Yuki Tsuruno

Yuki Tsuruno (鶴野 裕樹, Tsuruno Yūki) is a major supporting character featured in Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. He is the captain and acting patriarch of the Watase Family.

Profile

Appearance

Tsuruno's face is modeled after his Japanese-language voice actor, Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi. He is of above-average height with a slim, muscular build, tan skin, brown eyes, a short black undercut parted to the left and slicked back, and a goatee.

Attire

Tsuruno's signature attire consists of a black wide-pinstriped suit worn over a partly-unbuttoned black dress shirt adorned with a primarily gold, white, and earth-toned floral pattern and a gold chain. A Watase Family crest pin adorns his lapel. He also wears aviator sunglasses, a black leather belt with a gold buckle, and black dress shoes.

Background

In the past, Tsuruno had planned to let go of a young Watase Family member who wanted to leave the yakuza, but learned that Homare Nishitani III had tortured the young man, after which Tsuruno decided to kill him to end his suffering. He rescued Kosei Shishido from Nishitani, which earned him Shishido's loyalty.

Tsuruno was filled in on Masaru Watase's plan to dissolve the Omi Alliance, and agreed to carry it through, displeased with the current direction of the yakuza. He was told to find Kazuma Kiryu, who was supposedly dead.

Involvement

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name: 2019

Tsuruno ordered Shishido to kidnap Kihei Hanawa in order to draw Kiryu out.

Upon learning that Kiryu was spotted in Yokohama, Tsuruno has him tailed and eventually assaults him in Ijincho with his subordinates in tow. He was captured by the faction but rescued by Shishido who rammed the Daidoji car off the road. Tsuruno proceeded to kidnap Hanawa before giving Kiryu a burner phone so they could stay in contact. Later that night he contacted Kiryu and arranged a meeting at Ijincho's Survive bar. He offered to free Kiryu of the Daidoji's influence by faking his death a second time, but his plan required the death of Hanawa too. He denied the offer but agreed to travel to Sotenbori to find Hanawa.

The Watase family hid Hanawa in Namiki No. 3. Shishido was initially in charge of interrogating him but Tsuruno removed him from the position and took over. After Kiryu arrived at the building and defeated Tsuruno, the Watase family captain disclosed to him the plan to dissolve the Omi Alliance and the Tojo Clan and continued to urge Kiryu to fake his death again and leave the faction. He was then taken into Daidoji custody and held in one of the group's Sotenbori hideouts. After Kiryu defied orders and helped Tsuruno escape he retrieved 50 billion yen and gave it to Boss in exchange for Kiryu's life. Boss accepted the deal and Kiryu was now at the Watase family's disposal.

Tsuruno met Kiryu at the Castle's V.I.P lounge and explained to him the danger Nishitani posed to the dissolution plan. Nishitani caught onto the two's conspiracy so Tsuruno allowed Kiryu to punch him in the face to fabricate the narrative that Joryu had gone rogue. He was then chased to the helipad by castle staff and attempted to calm Nishitani down as he challenged Kiryu to a fight. He joined Kiryu and Shishido as they partied in Sotenbori in an attempt to lure out Nishitani, first attending the Cabaret Grand then going for a meal and challenging Joryu to a game of pool, among other debauchery.

To further anger Nishitani, Tsuruno organized a small squad of Watase family men disguised in extravagant masks to take over the castle. When Nishitani was located on the mainland, Shishido and Kiryu apprehended him while the Watase family set his hideout ablaze. Tsuruno had ordered Shishido to murder Nishitani, unaware that Shishido had no intention of killing him and even faked his death, Tsuruno presumed the patriarch was dead. When confronted by Kiryu he refused to apologize for the conspiracy and explained his past encounter with Nishitani.

When the two reunited a month later he apologized profusely for lying and begged for forgiveness. He later met up with Patriarch Watase in a construction site where he learned of Nishitani's survival and Shishido's plan to stop the dissolution. He was slashed in the leg by the furious Nishitani but had his wound patched up by Hanawa. He watched Watase announce the dissolution and helped Kiryu defend the injured Patriarch.

Fighting Style

Tsuruno is fought twice throughout Gaiden. He also joins Kiryu as an AI partner during Operation Party Hardy, the Castle raid, the construction site battle, and the first half of the Omi Alliance HQ battle. He is unarmed and alone in his initial boss fight, but wields a branding iron and saw in the first half of his second fight. His aura in Heat Mode is neon purple, and his attack trails are medium and dark purple entwining.

Unarmed

Using Karate as his main style, Tsuruno is a smooth hand-to-hand fighter, attacking predominantly with swift kicks and occasional punches. In his first encounter, he wears a pair of Brass Knuckles, but fights bare-fisted every other time.

His combos are four in number, including:

• a Rush Combo comprised of a right reverse punch, a left hook, and an overhand right (2nd fight onward);
• a right Thai roundhouse kick-spinning right heel kick combo,
• a hopping left front kick-right question mark kick combo (2nd fight onward); and
• another combo made up of a spinning right heel kick, a left jab-right cross, and a jumping right spinning heel kick (2nd fight onward).

The remainder of his attacks consist of:

• a right hook kick,
• a rapid left jab-right reverse punch,
• taking a low block stance before throwing a hopping right roundhouse kick (unused),
• a spinning right back kick as a guard reversal,
• a hopping left roundhouse kick after quickstepping backward, and
• Keiji Shibusawa's downed attack from his Rush phase.

In his second boss fight, Tsuruno will retaliate with his hopping roundhouse kick if Kiryu knocks him back.

His taunts are listed as follows:

• one where he steps forward and nods his head up,
• a second taunt where he crouches down and beckons Kiryu with his left hand,
• a third taunt where he steps back and holds his arms out,
• a fourth taunt where he massages his neck with his right hand and steps forward, and
• a fifth taunt where he steps forward and raises his fists in the air.

Tsuruno starts using some extra attacks upon entering Heat Mode. These include:

• his Rush Combo (1st & 2nd fight), and
• his guard reversal (1st & 2nd fight).

For his Ultimate Attack, he takes a low block stance before executing a left axe kick-right roundhouse kick.

Saw and Branding Iron

In the first half of his second fight, Tsuruno arms himself with a nokogiri pull saw in his right hand, and a scorching hot branding iron in his left, whilst being backed up by Watase Family members. He performs slow but wide swings with the blade while using thrusting at Kiryu with his other weapon.

His combos include the following:

• one consisting of a leftward horizontal saw slash, a spinning leftward iron swing, and an upward diagonal right slash;
• a lunging iron slash-upward diagonal left saw slash combo,
• a spinning upward diagonal right slash-right Thai roundhouse kick combo, and
• an unbroken two-hit combo, comprised of a lunging iron slash and a vertical downward saw slash.

The rest of his moveset is listed below:

• an iron thrust, which can set Kiryu on fire;
• a leftward horizontal saw slash-spinning leftward iron swing,
• an underarm iron thrust as a guard reversal,
• a downward saw slash-simultaneous iron plunge as a downed attack, and
• a taunt where he grinds his saw against his iron before beckoning Kiryu with the latter.

He will sometimes point his iron at Kiryu, ordering his men to attack him.

Once Tsuruno's health has been brought down to 50%, he will be disarmed in the mid-fight cutscene, forcing to continue unarmed.

Trivia

• Tsuruno is described as the opposite of Yamaguchi's character in the Nihon Touitsu franchise, Yuto Tamura, being more intellectual than combative. As such, his character is more comparable to Tamura's counterpart Renji Himuro, portrayed by Yasukaze Motomiya, who in turn portrays Kosei Shishido in Like a Dragon Gaiden. Yamaguchi has also compared Himuro to Kazuma Kiryu while discussing the topic, indirectly comparing Tsuruno to Kiryu.
• Tsuruno's hairstyle, facial hair, and aviator sunglasses are a reference to Tamura, while his outfit references Yamaguchi's character in the 2020 film Tokyo Dragon Chef, Tatsu, who wears a similar outfit at the start of the film.

Gallery

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name

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