Hearted Youtube comments on ANIKI (@anikihistory) channel.

  1. looks like the plot of Like a Dragon 9 got leaked
    2000
  2. Which one were you part of aniki?
    2000
  3. That’s why the Yakuza games were so good. Sega had lots of insider information and experience.
    1200
  4. I used to live in Yoshiwara which is a hotbed of yakuza activity in Tokyo and many a time did I see senior guys with their bodyguards out and about running the fuzoku (adult services) businesses. Man they dress sharp and look shady, but always polite and courteous to the local residents. Great content, subbed!
    1200
  5. You forgot to mention the time when one of these teen bikers got psychic powers and turned into a giant body-horror monster.
    1000
  6. Damn, gotta look out for them Pachinko addicted Anime voice actors. Theyll choke you out for a Takoyaki.
    916
  7. Muramasa always came off as like the AK-47 of katanas. Neither cursed nor blessed. They are a tool to be used on the battlefield and nothing more
    699
  8. I always said that if the smash bros community just approached Nintendo as if they were crime bosses, then there wouldnt be so many problems with organizing events
    644
  9. Japanese retirement homes just became a lot unsafer with the Yakuza taking control ;-)
    538
  10. Another parallel I find between the Italian mafias and the Yakuza lol.. This exact methodology is in place for Camorra families, when the patriarchal boss is sent to prison. If there are no suitable male heirs in place, it is the wife who becomes boss.
    463
  11. This was a really well researched and delivered video, that avoided melodrama and cliche. Also great incidental music at an appropriate volume. Small things like this make all the difference.
    430
  12. So when you think the Yakuza series were all just myths, no. Daigo's mum becoming the fumicho of the whole clan, the execution when the lift door opens, the "protesters" in Yakuza 7 and how Yakuza organizations and affiliates handles the stardom scene in all 3-5 shows you just how much research the game has put into the actual culture of Yakuzas.
    382
  13. I'm born and raised on Guam and used to work in the visitor industry, wherein our main clientele was Japanese tourist. Anyways back in 2000, I was a lifeguard and worked for one of the major hotels and I remember specifically 2 women who were, without a doubt, yakuza women. One gal had an orange koi irezumi that started on her shoulder and ended on her butt cheek. She had a friend with her too and these two stayed in the presidential suite for 11 days straight. That was my first introduction to female yakuza. We also had our fair share of yakuza that would stay at my work. Most were actually cool and relaxed. I remember one "sacho" that would come yearly with his wife and kids. I also remember buying weed for a group of guys on the beach. We smoked with them and they were cool, the boss however didn't smoke. He said his drug of choice was meth (shabu).
    298
  14. Given that the Yakuza have their hands in corporate practices, of course they’d be present in the story of Sega and Nintendo.
    297
  15. Didn't think I wouldve watched the entire video but your presentation and narration was on point, very entertaining. Excellent video.
    290
  16. its been a shit morning and seeing this made me feel significantly better
    278
  17. now I understand why Nintendo lawyer act like a Yakuza and why Sega makes good Yakuza games
    275
  18. This is a gem of a content. I have been encountering many gang members when I was in Osaka and the accidentally have a discussion with them in a small izakaya in Tokyo. They are very polite but very much aware of their surroundings, you can feel a heavy air when you are around them.
    272
  19. Always been fascinated by the Bosozoku subculture. Other than the Vice documentary there isnt a lot of easily accesible media that isnt fully in Japanese. Thanks for making this video, and shedding more light on such a unique niche of motorcycle subculture!
    249
  20. Currently living in japan. I got tattoos all over my body and although people will tell you tattoos doesn’t matter if a foreigner has some I can tell you that people treated me different when they saw my tattoos. I respect every country’s manners so I hide my tattoos at all cost.
    218
  21. Hi, just wanna mention that the artwork used in the thumbnail and in the video at 21:47 was drawn by me :) Love the video tho!! Hope we can work together in the future.
    210
  22. I think one other case that deserves to be mentioned about Sega (even if it isn't tied to Sega directly) is that one of the actors for the Yakuza series had involvement with the Yakuza
    192
  23. I feel like Nobunaga is still considered a controversial figure. I've read countless manga and seen countless anime that features a demonic Nobunaga as the main villain. Tokugawa tends to get similar treatment. I can't say I've seen many that show Toyotomi as a monster, despite Toyotomi IRL going crazy with power and trying to invade Korea (with the suspected aim of conquering China and installing himself as the Chinese Emperor)
    181
  24. This is one of the best documentaries i have ever seen on Japanese Yakuza and one of the best about organized crimes, i am so glad i discovered your channel, pure recommendation to anyone who is interested in Japan and Yakuza.
    181
  25. Actually it wasn't Michael Jackson, It was Miracle Johnson.
    125
  26. The story of the Yamaguchi-gumi is so intriguing! Gang wars, assassination (attempts), envy, stars involved, a strong woman taking the leadership, ... That would be some material for a Japanese version of the "Godfather" 😁
    125
  27. I think it's an important point of distinction that there are no substantiated claims of Sega having yakuza ties prior to the Sammy buyout/hostile takeover in 2004. The exodus of employees and shift in culture was enormous - it's literally a different company in all but name and just a small handful of employees. As an old Sega die-hard, it's beyond sad to see the degree to which they ruined Sega's name and reputation. There have been occasional highlights (the arcade division stayed solid until the late 00's, Valkyria Chronicles was uncharacteristically Sega for a 2008 game), but I almost wish they could have just been put to rest rather than be Sammy's front.
    123
  28. This subculture inspired so many great anime series and movies. GTO is by far the best... Unfortunately I've forgotten the names of most of the anime movies from the 80's and 90's that came out at this point
    120
  29. Last time I was this early, I still had all my fingers.
    116
  30. Hey @anikihistory, great video! I have enjoyed several of your videos so far. I just wanted to bring something to your attention: when you are talking about the Emishi in the north, you continue to call them Jomon after and then show a picture of the Ainu indigenous group. I work in indigenous studies research in Japan. There is a... complicated... history of the Ainu as being described as being culturally unchanged from the Jomon (which is very untrue), especially on Youtube. While it is also true that the Jomon in Hokkaido are a part of Ainu heritage, the trope of them BEING Jomon continues to play into stereotypes. I understand that editing and fixing that one section may be a really big ask, so maybe just a disclaimer about that section in the description of the video would help ease misunderstandings. Other than that, its an awesome video, and thank you for your channel highlighting some of the less talked about areas of Japan's history and culture.
    100
  31. yo yo, possible future video idea since you cover a lot of yakuza/japanese underworld topics. look into "sarakin" and "yamikin" crimes. you could prolly find recent and past examples for both and talk about the loan shark and extortion crimes in Japan and tie it in the yakuza and modern day Japanese criminal orgs. from what i know, loan sharks and extortion were significant ways the yakuza made their money at their height. if you want to go really seedy, you can tie it to Japan's adult film industry.
    98
  32. your channel needs more traffic; your content is top quality! Some of the information you present isnt easily available elsewhere
    98
  33. I got the words for jacuzzi and yakuza mixed up. Now I'm in hot water with the Japanese mafia!
    96
  34. 19:13 The guy next to Mako was in a Vice video about the Yakuza. It’s nice to know she’s doing okay nowadays.
    91
  35. It's always the smaller channels with the better content.
    88
  36. I heard rumors about Sega's involvement with organize crime, but I didn't realize it ran that deep. Great video. Speaking of businesses involved with the Yakuza, I heard that pro wrestling and MMA has ties with organized crime. That would be a very interesting video if you ever decide you want to look into that and find out any information. Keep up the great work!
    88
  37. Using a crane to lob an arcade cabinet in front of a company headquarters in order to send a message is the most Yakuza thing I’ve ever heard of. They should incorporate that into one of the games 😂
    87
  38. Clearly the Shinto gods were willing to let most of the swords go but there was one where they said "absolutely not"
    87
  39. I heard approx 10 years ago Japan started an effort to weaken the Yakuza. They pretty much had their hand in every industry there and were ingrained within the Japanese economy. I think this is part of the reason why the Japanese economy has tanked around the same time.
    86
  40. After studying Italian American Mafia for many years, I must admit this is most intriguing. Thank you for uploading this. Very informative, and you got me hooked.
    80
  41. Osaka is still a bastion of Yakuza activity. They don't have a fraction of the social & political power they used to. That said, there's plenty of "retired" capos that keep short swords (kodachi/wakizashi) in there home and on their person, as well as bokuto, hardwood training swords that can easily break bones and be lethal.
    70
  42. Compared with other yakuza origin videos, yours was the most informational. I like it. I look forward for your content.
    68
  43. The YamaGucci.
    67
  44. Nintendo genuinely acts like yakuza about their games tbh
    67
  45. you should also look into konami;s possible ties as the way they shifted wholesale from making videogames to mostly making pachinko machine that often have budget in line with triplle a games around a decade ago and now mostly release remakes and farm out to other companies rather than deal with in house like they used to do...is highly suspicious.
    67
  46. This is such a strange phenomenon that seems to have only existed in Japan. A very interesting and kind of entertaining phenomenon.
    65
  47. Both of the Sharpe Brothers became really good friends with Rikidozan. Ben Sharpe apparently named one of his children, Riki, in honour of Rikidozan.
    65
  48. You think Konami was awful for the past 10 years or so? Think again - they've been like this long time ago, even back in their golden era of 1980s and 1990s, when the company was churning out copious amount of high-quality games for various systems, only rivaled by Capcom at the time. Even then, there were some people within Konami who were sick of company's practices and splintered from the Kobe-based giant. These were Natsume, founded in 1988 - they made a handful of great late NES games, such as Shatterhand or Special Cybernetic Attack Team - the latter's music and sound effects are very similar to those from Contra, thanks to Kyohei Sada, and Treasure, founded in 1992 - these guys excelled in 16 bits, and in a turn of irony, they were tasked by their former employers with developing the final entry in the Gradius franchise. So it comes as no surprise that Kojima didn't really want to continue the Metal Gear series after MGS2 and eventually he parted his ways with Konami back in 2015, as other game developers were reportedly demoted to... janitors and other menial jobs. From that point on, Konami pretty much outsourced any video game development to third party companies.
    64
  49. It's wild how deep the roots go, I had no idea that the yakuza were used for so many anti-communism and anti-labor causes. Wasn't too surprised to hear about the connection to right-wing nationalism, given all of the "keeping worse foreign crime out of Japan" rhetoric, but the details are still super fascinating. Great stuff!
    62
  50. One thing i thought was interesting: Joey the Animeman had an interview with a former yakuza. This Yakuza said that Tattoos also had a very positive meaning in the past. Firefighters had them, so their bodies could be identified if things go south. Which apparently happened a lot. In the Edo Museum in Tokyo is a small section on firefighters in the edo era and these guys were playing with it hard. They were less fighting the fire than making sure people get away while things burn down.
    59