Who Exactly Is Kihei Hanawa - Like A Dragon Gaiden

[@OtakuDefined]

I noticed I said "Sunflower Orphanage" instead of "Morning Glory Orphanage" I'm sorry about that; it was difficult to write while shedding tears after that ending.

[@MudkrabLord]

It's totally fine man, I'm sure we all feel the same way

[@marcelosoares7148]

The craziest thing about Hanawa's identity is that it made people remember Morinaga lol

[@nightingalelaurence6092]

I just replayed Y5, so i didn't forget him.

[@satyamSaha]

never exactly forgot him

[@cdswalkthrough]

Not only that he has the same voice actor Hiroki Toichi and Kiryu previous alias Taichi Suzuki and that he met Kiryu before

[@nateg3998]

I was really sad when Aizawa said what he did to him. I never forgot him.

[@ikarovski12]

never forgot him. They kept mentioning him throughout the story

[@ColonelKebabShop]

Hes actually Kiryu's taxi boss, he just lost a lot of weight (Source my dad works at the Daidoji)

[@revv0o]

possible just like what another comment here said, hanawa previously said that the yakuza life is alien to him and that the priest brought him into the criminal world (implying that he's never been in it)

[@hiding40]

I actually thought the same, who is to say the taxi boss wasn’t undercover in yakuza 5

[@mjc0961]

Makes more sense to me than Morinaga. Hanawa does say the yakuza life is alien to him, and also Hanawa does not look like Morinaga.

[@majimbo8528]

Bruh I thought the same

[@lesterama6110]

I also thought it was the boss. Hanawa looks more like him, just thinner

[@BenetteG]

Another clue to this theory is the secrecy of his death. When asked, Aizawa's answer was very vague whether or not Morinaga is dead. And Saejima (and us the players) couldnt find Morinaga's body. He simply died offscreen and disappeared from the story.

[@ikarovski12]

Here's the thing though. At the end of Kiryu's part, Kurosawa, still posing as an Osaka police officer, mentions that a corpse, likely from a Tojo Clan soldier (due the presence of their crest), was found near some mountains, in a state beyond recognition. Note that this was after Morinaga tells Kiryu that Aizawa was dead, that he killed him and buried him somewhere. What I'm trying to say is that it was suggested to the player that this body belonged to Aizawa. Later on the story though, we came to know that Aizawa was very much alive and kicking, Morinaga was killed off somewhere and he and the Osaka cop were working together all along to bring about a new era of succession to the Yakuza. Who did that corpse belong to, then? He was discovered immediately after Morinaga disappeared and we never saw any autopsy, nor the body itself. And if you think about it, he was a hindrance to both Aizawa and his father. When Aizawa mentions that Morinaga had died, he could be speaking both objectively and figuratively. As in "I loved him like a brother, but he despised me, demeaned me. From now on, he's dead to me ." As if getting rid of possible sentimental weaknesses. And, despite not directly killing, Aizawa knew that his brother's death was for the best, as he would be able to reach the top alone. This would also cement his father's goals. Taking this into consideration, I came to this conclusion: The corpse was Morinaga's (the game itself vaguely confirms that the corpse was his too, but we're not sure if it was a set up by Kurosawa), he was killed by Kurosawa outside of Tokyo as to not draw the Florist of Sai attention (which could cost him his plan) and then sent Aizawa to purgatory under the pretext that he would find his oath brother after their supposed fight. Also, he would then send Saejima as well as to make sure that nobody there knew the truth. Once there, Aizawa would find out that Morinaga was dead and this would naturally shock him... But he would surpass this grief abnormally quickly with Saejima's advice, who was going through similar pain, supposedly losing his brother and all that jazz, another reason why Kurosawa wanted them to meet. Aizawa, with his determination restored, would then seek strength to prove to everyone, even his "dead" brother, that even a newbie, worthless nobody like him can also take his shot at the top, which is basically the point of his whole character and the Koi's symbolism.

[@ikarovski12]

Jesus I didn't want this to become so long. That's basically just me trying to give an articulated reason to what the hell everything happened at Y5's finale.

[@ikarovski12]

I could also be wrong and Morinaga is actually alive :))) We will never know and I'm fine with it. Y5's story would remain practically the same regardless

[@DavidHosey1]

@@ikarovski12at the end of the day, either you’re right and we don’t hear anything about Morinaga being alive ever, or you’re wrong and it’s directly brought up (since the writers would obviously want to capitalize on the broader connections of the series). So if we don’t hear anything concrete in 8, that basically confirms he’s dead

[@darthvaderreviews6926]

@@ikarovski12 A pretty simple answer to the corpse beyond recognition is that it was the moment the Daidoji recruited Hanawa, they used a Tojo grunt as a decoy body. We see via the end of Gaiden they seemingly actively look out for opportunities to recruit yakuza in this way

[@Landeyx]

It'll either be Morinaga, which I'd like so his character could be deepened, or it'll be a new retconned in character we've never seen. Overall Hanawa's appreciation for Kiryu unknowingly knowing him and having done something important for him reminds me a lot of Takasugi & Shinada's relationship from Yakuza 5.

[@OtakuDefined]

Men, I miss Shinada so much

[@IMysticCobaltI]

I really hope Hanawa is Morinaga, it’d be awesome and would have him redeem himself

[@OtakuDefined]

Hopefully, we can see an interaction between Hanawa and Aizawa

[@SylDragonia]

The only thing that stops me from accepting that is his way of talking about the Yakuza.

[@Ulqui_210]

​@@SylDragoniahe could always be lying. It would bring attention to him in front of the likes of Tsuruno that someone from the Daidoji that is not Kiryu would be familiar to the Yakuza life.

[@SylDragonia]

@@Ulqui_210 yes I actually thought that. Then it would make sense.

[@RedCruuve]

To all the people that think Hanawa is Nakajima, I have 1 question for you. In what scenario would the Daidoji approach a middle-aged taxi-driver boss, with no combat experience, and essentially force him to work as an agent (as we know Daidoji seems to recruit through threats and coercion), to abandon his former life and identity, and completely change his own voice, personality, and accent?

[@OtakuDefined]

*Daidoji rides a taxi:* WOW! this driver would make for a fine agent

[@ladisloved]

Wasn't he hiding from his past life too? I didn't complete all taxi story from 5, so I am not sure on that one, but it would be crazy, if Nakajima was some sort of dragon, like Kiryu, before retiring from underworld.

[@work1907]

Wth? mild spoiler but have they played Infinite Wealth life link yet to think that?

[@RedCruuve]

@@work1907 the people that had the theory that 'Nakajima was Hanawa' (for some reason) came about before IW release

[@Rubyape]

And all of that doesn't matter now😂😂😂 Goddamnit, i can't believe they wasted him like THAT🤦‍♂️

[@BlueGuyTube]

Even the change in fighting style isn't really a point against Morinaga since he certainly went into extensive training as a Daidoji agent in the 7 years between Yakuza 5 and Gaiden

[@marcelosoares7148]

Even more so if we think on the technical side because RGG is all about reusing assets, so in the end, its probably them just reusing a moveset from another character like always.

[@unamusedrohan1666]

I think there's stronger evidence to suggest that Hanawa is actually Kanda's body from 3 using his excess biomass to regrow a head. Kanda's head obviously regrew a body and became Nagumo.

[@stuartlittle281]

Hanawa makes various comments throughout the story about not "getting" how the Yakuza works, which is a weird stance to take if he's supposedly a former member. The facial reconstruction idea doesn't make much sense either because if that was the case, surely Kiryu would have been expected to undergo the same process since he's FAR more recognisable. I also just don't see what his motive would be to conceal this from Kiryu. If he truly knows Kiryu that well, he knows Kiryu is willing to work with former enemies and put aside grudges for the sake of a greater goal (the guy forgave the dude who stabbed him at the end of 3, to name just one example), and wouldn't hold anything against Morinaga if they were in the same boat. This is probably not a returning character at all and is going to be a whole new thing, if it even comes up again and wasn't just a fun ambiguous thing to throw in to create these sorts of discussions.

[@cius2112]

You take everything at face value huh?

[@fugutamasuoable]

But it was confirmed that Hanawa is indeed Morinaga😮

[@rodanandme]

So the like final bosses of the game were basically taken by the Daidoji on the brink of death, so I would way more expect a character that “died” to be Hanawa (Morinaga or not)

[@anonymousperson0]

Maybe Mine since Richardson was in 8?

[@rogueninjagaming248]

@@anonymousperson0 Mine didn't knew Taichi Suzuki tho so he's not Hanawa

[@LaVitaNouva]

@@rogueninjagaming248 Not to mention Mine is about the same height as Kiryu, while Hanawa is clearly shorter.

[@markkoi6874]

I don't think it's Morinaga. Temples monk scouted him out and he said: -"I needed someone capable to work under me, so i pulled him into this criminal underworld. He was slightly lacking in personality... but when it really mattered, you could always count on him." Doesn't fit Morinaga. He would be at least pulled BACK and personality part also doesn't fit if we assume it's him.

[@markkoi6874]

I think it would fit Shinada more then Morinaga since he has a connection to Daigo and could get all of the knowledge about Tojo from him and personality... i don't think i need to say anything

[@OtakuDefined]

Interesting, I do remember the monk saying that. If we're getting Shinada back, I want the actual Shrimpnada

[@TruBaus210]

Shinji

[@fugutamasuoable]

It is Morinaga, as confirmed

[@gonza114]

It's a very good theory, in Yakuza 5 the truth was never revealed to us after Morinaga's death. Knowing Rgg Studio, I wouldn't be surprised if Hanawa and Morinaga are the same person, unless everything is a simple coincidence, such as Kiryu having picked up Hanawa in his taxi in 2012 and that Morinaga was simply a different person who perhaps ended up dying

[@bigtacotime4382]

bringing up mirror face is good but should've also included new joon-gi. cosmetic surgeons in the yakuza-verse are fucking amazing.

[@OtakuDefined]

Watch out! The Daidoji faction is right behind you

[@DavidHosey1]

To be fair, Mirror Face is most likely not just a single person. It’s clear they’re using realistically printed faces and voice modulators (both mentioned again in the subsequent game of Lost Judgment), so it only makes sense that people with similar physiques to their targets are chosen and then sent out The Jingweon cosmetic stuff is impressive tho ngl

[@deluxe110yt]

This might be a far-fetched theory but Hanawa's face model looks eerily similar to Yotaro Nakajima from Yakuza 5, Kiryu's employer at Nagasu Taxi. If you make him thinner, he might resemble Hanawa in a way, plus him knowing Kiryu's Taichi Suzuki alias and the fact that a lot of times in the story, Hanawa says that the yakuza life is alien to him and the priest told Joryu that he brought Hanawa to the criminal underworld. I know there ain't much to solidify that theory but that was my first instinct when I first saw Hanawa on the trailers.

[@Crudecoronet]

I think nakajima is too old to be hanawa but I guess its still a possibility

[@OtakuDefined]

So we're getting Taxi missions for the next Gaiden? I'm down with that!

[@rogueninjagaming248]

Nakajima is a bit too old to be Hanawa. Personality wise they don't match either.

[@RedCruuve]

There are too many inconsistencies for that to be true. 1: They sound nothing alike 2: They have completely different accents 3: Hanawa looks significantly younger than Nakajima

[@hphunter]

Hmm Nakajima was just a regular company boss wasn't he? Would need to make a big story to make the Daidoji force him to become an agent which while possible, would be harder to fit in the plot than just using Hanawa.

[@Ulqui_210]

I think the main reason Morinaga is suspected to be Hanawa's true identity is because of his knowledge of the Taichi Suzuki alias (also helps that both characters share voice actors). There's really only very few people that would reasonably know about Kiryu's identity as Taichi Suzuki that are still alive. Aoyama is one but he's literally killed by Morinaga with a shit ton of witnesses. Kurosawa knows but he's more than likely dead from his cancer at this point. Nakajima knows too but I doubt he would be a viable agent in the Daidoji's eyes, nor would there even be a reason for Nakajima to join. Madarame is most likely dead at this point in time as well. Daigo and Watase do not count for obvious reason. Yahata's probably busy running the Madarame family. Aizawa is currently MIA but I don't think Hanawa's body build comes close to Aizawa's. If we are gonna count on Hanawa being a past character that knows about Kiryu's life as Taichi Suzuki, its really only Morinaga that rings any bells for me.

[@dankbuster2181]

When Hanawa first told kiryu that he knew about the taichi suzuki alias, I though he was the one kid that kiryu gave a job in the taxi indusrty. Not so sure tho

[@hotness1113]

There is one other thing: When Hanawa is forced to shoot Kiryu or die, he mentions that Kiryu saved his life twice. Now I'm not sure what this first time was supposed to be, but it could be when Morinaga had to take shelter at Kiryu's place back in Y5 when he got beat up.

[@DavidHosey1]

Nah he mentions that the first time was from the Watase family, and makes it clear that he “just saved him again,” by being a good role model and friend to him that made him realize the kind of man he wanted to be and what he should stand up to. Him deciding to spare Kiryu was his 2nd time being “saved” from what he meant

[@purpzz6285]

Well at the start of the game he gets rescued from kidnapping, then is rescued much later again.

[@hotness1113]

​@purpzz6285 oh yeah I forgot about that

[@moister3727]

I'm pretty sure Hanawa was one of the thousands of customers of Taichi Suzuki has in his runtime as a Taxi Driver. Most cameos of past characters were really obvious and to the point; A clone, face surgery, or what not. This one though? It's really hard to tell. Really cool theory nonetheless.

[@FloorFourteen]

If he was some random passenger, why would he remember Taichi Suzuki? It's not like Kiryu even interacted with his passengers at all. Daigo could barely get a word out of him.

[@moister3727]

@@FloorFourteen Maybe he was a regular and could've got a word or two with him. Maybe that was his appeal, being the silent driver in Nagoya. And as Hanawa is, things may have got well between the two of them. Maybe this doesn't even make sense, and Hanawa simply decided to make a quick investigation on Kiryu and his past.

[@manukau5271]

No

[@Zephhi]

Nah probably not likely. They wouldn't do something like this just for it to be a random person, it would be someone we know @@moister3727

[@hakzource8660]

@@FloorFourteenin the mini games he actually makes a lot of small talk. Although it isn’t exactly “canon.

[@werevin649]

i think this theory is neat. i like it a lot. regarding the people saying he died, Kashiwagi got shot by helicopters and survived. Andre richardson survived a fall. Lau Ka long survived a bullet in the brain. Great video!

[@Weewoo343]

High chance Nishiki and Mine being alive then

[@leonardo25gabriel]

After the ridiculousness of Kashiwagi being brought back, anything goes, honestly, death doesn't exist in the Like a Dragon universe.

[@IMysticCobaltI]

@@Weewoo343I hope Mine is alive, he is the GOAT

[@marcelosoares7148]

​@@Weewoo343Nishiki survived by rebuilding himself piece by piece after the bomb exploded, trust me.

[@mjc0961]

@@marcelosoares7148 Nishiki took a page from Zero in Mega Man X6 and hid himself while he repaired himself.

[@revv0o]

Very plausible, but Hanawa expressed several times throughout the game that he does not understand nor know much about Yakuza things.

[@funnynamelol3156]

So Yokoyama just straight up confirmed it lol

[@Faceu7745]

Wdym

[@funnynamelol3156]

@@Faceu7745 that Hanawa is Morinaga.

[@5persondude]

When I saw that last cutscene, weirdly enough my first guess was the young guy in Nakajima’s taxi business. Mostly because he’d be one of the people who knew Kiryu as “Taichi Suzuki”, plus he was one of the targets you had to take down in that street racing side-story. My head cannon was that, because he was part of the street racing gang, he might’ve gotten into trouble and had to vanish. …then I thought about it a little more and realized that it most likely wasn’t him. Maybe I had brain fog after bawling my eyes out at the scene before it 😅

[@muhammadaliffbinmuhammadla7846]

Morinaga or not. Its... pretty sad what happened to him after Gaiden. 😔

[@yoshidude26]

Yeah I know cuz I feel that Hanawa could take over the brawler series

[@SteelBallRun1890]

Hearing about how Yokoyama wrote 5, he writes it chapter by chapter, its not written with the endgame in sight and prefers writing in a way that the script takes him to the end. I guess its a good reason for why plot twists are heavy when the final chapter looms in. I truly believe that Yokoyama wrote Hanawa being Morinaga in, to remedy how Morinaga just seemingly dies off-screen in 5 after Kiryu's chapter ends with Morinaga being set up as a final boss or at least someone who will be a prelude to it. Its hard to even believe he died in the game because Morinaga did the same off-screen death announcement to Kiryu with Aizawa and then Aizawa shows up alive in the final chapters of 5.

[@OtakuDefined]

NGL, I was expecting Mori to show up after the Aizawa fight

[@ezzili]

When I saw the trailer for this game, I immediately thought Hanawa was Kazama Joji from Y3. The look, the suit with blue shirt, the fact he knows Kiryu and his connection with the orphanage, AND the fact Joji is connected with the CIA, while Daidoji is AS WELL. However, that doesn't add up with the Suzuki alias used in Y5, but maybe the CIA were monitoring him in Y5 or something. The fact Kashiwagi is probably also still alive (got fake "killed" in Y3, same game as Joji), might make him connected with this whole thing. I still think it's probably Joji.

[@andresashura5550]

1) morinaga 2) a few other Taxi drivers who worked with kiryu during the taxi driver era

[@Alexyahoo10]

The phrase “Yakuza costumes are alien to me” that Hanawa says in the final chapter has me doubting the whole Morinaga theory, but if it’s not him, I don’t who it could be, so I’ll be sticking to it for now

[@Zephhi]

Must've gotten a face change or something cause he looks a little different but other than that, everything matches up to be him, even the voice actor. Though it definitely could be Nakajima (Kiryu's taxi boss) because Hanawa looks like a skinnier version of him and both have glasses, but it's hard to say. It's definitely one of the two tho.

[@revv0o]

i'd say the "same va" thing doesn't really matter, unless they make it lore accurate. nishiki and ichiban have the same va but obviously they're not the same person and same with other characters, like ibuchi from yk2 and the new guy in IW

[@Zephhi]

@@revv0oWell it’s more like the cherry on top when the character in question is clearly from Yakuza 5

[@chrisckvan]

If Ryuji is alive I will lose my shit.

[@idfkimaclown]

I’m telling you guys it was Kiryu’s taxi boss in 5.

[@thebeastwithin6978]

Even tho Morinaga and Hanawa share VA’s doesn’t mean they are the same people. Yuta and Rikiya as well as Shinada an Nagumo share VA’s and they are different characters. Given that Hanawa seems like he doesn’t understand the Yakuza life, it could be Kiryu’s Taxi Driver Boss (or maybe even Mine to an extent)

[@Kagetora-]

It's only a speculation that Hanawa and Morinaga are the same

[@fugutamasuoable]

@@Kagetora-which is confirmed by Yokoyama

[@Krow621]

Another thing is the Daidoji kidnapped Nishitani III and Shishido supposedly plans to make them agent and in a similar fashion that's what happened to Hanawa aka Morinaga. Especially his death happened off screen and the only confirmation of his death is the Florist stating that his body is in Kamurocho PD's morgue. Kamurocho PD is known for being corrupt and the Daidoji faked Kiryu's death so whose to say the Daidoji did not get Morinaga.

[@jasperdrewery09]

I think he was a taxi driver along kiryu in yakuza 5

[@stevegonzales527]

Seems like I was the only one who played the whole game in the dragon fighting style 😂

[@Kagetora-]

Agent is really fun tho

[@ryan_1099]

First thing that popped in my head was the Taxi company dude lul.

[@OtakuDefined]

TBH, They really look alike

[@OwysGaming]

I dont see any resemblance in Hanawa and Morinaga's faces tho...

[@None-ub8nq]

Joon-Gi Han had plastic surgery before so rgg might've done that.

[@satyamSaha]

plastic surgery is a thing

[@portagasdace21117]

Wasn’t morinaga beaten to the point of where he couldn’t be identified in yakuza 5

[@bancobanquito509]

Man when i saw richardson in Y8 my fanboy ass thought Hanawa was Mine but then i realized he never knew Taichi Suzuki lo

[@maxislate5741]

Let’s remember that they knew his name ,, Suzuki,, so it must be someone that knew that name

[@Kagetora-]

I like how some people think it's Kiryu's taxi boss or Hanawa

[@ColdAssailant29]

After finishing the game, I'm legit sure that Hanawa is indeed Morinaga from Yakuza 5. Their last conversation gave a lot of hints to that already.

[@izwaspayne]

Yeah that last line is just straight up saying morinaga saying to kiryu

[@Quickscop3r4u]

Only thing that makes no sense is how hanawa finds the yakuza lifestyle alien to him and also saying that how far would you risking your life for those above you considering that morinaga was daigos personal bodyguard with aizawa

[@OceanEyesTwentyEight]

Hanawa looks alot like the taxi boss in 5 aswell could be funny

[@AhmedKalad-pv6lj]

Someone who claims to have talked with Yokoyama says Hanawa is indeed Morinaga as Yokoyama confirmed it. Not sure if it's bs tho.

[@PsychicGirl]

This game fixed a lot of my biggest plot issues with 7 and 6 so Hanawa being Morinaga would add fixing 5 as well.

[@Kagetora-]

I didn't have much issues with 7 tbh

[@fugutamasuoable]

I believe it was mainly homage to 5. It fixed quite a few issues with 5.

[@jcman-lp6lg]

seeing how Ichiban's tattoo is a carp turning into a dragon and nishiki's is a carp pretty sure making them have the same VA is done intentionally

[@ItsDanbo]

Still think it’s Mine. If Richardson survived, so can Mine

[@omarelric]

Hanawa is Takaki Horigome

[@lurkingshiba5688]

filo yakuza fan = auto sub

[@SturkGaming]

This feels like a stretch, but one that would be absolutely awesome if they pulled it off well. Nice!

[@13anderst]

I honestly think that Hanawa is one of the minor characters but I don’t think he’s the taxi boss. I think he’s the taxi driver that wanted to be a pro racer. His name is Tomoaki Muramatsu. They look more similar, than anything

[@Temperance_XVII]

Yeah the taxi boss was in a substory after Hanawa died, so it’s not him

[@kiiroitooru]

not rgg teasing us with ryuji💀 Im so curious with what he is doing rn, because that mf aint dead fs

[@dj_deadhead]

a lot of people are against tojo/yakuza, im not sure why making that point would connect the lines to morinaga

[@Temperance_XVII]

The sheer fact he knew that taichi suzuki was a fake name pretty much narrows it down to Hanawa being Aizawa or Morinaga and it makes a lot more sense for him to be Morinaga

[@anoka42852]

@@Temperance_XVII suzuki taichi

[@DavidHosey1]

@@Temperance_XVIIor just the fact that the Daidoji have eyes and ears everywhere for decades at this point, particularly on people in positions of power that huge conflicts revolve around like Kiryu? Pretty likely they simply found out and kept it on record

[@Temperance_XVII]

@@DavidHosey1 that still doesn’t change the fact that Hanawa said he knew Kiryu in another life

[@DavidHosey1]

@@Temperance_XVII agreed, and I think it’s Morinaga too. But it still could just be to show how Kiryu affects people in life even when under a different name, living a different life. Kiryu was at his lowest point and doing the least, and this shows that he still managed to change lives just by being who he is

[@saifulfarhan5384]

I haven't seen the video but I'm gonna say that Hanawa is actually Morinaga with plastic surgery. We didn't actually see Morinaga's body so it's entirely possible. It's happened before so it can happen again

[@Kagetora-]

That could be a possibility

[@mencobasukses97]

funny enough, this january I decided to buy gaiden and 5 on a whim

[@RobSikes]

It could be Morinaga, but if they could change faces why didnt they do that for Kiryu. Watch it be something silly has one of fhe people that worked at taxi company or that dude in the sidequest where he reunited the father and daughter. The dad fought in that mission.

[@fugutamasuoable]

LOL change Kiryu’s face? Absolutely not 😂

[@stargateheaven23]

what if hes aizawa...!

[@portagasdace21117]

Too small to be aizawa

[@CheLovEkoShpRoT]

But he doesnt look like him

[@LinkcarioX]

They have the same VA, I have no doubt they are the same person.

[@DavidHosey1]

So Ichi is Nishiki? And Nanba is Yagami, but only when playing in English? And Yamai from 8 is Ibuchi from K2, but only in Japanese? Don’t think that makes sense lol

[@roygreed]

​@@DavidHosey1ichi is reincarnation of nishiki, namba btw

[@unusualpizza]

i thought in rgg online aizawa offed morinaga lol

[@masteroflight7296]

Off screen with no confirmation. Just the word that he did.

[@TruBaus210]

SHINJI!!!!

[@TruBaus210]

Don't forget about shinji

[@snakefh]

For some weird reason... when i played this game, i still don't understand why but i though he was Masato Arakawa. I literally don't know why...

[@apoloshand4746]

I really think that Hanawa looks like Mine Yoshitaka 😮

[@wolfder6661]

I believe its probably Hanawa cuz same VA but he and SPOILERS for anyone who hasn't played the Like a Dragon 8 demo.................................................. Part of me Really hopes it's Mi'ne he's got a simular face to Mi'ne and it's possible cuz Richardson/Anderson is what seems to be alive and well

[@Kagetora-]

I doubt it's Mine lol.

[@skyclouds24]

Hes not morinaga. Morinaga is a bartender in yokohama u can see him if u go there as ichiban

[@Griefy74]

That's not morinaga that's kashiwagi he literally has the same scar

[@MrRobertGillan]

Bruh 🤦🏻

[@simon_1987]

Hanawana is hakura after a sex change operation

[@CoderSV3]

A LOT of this was a stretch imo, save for VA and that "I already met you in 2012", unless Hanawa himself confirms it. Imma still not 100% believe it

[@Zwste]

Imagine it was that one nerd employee from the taxi company

[@MrRobertGillan]

You mean the boss?

[@masterbaiter3807]

I didn't play yakuza games, just watched the gameplay but did Kiryu ever save Morinaga in Y5? because Hanawa mentioned that Kiryu saved him twice, at first we would assume he meant once at the dock and 2nd time when he was actually kidnapped, but now that we learned that he knows Kiryu prior joining Daidoji faction could change that

[@OtakuDefined]

If I remember correctly, once in Y5 and then again in LAD Gaiden

[@portagasdace21117]

Morinaga or Kiryu’s 🚕 boss.