Taichi (太一) is a recurring character in the Yakuza series introduced in Yakuza 3. He is a resident of Morning Glory Orphanage.
Profile
Appearance
Even as a boy, Taichi has a noticeably heavy build, which lends itself to his aspirations of being a wrestler.
Personality
A tough boy, Taichi acts as the orphanage's leader of sorts. When he was a child, he dreamed about becoming a professional wrestler.
Involvement
Yakuza 3: 2007-2009
In a game of wrestling with Mitsuo on Morning Glory Beach, Taichi attempts to knock him down with a flying kick, only to miss and collapse with shortness of breath. A doctor comes along and says that Taichi may be suffering from asthma, which would put paid to his dreams of becoming a professional wrestler.
Kazuma Kiryu and Rikiya Shimabukuro decide to put on a wrestling match between themselves to cheer him up. Near the end, Rikiya secretly pulls a fork out of his pants to use as a weapon against Kiryu. Seeing this, Taichi decides to use his flying kick move again, much to the concern of Rikiya and Kiryu, who fear it may trigger another asthma attack. After Taichi finishes his move and knocks Rikiya to the ground, winning the match for team Kiryu, he seems short of breath. However, the doctor swiftly returns and says that rather than asthma, Taichi has an allergy to buckwheat. Whilst it means he should avoid eating too many soba noodles, it more importantly keeps his dreams of becoming a professional wrestler alive.
Yakuza 4: 2010
Taichi, along with the other children is away on a field trip. He, Ayako, and Koji return when Goh Hamazaki is present, but when Kiryu tries to introduce them, Haruka intervenes and keeps him away from the others, and Taichi is shocked to learn the man is the one who stabbed Kiryu one year ago.
Yakuza 5: 2011-2012
Taichi makes known his intention to drop out of school and find a job to alleviate Morning Glory's financial burdens, but the need for him to so fades away after Kiryu and Haruka leave the orphanage so the latter can be an idol as part of Mirei Park's deal. Funding for the orphanage is secured, but Taichi is left the oldest boy in the orphanage, and is struggling to adapt.
Taichi receives ¥10,000 in the ATM from Kiryu with the purpose of purchasing a replica wrestling mask for Christmas. Taichi joins others in sending Haruka letters for an interview under pen names, and in his letter, he asks how he can be as reliable as her and Kiryu now that they have left.
Yakuza 6: 2016-2017
Once hearing that Kiryu had finally come back to the orphanage, Taichi is the first to hug him, with tears in his eyes. He later calls Kiryu in Kamurocho just to check how he's doing, though Kiryu briefly thinks he's another person due to almost getting scammed.
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name: 2019
By 2020, Taichi has become a firefighter. He, along with Ayako, leaves a message for Kiryu after discovering a hidden camera pointed at his grave in Okinawa. Nobody at Morning Glory truly believes him to be dead, so they assume the camera is connected to him. The next day, they return to the cemetery and leave a drawing Haruto Sawamura had made of everyone at Morning Glory, including Kiryu at his gravestone. While the camera was taken away shortly after, both the video and a photo of the drawing are saved by the Daidoji Faction, and are then shown to Kiryu at the Daidoji Temple by Kihei Hanawa, as a reward for his work.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth: 2023
Taichi was in Tokyo visiting a friend, and was called by Makoto Date, offering to take him on a trip around Yokohama. They go to Rose Blossom in Isezaki Ijincho, and Taichi gets so distracted by the girls that he doesn't realize Kiryu was in another table, watching over him. Unfortunately, other customers got mad about most of the girls being with Taichi. He tries to protect one of the girls, inspired by Kiryu's actions, but is quickly taken out due to how drunk he was. Taichi catches a brief glimpse of his father about to fight before passing out. Kiryu beats all of them and leaves before Taichi wakes up. Once he does, Date tells him that he fought off all the men by himself.
Gallery
.jpg "Morning Glory Orphanage Kids (Yakuza 6).jpg (77 KB)")
Notes
- ↑ The given birth years of 1998/1999 are an estimate based on Taichi's age and are not intended as a substitute for an official date.
- ↑ The given height of 165 cm (5′ 5″) is based on the character model's scaling factor within Yakuza 6's data.[1] 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.