Yall warned me... yall really warned me... I took them into consideration and I still was not ready for what went down. I cried a little more than I did playing 0. LOL Just like my posts about Yakuza 0, here and here, my thoughts will be kinda scattered.

Tagging u/ElroyCrabs u/SoujiZone u/genericmediocrename since you guys read through my last post. :) Hope you enjoy this one too!!

First, Nishiki. Omg. I was in so much pain. I was so sad seeing his downfall. His whole life is just so, so sad. I wished during the fight with him that Kiryu had said stuff that would have shown how much Nishiki meant to him as Nishiki has said it to him... If only people didn't keep rubbing it in his face how much they preferred Kiryu/The Dragon of Dojima.. I know he never really hated Kiryu but seeing him break like that hurt so much to see. The flashbacks during the final fight hurt so much to see. I can't believe he's really gone. And the way he went crushed me.

Second, Haruka is SO CUTE!!! Omg. Leave it to Kugimiya Rie!! She always does super adorable kid voices. She's such a mature girl. The way Kiryu described her about her searching for her mom all her own etc (I can't remember the exact words) made my heart swell. His relationship with her was so sweet. I was really pleased with how she was handled; my most favorite kid characters in games are from the Tales series so I was really glad she wasn't annoying. She was so easy to get attached to! I can't wait to see her grow throughout the series. Must protect her at all costs! When she sings "Shangri-la! Shangri-la!" my heart melted!! So adorable!

As for the others, I did NOT expect, again, so many deaths. I was so distraught over Reina. I shipped her and Nishiki really hard while playing 0 even though I could tell Nishiki wasn't into her. I was so sad over her betrayal but knew it was her right away. And Shinji crushed my soul. He was so good for the short amount of time he was in the game. And that's it?!?!?! No more Kazama?!?!?!?!?1 I thought he was gonna be someone present in the whole series or (initially, like when I started the series) be the final boss at one point. I can't believe this. And he killed Kiryu's parents!!! I was surprised and not surprised at the same time LOL I was really sad about Sera dead too. For how short he was in 0, I considered him the MVP. (lol)

Date was awesome. I was so glad he survived until the end. Same for The Florist. Omg the sidequest with those two with who is a BAD-boy had me dying. I was also so relieved those two were good people until the very end. Oh, and I also enjoyed The Florist's sidequest with his son even though it was pretty cliche.

Majima.. I don't know what to say (lmao). He was hilarious at times but also a little annoying. I can't really figure out what's going through his head. That's probably why I got kinda frustrated with him. I hope to see him play a bigger roles in Kiwami 2 or later on in the series!

I noticed most of the sidequests were mainly just fights and they were very short! But still enjoyable! The sidequest finder machine thing was so useful, I'm surprised it wasn't in 0! (Or was it and I didn't unlock it?) I wished we coulda seen Kiryu perform at the banana bar (lmao) or be a host for a sidequest. That would have been SO fun. I was very happy to see returning NPCs, like the Pocket Circuit characters! I was a little disappointed the sushi chef didn't recognize Kiryu, though.

The music was solid! There were some banger tracks!! 0 was definitely more atmospheric... or I only think that because I played late at night and had to keep the volume down. Also, that first track you can sing to in karaoke? That was CRUEL. My heart when it was basically a slideshow of Kiryu and Nishiki... I got a terrible first score because I couldn't concentrate. Why did they have to show so many close-ups? Just tear my heart out why don't you!!

Can we just talk about how good Kiryu is, though? He's I think shot up to my top 3 fav protags of all time. He's so good. He's not perfect, but man is he great. Holy smokes. Also I was a little surprised he was also in love with Yumi, like I felt slight vibes but wasn't sure. And how did they all except the obvious aforementioned survive that explosion? Ha. Also for some reason I wasn't surprised he turned down being the head but I'm not sure if that was a good idea...

Weirdly enough if the Yakuza series ended here I think I would have been satisfied albeit have a couple unanswered questions. I'm VERY curious where it goes from here on out. I do know that Yakuza was meant to end many times. Overall, I very much enjoyed Kiwami 1 and am gonna start 2 right now!!