If you're looking for Daigo, Mine's taken him up to the ruff.
Hi there, it's time for me to bring another Like a Dragon candidate, and my first non-Japanese candidate of the franchise, who is one of the most memed characters of the games. Please welcome Andre Richardson!
What's The Work?
Like a Dragon (formerly Yakuza in the West) is a famous Japanese crime drama action video game franchise developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega. The games take place in various cities in Japan, with heavy Japanese culture as well as pop culture references. There are many selfless heroes who are ready to stop big threats from harming innocents.
Who is He?
Andre Richardson, later known as The Bartender, is the secondary antagonist of Yakuza 3, and its upcoming remake Yakuza Kiwami 3. He was a former double agent working for CIA, as well as the leader of Black Monday organization, which he named after the incident he caused. After his defeat and presumed death, he laid low and moved to Hawaii, eventually became a local bartender.
What Makes Him Heinous?
Before the events of the game, he was known to be a corrupted CIA agent who recruited many of his fellow corrupted man to form an international crime syndicate which he specialized in illegal arms dealing internationally. This syndicate then further caused a serious market crash among America in 1987, called Black Monday. Richardson then used that very same name to name his infamous organization.
During the events of the game, upon learning about American military's expansion plan to Okinawa for a missile test site. He encouraged the base's approval, despite many protests from the locals, in order to steal that high tech equipment for his own use. He also conspired with some Japanese politicians to demolish many Okinawan lands, especially the Morning Glory Orphanage, where many helpless children lived and were raised by Kiryu.
He then conspired with Joji Kazama to hinder Daigo Dojima and his Tojo Clan men from protecting the local lands. He then tried to steal the deeds from the Ryudo Family and attempted to shoot its patriarch Shigeru Nakahara as an effort to do so. After Daigo had taken the deeds, he then followed Joji Kazama to his place adn then attempted to kill him, making him in a long comatose period.
He then approached Yoshitaka Mine, who was Daigo's most trusted friend and brother, to ask him to conspire with his plan to steal the American military's high tech missile, as well as to expand their army. He also threatened the Tojo's safety to ask him to do so. He then also tried to approach Kiryu several times to prevent him from stopping his plans. During the encounters, he also brought his CIA allies to attempt assassinate Kiryu in the Millennium Tower, which presumably killed Osamu Kashiwagi and could have damaged dozens of people.
At the end, he acquired most of his men to surround the entire Touto Hospital and to ambush the people who hindered his way, especially Kiryu. He then attempted to kill Mine due to the latter turning on him, only failed because Mine dragged him down to fall.
Heinous Standard
We all know that the heinous standard of Like a Dragon franchise is astronomically high, as it has many notorious criminals and officials who are capable of committing large scale or very despicable crimes, and they commit those crimes for breakfast. I am gonna list the three villains whom I believe to set the heinous standard of the verse:
- Sohei Dojima: The ultimate evil of the franchise. He committed an infamous Jingweon massacre, as well as massacring many of Elder Chen's men, and then orchestrated a full-scale gang war which could have harmed thousands of innocents if the heroes did not stop him. After his defeat, he cowardly raped Yumi Sawamura out of spite and was rightfully killed by Nishiki. Overall, he kickstarted most of the events happening in the Yakuza Saga by influencing other Pure Evil villains to do his crimes, such as Kei Ibuchi and Ryo Takashima.
- Tsuneo Iwami: Another despicable villain who despite having every chance to be an honest successful citizen, threw it all away and became a power hungry crime lord who harmed a large scale of innocents, he even killed his own father just to keep doing so. He also had no problem brutally killing harmless women and children. He also helped kickstart the subsequent events of the Like a Dragon saga, involving many heinous villains.
- Kyoya Sadamoto: A prime example of how a low resource villain could have committed such atrocious crime. As an ordinary businessman, this guy burned down his in-laws' house and killed every single family member, except for his wife, just to inherit their will. He also poisoned dozens of people with his brutal poison at the end. He also had no problem killing his wife and son if not for Kaito's interference.
For Richardson, I strongly believe he could stand out among those despicable villains because he used his position of a CIA agent really well to willingly and directly cause a large-scale incident, infamously crashing America's economy, which of course, affected the large scale of people. He also attempted to demolish many local Japanese lands just to help the American army expand their military bases and missile test sites. He also conspired with many politicians to acquire America's high tech equipment, such as high value missiles, which he could have used to affect the large scale of people.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?
He would have easily been a PE candidate if Yakuza 3 was his only appearance. However in later installments, such as Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, after his presumed death, he fully redeemed himself and moved to Hawaii, so that he could start a new leaf. He then became a much more affable and easy-going local bartender of his own bar called Revolve, which he had made a lot of friends in the city and people frequently admired him and came to his bar for drinks. He also assisted the main heroes in their journey, and did a lot of good deeds, such as protecting Ichiban's crawfish from being cooked by someone; providing shelters to the heroes of tomorrow; or providing weapons and equipments service for them. In Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, he also kept doing the right thing, but this time to assist Goro Majima and the Goro Pirates in their noble quests. Therefore, his genuine redemption and change of heart significantly prevents him from even stepping to the NPE territory, let alone PE.
Final Verdict
Easy yes to the ruff guy.