Like A Dragon’s Kiryu Continues To Break An Odd JRPG Convention

Despite being one of the longest-running action RPG series from Japan, the Like A Dragon franchise avoids one of the iconic JRPG tropes with its hero Kazuma Kiryu. Typical JRPG protagonists are very young, often teenagers thrust into dangerous situations, where their heroic growth doubles as a coming-of-age story. Sega also publishes the Persona series, which takes place in the modern era, like the Yakuza/Like A Dragon games, but centers on high schoolers battling supernatural threats. Like A Dragon avoids science fiction and supernatural elements, but it is more noteworthy for its hero being a mature adult, as Kiryu is currently in his 50s in the game’s timeline.

The recently released Like A Dragon Gaiden game brilliantly bridges the gap between the mainline Yakuza: Like A Dragon and the upcoming Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth. In the original Yakuza, later remade as Yakuza Kiwami, Kiryu is introduced as a 27-year-old member of the Dojima crime family, but circumstances force him to spend ten years in prison; thus he is age 37 for the majority of the game. Kiryu was born in 1968, and the Yakuza games advanced their timeline to roughly correspond with their release years. This places Kiryu at about age 50 during Like A Dragon Gaiden, and 55 in Infinite Wealth.

Typical JRPG Casts Are Youth-Oriented To An Absurd Degree

Since Yakuza: Like A Dragon introduced both a new turn-based JRPG battle format and a new protagonist, some might have seen it as a chance for the series to add a much younger hero, but Like A Dragon does not conform to many JRPG norms. The new hero Ichiban Kasuga, is 24 in the earliest chapter of Yakuza: Like A Dragon, but he endures an 18-year prison sentence and is age 42 for the bulk of the game. Ichiban is five years older in his debut game than Kiryu was in the original Yakuza, showing the series eschews the stereotypical youthful protagonist.

As confirmed in the Infinite Wealth demo provided with Like A Dragon Gaiden, Like A Dragon 8’s characters include both Ichiban and Kiryu, the established Yakuza series leads, as well as new allies. The two protagonists teaming up is exciting, but it is not exactly a passing of the torch to a terribly younger generation since Kiryu is about 56, and Ichiban is 46 as of Infinite Wealth. The Like A Dragon developers made a willful choice to set the franchise apart from the norm for JRPGs, not just in its grounded world and content but in its choice of “grown-ups” as its heroes.

The Like A Dragon games are not the only JRPGs to feature older protagonists, but it is certainly the longest-running franchise to do so. Nier Replicant, developed for the Xbox 360, featured a father named Nier, who ages from 39 to 44 during the game’s story. While many JRPGs do include older characters as party members, the presence of ageism in such games is evident. Final Fantasy 7’s Cid, the quintessential version of the reoccurring character, seems to embody the “cranky old man” archetype present in many JRPGs, but the character is only 32-years-old. The bulk of JRPG titles are youth-oriented to the point of absurdity.

Most JRPGs Depict People In Their 30s As Older Mentor Figures

Games like Final Fantasy 8 and the Trails of Cold Steel series center on teenagers who are part of elite military academies, deployed into battle as underage soldiers by modern standards. Most JRPG protagonists are in their teens or early 20s, and allies portrayed as older mentor figures are often surprisingly young. Final Fantasy 10’s Auron, another iconic grizzled and jaded elder figure, is only 35. This makes Ichiban, a character portrayed with a naïve a youthful energy, who is in his 40s, a unique aberration for the genre. Ichiban may be borderline delusional, thanks to his Dragon Quest fixation, but he bucks the trend for JRPGs.

It makes sense for established figures in the world of organized crime to have put in the time to earn their rank and status. Interestingly, both Kiryu and Ichiban lost large chunks of their youth to prison time due to their loyalty to the yakuza, with Kiryu spending about a decade in prison and Ichiban closer to two decades. There have been some positive steps to improve JRPG renditions of age-appropriate heroes outside of Like A Dragon. Final Fantasy 16’s Clive outdoes Cloud, as the story sees Clive at various points in his life from age 15 to 33, where an earlier JRPG might have left him as a 15-year-old.

One could argue that JRPGs set in medieval-style fantasy worlds might reflect some historical accuracy, with eras where people had to grow up hard and fast to survive. This is rarely depicted realistically in JRPGs, however. More accurately, most JRPGs aim to capture the vibe of high schoolers going on adventures that happen to involve the fate of the world, putting them closer in tone to media like Stranger Things than the Song of Ice and Fire novels. It is hard to find many JRPG heroes who are over age 30, but it is incredibly easy to fill a list with protagonists who are not old enough to vote.

Like A Dragon Stands Out Among JRPGs For Focusing On Adults

The tone and subject matter of Like A Dragon certainly demands older characters since it deals with real-world crime and violence. Drinking alcohol is a routine element of the series, and Like A Dragon Gaiden’s newest gimmick involves Kiryu patronizing cabaret clubs where he interacts with live-action “hostesses” in a flirting mini-game. The same trend holds true in the spinoff series Judgment, as Yagami is initially 35 and 38 years old in Lost Judgment, an appropriate age for a skilled lawyer turned private detective. Not every adventure story needs to be a coming-of-age story, but few JRPGs seem to understand this.

Seeing the silver-haired, 55-year-old Kiryu still delivering brutal beatdowns in the Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth demo may seem odd to those used to more conventional JRPG heroes. In truth, the high-schoolers of Persona 4 who unmask a serial killer, or the myriad JRPG parties of teenagers who face off with dark gods and save the world, should seem stranger than a dedicated martial artist who retains the ability to throw a punch in his 50s. The JRPG genre has trained its audience to expect unrealistically young heroes, making Like A Dragon a breath of fresh air simply for featuring adults fighting adults.