Review: ‘Like a Dragon: Yakuza’, Season 1, Episode 5, “Despair / Hope”

As Nishiki’s leadership continues to push toward war, other clans continue to put hits out on Nishiki. During one of these dealings, the mysterious masked yakuza, The Demon, makes this group another victim of his killing spree. Detective Date later investigates this scene, seeing that another prevalent yakuza member has been killed with a pentagram on his chest.

The yakuza clans continue to be on the brink of war, though they actively try to prevent this deadly outcome. Goda, the Chairman of the Omi clan, wishes for the Doujima clan to disperse and get rid of Nishiki. Shintaro Kazuma actively tries to keep Nishiki safe by reminding Goda that the money will soon be returned to him. Shintaro continues to appear to save Kazuma and Nishiki numerous times, as he’s their guardian after all.

Aiko begins to walk into a river as her mother did when she died by suicide. As she begins to submerge, Yumi finds her and immediately pulls her back, telling her Haruka is alive and needs her. Aiko is then retrieved, though she still doesn’t take accountability for stealing the millions of yen and putting lives at stake. Yumi then gets a call from Nishiki, who claims he has Haruka. Nishiki requests a trade, Haruka, for the stolen money. Kazuma demands to know why he’s working against them and if he’s working for The Demon. Nishiki instead tells Kazuma that he betrayed his brotherhood.

In the past, Nishiki agreed to drug Kazuma so that he would lose the fight. As Nishiki puts an ambiguous power in Kazuma’s water during the battle, Yumi notices and begins to panic. Out of fear, Nishiki abandons the drug and begs Kazuma to lose, revealing that Doujima is betting against him to win more money. Kazuma lets his opponent beat him, but he ultimately wins with a single uppercut.

After The fight, Doujima’s henchmen beat Nishiki, blaming him for their lost bet on Kazuma’s fight. He apologizes and vows to reimburse Doujima for his mistake. As Doujima takes his leave, it’s shown that his car was also taken to pay for his lost bet.

Yumi, Nishiki, and Kazuma begin to mourn Miho. Nishiki begs the doctor to do the surgery, but he reveals it’s too late and reveals that Nishiki was always a perfect donor for her. Miho passes, and her younger brothers and sisters at the orphanage mourn her at her funeral. 

Nishiki investigates Doujima’s dealings. He finds the original organ donor and beats him while questioning him. This man finds the situation amusing and reveals that Doujima lied to Nishiki the entire time. The man was never a donor and was only following Doujima’s order. 

At work, Yumi finds that Reina, the owner of the hostess club, is being arrested. Doujima had retaliated against her out of spite by putting in a tip to the police. As he loses money and power, he’s actively taking others down with him. At the same time, Yumi finds out that Aiko is pregnant and is at fault for Reina’s arrest by giving underaged workers fake IDs.

Nishiki and Yumi see each other at the house, and Nishiki relays the revelation of Doujima’s betrayal. Nishiki makes an advance toward Yumi but is immediately rejected. Yumi finds Kazuma and begs him to run away with her, though Kazuma is still keen on speaking with Nishiki. 

Kazuma discovers  Nishiki has left, and Yumi admits the yakuza have betrayed them. He leaves urgently as Yumi begs him not to kill anyone.

Nishiki walks into Doujima’s home, followed by Kazuma. Kazuma is quickly restrained while Nishiki is alone with Doujima in his office.

This episode revealed the hard truth about Miho’s situation: she was never going to be saved. As the group saved up money, that money ended up going towards Doujima’s investment. Aiko is also further shown that she is not to be trusted. As Nishiki told Kazuma that he was a traitor, it was perplexing to see that Kazuma was a victim, along with Nishiki, in the situation. So far, more will be revealed in the final episode. Viewers will soon learn how Nishiki and Kazuma drifted apart, what happened to Yumi’s romantic feelings for Kazuma, and who The Demon Yakuza is.

Rating: 6.5/10

Kayla Burrows: Film and television have always been an acute interest of mine since adolescence. Ever since, I have participated in adjacent professions, such as theatre, copywriting, and media research. With over eight years of experience in writing and communication, I aim to leverage my expertise to contribute to innovative media projects, and give audiences trusted reviews.
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