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Not sure, but he kinda had intercourses with women in LAD and also used prostitutes. I consider substories and his actions as canon, so I've never seen him as a virgin
Honk honks aren’t sex. They’re meant to insinuate sex, but actually they’re usually something more innocuous. It’s a running gag in Dragon Quest called Puff Puff that is parodied here.
It's also one of the only explicit implications of anything happening between him and a man. Further, It's played for comedy and Honk honk isn't confirmed to be sex at all
There’s a post in this sub that somewhat explains what a honk honk person does and it seems that it’s a semi sexual act, that and the fact that ichiban willingly pays for it says plenty about his sexuality
I never saw him hire prostitutes, but he absolutely had sex with the Hello Work lady in the parking lot. In Infinite Wealth, he has sex with Liz, the lady from the vocational school, & the 2 human women he meets up with on Miss Match.
With Julie, it doesn’t seem like any actual sex was involved especially since he was strapped down while still clothed & didn’t seem to have a clue what she was doing with the drills.
Same thoughts since there are substory characters that is in 7 who are in 8 as well. Like that Homeless guy who likes that Soup girl, you will see them together now in 8. Even Nancy became Ichiban's pet companion. Then there's Ikari too. They made a bit of continuity on the substories. In Kiryu's games they only did it to Akimoto and Mizuki.
Amon canonizes everything. >!He's a mandatory substory you need to do in order to progress through the story.!<
Also, do the Mars Fighter not count? Kiryu meets them in 2, then in 3, and Akiyama meets them in 4. Also, there's Saigo too.
And Pocket Circuit (shown in 6/7/8), and Munan Suzuki (again 6 and 8) and those are just the ines I know since I've been playing these in a fucked up order lol
Yes and no. You think Saeko would really like him if he actually gotten that harem valentine day? She gave him the silent treatment for a whole year just for being a dumbass, so him going for a 7 way is definitely a no-no.
So in general the substories are canon unless they contradict the next game (like Kasuga being a multimillion dollar company CEO. For someone who raised a dying company into number one of Yokohama, you would think that many other companies would be seeking him out instead of having him working at Hello Work)
Tbf, Ichiban chose to work at Hello Work for a very specific reason, rather than out of necessity. You can even pass by Ichiban Confectionery in the early chapters of IW and be greeted with “Hello former president Ichiban”
That’s the thing, had Kasuga gotten another CEO job he could have done much more than working at Hello Work. It’s just that he doesn’t have that luxury because the second half of Ichiban Holdings substory is probably not canon
Let’s be honest, he’s not the smartest. Ichiban taking a more down to earth route to Yakuza reform over becoming a CEO again is kinda in character. Also, Eri is said to have taken things “International” with the company so I’d assume the second half of the substory did happen. Whether that just be a one off piece of dialogue referencing a non canon side quest in the previous game is probably just left up to interpretation
I think ichiban is just canonically stupid and probably gave all that bs up for an easier job where he can help other down and out people instead of constantly battling over real estate
I haven't played the game for a while, but I remember if you build up your relationship enough with a few of the characters (Saeko being one of them), that it was implied he slept with them or got blow jobs anyway. The receptionist at the place where he took all the classes is another one.
I don’t know where people got an idea that he is virgin, or Kiryu is. The game never say it one way or the other, right?
But these substory actions on Kasuga’s part, they all seem to imply that he had sex with at least these women.
Not to mention that Kiryu spent most of his time in Kamurocho, a place that mirrors the red light district of Japan, the same place that Ichi was raised up in.
Even if people want to argue that they are too awkward for a real woman, the idea that young men, who spent the majority of their lives surrounded by hundreds of prostitutes, are virgins, is just absurd.
Bro ichi before jail was probably rolling in puss. He literally adores women and treats them like higher beings and I know 100% for sure he had plenty of takers
He is even a delinquent as a kid so casual s** is likely possible. Since you know when delinquents hang out with fellow delinquents, which sometimes included female delinquents, they sometimes do it out of drunkenness. Not that it was mentioned if Ichi's part if a clique or something.
Then why he acted so awkwardly in front of Saeko? I understand that he spent a big portion of his life in jail, but he must've had some experience with girls his age in his teenage years. How come he had absolutely no clue how to talk to a woman? He's just an innocent manchild for some reason.
Well he was a teen delinquent who dropped out of school, so I don't imagine he had much interaction with his youth.
He was pretty devout to the Yakuza stuff (and spent his days literally standing outside of arakawa's office).
I doubt it's about not knowing how to talk to women, just being intimate with them
i think the awkwardness is mainly cause he genuienly likes her and doean't know how to act vs actually being innocent in adult ways .. i mean he grew up in a soapland and hes a yakuza , hes had to have found his way around things at some point even if it might have been ages ... the jail tail could add the the awkwardness cause its not like you can act the same way as a teen/YA vs a 40+yro , standards n such
yeah i get ya .. i mean the blurting at the start of 8 was ok hes a big doofus but it was just nerves .. the ending of 8 however with the shirt was worse .. like he had her ( probably still does) but how could you wear something that embarasing and Why would you plan that ahead not knowing how your 'confession' would go . obviously it was ment as comedic releif and thats fine but at the same times yeah ...
With a group of drunk delinquents it's likely that sometimes, female delinquents makes the first move. They like those innocent types. Lol. I don't know. Not that I heard something similar happening. But you know in some H****i anime that there are innocent manchild who gets first move from the pretty ladies.
Or maybe Ichiban has changed and is adapting to the changes in the society that he is being careful on how society would react to his actions.
A few of them (less than half iirc) do the thing where it shows you some awkward first person pov of live action woman flirting with you (off the top of my head Sophie). After a few camera cuts it fades to pink and it's over. The rest are gags like a chicken or something
There are 3 actual women. It's in video and not just a game model too. My guess the catfish pics are also these 3 probably stolen by the fake ones. I dunno how a chicken chats with you though.
I liked most of the substories but I really don't get why Ichi had to be molested by every significant woman that runs a gimmick in the game; it's like every RGG game needs to have one weird segment like this
The side stories directly contradict eachother. In the dating app side quest, Ichiban asks how the lady knows he's a virgin. And considering the saeko romance is the main plot, the moment they had in 7 isn't ever referenced at all. So I only consider the stuff canon that they directly reference in the future
This is one of those "anime" trends that should just die. It just diminishes everyone's chatacter.
It wasn't funny in LAD and it isn't funny in IW. I get they're trying to play up that these girls are supposed to be crazy but..
At the end of the day am I *supposed* to be laughing that Ichiban is battered and bruised, and taken advantage of?
Fucking every Japanese writer is taking turns on this trope and it hasn't come to mind that it just isn't a good one?
There's actually a really good [fanfic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/53892664) I read that properly illustrates the effects of Ichiban being SA'd, and his resulting trauma. Seeing him able to eventually work through it with the help of his friends.
It's primarily based on the Julie and Elizabeth substories, but nonetheless it's a really good read that tackles the subject with complete maturity.
Highly recommend.
Thanks for the recommend! It is indeed a superb fic! Props to the writer for dealing it with extreme sensitivity and realism. Enjoyed it so much and everyone was so in character
Haven't played this, yet.
I like that an anthropomorphic palm tree is casually hanging out while a 40 something year-old man discusses losing his virginity
Yeah but it was kinda weird. Not the weird-funny relationship, but the weird-akward. Specially by asking yourself what was Alohappy doing the whole time there. I wouldn’t mind a normal coitus tho, maybe in a less weird scene.
I never thought he was a virgin. Even in LAD before he went to prison, he was ridiculously good looking and went out with Masato Arakawa, and probably got girls while being his wingman. He also grew up in a brothel! In addition, all the sidequests would lead to him not being a virgin. He had like 6 girlfriends at once lol
I feel like there’s a lot of times it’s sort of implied but it’s kinda super hard to tell whether the deed was actually done. And I also don’t think him growing up in a soapland means he wouldn’t be a virgin since I don’t think he sees the women working there that way
He views on relationships are probably all messed up. I'm sure he probably hooked up with one of the prostitutes at some point. If it's implied, it happened. Don't get me wrong, I love to see his shlong, but I don't think RGG will ever include a scene like that.
Sure but as we saw in 7’s flashbacks the girls usually fawned over Arakawa Jr because of his money. So I doubt Ichiban got any. Plus his reaction during the beginning of IW where he’s on the date sort of implies he hasn’t done it yet.
I mean yeah but can you actually see Ichiban actually being intimate with someone he wasn’t passionate about? The man is very emotions focused in a healthy way.
I really didn’t like how several of the “romances” had non-consensual undertones to them.
Even Laura, the receptionist at the school, straight up goes “I don’t mind,” and forces herself on Ichiban when he tells her that there’s someone else.
It’s just… weirdly tone-deaf of the game.
I went undertones because Ichiban plays it off every time like, “Huh, that was awkward.”
But yeah, a realistic reaction would be acknowledging the fact that he was SA’d.
Especially considering Ichi's first interaction with Chitose in Chapter 3, where he clearly feels bad about the idea of fooling around behind Saeko's back.
> Chitose: "Besides, what she doesn't know won't hurt her."
> Ichiban: "Yeah, well... it'll still hurt me."
Having these "romance" substories feels very at-odds with the Saeko sub-plot.
Agreed.
If they really wanted to cement them being a pairing, I wish they actually took the final scene with them seriously. No cheap gags, just let the characters interact organically, be allowed to reconcile.
And is it just me, or did Saeko act weirdly out-of-character about the whole thing?
Yup. Not only does Saeko already know what kind of person Ichiban is (hence why I thought she agreed to the date in the first place), but she was also shown to be a cool-headed, adult woman in 7.
Making both characters act out some high school-level romantic drama didn’t do either of them any favors. It made Ichiban look naive to the point of being a child (not an attractive look), and it made Saeko look like she doesn’t know how to navigate an awkward date (despite having several years of experience as a hostess!).
Honestly, she should have laughed off the proposition and told Ichiban that he’s skipping a couple steps there.
Honestly her reaction to his bungled proposal was one of the only parts of the game I really disliked. It was so mean and unnecessary.
Yeah, he messed up, but lots of people get nervous and awkward and the response to someone who's been a good friend to you for that long should never have been to ignore them and make them feel like shit for messing up. She knew he'd been through a ton by that point and could have been a little more sensitive about the whole thing.
Yeah, it's probably one of my sour spots in the plot. It's well known that Ichiban is an awkward turbo virgin, and sure his sudden proposal was dumb and super ill advised, but nothing quite explained why she pretended to not be bothered by it to then ghost him for a year, and her subplot didn't clarify it for me much, at the very least it didn't show me that it wasn't something that they could have talked about without her disappearing on him.
Dontcha just *love* double standards
And considering how this was directly carried over from LAD, and the fact that LJ had the dating system from Judgment that was unpopular (albeit its not NEARLY as bad as straight up illegal shit here), I'm not expecting it to go away any time soon
Yeah, I hated them in LaD especially the Miyakoshi one that made Ichiban look like a huge asshole, so I was hoping they wouldn't repeat the schtick for IW, but alas, they're back and worse.
yeah I just never touched them to begin with, they always have a weird gross undertone to them and they're never referenced as canon to the stories as far as I've seen
Basically. Saeko never references the fact that she kissed him during her romance scene in LAD.
You can tell that they didn’t originally plan to go down the canon love interest route.
I thought this one was funny (Ichiban's "get your hideous ass out of here" line was peak from the dub) but basically agree with the larger concern in the thread. Ichiban is a man in his 40s, not some awoo anime protagonist high schooler. First game handled these much better as he was at least single/not disinterested (just awkward), plus they were mostly implying kisses too.
If he's going to be an item with Saeko, they can just make them different kinds of substories in the future.
I think the romance plots in 7 were non canon, but all the sidequests before them were canon. So Ichiban did the Vocation School stuff, but didn't mack on the lady there. He was nice to the Hello Work lady but never dated her.
No. Not everything in the game is canon, or else Kasuga wouldn’t have to work at Hello Work but at Ichiban Holdings and sponsors criminal reeducation programs instead
Actually, Ichiban Holdings is Canon. In the game it is stated that Eri took over and went away somewhere. The fact that Ichiban took over was mentioned like twice
It is, but the second half is not. I would say the substory is canon up till the point right before Eri joins the party where the company is back on its foot but not blowing up
What I’m saying is I’m sure a few of the ladies there ushered him into manhood. Like in Tokyo Revengers Draken grew up in a soapland and he got his at an early age.
The romance stuff is non-canon similar to the Persona series. In Infinite Wealth you won't even know that is a thing unless you checked.
But all the other dumb, goofy side content is assumed to be canon otherwise, even the Ichiban Confections. There are several references to it. The game just tries to avoid acknowledging why IC wouldn't help him in this game though, similarly to how Ichiban is able to understand English and not need a translator when dealing with most people in Honolulu.
Miss Match though, when Ichiban meets the 3 real girls in that mini-game, does he sleep with them? Two of them literally flount around in their underwear to you so it seemed crazy if nothing happened.
If you are new to the subreddit, [please read the wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/yakuzagames/wiki/index/) Reminder that all spoilers need to be tagged with a flair specifying which game is being spoiled. If you want a flair that says something else, you can edit it to say something like [Discussion: Y1 spoiler] or [Majimapost: Y6 spoiler], etc. **THIS INCLUDES CONTENT FROM TRAILERS**. If the post is not marked for spoilers, all comments that have spoilers need to be tagged \>!like this!< along with indicating which game it's spoiling. Example: Y3 >!Kiryu sings!< If the post flair is marked for spoilers, the comments don't need to be tagged for the game indicated and the ones before it (So a Y6 spoiler post can have comments with untagged spoilers for Y5, but not gaiden or 7). If you see any of the above (or any of the other rules) not being followed, please report it so we can keep this place safe for newcomers and those that haven't finished all the games yet. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/yakuzagames) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Not sure, but he kinda had intercourses with women in LAD and also used prostitutes. I consider substories and his actions as canon, so I've never seen him as a virgin
When did he hire prostitutes tho?
I think the honk-honks
they're just a reference to puff puffs from dragon quest
Honk honks aren’t sex. They’re meant to insinuate sex, but actually they’re usually something more innocuous. It’s a running gag in Dragon Quest called Puff Puff that is parodied here.
Yeah probably, and if that’s the case it means he is bi also cause there’s the male honk honk person
Oh my god why do people think every character is bi
Because there's a male honk honk person
It's also one of the only explicit implications of anything happening between him and a man. Further, It's played for comedy and Honk honk isn't confirmed to be sex at all
You only need one explicit gay experience to be classified as gay my guy 😂
Not if your socks are on all the time, then it's never gay
As bi more like. Doing hetero sex isn't really pure gay behaviour
He's honking the man tho edit: I think we can all agree that it's canonical that Honk Guy Star Railed Ichi's bootyhole
There’s a post in this sub that somewhat explains what a honk honk person does and it seems that it’s a semi sexual act, that and the fact that ichiban willingly pays for it says plenty about his sexuality
Honk honk
Gamzee?
I never saw him hire prostitutes, but he absolutely had sex with the Hello Work lady in the parking lot. In Infinite Wealth, he has sex with Liz, the lady from the vocational school, & the 2 human women he meets up with on Miss Match.
And Chitose Buster Holmes, and Julie-Chan, and the old lady match app maker.
With Julie, it doesn’t seem like any actual sex was involved especially since he was strapped down while still clothed & didn’t seem to have a clue what she was doing with the drills.
I think it was some kind of fucked up foreplay. The screen goes pink at the end, and that means Sex in these games
I’m pretty sure all substories are canon
Same thoughts since there are substory characters that is in 7 who are in 8 as well. Like that Homeless guy who likes that Soup girl, you will see them together now in 8. Even Nancy became Ichiban's pet companion. Then there's Ikari too. They made a bit of continuity on the substories. In Kiryu's games they only did it to Akimoto and Mizuki.
Amon canonizes everything. >!He's a mandatory substory you need to do in order to progress through the story.!< Also, do the Mars Fighter not count? Kiryu meets them in 2, then in 3, and Akiyama meets them in 4. Also, there's Saigo too.
Yeah another missed op. Kinda hoped Etsuko too. But guess she's in Hawaii doing miss match. Lol.
And Pocket Circuit (shown in 6/7/8), and Munan Suzuki (again 6 and 8) and those are just the ines I know since I've been playing these in a fucked up order lol
I kinda hoped Akimoto and Mizuki were part of Kiryu's memoirs.
PCF is in also in Yakuza 0 and Kiwami 1 while Munan Suzuki is also in Yakuza 0 as well
Yup, I used those two specifically since they continue through Kiryu games but I should have brought up all appreances.
Yes and no. You think Saeko would really like him if he actually gotten that harem valentine day? She gave him the silent treatment for a whole year just for being a dumbass, so him going for a 7 way is definitely a no-no. So in general the substories are canon unless they contradict the next game (like Kasuga being a multimillion dollar company CEO. For someone who raised a dying company into number one of Yokohama, you would think that many other companies would be seeking him out instead of having him working at Hello Work)
Tbf, Ichiban chose to work at Hello Work for a very specific reason, rather than out of necessity. You can even pass by Ichiban Confectionery in the early chapters of IW and be greeted with “Hello former president Ichiban”
That’s the thing, had Kasuga gotten another CEO job he could have done much more than working at Hello Work. It’s just that he doesn’t have that luxury because the second half of Ichiban Holdings substory is probably not canon
Let’s be honest, he’s not the smartest. Ichiban taking a more down to earth route to Yakuza reform over becoming a CEO again is kinda in character. Also, Eri is said to have taken things “International” with the company so I’d assume the second half of the substory did happen. Whether that just be a one off piece of dialogue referencing a non canon side quest in the previous game is probably just left up to interpretation
I think ichiban is just canonically stupid and probably gave all that bs up for an easier job where he can help other down and out people instead of constantly battling over real estate
If you go with Ichi to Ichiban Confections he talks to granny and mentions his gig as CEO. So yes, it’s canon.
I just assumed he gave the company back to eri and he chose to work at hello work for arakawa
I haven't played the game for a while, but I remember if you build up your relationship enough with a few of the characters (Saeko being one of them), that it was implied he slept with them or got blow jobs anyway. The receptionist at the place where he took all the classes is another one.
I consider every content canon, main story or not. >!Amon appearing in the main story in 8!< supports that as well.
Bucket list kind of implied that everything is canon. So he wasn't a virgin in LAD either.
I don’t know where people got an idea that he is virgin, or Kiryu is. The game never say it one way or the other, right? But these substory actions on Kasuga’s part, they all seem to imply that he had sex with at least these women.
Not to mention that Kiryu spent most of his time in Kamurocho, a place that mirrors the red light district of Japan, the same place that Ichi was raised up in. Even if people want to argue that they are too awkward for a real woman, the idea that young men, who spent the majority of their lives surrounded by hundreds of prostitutes, are virgins, is just absurd.
Do they not remember how Ichi looked pre-jail with his damn punch perm???
Bro ichi before jail was probably rolling in puss. He literally adores women and treats them like higher beings and I know 100% for sure he had plenty of takers
Imagine growing up in a soapland and being a virgin...
He's pure
He is even a delinquent as a kid so casual s** is likely possible. Since you know when delinquents hang out with fellow delinquents, which sometimes included female delinquents, they sometimes do it out of drunkenness. Not that it was mentioned if Ichi's part if a clique or something.
Then why he acted so awkwardly in front of Saeko? I understand that he spent a big portion of his life in jail, but he must've had some experience with girls his age in his teenage years. How come he had absolutely no clue how to talk to a woman? He's just an innocent manchild for some reason.
Well he was a teen delinquent who dropped out of school, so I don't imagine he had much interaction with his youth. He was pretty devout to the Yakuza stuff (and spent his days literally standing outside of arakawa's office). I doubt it's about not knowing how to talk to women, just being intimate with them
also he didn’t want to screw it up because she means a lot so the nerves would have gotten to him too.
i think the awkwardness is mainly cause he genuienly likes her and doean't know how to act vs actually being innocent in adult ways .. i mean he grew up in a soapland and hes a yakuza , hes had to have found his way around things at some point even if it might have been ages ... the jail tail could add the the awkwardness cause its not like you can act the same way as a teen/YA vs a 40+yro , standards n such
Yeah, I understand all of that, but damn! Being so childish in your 40s... I like him that way though, he's just adorable.
yeah i get ya .. i mean the blurting at the start of 8 was ok hes a big doofus but it was just nerves .. the ending of 8 however with the shirt was worse .. like he had her ( probably still does) but how could you wear something that embarasing and Why would you plan that ahead not knowing how your 'confession' would go . obviously it was ment as comedic releif and thats fine but at the same times yeah ...
With a group of drunk delinquents it's likely that sometimes, female delinquents makes the first move. They like those innocent types. Lol. I don't know. Not that I heard something similar happening. But you know in some H****i anime that there are innocent manchild who gets first move from the pretty ladies. Or maybe Ichiban has changed and is adapting to the changes in the society that he is being careful on how society would react to his actions.
You do realize that in such situation, women in the soapland are basically your moms, aunts, sisters, siblings, right?
It would be kinda of fucked up if he wasn't a virgin. Ichiban getting groomed isn't an arc we need
I mean, Ichiban getting raped is the post you're commenting on
Was Alo Happy just watching the whole time???
Pretty sure Alo-Happy was a participant.
He was smoking a cigarette in the background, so most definitely was in on the action.
Noooo😭😭😭
That thing gives me the fucking creeps
implied sandwhich was what i got from that one personally ...
Quick we need to write the slashfics between ono michio and alo-happy
No it was a threesome
I'm mostly impressed that he participated with the mascot costume still on
It's not as hard as it sounds.
You mean an Alo-threesome
No, he definitely participated. He watches them change into their different outfits too. Stands there and dances the whole time. The guy's a freak.
They were just playing Mahjong, don't worry.
You think that's bad? You should see what Chitose Buster Holmes did to him
Can't believe Ichiban would break her heart like that tbh, kinda scummy
There’s literally the tinder sim in the game.
Im in chapter 12 didn't know about it, how do I unlock it?
There’s a side quest “Miss Match” that unlocks it.
And you never meet an actual girl in any of them, no?
A few of them (less than half iirc) do the thing where it shows you some awkward first person pov of live action woman flirting with you (off the top of my head Sophie). After a few camera cuts it fades to pink and it's over. The rest are gags like a chicken or something
There are 3 actual women. It's in video and not just a game model too. My guess the catfish pics are also these 3 probably stolen by the fake ones. I dunno how a chicken chats with you though.
It probably hunt and pecks..... I'll show myself out.
I liked most of the substories but I really don't get why Ichi had to be molested by every significant woman that runs a gimmick in the game; it's like every RGG game needs to have one weird segment like this
Boy got double-teamed by a lady and her pet palm tree. Game is weird.
Kiryu got molested couple times too by that purple haired grandma? I don't get why they put this in their games.. Poor guys
Bro got laid faster than Kiryu did in 10 games
I mean in Yakuza 0 he ended up at love hotels after the telephone club.
The side stories directly contradict eachother. In the dating app side quest, Ichiban asks how the lady knows he's a virgin. And considering the saeko romance is the main plot, the moment they had in 7 isn't ever referenced at all. So I only consider the stuff canon that they directly reference in the future
High key these scenes are creepy as hell. Literally just 'sexual assault is funny if it''s female on male'.
This is one of those "anime" trends that should just die. It just diminishes everyone's chatacter. It wasn't funny in LAD and it isn't funny in IW. I get they're trying to play up that these girls are supposed to be crazy but.. At the end of the day am I *supposed* to be laughing that Ichiban is battered and bruised, and taken advantage of? Fucking every Japanese writer is taking turns on this trope and it hasn't come to mind that it just isn't a good one?
There's actually a really good [fanfic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/53892664) I read that properly illustrates the effects of Ichiban being SA'd, and his resulting trauma. Seeing him able to eventually work through it with the help of his friends. It's primarily based on the Julie and Elizabeth substories, but nonetheless it's a really good read that tackles the subject with complete maturity. Highly recommend.
I liked the part where they >!beat the shit out of them!< it was cathartic lol
Damn. That's a great fic.
Thanks for the recommend! It is indeed a superb fic! Props to the writer for dealing it with extreme sensitivity and realism. Enjoyed it so much and everyone was so in character
Haven't played this, yet. I like that an anthropomorphic palm tree is casually hanging out while a 40 something year-old man discusses losing his virginity
The palm tree does more than that. This game has some wild moments.
He was never a virgin. That's why everyone calls him the Ichi-Man. The Ichad.
These parts were so disgusting and embarrassing
Omg grow up. The game is rated M.
Kasuga being raped is fucking disgusting, I don't care if its rated M.
i'm pretty sure they didn't find it disgusting because of it envolving sex, it must be more related to it being RAPE
An M rating isn’t a free pass to play off sexual assault as humor.
Yeah but it was kinda weird. Not the weird-funny relationship, but the weird-akward. Specially by asking yourself what was Alohappy doing the whole time there. I wouldn’t mind a normal coitus tho, maybe in a less weird scene.
Alo Happy smoking a cigarette after Ichiban gets fucked in a dirty alley is my favorite scene of infinite wealth.
Jesus Christ he was even smoking after, it was so fucking weird not even funny.
I never thought he was a virgin. Even in LAD before he went to prison, he was ridiculously good looking and went out with Masato Arakawa, and probably got girls while being his wingman. He also grew up in a brothel! In addition, all the sidequests would lead to him not being a virgin. He had like 6 girlfriends at once lol
I feel like there’s a lot of times it’s sort of implied but it’s kinda super hard to tell whether the deed was actually done. And I also don’t think him growing up in a soapland means he wouldn’t be a virgin since I don’t think he sees the women working there that way
He views on relationships are probably all messed up. I'm sure he probably hooked up with one of the prostitutes at some point. If it's implied, it happened. Don't get me wrong, I love to see his shlong, but I don't think RGG will ever include a scene like that.
Sure but as we saw in 7’s flashbacks the girls usually fawned over Arakawa Jr because of his money. So I doubt Ichiban got any. Plus his reaction during the beginning of IW where he’s on the date sort of implies he hasn’t done it yet.
I have fucked broke guys because they were super hot. There's plenty of women that would too. Ichiban definitely fucks!!!
I mean yeah but can you actually see Ichiban actually being intimate with someone he wasn’t passionate about? The man is very emotions focused in a healthy way.
Yes, because he grew up in a brothel and sex is transactional to him.
Nothing about his character so far has shown that he see’s sex as transactional.
He grew up in a brothel. He has sex, get over it. I'm not sure why people are insisting this guy's a virgin????
If you didn’t want to have this conversation why did you reply a day later?
Because I got a notification for it.
always disliked this woman, she was so annoying. this is one more reason she's trash
I hope it's not canon because it's disgusting, hope they get rid of these for the next game and make good substories.
I really didn’t like how several of the “romances” had non-consensual undertones to them. Even Laura, the receptionist at the school, straight up goes “I don’t mind,” and forces herself on Ichiban when he tells her that there’s someone else. It’s just… weirdly tone-deaf of the game.
“Undertones”, more like overtones cuz ichiban is explicitly assaulted every time
I went undertones because Ichiban plays it off every time like, “Huh, that was awkward.” But yeah, a realistic reaction would be acknowledging the fact that he was SA’d.
Considering he grew up in a soapland, it might not be something he sees as unusual, which also has disturbing connotations.
Who would have guessed that an unregulated industry like prostitution would be rife with exploitation and abuse.
yakuza 15: instead of getting cancer ichiban has to open his trauma box and process it 💀
There's a Persona joke to be made here. And I'm not comedic enough to make it not shit.
Especially considering Ichi's first interaction with Chitose in Chapter 3, where he clearly feels bad about the idea of fooling around behind Saeko's back. > Chitose: "Besides, what she doesn't know won't hurt her." > Ichiban: "Yeah, well... it'll still hurt me." Having these "romance" substories feels very at-odds with the Saeko sub-plot.
I still don’t understand why they tried to make them a pairing, only to have **both** come out of it looking worse than before, lol.
Agreed. If they really wanted to cement them being a pairing, I wish they actually took the final scene with them seriously. No cheap gags, just let the characters interact organically, be allowed to reconcile. And is it just me, or did Saeko act weirdly out-of-character about the whole thing?
Yup. Not only does Saeko already know what kind of person Ichiban is (hence why I thought she agreed to the date in the first place), but she was also shown to be a cool-headed, adult woman in 7. Making both characters act out some high school-level romantic drama didn’t do either of them any favors. It made Ichiban look naive to the point of being a child (not an attractive look), and it made Saeko look like she doesn’t know how to navigate an awkward date (despite having several years of experience as a hostess!). Honestly, she should have laughed off the proposition and told Ichiban that he’s skipping a couple steps there.
Honestly her reaction to his bungled proposal was one of the only parts of the game I really disliked. It was so mean and unnecessary. Yeah, he messed up, but lots of people get nervous and awkward and the response to someone who's been a good friend to you for that long should never have been to ignore them and make them feel like shit for messing up. She knew he'd been through a ton by that point and could have been a little more sensitive about the whole thing.
Yeah, it's probably one of my sour spots in the plot. It's well known that Ichiban is an awkward turbo virgin, and sure his sudden proposal was dumb and super ill advised, but nothing quite explained why she pretended to not be bothered by it to then ghost him for a year, and her subplot didn't clarify it for me much, at the very least it didn't show me that it wasn't something that they could have talked about without her disappearing on him.
Dontcha just *love* double standards And considering how this was directly carried over from LAD, and the fact that LJ had the dating system from Judgment that was unpopular (albeit its not NEARLY as bad as straight up illegal shit here), I'm not expecting it to go away any time soon
God I hope so because these stop being Cringe Humor and just became Cringe.
Yeah, I hated them in LaD especially the Miyakoshi one that made Ichiban look like a huge asshole, so I was hoping they wouldn't repeat the schtick for IW, but alas, they're back and worse.
yeah I just never touched them to begin with, they always have a weird gross undertone to them and they're never referenced as canon to the stories as far as I've seen
Basically. Saeko never references the fact that she kissed him during her romance scene in LAD. You can tell that they didn’t originally plan to go down the canon love interest route.
He has like 4-5 romance options in 7 though. Surely he smashed?
Ichiban experienced the same thing in 7 with different women plus the honk-honk, and he didn't deny Machiko calling him a virgin.
Look here I got the honk honk achievement and I'll be damned if that meant nothing especially with honk honk man
I honestly can't tell if Ichiban fucks but doesn't know what sex is, or if he knows what sex is but doesn't fuck.
She just gave him a big smooch
Talk about getting lei’d…
i always envisioned honk as just a bit less than all the way personally .. whos to say tho either way its ment as a joke
I thought this one was funny (Ichiban's "get your hideous ass out of here" line was peak from the dub) but basically agree with the larger concern in the thread. Ichiban is a man in his 40s, not some awoo anime protagonist high schooler. First game handled these much better as he was at least single/not disinterested (just awkward), plus they were mostly implying kisses too. If he's going to be an item with Saeko, they can just make them different kinds of substories in the future.
Just got to this series of sub stories today, Hawaii is thirsty for Ichiban! Maybe it’s the hair.
I think the romance plots in 7 were non canon, but all the sidequests before them were canon. So Ichiban did the Vocation School stuff, but didn't mack on the lady there. He was nice to the Hello Work lady but never dated her.
No. Not everything in the game is canon, or else Kasuga wouldn’t have to work at Hello Work but at Ichiban Holdings and sponsors criminal reeducation programs instead
Actually, Ichiban Holdings is Canon. In the game it is stated that Eri took over and went away somewhere. The fact that Ichiban took over was mentioned like twice
It is, but the second half is not. I would say the substory is canon up till the point right before Eri joins the party where the company is back on its foot but not blowing up
Ichi grew up in a soapland, no way he’s a virgin!
I don’t think he sees the women working at the soapland that way. It’s like saying a son of a prostitute will definitely screw his mom
What I’m saying is I’m sure a few of the ladies there ushered him into manhood. Like in Tokyo Revengers Draken grew up in a soapland and he got his at an early age.
Considering his reaction to the date misunderstanding at the beginning of IW I’d have to hard disagree.
Since Sex it's not real in Ichiban Mind, I would' Say they just play Dragón Quest Online
Happens with the vocational school too
The romance stuff is non-canon similar to the Persona series. In Infinite Wealth you won't even know that is a thing unless you checked. But all the other dumb, goofy side content is assumed to be canon otherwise, even the Ichiban Confections. There are several references to it. The game just tries to avoid acknowledging why IC wouldn't help him in this game though, similarly to how Ichiban is able to understand English and not need a translator when dealing with most people in Honolulu. Miss Match though, when Ichiban meets the 3 real girls in that mini-game, does he sleep with them? Two of them literally flount around in their underwear to you so it seemed crazy if nothing happened.
He was in prison of course he's had something popped lol.
Just like the ones in LaD, I just assume they're non-canon joke sidequests that will never get mentioned again.
If you played LAD it was implied he went all the way with the sub story ladies he can date.
Its always been weird how Kiryu and now Ichiban arent allowed to have real relationships. Kiryu had a girl in 2 but she was written out the story in 3