Ryo Takashima (高島 遼, Takashima Ryō) is the secondary antagonist of Yakuza 2/Yakuza Kiwami 2. He is the Chief of HQ of the Omi Alliance and the patriarch of the Takashima Family.
Profile[]
Appearance[]
Takashima has black hair, brown eyes and wears glasses. In both appearances he wears a black suit with a grey undershirt.
In Yakuza 2, he has medium-length middle parted hair and a relatively young looking face.
In Yakuza Kiwami 2, he is modeled after his voice actor, Hakuryu, and has short slicked-back hair.
Personality[]
Outwardly, Takashima is a reasonable person, as he supports the peace agreement between the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance, backing up his Chairman on the matter even when faced with the prospect of Ryuji's coup. He is also polite towards Kiryu, indicating a degree of respect for the ex-yakuza. This benevolence is no more than a façade for his true nature as a deceitful schemer who manipulates events behind the scenes to further his grand objective of ruling over Japan's yakuza. Aside from being dishonest about whom he stands with, Takashima is also deeply disloyal, disposing of his allies as soon as they outlive their usefulness to him, likely because his avaricious nature makes him unwilling to share power with anyone else. This extends to his Chairman, whom he gleefully murders, and Terada, whom he betrays at the last minute after revealing his true intentions.
Takashima is also highly intelligent, excellent at linking together various factions under his command and making moves from the shadows. Despite this proficiency at plotting intricate power plays, his overconfidence causes him to overlook the potential for his plans to go wrong, as he did not account for Terada becoming aware of his duplicity, nor for Ryuji regaining consciousness. Arguably, there was also no need for him to appear in person atop Kamurocho Hills.
Background[]
According to an informant account, Takashima graduated from Touto University and has a good connection to the government. He is described in the in-game profiles as the brains behind the Omi Alliance.
Takashima swore an oath of brotherhood with Yukio Terada, both of whom were top members of the Omi Alliance under its Fifth Chairman, Jin Goda. After Terada left his position as the Omi's Chief of HQ to become the Fifth Chairman of the Tojo Clan (while still under amicable terms with the Omi), Takashima took Terada's position as the Chief of HQ at the age of 40.
Involvement[]
Yakuza 2/Yakuza Kiwami 2: 2006[]
When Kazuma Kiryu and Daigo Dojima travel to Osaka to broker a peace agreement between the Tojo and the Omi in light of Terada's death, Takashima is amongst the patriarchs attending the meeting between them and Goda. In contrast to his fellow high-ranking patriarch, Toranosuke Sengoku, Takashima supports Goda's desire to strike an alliance between the two organizations. When the Chairman's son, Ryuji Goda, bursts into the meeting and stages a coup against his own father, Takashima is amongst the patriarchs taken hostage by Ryuji's men.
Later on, after Kiryu and Daigo put a stop to Ryuji's coup, Takashima puts a contract out on Kiryu and his new ally; Detective Kaoru Sayama, hiring an assassin to wound them but not kill them, so as to drive them out of Osaka without immediately putting the Tojo on the warpath.
It is later revealed that in reality, Takashima, like Sengoku, was secretly collaborating with Ryuji all along despite the latter splintering from the Omi Alliance proper. Throughout the remainder of the game's story, Takashima operates mostly behind the scenes. Unlike Ryuji and Sengoku, he does not make any direct attempts to invade Tokyo or attack Kiryu with his men. Instead, in the finale it's revealed that his plot for conquest was one which involved making none of his men take part in the Omi-Tojo war. For years, Takashima had been aware of his former boss, Terada's, true identity as Daejin Kim, leader of the Japanese branch of the Jingweon Mafia, and had been working with him to execute his plot to destroy the Tojo and the Omi by pitting them against each other. To this end, Takashima had been aware of Terada's death being fake.
However, Takashima did not intend to follow through on Terada's quest for vengeance all the way. Once the Tojo and Omi were both left weakened after the war, Takashima plotted to betray his boss and assume control of both yakuza groups and rule over the nation's yakuza.
Terada and Takashima's machinations culminated with Kiryu and Ryuji fighting each other atop the Kamurocho Hills construction site - a fight in which Goda was defeated and left unconscious. Afterwards, Terada revealed himself to be alive and his true identity to Kiryu, and tried to murder him with the help of his Jingweon assassins, only to be bested as well. At this point, Takashima revealed himself and his allegiance to Terada. He proceeded to shoot and kill Jin Goda, before betraying Terada by killing him as well.
Takashima then took Sayama hostage and shot Kiryu, preparing to murder them both. His schemes were ultimately foiled when Ryuji arose from unconsciousness, picked up Terada's gun, and shot him repeatedly. Takashima died, but not before being able to put multiple bullets in Ryuji, thus leading to his own death following his final showdown with Kiryu (which he ultimately lost).
Gallery[]
Yakuza 2[]
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Yakuza Kiwami 2[]
Ryu Ga Gotoku Online[]
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Notes[]
- ↑ Takashima became Chief of Headquarters after Terada's ascension to Tojo Clan Chairman in December 2005.
- ↑ The given height of 177 cm (5′ 10″) is based on the character model's scaling factor within Yakuza Kiwami 2's data.[2] For Dragon Engine games, this method is believed to be very accurate (±2 cm). However, this is intended as an estimate, not a substitute for an official statistic.
References[]
- ↑ “Ryū ga Gotoku Kiwami 2 | CAST Takashima Ryō | SEGA kōshiki saito” 龍が如く 極２ | CAST 高島遼 | セガ公式サイト [Yakuza Kiwami 2 | CAST Ryo Takashima | SEGA Official Website], Ryū Ga Gotoku 龍が如く [Ryu Ga Gotoku], SEGA, accessed August 7, 2022, https://ryu-ga-gotoku.com/kiwami2/cast/detail.html?chara=takasima. (Archive)
40歳という若さで近江連合執行部の本部長に上り詰めた頭脳派。
— Yakuza Kiwami 2 | CAST Ryo Takashima | SEGA Official WebsiteA sharp individual, he rose to the position of Omi Alliance Chief of Headquarters at the young age of 40.
- ↑ Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, “character_model_model_data” (.BIN file), Yakuza Kiwami 2 (2017; Tokyo: SEGAWP, 2018), PlayStation 4/Windows/Xbox One/Amazon Luna.