Summary
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealthshows that the series has a lot of great characters who deserve a chance to have their backstories fleshed out a bit more. FollowingLike a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Show Erased His Name’s example, there is the potential for other smaller titles in the series to take on theLike a Dragon Gaidenname and showcase these characters as the protagonists of their respective games. AfterLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, it’s clear that Masumi Arakawa is the perfect candidate for his ownLike a Dragon Gaidenentry.
Masumi Arakawa is a legendary figure of the Tojo Clan’s old guard in theLike a Dragonseries and is a prominentcharacter in bothYakuza: Like a DragonandLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. While he is mainly known in these titles for being Ichiban Kasuga’s biological father and one of the architects behind the Great Dissolution of the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance, his backstory includes tales of ruthlessness and romance as he fights to protect the woman he loves, Akane. Since most of the information about Arakawa comes from second-hand sources in the series, he deserves the chance to be the protagonist of a futureLike a Dragon Gaidengame.
Masumi Arakawa Deserves His Own Game
With Arakawa being an old man by the timeYakuza: Like a Dragontakes place, it would make sense for aLike a Dragon Gaidengamestarring the character to be a prequel set when he was a younger man. When he first joined the Tojo Clan, Arakawa was involved with the Hikawa Family and was favored by its patriarch until he refused to marry the patriarch’s daughter to pursue his true love, Akane. After massacring the Hikawa Family following their patriarch’s hit on Akane, Arakawa himself became a hitman for the Tojo Clan, earning the nickname “Arawaka the Assassin” and rapidly rising through the Tojo Clan’s ranks thanks to this notoriety.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealthdetails the perfect plotfor this potential Arakawa-ledLike a Dragon Gaidengame, as it tells of the events that led up to Arakawa’s rise to notoriety. Players could get to take on the role of Arakawa as he hunts down the Hikawa Family and interrogates them for information on Akane’s whereabouts before finally confronting the family’s patriarch in a brutal showdown. Gameplay could also be more action-oriented, with Arakawa being a calculated assassin compared to the street fighting styles of Kasuga and Kiryu, allowing the game to develop its own identity.
A Like a Dragon Gaiden Game Featuring Arakawa Would Allow the Series to Explore a New Location
Another big reason why aLike a Dragon Gaidengame featuring Masumi Arakawa as its protagonist makes a lot of sense is the potential for it to introduce a new location for players to explore. InLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, formerArakawa Family Captain Jo Sawashirotells Kasuga that Akane survived the hit put on her by the Hikawa Family by stowing away on a ship bound for the Philippines before eventually returning to her birthplace in Hawaii. As a part of his search for Akane, Arakawa spent time in the Philippines looking for her, meaning the primary setting of thisLike a Dragon Gaidengame could be in the Philippines.
TheLike a Dragonseries has a history of setting its games on tropical islands, withYakuza 3set on the island of OkinawaandLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthtaking players to Hawaii. As such, there is a lot Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio could do with a game set in the Philippines based on elements included in those previous titles. This game could even feature some of the local crime organizations native to the Philippines as antagonists alongside the Hikawa Family, like bothYakuza 3andLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthdo with their respective settings.
