Yu Nanba (難波 悠, Nanba Yū)[b] is a recurring character in the Like a Dragon (formerly Yakuza) series introduced as a supporting and playable character in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. He is a former nurse and a former employee at a medical equipment manufacturer.
Profile[]
Appearance[]
Nanba has an unkempt appearance with thick hair and stubble.
Attire[]
Nanba wears clothing consisting of a pair of black rubber boots, gray sweatpants, green zip-up hoodie, cyan denim jacket, a pair of black fingerless gloves and a blue scarf, as well as a pair of black horn rimmed glasses.
Personality[]
Nanba is an intelligent and rational individual with a viewpoint that often falls somewhere between realism and pessimism. Though he usually finds himself following the lead of others, Nanba doesn’t hesitate to voice his doubts regarding the plans that the rest of the party compose, even if his warnings tend to go unheeded. Nanba has moments where he might come to conclusions too quickly or seem a bit clueless when he isn’t totally engaged, but he has proven himself to be very capable of figuring out confusing situations and solving problems when he cares to.
In addition to Nanba’s submissive nature, preferring to fall in and work with whoever most appeals to his goals rather than doing things his own way, he isn’t very keen on opening up about himself or his more personal problems. His typically negative outlook on things leads him to expect that everyone thinks the worst of him, especially after some of his true intentions are revealed, so he always finds himself taken by surprise whenever his fellow party members express their care for him. Still, Nanba remains very critical of himself and does not hold himself very highly in comparison to others, consequently seeing himself as unworthy of friendship.
Despite not being the most positive person at times, Nanba still enjoys joking around with his friends, and clearly doesn’t like having to be too serious at all when the situation doesn’t call for it. He encourages Kasuga’s ambitions to become a hero more than anyone else, and he regularly chimes in during Party Chats, where he is sometimes subject to some lighthearted teasing at the hand of the other party members. Through it all, he continues to worry for the safety of his friends, and does what he can to support them.
Background[]
Nanba was inspired to become a nurse after reading about Florence NightingaleWP. Nanba lost his license after he covered for a former colleague of his who was selling medicine on the black market. Remembering her supposed family debt, her role model also being Nightingale, and seeing her youth and dedication to the job, he figured that she had her career ahead of her and deserved to pursue it, whilst he was tired and burnt out from years of work.
Nanba was contacted by his brother Shoichi Nanba, who went to Isezaki Ijincho to investigate and report on potential corruption. In his last call before disappearing, Shoichi tells Nanba that he is being watched by the Geomijul. In search of Shoichi, Nanba heads to Isezaki Ijincho and disguised himself as a homeless man to blend in, and kept tabs on the Geomijul, waiting for an opportunity to get close to them.
Involvement[]
Yakuza: Like a Dragon: 2019[]
Nanba first comes across a bloodied Ichiban Kasuga after he has been left for dead in the trash, being woken up by the Chief to have him healed. Nanba is able to stitch up Kasuga's gunshot wound and he regains consciousness three days later. He teaches him how to survive as a homeless person and during a meal, are interrupted by Zheng of the Yokohama Liumang. After the two drive Zheng away, Nanba explains the Ijin Three to Kasuga and decides to follow him after discovering that a counterfeit bill of the sort Shoichi was looking for was placed in his breast pocket.
Through Shuichi Kanbe, the duo find jobs. They meet Hamako and Bleach Japan after a bodyguard job, and Koichi Adachi joins them afterward. The three are directed to Otohime Land to work for Isao Nonomiya, and rescue Nanoha Mukoda from having to pay large fees to Sunlight Castle, meeting Ryuhei Hoshino from their adventure. After their job is done, however, Nonomiya dies apparently from suicide.
At Nonomiya's funeral, they meet Saeko Mukoda and learn of Akira Mabuchi's possible responsibility behind the suicide. Frustrated that the police would not look into the matter, she asks for the trio's help, which they accept. They head to Chinatown for leads but are met with resistance. They eventually join the Yokohama Trading Company for more leads, but a failed attempt to expose their counterfeiting leads to their capture. They are freed by a masked Joongi Han and head to a Chinatown restaurant to prevent a war, but are asked to head to Geomijul for proof of Mabuchi's guilt.
During the trip to Geomijul's headquarters, Seonhee reveals she knows of Nanba's surveillance, and he admits he was looking to learn the whereabouts of his brother Shoichi. With the help of Kasuga and his party, Nanba successfully escapes from the Geomijul's headquarters, running straight to Bleach Japan's Ijincho branch for refuge. There, he tells Hajime Ogasawara and Sota Kume everything about the money laundering scheme. When Kasuga shows up to warn Nanba of the assassins sent for him, he instead follows Ogasawara and Kume, leaving Kasuga and the others to fight off Mabuchi.
Nanba joins Bleach Japan in their raid on the Geomijul backed by the Omi Alliance. He arrives at the heart of the facility to learn Seonhee had decided to torch the Geomijul headquarters and destroy all of the evidence of their counterfeit operation. Enraged by what he believes is Kasuga's betrayal, he fights alongside Reiji Ishioda in a desperate attempt to push past Kasuga before the evidence is fully destroyed. After the fight, Seonhee informs him that his brother has been living on the outskirts of the residential district under Geomijul watch since he went missing, which she is revealing thanks to his allies.
Nanba goes to visit Shoichi alone to verify his safety personally. He learns that Shoichi was taken care of and even plans to marry his chaperone. Disgusted at himself for joining Nonomiya's killers, Nanba warns Kasuga to stop helping the Ijin Three so he does not share that same fate. Though Kasuga continues, Nanba cannot help but feel worried, and comes to the party's aid against Ishioda at Qing Jin. After the fight, he expresses disbelief at whether the party are okay with him. Kasuga, however, forgives him and welcomes him back, moving him to tears. With their friendship reaffirmed, Nanba rejoins the party for good.
Kasuga learns form Hoshino that his arrival in Ijincho was not by chance. Ahead of Kasuga's next meeting with Hoshino, Nanba asks him to talk to the Chief for answers, as he finds it odd that he was made to patch up Kasuga, since they could have called an ambulance instead. They go to the homeless camp to learn of each Chief's tradition to dispose of corpses sent by the Arakawa family, or help living people take refuge.
A meeting at Otohime Land alone is offered by Aoki. Nanba, Saeko, and Adachi stay nearby to help Kasuga escape in case Aoki arrived with help. Once it is made clear that Aoki wants Kasuga dead, Nanba helps him escape. When Kasuga is called to Sotenbori to help Masumi Arakawa, Nanba joins him and learns of a potential war of succession. When they meet Arakawa, Nanba stands in front of Kasuga to stop Arakawa from shooting him, but Arakawa makes it clear he means no harm, and informs them of their plan to disband the Omi.
When Aoki takes Kasuga's bait, Nanba plays dead to have him issue a hit in order to ruin his reputation. Following Aoki's death at the hands of Kume, Nanba joins Kasuga in mourning and tells him Jo Sawashiro received life in prison. He informs his allies of his worries that Kasuga would join the ex-yakuza officers in Sotenbori, but his fears are eased when Kasuga makes clear his intention to stay with his newfound friends.
Fighting Style[]
Nanba has several unique attacks exclusive to his "Homeless Guy" Job, such as Pigeon Raid and Pyro Belch/Breath. The developers described the latter attack as being the embodiment of the term "Like a Dragon".[3] With the aforementioned Pyro Belch/Breath and Essence of Pyro Prison, Nanba utilizes an alcoholic beverage and a matchstick in order to spew alcoholic flames. His default weapon of an umbrella is held in a low stance with both hands held onto it. He swings with the handle of the umbrella and his default attack swings it to the left diagonally downward, then once again to the right diagonally upwards and his Opportune Strike has him jump up in the air and land with a strike of his weapon. He can also scatter beans to cause a swarm of pigeons to attack his enemies, take a power nap in order to restore health, use healing powder to heal himself or an ally, and use odorous breath in order to revive an ally or lower the attack, defense, or both attack and defense of enemies.
Nanba's resistances are to Poison and Cold. When fighting him, he has a weakness to Ice.
Trivia[]
- Nanba's name is initially perceived as a fake name by Kasuga due to the fact that "Nanba" sounds like the English word "number", a mockery of "Ichiban" (literally meaning "number one"). As a result, almost all instances of Nanba's name is written in katakana.
Gallery[]
Yakuza: Like a Dragon[]
.jpg "Namba (Fortune-Teller).jpg (138 KB)")
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth[]
Ryu Ga Gotoku Online[]
![SSR [Homeless Guy of Ijincho] Nanba](/wiki/File:RGGO_-_Card_-_SSR_Nanba.png "RGGO - Card - SSR Nanba.png (366 KB)")
.png "RGGO - Card - SSR Nanba (YLAD).png (385 KB)")
![KSR [Spectacular Service] Nanba (Costume)](/wiki/File:RGGO_-_Card_-_KSR_Nanba_(Costume).png "RGGO - Card - KSR Nanba (Costume).png (395 KB)")
.png "RGGO - Card - KSR Nanba (YLAD Kiwami).png (395 KB)")
Other[]
Notes[]
- ↑ The given height of 180 cm (5′ 11″) is based on the character model's scaling factor within Yakuza: Like a Dragon'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.
- ↑ In Yakuza: Like a Dragon, most instances of Nanba's name are written in katakana (ナンバ) due to Kasuga's perception of Nanba as a fake name.
References[]
- ↑ Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, “Chapter 4: The Dragon of Yokohama”, Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2020; Tokyo: SEGAWP, 2020), PlayStation 4/PlayStation 5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X and S/Windows/Amazon Luna.— Isao Nonomiya reading Nanba's resume, Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Anyway, next is Yu Nanba, age 41.
- ↑ Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, “character_model_model_data” (.BIN file), Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2020; Tokyo: SEGAWP, 2020), PlayStation 4/PlayStation 5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X and S/Windows/Amazon Luna.
- ↑ 「龍が如く7 光と闇の行方」発表会レポート。シリーズで培ったアクションをコマンド入力式のバトルへと昇華。仲間との絆を描く物語にも注目 - 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). 4Gamer.net. 29 Aug 2019. Retrieved 17 Sep 2019.