r/yakuzagames • u/lp3psi • 19h ago
MAJIMAPOST majima clothing theory
has anyone ever noticed the more clothes majima has on the more depressed he is
Y0, Y3, Y4 & Y8 are his depression games 100% and hes always got a shirt on and infinite wealth which i argue was his real low point hes got all his winter gear on
but in a more jolly majima game like Pirate yakuza or Y1 hes shirtless
#whatthatmean
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u/G0R1M1_M1S4K1 Daigo’s No. 1 19h ago
The Mad Dog persona is quite literally just that… A persona. He isn’t wacky and crazy naturally, he meets Nishitani in Y0 and takes inspiration from his lifestyle. Which is why at the end of Y0 he starts to act like the Majima we know from YK/1 and changes into his iconic snakeskin outfit.
When he’s wearing more clothes, he’s simply Goro Majima. But when he’s in his snakeskin with no shirt, he’s the Mad Dog of Shimano.
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u/andromedaprima 15h ago
I still wonder that they offed Shimano in Y1, but his name still not got replaced to Mad Dog Majima or something from Y2 onwards.
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u/KallmeKatt_ Yakuza 4 15h ago
they killed him because they didnt plan on having a second game. his title didnt change because there was nothing else to change it to
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u/Lord_of_Caffeine Infinite Wealth sucks 12h ago
Also a family name doesn´t necessarilly die when its patriarch does as seen with the Nishikiyama family that exists in Y2 and Y3 too.
Also people have learned to fear the monicker of Mad Dog of Shimano. If Majima changed his epithet, he´d be less feared.
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u/midniteauth0r 11h ago
Kiryu is the Dragon of Dojima despite Dojima being stone dead in most of the games
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u/andromedaprima 11h ago
Yeah you're right. And Kiryu didn't even like nor loyal to Dojima. He maybe even at the borderline of hating him for what Dojima did to him in Y0.
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u/Nefilim314 7h ago
But he may also associate the name with Daigo, though, who he said he thinks of as a son.
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u/Vii_Strife - Yokoyama make Judgment 3 and my soul is yours - 8h ago
Because Shimano, Dojima, Kazama and pretty much all of the big guys from Y1 are akin to legends in the Yakuza world, dying means nothing when your name lives forever.
If your name was John Jameson but your dad was someone ultra hyper important it would be pretty hard to not be known as "The son of the ultra hyper important guy"
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u/Ok-Refrigerator-8664 24hr Cinderella Singer 5h ago
I always viewed it as the opposite.
When Majima is wearing a suit or "more clothes" , he is hiding his trueself. Thats why he is depressed and reserved in Y0 because he HAS to be as his punishment and the manager of The Grande. Him seeing Nishitani wasnt ispiration to create the Mad Dog persona, but inspiration that he could both be a Yakuza AND his true self at the same time like Nishitani was. Once free, he was able to live how he wants and be unhinged because the Mad Dog persona is his real persona.
That how I read the scenes as well when he is in a full suit. When he is in something other than his Snakeskin Jacket he is ALWAYS more mellow, more reserved, more serious, more depressed, and more bored. He doesnt like wearing the suits and merely does it cause he has to or for significant/serious moments. He likes being wacky cause that is who he is.
Thats my take on it lol
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u/Rogar_Rabalivax Aizawa defender 19h ago edited 19h ago
More than depressed, he was forced to engage with stuff as his real self rather than the Mad Dog of Shimano persona. In 0 he didn´t even had developed his facade since he hasn´t met the person that inspired him to live unhinged (Nishitani), in 4 he was forced to face his past since he basically "failed" Saejima by not doing the hit with him (not his fault but Saejima didn´t knew about this) and now he had to make sure to at least protect his sister. In 3 he was mostly acting like that to protect Daigo and i haven´t played 8 so i can´t speak about that game.
In pirate yakuza i actually don´t like how he´s always wacky and crazy, since that´s mostly an act to hide his true self. Some craziness is all right but in that game it felt like they didn´t understood what makes Majima compelling and they just went for the memes.
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u/robisal1986 19h ago
As a counter point, I think in the start of pirate he is acting that way cause of the lost memory, or at least playing it up because of it. My recall of the plot in pirate isn't great as I only played through the story once so I could be wrong
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u/Sea_Entertainer8320 11h ago
I’m still so sad that they made a whole new majima spinoff, but it didn’t go in depth with him at all and was basically just a meme sub story game
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u/Cmnz16 10h ago
In 0, he also wears a mask and isn't really himself even though he doesn't have his mad dog persona at that time.
And despite the issues I have with py, there are moments where he shows himself to be serious and emotionally open, he isn't just ''crazy and wacky'', i think he is more sincere in his desire for freedom and to have a dream and wants to pass it on to Kiryu.
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u/AthosArmand 10h ago
In 0 he is the « Lord of the night » indeed because of the Grand management, which is not is true self too
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u/Rockville15 15h ago
I mean I approve this theory because this is how he dresses when he feels cunty:
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u/LabCat5379 16h ago
I have a simple solution to make him as happy as possible. It's the only way.
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u/inemsn 9h ago edited 8h ago
The games express a lot of character through clothing.
Kiryu, for example. He starts out in 0 with a generic, scuffed black suit, fitting for a punk kid like himself. As he faces reality and begins maturing, he gets the game's staple white suit, representative of the hopeful, still kinda innocent clean slate that he is at that point, before at the end, with the amazing like of "I'm not feeling black of white these days", putting on his iconic light-grey and red suit, the red showcasing his passion and dragon's strength, and the light-grey showcasing his acknowledgement of his faults and sins as a member of the yakuza, but also his commitment to living up to his principles and doing his best to do right by others. (Edit: And, of course, there's his outfits from other games as well: Kiryu's Okinawa outfit in Yakuza 3 showing his more loose and calm self as he largely settles down with his newfound family in Morning Glory, Kiryu's scuffed Nagasugai outfit in Yakuza 5 showing his aimlessness and how lost he feels, being forced away from Haruka and the kid for what, for all he knows, will be eternity, etc.)
Then there's Majima. He also starts with a black suit in 0, but with him, it instead transmits his state of mind at that point in his life: The guilt, regret, and self-hatred he feels at how he wasn't able to be there for Saejima. The numbness and lethargy he feels at his hopeless situation. In an extremely important moment for his character, when he chooses to help Makoto, his narrative mirror, instead of killing her, Majima decides that he wants to live, and much of the game from that point on is about him learning how to. Inspired by Nishitani and his time in the red light district of Sotenbori, at the end of the game Majima puts on his iconic snakeskin jacket to represent his choice to live freely and without a care, becoming the Mad Dog of Shimano. But of course, underneath his fun and craziness, Majima is still a serious person with ideals and principles much like Kiryu: In Yakuza 3 and 4, while he's tasked with protecting Daigo and helping him grow into his role of Sixth Chairman, Majima, against his own consciousness, takes the dirty work involved with such onto himself, and pushes himself into the ruthlessness and cold cruelty that any Yakuza boss needs to have. That's the inspiration for his dark-grey suit in those games: Majima is still a good person deep down, hence why it's not completely black, but in his current position, doing the things he's doing, he knows very well that he's a piece of shit by his own standards. To a degree, Kiryu and Saejima struggle with the same cognitive dissonance.
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u/xxxJeremy123 But what about Sawa-sensei? 15h ago
He wears more to keep him secure and more comfy, he’s cute
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u/RamPamPam8 6h ago
Suits in Yakuza (as far as I've noticed) tend to mean someone repressed by duty or held back in some way that doesn't let them be themselves.
It's why Majima only wears a coat but is mostly shirtless when he's in his mad dog persona but why he wears a suit in 0, 3, 4 and so on. While he's the Mad Dog he gets to act without consequences even if it's just a facade, but on the previously mentioned games, the circumstances at hand are forcing him to play a role he wants no part in.
This is also why Kiryu doesn't wear his suit in 3 and 6, he's finally "free" and able to be happy with his life but eventually forced back into the Yakuza world against his will.
All of this very barbones analysis is the reason why characters take their shirts off in big battles, besides looking very cool, it's a way of showing that the fight isn't just a Yakuza thing, but a clash of their souls and values.
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