Kazuma Kiryu



Kazuma Kiryu is the main protagonist of the first six Yakuza games.

Appearance
Kiryu usually wears a loose fitting suit jacket and matching pants, with a half buttoned up shirt underneath. In his youth, he kept his hair short but started growing it out a little by the age of 27 putting it back in a messy slick back style, as well as growing a goatee beard.

Under his outfit, Kiryu has a large dragon tattoo that covers nearly all of his back. In Yakuza 0 only the outline has been inked, but by the time Yakuza happens it has full color. He has a muscular build thanks to his daily life of getting into fist fights, and heavy lifting rather than any specific training to increase his muscle mass.

Kiryu has been described as having both a handsome and scary face, and he usually walks around with some kind of scowl, although this is just his natural resting face rather than an attempt to look menacing.

History
Kiryu lost both his parents at a young age thanks to the involvement of Shintaro Kazama, a hitman for the Tojo Clan's Dojima family. Regretting that his actions had orphaned the boy, Shintaro raised Kiryu himself opening up the Sunflower Orphanage, where he would finance the upbringing and raising of the children of his victims to atone for his sins.

Kiryu met his best friend here Akira Nishikiyama as well as his childhood crush Yumi Sawamura. As Kiryu and Akira grew up, they began to idolise Shintaro, seeing him as their role model and following him into the Yakuza, despite Shintaro's protests.

Kiryu accidentally botches a meeting between Shintaro and the Jingweon Mafia, believing the leader was attempting to kill Shintaro. As a result he attempts to attack the boss, who in retaliation attempts to take the then 12 year old Kiryu's life. Shintaro, who had been there to warn the Jingweon boss of Dojima's plan to assasinate them, is forced to shoot the boss before he can kill Kiryu, signalling the Dojima family to come in and assassinate the rest of the mafia's members.

By 1988, Kiryu is a low ranking member of the Dojima Family, working as a debt collector. During a normal debt collection, Kiryu roughs up a man in an empty lot, beating him bloody, but alive and taking the money. The following day Kiryu is shocked to hear that the man has died. Killing a civilian, even a debt owing one is strictly forbidden, and Kiryu is called into the Dojima HQ to discuss his options.

Here he discovers the man was killed by gunshot. Kiryu, who naturally dislikes the use of guns to begin with, pleads his innocence to the three Lieutenants of the Dojima Family. They request Kiryu hands himself in to the police, and seeking to take advantage of this situation they also claim the blame will fall on Shintaro Kazama, who is currently serving a different prison sentence, since he was the one to bring Kiryu in to the family. They clearly have their own reasons for wanting Shintaro gone and are using this incident to try and dispose of him too.

Refusing to let Shintaro take the fall, Kiryu sets out to try and get expelled from the family for this error, thus meaning as a non family member it is no longer the Dojima Family's problem.

Trivia

 * Kiryu shares his birthday with Yakuza's creator, Toshihiro Nagoshi
 * Kiryu is weak to ice attacks in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. This could be due to either dragons being weak to ice moves(due to their cold blood) or because the core mechanic is referred to as heat, with Kiryu becoming weaker when it 'cools down'.
 * Kiryu dislikes the use of guns, and his first instinct when fighting zombies in Yakuza: Dead Souls is to beat them in a bare knuckle fight.
 * Kiryu despite being a Yakuza, refuses to harm women and children.
 * It is because of this that Kiryu did not appear in fighting games as a guest character such as Tekken 7 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
 * Joker/The Protagonist from Persona 5 dresses up as Kiryu in Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight.
 * Kiryu appears as a guest character in Binary Domain alongside Goro Majima, Ryuji Goda and Shun Akiyama.
 * Kiryu also appears in SEGA Heroes alongside Goro Majima, Shun Akiyama and Taiga Saejima representing the Yakuza franchise.
 * Kiryu appears as one of the guest characters in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania.