiryu and Shintaro, before he was killed by Nishiki. This act traumatized Yumi, and also led to the events of Yakuza, as his death resulted in Kiryu taking Nishiki’s place and being sent to prison, and also was one of the biggest catalysts behind Nishiki’s descent to villainy.
- Kyohei Jingu, a ruthless and power-hungry politician and one of the main antagonists of Yakuza (and its remake, Kiwami), who had a journalist murdered to keep the existence of his former lover, Yumi and their daughter, Haruka a secret, then tries to have them killed, only for them to be saved by Shintaro Kazama. He's also been doing a money laundering scheme, getting over 10 billion yen in order to fund a mysterious benefactor of his, leading to frame Shun Akiyama, who worked as employee at Touto Bank, for embezzlement and getting him fired and homeless as a result to hide his crime. He also forms an alliance with Akira Nishikiyama and the Omi Alliance, planning to take control of both the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance, while secretly using Nishiki, planning to betray him once he outlived his usefulness. In the finale, he then tries to kill Kiryu, Yumi, and Haruka and to take back the 10 billion yen, succeeding with Yumi, but was ultimately stopped by a reform Nishiki, who sacrifices himself to kill Jingu.
- Futoshi Shimano, the patriarch of the Shimano Family of the Tojo Clan and one of the secondary antagonists of Yakuza (and Kiwami), as well as a major antagonist of Yakuza 0 (specifically being one of the overarching antagonists of Majima’s story). In the past, Shimano ultimately tortured Majima for a year for disobeying Kazuo Shibata, and placed him in Sotenbori under Tsukasa Sagawa’s care as a “human pet”. In Yakuza 0, Shimano was also one of the major contenders of the Empty Lot, manipulating Majima into gaining Makoto Makimura’s trust so he can coax her into giving him the deed for the Lot. Following Sera’s victory of gaining the Lot, Shimano kills the Omi’s Chief of HQ to prove his loyalty to the clan, while having Sagawa frame for it, and as a result, is killed. In Yakuza, he ultimately played a role in causing Nishiki’s villainy, brutally chops offs two of his subordinate’s fingers for failing to collect from Stardust Club, hired the Triad boss, Lau Ka Long, to kidnap Haruka to force her mother, Yumi to give up the 10 billion yen stolen from the Tojo Clan, and assaults Shintaro’s yacht to kill Kiryu, Haruka, Shintaro, and Terada. After being defeated, before being killed by Terada, he tries to kill Haruka to spite Kiryu, by throwing a grenade at her, forcing Shintaro to sacrifice himself to protect her. Oh, and not to mention that he took part in the Jingweon Mafia massacre, killing a few members he came across.
- Ryo Takashima, the Chief Director of the Omi Alliance and one of the masterminds of Yakuza 2 (and its remake, Kiwami 2), who ultimately caused the conflict between the Tojo and Omi, allowing the Jingweon Mafia to 33 bombs around Kamurocho, which would’ve led to countless deaths, kills the fifth chairman, Jin Goda and even his sworn brother, Yukio Terada, stating he had no loyalty to him at all and in the end, ultimately wanted to control the entire yakuza underworld. He’s also responsible for the death of Ryuji Goda, having shot him multiple times, which led to Ryuji’s death, due to losing too much of his blood.
- Yeongmin Ji, also known by his alias, Watru Kurahashi, who is one of the original members of the Jingweon Mafia and the secondary antagonist of Yakuza 2 (and Kiwami 2), being one of the main masterminds behind the 33 bombs Kamurocho, using his cover as Kamurocho Section Chief for Foreign Affairs Division to hide his true identity and affiliation. He assigned Date and Kawara to investigate Stardust, believing that Kazuki was a Jingweon Mafia member. It was revealed that the real Kazuki was abducted and replaced with a duplicate, Jinwu Kang, who planned on bombing Awano Building to kill Kiryu and his allies. Following Jinwu’s failure, Wataru then took Date, the Florist and his staff hostage, forcing Kiryu to come to the Millennium Tower under the threat of killing them. Afterwards, he attempted to explode the bomb that would’ve killed them all, before he was stopped by Kiryu. Before dying, Yeongmin ultimately kills Jiro Kawara, after attempting to kill his daughter, Kaoru.
- Kei Ibuchi, the patriarch of the Ibuchi family of the Tojo Clan and the main antagonist of Majima’s storyline in Yakuza Kiwami 2 (AKA the Dio Brando of Yakuza). Wanting to turn the yakuza underworld into a “modernize yakuza” without any traces of honor and morals, he was willing to cause a war between the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance by having Ryota Kawamura, a gambling addict to murder his fellow Tojo Clan rival, Akinobu Uematsu and an Omi Alliance executive member so he could try to take control of both of the large yakuza organizations. After being defeated by Majima, he gleefully states that war between the Tojo and Omi is brewing fast and shoots himself after spitting Majima. Following this, Majima decided to disband his family as a way to make amends with the Omi Alliance, since Ryota was part of his family (That and because he didn’t trust Terada).
- Seishiro Munakata, the corrupted Deputy Commissioner of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and the main antagonist of Yakuza 4, as well as one of the overarching antagonists of the entire Yakuza Saga, who funded many illegal prisons built to dispose yakuza and political enemies of his, with one of them being Okinawa Penitentiary No. 2, a prison which contained Taiga Saejima and a heavily sadistic prison guard who tortures him and other prisoners. Fun fact, Munakata was actually supposed to receive funding for this specific prison. The funding? 10 billion yen. The same yen Jingu hunted for. So the one responsible for the events of Yakuza besides Sohei? Munakata himself. On personal standards, Munakata is responsible for causing the deaths of Masayoshi Tanimura’s adoptive father, Taigi, and later on, Junji Sugiuchi and Satoshi Hisai, people that Tanimura greatly respected. He then tries to have Hiroaki Arai kidnap or kill Haruka and the orphan children at Morning Glory to force Kiryu to give him the 100 billion yen Akiyama has. Arai refused by shooting Munakata, but it’s revealed that he anticipated this and replaced the bullets with rubber. He then tries to have his enemies killed and to take the money for himself. After being defeated and exposed for his crimes, he tries to kill Akiyama out of spite, but was thankfully saved by a pack of yen. Munakata later commits suicide to avoid punishment for his crimes.
- Isao Katsuragi, the Ueno Seiwa Clan captain, and one of the secondary antagonists of Yakuza 4, as well as one of the overarching antagonists of the entire Yakuza Saga, being responsible for Goro Majima and Taiga Saejima’s dark pasts. Wanting to ascend the ranks of his clan, he plots with Kazuo Shibata, patriarch of the Shibata family, to staging a massacre and framing Saejima for it, by tricking him into shooting 18 men and Chairman Yoshiharu Ueno with rubber bullets, before Katsuragi kills the 18 men with headshots, leaving Ueno alive, so he could become captain. Forced to become one of Munakata’s pawns to prevent the truth of the conspiracy, Katsuragi manipulated Yasuko, Saejima’s sister, into murdering anyone who knew the truth, while having Shibata killed by Arai for blackmailing him. Katsuragi then attempts to kill Masayoshi for trying to discover the truth, while attempting to have his friends and the inhabitants of Little Asia killed to spite him. After kidnapping Saejima and Yasuko, and stealing Akiyama’s 100 billion yen, Katsuragi makes a deal with Kiryu to hand over the file to him so he could blackmail Munakuta, promising to return Saejima, Yasuko, and the 100 billion yen back, only for him to go back on his deal and attempting to kill the heroes, succeeding with Yasuko, but not before she kills him.
- Tsuneo Iwami, AKA “Little Baby Iwami”, the son of Yomei Alliance chairman, Heizo Iwami and CEO of Iwami Shipbuilding and the main antagonist of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. This baby man is responsible for causing the destruction of Little Asia to stage a war with the Saio Triad, having Daigo Dojima, Majima, and Saejima arrested, murdering his father to take control of the Yomei, forcing Someya to fight to death with Kiryu in threat of killing his ex-wife, Kiyomi. Despite Someya committing seppuku to save his former love, Iwami still carry out the threat, leaving the dying Someya in despair (though thankfully, Koshimizu spares Kiyomi and protected her behind Iwami’s back, due to respecting Someya’s last act). In the finale, he tries to kill Haruka and Haruto after Kiryu retaliates, having his ally, Sugai, shoot the two, forcing Kiryu to take the bullet. Even after his defeat, he causes Kiryu misery since he’s forced to fake his death to protect his loved ones. And keep in mind, he did all of this because he had daddy issues.
- Yoji Shono, the Head Researcher of the Advanced Drug Development Center and one of the main antagonists of Judgement, being the creator behind AD-9, a drug that is supposed to cure Alzheimer's Disease. Shono is ultimately responsible for experimenting on numerous people, leading to agonizing and brutal demise. And he’s been doing this for three whole years. On personal standards, Shono is responsible for framing Shinpei Okubo for the murder of Kochi Waku, and once again, framing him for the murder of Emi Terasawa, this time leading to Okubo’s arrest and causing Takayuki Yagami to be a disgraced lawyer. And although he previously did have good intentions, that quickly gets ruin when he commit all those terrible deeds just because he couldn't let anyone else take over his project nor believed that it was destined to fail.
- Mitsuru Kuroiwa, a police detective under the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Organized Crime Identity and one of the main antagonists of Judgement, who’s actually the infamous serial killer known as the Mole (and one of the Like A Dragon most immoral characters yet). Kuroiwa easily stands out among the rest of these guys, as he often kidnaps his victims to let Shono experiment on them, brutally and sadistically murders several people, including Shintani, by gouging out their eyes. He then tries to kidnap Shono to have him complete AD-9 so he can use it to make himself famous, despite his horrible actions. Again, he was a police detective, who turned out to be a sadistic serial killer, and unlike most other Like a Dragon villains, he doesn’t really have much resources, but still stands out due to his brutal murders.
- Kaoru Ichinose, the Vice-Minister of Health and one of the main antagonists of Judgement, being the main benefactor behind AD-9. Kaoru allows Shono to commit his horrible experiments, was the one responsible for contacting Kuroiwa on bringing him various Kyorei Clan members to experiment on and was the one who ultimately had Shintani killed. When about to be defeated, he quickly ordered the death of Kuroiwa, in order to hide his involvement in the Mole’s murders. And unlike Shono, who did have somewhat a Freudian Excuse behind his actions, Ichinose had none and only wanted the project completed so he could become famous and maintain his rank.
- Kyoya Sadamoto, the CEO of Image Interactive and the main antagonist of Lost Judgement DLC: The Kaito Files, being the leader and benefactor of the Crimson Lotus (and just like Iwami and Kuroiwa, this guy is just pure evil). Wanting to gain the Natsume family fortune, he married Mikiko, the eldest of the family, and tricks his right-hand man, Shusuke Kenmochi, into burning the rest of the Natsume family members alive, leading to Kenmochi suffering a massive amount of guilt and PTSD. He later attempts to kill Mikiko after she found out the truth, while killing the founding members of the Lotus with poison at a reunion party, alongside several party guests, all because he wanted to cover his affiliation. He also holds no love for his son, Jun, as he threatened to kill him if Mikiko didn’t kill Kaito. What really makes that disturbing is how he acts like a gleeful businessman celebrating a project gone well. Honestly, this guy shows just how batshit insane he truly is.
- And last but not least, Homare Nishitani III, the third patriarch of the Kijin Clan of the Omi Alliance and the secondary antagonist of Like A Dragon: Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (and in my honest opinion, a disgrace to the original Nishitani, who least had redeeming quantities, such as his honor and love). Nishitani III is a sadistic and psychotic madman who loves to kill, torture, and abuse people without any sense of remorse, including sexual abuse. In this case, he was responsible for torturing Shishido for over a year, torturing and even heavily implied RAPED him. He also one time torture a deserter of the Watase family so badly that Tsuruno was forced to kill him to spare him from the agonizing pain that Nishitani placed him through. Of all the torturers, Nishitani is arguably the worst among them, even more so than Shimano.
So with that list done, how does Bryce compare to them at all? Does he truly pass the heinous standards? Well, my friends, I can easily tell that yes, Bryce can clearly stand out among them, and pass the standards quite easily. Allow me to explain why.
So let me get this outta way when I say this: He does pass the basic standards in this game franchise. He's committed several murders, either directly or indirectly. For example, he's responsible for the assassination of the previous Sage and his wife, then killing the assassin himself after he completed his assignment and was indirectly responsible for the deaths of Kihei Hanakawa and Wong Tou. He also tries to kill Lani (a child, mind you) so he can make sure his position would not be taken over (Although he states that Lani should be brought to him, we can clearly tell he would've easily killed her). Being a heavily dreaded crime lord that rules with an iron fist? an easy check right there. Blackmailing others? No problem there, as he clearly has ways to force others to do as he says.
But I think what really makes him unique and stands out the most is his brainwashing acts. Now granted, he's not the only brainwasher in the game series, but honestly, this guy is a much more terrifying example when it comes to these horrible acts. You see, besides using Palekana for power and wealth, Bryce also uses it to influence his followers into becoming his personal brainwashed zealots. He's been doing this to a lot of people, including children. After their brainwashing is complete, he converts them into becoming his sleeper agents (changing their faces in the process, so they could have different identities) and places them all across Hawaii with an occupation. From gangsters to police to politicians to businessmen, and even civilians. This allowed Bryce to basically take control of Hawaii and it even gave Kasuga and co. a hard time since they could hardly guess which person is a Palekana follower or not. We even see one of these indoctrination acts in person, where we witness Bryce ordering a group of young initiates to shoot down two prisoners, who were blinded and tied to stakes. They kept shooting their corpses til their pistols ran out. And there’s also a “ritual” where he has his followers kill each other as a test of loyalty. Again, this is what he calls "rituals" when in reality, he's influencing them into becoming stone-cold killers (Jesus Christ, this guy is insane).
Keep in mind that he's been doing this for DECADES. Ever since he illegitimately became the Sage, he's been influencing so many innocents into becoming his brainwashed followers, all while deceiving the good people in Palekana and the public by pretending to be a kind and benevolent figure in Hawaii so that nobody suspects him. Could you imagine how many people he's been brainwashing into becoming dangerous killers and sleeper agents with such deluded beliefs that they are doing their crimes for their goddess? Imagine how many people you thought were normal people, but in reality, they’re brainwashed criminals? Yeah, very terrifying.
I also need to mention this: While I did say he completes the basic standards of murder and blackmail, he also adds some uniqueness to that as well. You see, Bryce had been aiding the government leaders and Ebina to store nuclear waste at Nele Island to serve as an international dumping ground when in reality, he's been storing it all for two purposes. The first being that Bryce and Ebina made a deal where Bryce stores the nuclear waste at his island, Ebina would send the yakuza he gathered to the island to force them to work there while the radioactive waste slowly tortures and kills them all with no escape. In other words, this would be mass murder. While this was Ebina's main plan, Bryce still helped by having those waste stores in his island, which would be responsible for the deaths of the former yakuza that would be sent to the island. The second purpose is Bryce's main motivation: he wants to use the nuclear waste as a way to blackmail against the world leaders to gain global influence, which in his own words, would make him become a "God". So yeah, he doesn't just have the basic standards of murder and blackmail, but he's taken those crimes to a unique level.
And one more thing I need to add on before I finish here. During his boss battle, I noticed something that shocked me and made me do more research on every antagonist of this franchise. You see during his boss battle, he can command his followers to charge at Kasuga and his co... with live dynamite. As ruthless and vile as the previous antagonists were, I don't think they never resorted to suicide bombers. And honestly, this may be one of the only villains from the series to use actual people as suicide bombers.
And the fact he did all of these heinous and vile acts just so he could gain power, money, and influence. To become a false “God”. Talk about a sociopath cult leader.
Final Verdict[]
It's your choice, but for me personally, he's a big yes. There's a lot of callous monsters in this franchise (especially in the case of Iwami, Kuroiwa, and Sadamoto), but Bryce right here is definitely the biggest case of being one.