No one died in Yakuza 3

[Foxpass]

Rikiya and Mine are out there somewhere.

[tools guy-kun]

And it’s going to make absolutely zero sense that they end up surviving, only to please the fanbase that loves these characters.

RGG’s going down the rails.

[Foxpass]

Shinji, Reina, Kazama, Nishiki, Terada, Ryuji, Rikiya, Mine, Yasuko, the old Han Joon Gi, they're all tending a bar somewhere. It makes sense!

[Foxpass]

But is there really a big Andre Richardson fan base?

[Valk]

Originally posted by Foxpass:

Rikiya and Mine are out there somewhere.

Nah, they aren't. The only possibility is Ryuji Goda. RGG literally hosted a wake so to speak for a bunch of deceased characters that were not based on a real person's likeness (eg Awano) as a sort of museum exhibit interactive event thing. We can safely assume that based on said wake, all of those characters are dead dead. Ryuji was the only character who should have been present there who was not, and thanks to dead souls and RGG:O, we know that there ARE possible timelines where Ryuji DID survive the end of the game, meaning he could potentially still be alive in the main series, albeit likely is not.

Originally posted by tools guy-kun:

And it’s going to make absolutely zero sense that they end up surviving, only to please the fanbase that loves these characters.

RGG’s going down the rails.

There's a difference between seeing someone die and seeing someone be apparently killed. Shinji and Reina were both found after their deaths, and could be confirmed to be 100% dead. Kashiwagi on the other hand, Kiryu only witnessed him being shot. He could have (albeit unlikely) survived, and would likely end up in a coma. This was in turn the angle they went with. Same for Andre, somewhat. Kiryu only witnesses the two of them fall off the building. Whilst it is unrealistic (mind you so are some of Kiryu's feats), people have sometimes survived falls from ridiculous heights via things like falling onto another person. If Andre landed ontop of Mine, and they in turn landed on something like a tent roof or car, there's a slim possibility of survival, especially with the logic used int he series normally.

The only truly ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ one they've pulled was LKL, as he was quite literally shot in the brain at point blank. Even if he did survive, he'd have some severe damage in there. Think, a broken mental state. He'd be braindead at worst, and potentially wouldn't be able to think for himself or recall memories at best.

And honestly, if it was just for fanservice....why would they pick Kashiwagi, Andre, and LKL? Especially at a point where a lot of the fandom has developed from 0 and 7. I'm not saying that any of the other games are "lesser" titles by any means. I absolutely love 3, and it is one of my faves. Just, really? 3? The black sheep game? And even within 3, there's certainly several more popular characters in there who you'd have thought they'd bring back first if it was fanservice. Namely, Rikiya and Mine. Hell, if Andre could survive the fall, then Mine could survive it instead. But that isn't what happened is it. Really not sure how this is them doing fanservice gone wild.

[tools guy-kun]

Originally posted by Valk:

Originally posted by tools guy-kun:

And it’s going to make absolutely zero sense that they end up surviving, only to please the fanbase that loves these characters.

RGG’s going down the rails.

snipping for space

I just do not see how a man should survive from getting shot down by a literal chopper gatling gun. it just doesn't seem feasible. realistically, he should've been torn apart by whatever hit him. yet the series goes out of its way to keep realism out of it, and finds some excuse to implement whatever magical plot armor they can think of to keep said character(s) alive.

Kiryu, especially, should've died multiple times throughout the series but didn't because he's been the main character for those games.

although the lack of realism is part of the series' charm, it can be really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ from time to time. and these three characters' supposed "deaths" are good examples.

we already talked about Kashiwagi. Andre fell from the top of a tower, and even with Mine holding him, they should've been splat from the impact. and LKL, you said it yourself. the dude should just be dead from getting shot in the head point blank but didn't.

all of these characters should be dead. it doesn't make any sense as to why they should be alive after what they experienced.

as for your question regarding why RGG would keep these characters in particular, I can definitely come up with a solid reason for Kashiwagi, but I scratch my head for the other two.

like you said, the series got a resurgence of players entering the series through 0, and players are already given a chance to meet Kashiwagi and get to know him, even if he didn't have as much screentime. in K1 and K2, he was a bit more involved, and we got to see him as the figure Kiryu respected. so him coming back definitely felt like fan service.

Andre and LKL are just weird choices to bring back, but I'm assuming they did to appease to the veteran players who would recognize them from the get-go.

oh, and play Gaiden. that game was knuckles deep in fan service, so IW isn't the only example of their fanservice gone wild.

[Valk]

Originally posted by tools guy-kun:

Originally posted by Valk:

snipping for space

I just do not see how a man should survive from getting shot down by a literal chopper gatling gun. it just doesn't seem feasible. realistically, he should've been torn apart by whatever hit him. yet the series goes out of its way to keep realism out of it, and finds some excuse to implement whatever magical plot armor they can think of to keep said character(s) alive.

Kiryu, especially, should've died multiple times throughout the series but didn't because he's been the main character for those games.

although the lack of realism is part of the series' charm, it can be really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ from time to time. and these three characters' supposed "deaths" are good examples.

we already talked about Kashiwagi. Andre fell from the top of a tower, and even with Mine holding him, they should've been splat from the impact. and LKL, you said it yourself. the dude should just be dead from getting shot in the head point blank but didn't.

all of these characters should be dead. it doesn't make any sense as to why they should be alive after what they experienced.

as for your question regarding why RGG would keep these characters in particular, I can definitely come up with a solid reason for Kashiwagi, but I scratch my head for the other two.

like you said, the series got a resurgence of players entering the series through 0, and players are already given a chance to meet Kashiwagi and get to know him, even if he didn't have as much screentime. in K1 and K2, he was a bit more involved, and we got to see him as the figure Kiryu respected. so him coming back definitely felt like fan service.

Andre and LKL are just weird choices to bring back, but I'm assuming they did to appease to the veteran players who would recognize them from the get-go.

oh, and play Gaiden. that game was knuckles deep in fan service, so IW isn't the only example of their fanservice gone wild.

Well again with Kashiwagi, it would all depend on where he was shot, and how fast first responders were, aswell as whether it was an off-camera death. Off-camera ones aren't necessarily confirmed dead unless there's solid evidence (eg, Kanda, Shinji, Reina), but dependant on the character's arc, they can signify a death. Nishiki and Mine are the best examples of this. There's a possibility of those two surviving, but their arcs have entirely wrapped up at that point. Their choice to sacrifice their own lives for the sake of protecting someone else is that final flame of their character. In contrast, Kashiwagi was only there to exposition dump essentially, and Andre was basically just there as an antagonistic faction for the climax with no real strong arc.

We do have to bare in mind the fact that Yakuza/LAD is basically "reality turned up to 11" too. A gunshot wound that might be a fatal or near fatal injury in reality is likely not going to be anywhere near as serious in the series. Just look at majima being shot in K1 when he falls into the ocean (an ocean, mind you, where Kiryu can literally catch a shark in the previous entry). By that logic, you could assume that Kashiwagi and Andre basically got the equivalent of a nat 20 roll in order to survive, but that there was no actual reason for them to return to the narrative so they might as well be dead. I get that I'm trying to reason out a retcon, but in my eyes it is at least a line of reasoning which does stand up, compared to mr bullet in the back of the head over there.

And the series has always had a ton of throwbacks in it too, but I don't think its necessarily a bad thing. The substory canon has always been totally wacky with fanservice. Gaiden wasn't particularly more than usual honestly.

If we really want to point fingers at fanservice bringing characters through crazy leaps of logic though, I'd say the biggest offender has by far got to me the two mascots. Why exactly is Onomichio in Yokohama AND Hawaii? Even if he got big in lore its like... Why? Yokohama might make sense sure, but for Robo Michio and co to be living in Hawaii is just...nonsensical. Same for Kamulop.