RGG Summit Summer 2023 was a thoroughly fun, if not especially informative showcase from RGG Studio to discuss more of brawler spinoff game Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name and turn-based RPG Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (formerly called Like a Dragon 8). Most of the information discussed reiterated details that had already been leaked or revealed in previous trailers, but RGG Studio representative and executive producer Masayoshi Yokoyama did reveal a new story cinematic scene between Kazuma Kiryu and Ichiban Kasuga in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth where they discuss a failed marriage proposal — and there’s an implication that maybe Kiryu isn’t a virgin?
New Like a Dragon Gaiden and Infinite Wealth Story Details at RGG Summit Summer 2023
Let’s back up a little. The cast of Like a Dragon Gaiden, a game starring Kiryu set between the events of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, showed up to discuss their experience recording for the game, including Takaya Kuroda (Kazuma Kiryu), Yasukaze Motomiya (Kosei Shishido), Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi (Yuki Tsuruno), First Summer Uika (Akame), and, via prerecorded video message, Kim Jaeuck (Homare Nishitani). If “Homare Nishitani” sounds familiar, that’s because a key character had that name in Yakuza 0, but this Nishitani is a new character who inherited the name as the third patriarch of the Kijin Clan.
The main location in Like a Dragon Gaiden will be the familiar locale of Sotenbori, but Yokohama will also appear. There is also the previously revealed new location of the Castle, which, it was clarified, is different from the crazy castle that appeared in Yakuza 2.
Talking about Like a Dragon Gaiden, Kiryu actor Kuroda declared, “The story is incredible.” He was so appreciative Kiryu’s story did not end at Yakuza 6 because of how strong the story is here.
Segueing into Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, a turn-based RPG that will feature Kiryu and Ichiban as dual protagonists, Kuroda said its story is “beyond imagination,” and you basically will not be able to predict the trajectory of the story’s events at all. And talking about the previously released trailer where Ichiban wakes up naked on a beach, Executive Producer Yokoyama said that Ichiban’s Like a Dragon games will probably always begin with him having to start from the bottom again and work his way back up. He was thrown away in a garbage dump in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, so this time he’s been thrown on the beach in a foreign country. Which country it is has not been confirmed yet, but many people presume it is the United States.
Yokoyama played coy about what locations will feature in the game, but he heavily implied that both Isezaki Ijincho in Yokohama and this foreign country will be playable in-game locations. He also confirmed that the beach trailer was not something created just for promotion; it is indeed an in-game cinematic that they humorously chose to repurpose as a trailer.
A New Infinite Wealth Scene with Heartbreak, a Failed Marriage Proposal for Ichiban, and Kiryu Maybe Not Being a Virgin
In the home stretch of RGG Summit Summer 2023, Yokoyama revealed an exclusive new cinematic for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, where Ichiban opens up to Kiryu about how he just failed with a marriage proposal — to Saeko of all people! Apparently his proposal sucked so much that Saeko got furious and he had to apologize. Ichiban thinks about asking Kiryu for advice, but then he decides Kiryu probably isn’t a “ladies’ man.” To this, Kiryu responds, “Well, give me some credit… I’ve been around a few times.”
Does that mean sex? Granted, okay, Kiryu is literally in his 50s at this point (albeit with the chiseled body of a Greek god). One would think he’s “been around a few times” by now. However, Yokoyama has said in the past — as just his personal opinion as opposed to canon fact — that he believed Kiryu is a virgin. Maybe Infinite Wealth canon plans to put the kibosh to all that.
In any case, silly high school lunchtime subject matter aside, Kiryu then offers up a much bigger revelation — he himself has apparently proposed to someone before. The Infinite Wealth cinematic does not reveal to whom he offered the proposal, but one might speculate it was Kaoru Sayama, his major love interest in Yakuza 2 who moved away to the United States at the beginning of Yakuza 3. (It seems unlikely that he proposed to Yumi Sawamura, Kiryu’s original love that died in Yakuza.) If that proves to be the case, could Ichiban meet Sayama in America in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth? Oh baby.
We’ve cued up the new Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth cinematic scene between Ichiban and Kiryu with the marriage proposal story discussion below. However, it is important to note that Yokoyama specified that this scene does not reflect what the overall story of the game is about, and Infinite Wealth is not a love story.
If you have theories about these games, let us hear them, and tell us where you fall in the critically important (not really) debate over whether Kiryu is a virgin. Oh, also, RGG Summit Fall 2023 is officially confirmed, likely to air this September, with more news on both Like a Dragon Gaiden and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
