Inoue Genzaburo (井上 源三郎, Inoue Genzaburō), born Serizawa Kamo (芹沢 鴨, Serizawa Kamo), is a character featured in Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin!/Like a Dragon: Ishin!. He is the Shinsengumi Captain of the Sixth Divison and shares his in-game appearance with Osamu Kashiwagi.
Profile[]
Appearance[]
Inoue is a middle-aged man with graying black hair tied into a short, high bun and a noticeable facial scar which stretches diagonally from his right eye to his left cheek. In the original game, he is modeled after Kashiwagi's appearance in Yakuza 3, but in the remake he is instead modeled after Kashiwagi's appearance in the Yakuza Kiwami 2
The real Inoue is shares his in-game appearance with Fumiya Ushijima, albeit with less wrinkles, and with a top-knot.
Attire[]
Inoue normally wears black leather armor over a set of brown kimono and hakama, along with his light-blue Shinsengumi Captain's haori.
The real Inoue wore a beige haori over a white kimono.
Personality[]
Inoue is a very quiet, gruff man. He does not speak often but when he does, he does so decisively and bluntly. Despite not demonstrating too much commitment to the Shinsengumi's cause of protecting the Tokugawa Shogunate's control over Kyoto, he is undyingly loyal to Kondo Isami for lifting him out of his life of crime and thus he unquestioningly serves Kondo's mission to preserve the Tokugawa Bakufu's rule over Japan.
Background[]
Inoue was originally known as Serizawa Kamo. He was a samurai from the Mito Domain who became a master of the Tennen-Rishin style of swordfighting. He eventually deserted the Mito Domain, becoming an outlaw based on the laws of Edo Japan, which barred samurai from leaving their domain without permission. After his desertion, he met two younger deserters also from the Mito Domain, Hirayama Goro and Hirama Jusuke, who became his pupils and learned his Tennen-Rishin style.
The three men lived as what the real Okita Soji woulds later describe as "glorified criminals" until they met Kondo Isami, a peasant-born samurai from Edo. Kondo was putting together a special police force to protect the Tokugawa Bakufu's interests in the capital and, impressed by Serizawa's swordfighting style, he invited all three of them to join the group. This police organization would come to be known as the Miburoshigumi.
Involvement[]
Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin!/Like a Dragon: Ishin!: 1866-1867[]
In early 1866, Takechi Hanpeita (acting under the alias of "Sakamoto Ryoma") approaches Serizawa and offers to use his influence as a leading shishi to get the Mito Domain to pardon him and his pupils for their desertion if Serizawa assassinates his mentor, Yoshida Toyo, so he can usurp control over their political group, the Tosa Loyalist Party. Donning a ninja outfit on the appointed night, Serizawa snuck into Yoshida's study in the local lord's palace and attacked him while he met with Takechi and the real Sakamoto Ryoma. Even though he was outnumbered, Serizawa easily struck a fatal blow to Yoshida and then fled, despite Sakamoto's efforts to stop him.
A few days later, as soon as Serizawa had returned to the Miburoshigumi's base in the capital, he was approached in his room by the true Inoue Genzaburo and his pupils, Okita Soji and Nagakura Shinpachi. These three fellow Miburoshigumi members were infuriated because they believed Chief Kondo was favoring Serizawa and his pupils over them, which they found unacceptable due to Serizawa's criminal past. Inoue, Okita and Nagakura attack Serizawa, but the former outlaw manages to hold is own against them, killing Inoue and Nagakura before he is finally disarmed by Okita. However, before the treacherous samurai can strike a finishing blow against Serizawa, Okita is killed by Hirayama and Hirama, who'd been awakened by the commotion.
Immediately afterwards, Chief Kondo and Deputy Chief Hijikata Toshizo arrive. Serizawa tries to explain what had transpired to the commanders, begging that his pupils be spared punishment for having struck down one of their own since they'd only done so to save him. Chief Kondo believes that Serizawa is telling the truth and that the three dead men started the fight, but laments that this incident of internal violence will ruin the nascent Miburoshigumi's reputation with their Shogunate paymasters, especially since Okita, Inoue and Nagakura had a reputation for being the group's best fighters. Ultimately, in order to cover-up the attempted coup and preserve the renown which the three fallen samurai brought, Serizawa, Hirayama and Hirama agree to change names and pretend to be Inoue, Okita and Nagakura, respectively.
One year later, in 1867, the Miburoshigumi has been renamed as the Shinsengumi and they have become the Shogunate's largest force in Kyoto, with around 1000 soldiers. Inoue is a member of the group's high-command, serving as Captain of 6th Division. Chief Kondo has become more detached from the day-to-day operations of the group and the only two members he sees regularly are Hijikata and Inoue.
When Sakamoto Ryoma joins the group (under the alias of "Saito Hajime") and gets promoted to 3rd Division Captain by an unwitting Hijikata, Inoue recognizes him as the man he fought on the night of Yoshida's assassination. Suspecting Sakamoto may be here to seek out his foster father's killer, Inoue informs Kondo of this immediately. However, the two men ultimately agree to not kill Sakamoto for the time being, since his great fighting skills could be of use and since he doesn't pose a threat as long as he doesn't know Inoue was Yoshida's killer.
Within days, the Shinsengumi receive intel suggesting anti-Shogunate assassin Okada Izo is in a gambling den in Rakugai. In response, Inoue, 7th Division Captain Tani Sanjuro and 9th Division Captain Suzuki Mikisaburo set out to capture him. Prior to departing, Inoue asks Sakamoto to accompany him. When the Captains arrive, Inoue and Suzuki get into a discussion about how to approach, but Tani becomes frustrated and rushes into the gambling den by himself, running past the guards and leaving Inoue, Sakamoto and Suzuki to deal with them.
Inside the gambling hall, Tani finds and attacks Okada, but the assassin kills him instead. Suzuki arrives immediately afterwards and meets the same fate. When Inoue and Sakamoto confront the shishi, Sakamoto insists on fighting him alone and he ultimately manages to defeat and disarm Okada. Inoue prepares to execute Izo for slaying two Captains, but Sakamoto stops him, saying that killing a surrendering foe will only reinforce the Shinsengumi's barbarous reputation amongst the people of Kyoto. Ultimately, Inoue agrees to spare Okada and allows him to be taken alive when city guards arrive. Sakamoto realizes that Inoue had called the guards beforehand to arrest Okada, so he never really intended to execute him. When he asks him why he pretended he would kill Okada, Inoue tells him that he wanted to see what kind of man Sakamoto was.
A few weeks later, all the Shinsengumi Captains take part in a raid on the Ikedaya, an inn where the leaders of the Choshu Loyalist Party were gathering to finalize a plan to rescue the Emperor from his Shogunate guards. Despite the raid being a victory for the Shinsengumi, it becomes apparent that the Choshu shishi knew the raid was coming and had prepared to fight back. Deputy Chief Hijikata lays the blame on 4th Unit Captain Matsubara Chuji, saying he has evidence that he's a secret Choshu shishi infiltrator. When Matsubara tries to shift blame onto Sakamoto by saying he joined the Shinsengumi under false pretences, Inoue suddenly kills him, saying he couldn't stand Matsubara's feeble attempts to defend himself and the insults he aimed at Chief Kondo. This incident makes Sakamoto suspect Inoue might know about his true identity, since it was too much of a coincidence that he stepped in and killed Matsubara just as he was about to out him, but it also makes Sakamoto question why Inoue would protect him if he did know the truth.
Shaken by his near-discovery at the Ikedaya, Sakamoto decides to confront Chief Kondo to see whether he ordered Yoshida's death. He asks multiple members of the Shinsengumi leadership how to meet with Kondo and, eventually, Inoue approaches him and says he can get him a meeting with Kondo if he gathers information on a new shishi leader in town. Much to Sakamoto's surprise, this new shishi is pretending to be him, going by "Sakamoto Ryoma" while trying to broker an alliance between the Tosa and Satsuma domains. After Sakamoto gathers information on this fake "Sakamoto", Inoue arranges the meeting between him and Chief Kondo.
During the dinner between the two, Chief Kondo briefly pretends to be Yoshida's assassin in order to goad Sakamoto into a fight, but once their battle is over, Sakamoto realizes Kondo is not the true killer, since his fighting style is different to the man he'd fought back in Tosa. After Sakamoto leaves, Inoue emerges from a hidden vantage point and wonders if it's wise to let Sakamoto live given that he's getting closer to the truth.
A few weeks later, Inoue meets once again with Takechi. However, during their meeting, Takechi and Okada ambush Inoue and kill him, before dumping his body into the Fushimi docks. Inoue's murder causes chaos within the Shinsengumi: Okita wants to go on a rampage against suspected shishi to avenge his fallen mentor, while Harada Sanosuke just wants to go on a killing spree to re-establish the populace's fear of the Shinsengumi, since the death of so many high-ranking members has made them look weak. Okita would later confront Sakamoto and accuse him of being Inoue's killer, since Inoue had been the assassin Sakamoto was hunting. Sakamoto denies knowing this and denies killing Inoue, but Okita attacks him regardless, resulting in a duel which is only stopped by the arrival of Chief Kondo.
At Kondo's home, the Commander confirms to Sakamoto that Inoue was his father's killer, having acted on the orders of a third party (who unbeknownst to Kondo and Okita was Takechi). When Sakamoto wonders why Inoue didn't simply kill him when he started getting closer to the truth, Kondo reveals the truth about Inoue's identity and speculates that Inoue probably felt guilt for killing Sakamoto's foster father, as well as sympathy for his situation since, just like Sakamoto, Inoue knew what it was like to lead a double life to do what he thought was right.
Fighting Style[]
Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin![]
Inoue is a practitioner of Tennen Rishin, a swordfighting style that revolves mostly around quick sword thrust attacks. He holds his katana in a stance similar to te ura gasumi no kamae, but with his left palm placed on the pommel of the hilt. His moveset includes:
- a combo consisting of a sword thrust, a spinning thrust, and a spinning upward diagonal left slash-sword thrust with one hand;
- a second combo consisting of a sword thrust, a double downward diagonal right slash, and an upward diagonal left slash;
- a sword thrust-sword thrust-crouching sword thrust,
- a vertical downward slash,
- a lunging sword thrust,
- quickstep attacks, including:
- a crouching upward thrust-spinning horizontal rightward slash after forward-stepping,
- a sword thrust-spinning horizontal right/left slash after sidestepping left/right respectively, and
- a lunging sword thrust after backstepping;
- a counter stance where he crouches down with his sword held low, followed by a lunging one-handed thrust if Sakamoto attacks him (unused); and
- a vertical downward slash-downward thrust as a downed attack.
His attack trails are pinkish red.
Inoue's moveset serves as the basis for those of all the other Tennen Rishin users that are fought in Ishin!. It is also reused by Amon Genjosai.
Like a Dragon: Ishin![]
Inoue's moveset is mostly unchanged from the original Ishin!, although he can no longer use his downed attack. His attack animations have been sped up, making him a faster and deadlier opponent.
Inoue will also enter Heat Mode, in which he emits a white aura.
Gallery[]
Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin![]
).png "Osamu Kashiwagi (Serizawa Kamo (Inoue Genzaburō)).png (626 KB)")
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Like a Dragon: Ishin![]
.png "LADI! - Character Render - Inoue Genzaburo (Masked).png (2.17 MB)")
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.png "RGGO - Card - KSR Inoue Genzaburo (Ishin Kiwami).png (389 KB)")