Junji Sugiuchi (杉内 順次, Sugiuchi Junji) is a major antagonist in Yakuza 4. He is a detective in the Homicide Division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, and is secretly a member of the Ueno Seiwa Clan.
Profile[]
Appearance[]
Sugiuchi's face is modeled after his voice actor, Kenichi EndoWP. He is a man of above-average height, average build, brown eyes, and short slicked-back black hair.
Attire[]
Sugiuchi wears a gray suit over a white shirt and a plaid tie, with matching dress suit pants and a pair of seemingly fancy shiny black wingtip cap toe brogues. He also wears a designer watch on his left wrist.
Personality[]
— Sugiuchi to Tanimura, Yakuza 4 RemasteredI've gotten my fair share of praise. Been thanked countless times for my service. Every word of it tore my heart out. Made me wonder what I was even doing. I'd close a case. Get my pat on the back. And you know? Even though I knew it shouldn't have… It felt good. Somewhere deep in my heart. Truth is… Seeing you struggle, suffer, succeed… Made me wish I'd gone straight ages ago.
At work, Sugiuchi is a strict person and can be harsh at times, evident when he's less than happy upon finding out Tanimura's gambling addiction and when he told Akiyama to stay away from Kanemura Enterprises - which happened to be one of his clients, claiming that Akiyama's credit business fueled more crime. His harshness extends to a point where Tanimura said that he's not hesitant to beat someone up during an interrogation.
While in truth that he was a yakuza disguising as a detective, it is revealed that Sugiuchi actually questioned his allegiance every time he finished cases. He felt guilty and confused that ever since he introduced Katsuragi to Munakata, he had been nothing but a tool for them both. He also envied Tanimura and wished that he could have been a real policeman like him.
Background[]
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Junji Sugiuchi in 1985
Sugiuchi joined the Ueno Seiwa Clan at an unknown point and became oath brothers to Isao Katsuragi. Around 1980, Sugiuchi joined the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department within the Homicide Division, acting as a spy for the Ueno Seiwa. In 1985, Sugiuchi helped plot the Ueno Seiwa Hit alongside Katsuragi and Kazuo Shibata, acting as Katsuragi's liaison within the force.
On April 21, 1985, Sugiuchi showed up to the premise of the Ueno Seiwa Hit, and was ordered by Katsuragi to shoot him in the shoulder. Sugiuchi remarked he'll will be out of the hospital soon, and as captain of the Ueno Seiwa Clan, before shooting him.
Sugiuchi was assigned as a lead detective on the Ueno Seiwa Hit case, alongside Taigi Tanimura. Within a day's work, Sugiuchi fabricated a report on the hit, and brought it up to his superior, Seishiro Munakata. The discrepancies on Sugiuchi's report were quickly called out by Munakata, leaving Sugiuchi to deny it, however unable to speak after further evidence is presented. Sugiuchi was given the offer to allow the report to stand as written, on the condition that he introduce Katsuragi to Munakata. Sugiuchi accepted, and would consequently be blackmailed by Munakata. On April 30, 1985, Sugiuchi murdered Taigi and dumped his body into the Arakawa River.
Involvement[]
Yakuza 4: 2010[]
In March of 2010, Shun Akiyama is mistakenly arrested on suspicion of having killed Ueno Seiwa Lieutenant Masaru Ihara, but he's released after his secretary and business partner Hana testifies that he didn't do it. As Akiyama is leaving the police station, Sugiuchi approaches him and sneeringly tells him that he should thank Hana for exonerating him, but he does so while mocking Hana's weight, which Akiyama takes exception to. The Detective then warns Akiyama to stay out of yakuza affairs and criticizes him for his policy of giving out loans at no interest to anybody who passes one of his tests, saying that he might think of himself as a "saint" for its generosity but all it does is stir up trouble and put money in the hands of "dirtbags" like the people of Kanemura Enterprises. Akiyama defends his lending practices and begins to leave, only for Sugiuchi to surprise him by informing him that Hiroshi Kanemura was murdered while Akiyama was in lock-up. Sugiuchi then gives Akiyama one final warning to stay out of the conflict between the Tojo and the Ueno Seiwa.
Later that same day, Sugiuchi and some patrol officers respond to a report of a violent brawl in the roof of a building overlooking Theater Square. To his surprise and displeasure, he finds the brawl was between Akiyama and some members of the Shibata Family who wanted to question him about the whereabouts of Ihara's real killer, Akiyama's friend Hiroaki Arai. An angered Sugiuchi berates Akiyama for ignoring his warning and orders the officers to arrest him, but Akiyama refuses to be taken in and flees, as he knows Shibata goons are also en route to raid his office. After he makes sure the office is secure, Akiyama and Takeshi Kido willingly turn themselves over to the police for questioning about the brawl. During his interrogation of Kido, Sugiuchi asks at length about the connection between Akiyama and Arai and about the loan terms between Akiyama and Kanemura Enterprises, but Kido is unable to answer about any of it. Sugiuchi also later eavesdrops on Akiyama and Kido as they talk while leaving the police station, but doesn't hear anything useful about Arai's location.
Sugiuchi later goes to Akiyama's office once again, accompanied by two patrol officers whom he posts at the building's entrance. Sugiuchi informs Akiyama that he's going to keep his office under 24-hour police surveillance for the time being, ostensibly to protect him from any further attacks by the Shibata Family, though Akiyama also suspects its in case Arai tries to contact Akiyama there. Sugiuchi also warns Akiyama that the conflict between the Tojo and the Ueno is likely to escalate, as Katsuragi (who is now the organization's Captain and acting Chairman) has given an ultimatum to Tojo Chairman Daigo Dojima, demanding either Arai's surrender or partnership in the Tojo's lucrative Kamurocho Hills project in order to avoid war. Akiyama questions how a police detective who's not from the Organized Crime division knows so much about the ins and outs of a yakuza dispute and why he cares so much about it, but this line of questioning displeases Sugiuchi, who tells him to stay out of it. As a new customer arrives to speak with Akiyama, Sugiuchi departs.
A few days later, Sugiuchi questions Community Safety detective Masayoshi Tanimura about what he was doing at the scene of Ihara's murder, since Tanimura's fingerprints showed up on the chin of the deceased. When Tanimura repeatedly doesn't even react to his questions, Sugiuchi takes a closer look at him and realizes that he's listening to a horse race radio broadcast on his earpiece and hasn't heard a word he said. Sugiuchi starts berating Tanimura for his attitude, which prompts the younger officer to get up and start leaving, using the excuse of being late to go on patrol. Sugiuchi mocks Tanimura, saying that based on what people say about him, his "patrols" consist of little more than visiting shady or illicit businesses and shaking them down for hush money. Tanimura disregards the insult and just leaves.
The next day, Tanimura is lured into a trap by Katsuragi, who leaves him to be killed by a large mob of his thugs. However, before the Ueno men can kill the cop, Sugiuchi arrives in a squad car with multiple patrol officers. The Detective tells the yakuza that they're all under arrest and then tells Tanimura to hurry up and go rescue Zhao and Mei Hua, since Katsuragi had also sent thugs to raid their restaurant in Little Asia. Tanimura thanks the senior detective and then departs.
Some time later, Tanimura reports to police HQ that he's tracked down Yutaka Mishima, Ihara's oath brother who witnessed his murder and who's been hiding out in an abandoned warehouse in the docks. Sugiuchi learns of this and goes to said warehouse to assassinate Mishima before he can be taken in for testimony by Tanimura. Upon arrival to the warehouse, Sugiuchi finds that Mishima is already speaking with Tanimura, so he stealthily sneaks in and shoots Mishima dead from the shadows before either man notices he's there. When Tanimura sees its Sugiuchi who shot Mishima, he is not surprised: He tells Sugiuchi that he'd long suspected he was corrupt, since his shoes and watch are too expensive for a normal detective to afford. Furthermore, Sugiuchi's rescue from Katsuragi's ambush also incriminated him, since there's no way Sugiuchi could have known Katsuragi intended to kill Tanimura without being told beforehand.
Suddenly, multiple uniformed officers led by Junichi Sudo burst in and train their guns on Sugiuchi. Tanimura reveals that he'd expected a corrupt cop in the department would show up to silence Mishima, so he contacted the Organized Crime division to back him up. Sudo orders that Sugiuchi be taken into custody, but Sugiuchi simply laughs at him. The Homicide detective boasts that he's protected by people higher up in the police department and dares any of the officers to actually do anything to him. Just as he suspects, none of the officers actually move to apprehend him, so he moves to leave, only for Tanimura to fire a warning shot against him. The young detective says that he won't be cowered by his threats of reprisals, which impresses Sugiuchi. The corrupt cop tells his younger counterpart that he's the only cop he's seen in his 30 year career on the force who "deserves" to call himself a police officer, after which he bolts out the door, pursued by Tanimura.
Sugiuchi flees from Tanimura in an extended boat chase, which ultimately culminates in Sugiuchi having to circle back to the docks after Tanimura shoots out his boat's engine. Cornered, Sugiuchi reveals that he's the one who killed Tanimura's father and then attacks the young detective, leading to a battle between the two, which Tanimura ultimately wins. Tanimura demands to know why Sugiuchi killed his father, so the older detective tells him that he's a yakuza infiltrator and then reveals the conspiracy behind the 1985 Ueno hit and the subsequent blackmailing and cover-up by Munakata, who used his control over Katsuragi and Shibata to further his career, which has now elevated him to the position of Deputy Commissioner of the TMPD.
After confessing, Sugiuchi says that it feels good to finally admit the truth. He laments that he's wasted his life, having spent the past two decades living a lie and serving as a puppet for others. He says that the only times he ever felt like he was actually doing something good was whenever he solved a crime and helped a victim find justice, which made him question why he was still putting up with being a tool for corrupt men like Munakata and Katsuragi, but concludes that he was too cowardly to defy them by himself, like Tanimura has. Sugiuchi asks Tanimura to arrest him and take him in to testify, saying he's finally ready to to the right thing. However, immediately afterwards, Sugiuchi is shot by a police assassin who'd been spying on them on a nearby speedboat. As he bleeds out, Sugiuchi thanks Tanimura for giving him the chance to briefly have some peace, after which he succumbs to the bullet wound and dies.
Fighting Style[]
Sugiuchi is a formidable fighter and a skilled practitioner of Kyokushin Karate. Much like Joji Kazama, his entire moveset is made up of animations from Virtua Fighter 5's Jean Kujo.
His combos are listed as follows:
- a Rush Combo consisting of a left jab, two right high roundhouse kicks, and a high right Thai roundhouse kick;
- a second combo comprised of a left jab and a right cross, followed by:
- a right calf-kick, or
- a right axe kick;
- a left hook punch-left hook kick combo, and
- a left gut punch-right reverse punch combo.
His other attacks include the following:
- a left lunge punch,
- a right reverse punch,
- a right groin-kick,
- a spinning right heel kick,
- a jumping spinning right heel kick,
- a minor outer-hook as a grab attack,
- Kazuma Kiryu's Knockdown Reversal, which can stun Tanimura;
- a right/left shovel hook after quickstepping right/left respectively, which can stun Tanimura; and
- a charged right axe kick that doubles as both a basic and downed attack.
Upon entering Heat Mode, Sugiuchi will begin using a plethora of additional attacks, including:
- a combo made up of a left jab, two right gut punches, and feinting a third gut punch for a right haymaker;
- a right gut punch-charged right reverse punch combo,
- a left hook-right reverse punch combo,
- a right knee strike-left reverse punch combo,
- a charged right shovel hook,
- a charged mountain punch, and
- a large outer reap-front flip takedown as a grab counter.
While in Heat Mode, Sugiuchi's attacks can break through Tanimura's parry stance, and his grabs are impossible to escape. His regular grab attack is replaced with Futoshi Shimano's back-break throw Heat Action from his first fight in Yakuza. He will also perform Joji's QTE Heat Action if Tanimura is downed. After using either one of these, Sugiuchi will exit Heat Mode, but his grabs will remain inescapable for the rest of the fight.
He emits an orange aura in Heat Mode.
Trivia[]
- The name of Sugiuchi's theme song, "Teufel mit Liebe," is translated from German as "Devil with Love."
Gallery[]
Yakuza 4[]
Ryu Ga Gotoku Online[]
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Notes[]
- ↑ As Sugiuchi had joined the police force 30 years prior, he would likely be at least 50.
References[]
- ↑ Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, “Part 1 Chapter 3: Trouble in the Tojo Clan”, Yakuza 4 Remastered (2010; Tokyo: SEGAWP, 2019), PlayStation 4/Xbox One/Windows.