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Daisaku Kuze
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About
Daisaku Kuze is one of the primary antagonists in the 2015 video game Yakuza 0. A member of the Tojo Clan and one of three lieutenants of the Dojima Family, Kuze fights protagonist Kazuma Kiryu a total of five times through the series. The character has been a popular subject of memes and references within the Yakuza fandom.
Origin
On March 12th, 2015, the action-adventure video game Yakuza 0 was released[1] by SEGA. In the game, antagonist Daisuke Kuze, voiced by and modeled after actor Hitoshi Ozawa, is introduced. Throughout the game, Kuze, who is one of three lieutenants of the Dojima Family, repeatedly fights protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, with the player facing off Kuze a total of five times (first and second encounters shown below, left and right).[2]
The character is also set to appear in "Like a Dragon: Ishin!", a 2023 remake spin-off game in Like a Dragon (formerly Yakuza) series.
Spread
Prior to 2019, the character saw limited popularity in memes with the Like a Dragon fandom. For example, on September 4th, 2017, Redditor[3] Juball posted a How Many Times Do We Have to Teach You This Lesson, Old Man? meme about the character that received over 190 upvotes in the /r/yakuzagames subreddit in five years (shown below, left).
The popularity of the character increased together with the mainstream popularity of Yakuza 0 and other Like a Dragon games in the late 2010s and early 2020s. For example, on December 7th, 2019, Redditor[4] Curtisboy posted a Surprised Pikachu meme that received over 920 upvotes in in three years (shown below, center).
On September 5th, 2020, Redditor[5] Runefreya857 posted a meme that received over 6,000 upvotes in /r/yakuzagames two years (shown below, right).
Related Memes
Kuryu Punches Kuze
Kuryu Punches Kuze refers to a Yakuza 0 cutscene from the fourth fight between Kuze and protagonist Kazuma Kiryu in which Kiryu punches Kuze in the face. The scene has been used as source material for GIF caption memes (examples shown below).
"Pledge of Demon"
"Pledge of Demon" is an instrumental rock song from the Yakuza 0 soundtrack which, along with "Oath of Enma", is one of two boss themes for Daisuke Kuze. Online, "Pledge of Demon" has been used in various Yakuza memes (example shown below).
Kuze Is a Trans Ally
On September 14th, 2022, Twitter[6] user @GaroyGyuru tweeted that during the RGG Summit 2022 event they discovered that actor Hitoshi Ozawa, who voices Kuze in Yakuza 0 and whom the character is modeled after, became a trans ally after receiving oral sex from a transgender. The tweet (shown below, left) gained over 6,900 retweets and 35,000 likes in one week. The post was followed by a spike of posts about the character on Twitter (examples shown below, center and right).
Various Examples
Templates
Search Interest
External References
[2] Yakuza Wiki – Daisaku Kuze
[3] Reddit – Playing through Yakuza 0 like
[4] Reddit – Surprised Kuze
[5] Reddit – Freshening up an old meme
[6] Twitter – @GarouGyaru
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