Kamon Kanai (金井 嘉門, Kanai Kamon) is a secondary antagonist in Yakuza 5. He is the captain of Ousaka Enterprises.
Profile[]
Appearance[]
Kanai is a large and severely bulky middle-aged man. He gains a scar above his left eye after being burnt by a cigarette.
Attire[]
Kanai wears a deep black suit with a pale red shirt and a yellow-black cross pattern tie.
Personality[]
Kanai is a quiet man, but this belies the fact that he has no qualms about committing violent acts in order to meet his goals; indeed, he favors brute force over tact and strategy, making him the opposite of his superior, Katsuya. His cruelty is shown by his torture of Ogita, even going as far as to amputate one of his arms, and trying to crush him in a waste compactor. He also kidnaps Haruka and was prepared to injure her, indicating that he lacks honorable traits and is simply concerned with getting his job done regardless of the means.
Kanai is also opportunistic, as he betrayed Katsuya to get into Kurosawa's good graces.
Involvement[]
Yakuza 5: 2012[]
Kanai first appears when Akiyama and Haruka were investigating Mirei Park's death, where they find that Hiroshi Horie was thrown from the building. Akiyama and Haruka pursue the apparent perpetrator only to find Kan Ogita. Akiyama denies Ogita his escape and the two battle, with Ogita defeated. At the same instant Kanai appears pointing a gun at Akiyama but Haruka tosses an extinguisher at him causing him to lose his gun. Akiyama kicks him on the face but he is seemingly unfazed. Kanai fights Akiyama and is barely defeated, taking his gun with him and claiming he wouldn't forget Akiyama's face while Ogita escaped.
At some point before this encounter he had hired Ogita to find Park's letter that would reveal the location of Goro Majima, Park's ex-husband. Ogita failed to extract the information from Park, which along his accumulated anger at being fired by Park after modifying his contract that would deny him reimbursement, he smashed her head on the hallway causing her death. Kanai then hired a forger to fake a suicide note.
During some point he captured the elusive Ogita and amputated his right arm with industrial machinery having his men ready him to burn him alive.
Kanai is later encountered at Osaka Enterprises, a disposal company that was linked to the Omi Alliance, that is being truly owned by Naoki Katsuya, who was Kanai's chairman. Akiyama fights his way and finds the weakened Ogita who confesses Kanai's involvement in Park's death. While Akiyama creates a diversion for Ogita to escape, he is captured and killed by Kanai. He later appears before Akiyama making the revelation that he had sent his men to kidnap Haruka to get the letter's location from her. He escapes while his men face Akiyama.
He appears before Haruka, chastising one of his men for being unable to extract the information from her, and being ready to "do whatever it took" to get what he wanted. Before he could do anything Katsuya appeared before Kanai punching him in the face and confronting his lieutenant about his unsanctioned action letting Haruka return to Dyna Chair knowing that Kanai was in fact working behind the scenes for Tsubasa Kurosawa.
Eventually Katsuya makes a secret phone call to Haruka in order for her to deliver the letter to him in person alone, threatening to harm the Morning Glory Orphanage if she didn't comply (while in truth he wanted to get the letter before Kanai could while ensuring her safety). However Kanai acted before Katsuya could reach Haruka and surrounded her along his men at the Shin-Osaka Station. Kanai threatens Haruka but she does not yield while covering her purse giving him the hint where the letter was trying to take it from her. Akiyama however appears and intercepts Kanai. Akiyama mocks Kanai for being underhanded and lacking dreams but Kanai does not care as all he desires is to make money through his vile actions. Akiyama faces Kanai and his men, and is able to defeat them. He then takes Haruka with him to Tokyo by taxi as taking the train owned by Katsuya is likely to be trapped. Katsuya watches from afar without interfering.
Katsuya later confronts Kanai about his unauthorized participation with Kanai hiding his true motives apologizes saying he only did so knowing that Akiyama would appear there. Katsuya questions if he thought he could not handle Akiyama, but Kanai merely replies that it was a precaution. Katsuya remains calm, knowing they can still take the letter from her anyway. Katsuya walks and ignited a cigar for Kanai before suddenly choking him from behind stating his conclusion that whether in the entertainment business or in life overall, a face is the first thing seen by people and thus how one is judged like, something he came to know as he performed as an actor. He then stated his disappointment at Kanai for being unable to scare a girl like Haruka and therefore concluding that such a yakuza is useless before taking the cigar and burning Kanai above his left eye leaving him a scar.
Kanai would appear much later in the game in Kamurocho Hills after Kazuma Kiryu, Taiga Saejima, Masaru Watase were all summoned by Katsuya in order to fight each other out to lure the true mastermind into thinking they would kill each other as he wanted. To their surprise they find that Kurosawa was the true perpetrator gunning them from a parallel building. After Daigo Dojima seemingly corners Kurosawa with his own gun, Kanai shoots Dojima from behind in his abdomen revealing his true allegiance to Kurosawa betraying Katsuya. He and Kurosawa leave after the latter hints that he was going after Haruka.
Kurosawa leads an army of men at the front of the Millennium Tower where they had announced through television that Majima was taken hostage therefore luring Kiryu and company while also provoking the Majima Family in order to lay the blame into the Majima Family for the ensuing war. Kiryu and Akiyama fight Kanai and his men while Saejima and Tatsuo Shinada would go to secure Majima and Haruka respectively. Kanai fights his way but is temporarily defeated by Kiryu and Akiyama forcing his retreat with the two in hot pursuit.
After the two fight their way until reaching the Theater District, Kanai appears in person with several man while equipped with a knife. Daigo informs Kiryu that he should go to the Tojo Clan's HQ in order to find one of their enemies and that everything would be revealed there. Akiyama offered to settle the score for good with Kanai facing him and his men alone wondering if he could become a legend too.
Akiyama is successful and defeats Kanai, but he eventually manages to stand up and attempt to continue the fight telling Akiyama that reinforcements were on the way. He spots several yakuza coming his way, but much to his horror, none of them were his men but rather the joint alliance of the Yamagasa Family, the Kitakata Family, and the Watase Family. Watase declares they all had defeated the bulk of Kurosawa's men as they all shared a bond with the Tojo Clan, and that Kanai was on the "shit list" of every yakuza in the country. Helpless, Kanai is unable to contain his despair and falls on his knees.
Kanai's fate is unknown.
Fighting Style[]
Kanai is fought four times throughout Yakuza 5. He fights alone during his first and third encounters, and is bolstered by an entourage of Omi goons in the second and fourth. He also wields a tantō during his last fight.
Described as a "tank" by Ogita, Kanai is an incredibly resilient man, strong enough to withstand a full-force kick to the head from Akiyama. His super armor makes him impossible to knock down with regular attacks, rendering Akiyama's Launch Strike ineffective. His Heat Mode aura is a fiery, bright orange with black accents.
Unarmed[]
Kanai's main fighting style, which he uses in all of his boss fights, is revolves around professional wrestling strikes. He assumes a knifehand guarding position in an upright stance, and his attacks mostly involve sluggish chops and jabs. His moveset includes the following:
- a Rush Combo comprised of a right knifehand, followed by:
- another right knifehand and a mongolian chop, or
- a hopping right front snap kick and a downward diagonal left double knifehand strike, followed by:
- a spinning left heel kick (all fights), and a flying right spear-hand finisher (4th fight only); or
- a lunging right spear-hand finisher (2nd fight onward);
- a low right tornado kick,
- a charged flying right spear-hand (4th fight only),
- a knockback guard reversal, which can stun his opponent;
- grab attacks, including:
- a charged right spear-hand as a front grab attack, and
- a charged downward right knifehand as a rear grab attack;
- a battle cry before performing a running command grab, followed by a spinning bear-hug throw (4th fight only);
- a jumping stomp as a downed attack (unused), and
- a taunt where he squats down and beckons his opponent.
A watered-down version of Kanai's unarmed moveset is used by Susumu Gondawara in Yakuza Kiwami 2, as well as several miniboss enemies in the Dragon Engine games.
Tantō[]
In the first third of his final boss fight, Kanai employs the use of a tantō dagger. His stance is mostly identical to that of his unarmed style, and he wields his blade with proficiency, combining swift cuts and stabs with bare-handed strikes. His moveset is listed below:
- a Rush Combo consisting of an underarm knife thrust, a downward diagonal left slash, an upward diagonal right slash, and two rapid left jabs, followed by:
- a downward diagonal left slash, or
- a right push kick and a stumbling two-handed thrust command grab, followed by a headbutt;
- a left backfist-lunging underarm thrust,
- a jumping left downward knifehand with a simultaneous downward slash, and
- his unarmed moveset taunt.
Kanai loses his dagger during the first QTE sequence, whether it is passed or failed, reverting to his main fighting style thereafter.
Kanai's knife moveset is reused by Shota in Yakuza Kiwami.
Trivia[]
- Kanai is the only final boss in Yakuza 5 who never fights Taiga Saejima.