Yakuza: Why Everybody Loves Goro Majima
3. He Puts Other Peoples Happiness Above His Own
For a game that's about Japanese organised crime the ending of Yakuza 0 was oddly heart-wrenching. After seeing Majima fighting so hard to protect Makoto it was hard to watch her not recognise him in the end. Whilst the fans may have been screaming at their screens for him to reveal who he was, his silence in this situation is one of the reasons why he's such a beloved character.
It's clear to the player that Majima cares deeply for her. He can't tell her who he is because he thinks she will be much happier without him. If Majima did what would make him happy and ask her to come with him, he knows he'd be putting her in danger and with all the trouble the Yakuza had already put her through, he knew he couldn't do that again. Sadly, even Yakuza 2 Kiwami refuses to give the player a happily ever after and we get a tearjerker of an ending instead.
It's sad but it shows a human side to The Mad Dog Of Shimano and allows the player to empathise with his character. Moments like this give his character depth. They show that he has a fully developed humanised personality, which brings him out of the caricatured insane character that he can sometimes be portrayed as. It's just another reason the fans love him so much and feel so deeply for him.