Like A Dragon: 11 Details In Yakuza Games That'll Blow Your Mind

Like real life, the major Yakuza characters of the various in-game organizations have impressive back tattoos. Naturally, the tattoos in the series are reflective of their owners’ personality and storylines.

For example, Nishikiyama Akira has a carp swimming upstream on his back. This is a pun on his name meaning a type of fish as well as the myth that a fish can turn into a dragon by swimming up a waterfall. It matches his storyline perfectly - like a carp who never transforms, he feels he never becomes as good the 'dragon', Kiryu.

The tattoos also hold more subtle things, like the fact that Kiryu’s back tattoo is clutching a pearl with the character for ‘monkey’, rather than dragon. This is because Kiryu was born in 1968 - a year of the monkey in the eastern zodiac.

And, of course, Yakuza 0's final battle is between the 'two dragons': Kiryu and Shibusawa Keiji. They both have dragon tattoos, though Kiryu's is unfinished at that time. Kiryu's dragon faces upward clutching the aforementioned pearl which signifies strength and accomplishment - a sign that he's becoming better and staying true to himself.

Shibusawa's dragon is sitting still, perhaps even facing downward and without a pearl, indicating that he has not yet achieved his desires - also hinting that he will never achieve what Kiryu eventually does.