Yakuza Kiwami 2: The Majima Saga

Yakuza Kiwami 2: The Majima Saga Full spoilers for Yakuza 0 and the Majima Saga below. Before moving on from Kiwami 2, I want to cover the Majima Saga separately. This is its own little campaign, and there are two different things going on in it. One is the story of how Majima ends up leaving the Tojo Clan and moving into construction. The other goes back to something that started with Makoto in Yakuza 0. That's also why I wouldn't play this just because it unlocks. If you haven't played 0 yet, you're missing a lot of what makes the reunion mean anything. You can follow the murder investigation without that background. But the part with Makoto depends on knowing what happened between them and why she doesn't recognize the man standing right in front of her. The story takes place in February 2006, between the first game's events and Kiwami 2's main story. Terada is running the Tojo Clan, and the captain position has become tied to how much money the families can bring in. Uematsu and Ibuchi are pushing for power. Majima gets pulled into the situation, Uematsu ends up dead, and then Kawamura, one of Majima's own men, becomes involved in something much bigger than Majima initially realizes. The investigation takes him back to Sotenbori. That means going back to the Grand, back to places connected to his old life, and eventually back to Makoto. And the important thing about that reunion is that she has a life now. She's married. She has a child. She's getting ready to move overseas with her family. Her life didn't stop after Yakuza 0, and this isn't a scene where she suddenly drops everything because Majima comes back. He knows who she is. She doesn't know who he is. She talks about the person who helped her years earlier, and she still regrets that she never got to thank him. Majima is right there hearing that. He could tell her. He could give her the answer she's been missing. Instead, he lets her talk without making the moment about himself. The watch is a huge part of that. She still has it, but the strap isn't the original one. It's a small thing compared with everything that happened to them, but it carries years of history. Later, when she's leaving with her family, she opens the gift containing a matching replacement strap. That's when she understands who her customer was. So she does get an answer. He just gives it to her in a way that lets her keep moving forward with the life she already has. There's a difference between a character caring about someone and a story deciding that means they have to end up together. This doesn't force that second part. Makoto's husband and child aren't treated like obstacles that need to disappear so Majima can have his turn. They're her family. She's happy, and he doesn't try to take that away from her. Meanwhile, the other side of the campaign gets uglier. Kawamura's debts are used against him, Ibuchi is manipulating the situation, and the violence threatens to turn into a much bigger conflict between the Tojo and the Omi. Majima ends up taking responsibility for what happened under his family. Dissolving it helps prevent the situation from escalating, and it leads into the construction business we see in Kiwami 2. That gives this little campaign a specific place in the series. It fills in the gap around Majima's change in circumstances, but it also returns to a relationship that didn't have a simple ending in 0. The playable part is much smaller than Kiryu's campaign. There are three chapters, a stripped-down version of Majima's fighting style, some optional street bosses, and a way to send money back to Kiryu. It isn't another full game hidden inside Kiwami 2. But Makoto's part doesn't need another full game to say what it needs to say. She gets to know that the person who helped her is still out there. Majima gets to see the life she was able to build. And the story lets them have that without pretending all those years between them never happened.