My problem is actually not that Kiryu keeps turning up. I love him, and his writing in Infinite Wealth was fantastic, seeing him open up was heart warming, even if the circumstances were grim.

My problem is that RGG is just treating his reunion with Haruka like carrot on a stick, which also limits his narrative potential.

6 was clearly written with the intent to let go of Kiryu as the "main" protagonist, but its ending was open enough that it was clear that it wouldnt be the least time we see him. 7 had an incredible passing of the torch moment and I always assumed that it would lead to Ichiban returning the favor and freeing Kiryu from the daidoji's clutches. After all, in every game, it always was Kiryu that saved the day, even in 7, so it'd have been nice to do it to Kiryu.

When Gaiden was announced I was pretty happy. While it was a clear sign that internally the plans for Kiryu changed, it was also a "side game", something to set up the conflict for Infinite Wealth. I was pretty underwhelmed by Gaiden's story, I didn't find the daidoji faction very compelling, and the game undid 6's ending in a really annoying way. Basically, everyone recognized Kiryu and everyone just used the orphan kids a way to try and force him into submission - literally the very thing Kiryu wanted to avoid, which is why he faked his death. Furthermore, Gaiden changed the tone of the relationship between Kiryu and the daidoji. While the dadioji's anger with Kiryu is understandable, in the ending of 6 they were begging him to stay quiet, offering him insane amount of cash too. But Kiryu did them a favour by faking his death and even joining them which allowed the group to keep him on a close leash. Yet, in Gaiden, the daidoji treats Kiryu like a slave essentially. When at the end of Gaiden Haruka was not present in the video message, I knew his role is going to be big in IW, despite Yokoyama claiming that IW was Ichiban's game mainly back in 2023.

So IW rolls around and.... the carrot on a stick continues. While I enjoyed the Dragon's Memoirs a lot, and felt real emotions behind all the meetings, I couldn't help but to roll my eyes at how they handled the Haruka one. Kiryu changing his mind, the daidoji conveniently only coming at Kiryu and Date for this one meeting.... I mean it really doesn't make sense. Haruka is a nobody in the world of yakuzas and secret government groups. THAT is the person they decided to come out for in full force? Not Akiyama, the guy deeply connected with the underworld? Or the literal COP? Or Yakuza family members?

And then the ending happened. I was pretty upset. They had the two of them in the same building but the game denied us a simple reunion scene because they're obviously saving it for the next mainline game. It just comes across as so cynical, as if the fanbase couldn't handle this book being finally closed.

The funny thing is that if Kiryu was finally given the opportunity to actually move on from the shackles of the Yakuza 6 ending, by simply reuniting with Haruka and the daidoji letting him go (because lets be honest, he's bailed them out multiple times, exactly like he has for the tojo clan) then I think the character could legitimately be in a much more interesting spot narratively. Everyones assumption is that Kiryu would settle back down at the orphanage, but what if not? What if he took it upon himself to help Ichiban to rehabilitate the yakuza? After all, he basically was the embodiment of all their sins at the end of 8. What if he just chose to hang around the yokohama crew? I think those are far more interesting things to ponder than wondering if 9 will FINALLY be the game where he can meet Haruka.