A Psychological Explanation For Majima's Transformation - Psychoanalysis of the Mad Dog (Yakuza)

What caused Majima to change into the Mad Dog?

This is one of the most common questions asked about Goro Majima's character, as this transformation appears sudden and drastic.

In this video, I will be using real life psychological concepts and case studies to deep dive into the mind of Goro Majima. It's time to settle the question of "Why did Majima Go Crazy?" once and for all.

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[JageshemashFTW]

With Majima, it’s less a matter of ‘Is the Mad Dog an act’ and more ‘How _much_ of the Mad Dog is an act’

[dankdankeryetdanker]

What this taught me is that the disco closing down made Majima an even madder dog.

[Gon-hxdf]

Okay, to be fair, 17 years pass between Yakuza 0 and Kiwami, so he didn't start doing all of that overnight

[masteroflight]

One of my favorute lines from Majima is from Yakuza 5 at the begining of Saejima's part in the batting cages, Majima says
"Ffter all these years I guess my fangs went 'n fell out. 'Course I wanna keep playin' the tough guy. But no one knows me better then I know myself. Gotta have the stones to face reality".
officialy dropping the Mad Dog Persona (unless he absolutely NEEDS it).
While Majima was never originally intended to be a complex character, I think its clear to see that as early as Yakuza 3, Majima was changed to be more indepth. In Yakuza 3 you see him switching between his normal self and Mad dog on the spot MANY times, and in 4 and 5 he never puts on his mad dog facade.
Yakuza 0 didnt change his character at all, It just gave context as to WHY hes the way he is.

[nevrankroaton]

One thing that I love about your analysis is how this study of Majima show a LOT about Kiryu's own demise in the serie and why he got such a "darker" fate in the end compared to Majima (who had a shit life), Kaito or Shinada, which all got closures on their trauma/problems.

Kiryu is an idealistic person with a set code of "honor" he follows, he is an empathic person who live through making the ones he loves happy, he lack personnal goals or ambition and only wish to support the ones that made him feel whole.
Kiryu story has always been the issue between the romantisation of the yakuza/samurai and the crude brutal reality of the underground world.

While Kiryu did succeed to do a lot of good things, like helping and saving Haruka, saving Daigo, helping indirectly Majima, avenging the "weak" who had been broken by terrible schemes, helping countless peoples in general...
He also never got closure on many of his traumas.

In the end, he lost his own "brother" who betrayed their paternal figures and "hated" him, his own "father" figure was the origin of him being an orphan, he is the reason the second woman he loved lost her parents (and ironically it is one of the few trauma where he got closures), he lost the love of his life, he "made" Haruka suffer because of who he is, he made all of the children in Sunflower suffer due to his origins, he lost the first real new friend he had for years after seeing Rikuya die in Y3, he didn't support the "son" he loved in Daigo, etc.

Kiryu often fail to save "himself" and sacrifice himself countless time, ignoring who he is because "he can take it" but we all knows he can't (Yakuza 5 made a god damn effort of showing what happen to Kiryu when he go toward this extreme road. It is also why him choosing to 'attone' selflessly at the beginning of Y6 lead to again more issues).
In the end, the incoming spin off game about Kiryu is VERY important in my eyes because I genuinely hope it is a game where Kiryu as a person get confronted FOR GOOD about this issue and force to fight/live for his own happiness and not the one of other.

I really hope a character, be it Haruka, Daigo, Majima, Ichiban or Date, fucking punch him into having the right to be happy.

It is why Majima is so important as a contrast. His sacrifices made him miserable too and the closure he got is what allowed him to finally be himself.

[jaysanj]

The Fact that Mad Dog persona is less of an act but more of a coping mechanism for Majima to deal with his trauma makes it all the more tragic and depressing.
We always get to his "real side" whenever we get to play as him or when he's talking to Saejima
But whenever he's near Kiryu or any other characters he switches to Mad Dog to cope and help himself.

So it is nice to see him mellowed out a bit on later entries cus its slowly healing him and Kiryu also unknowing helped him the most to deal with his trauma so you know damn well Majima is really thankful for Kiryu even if he won't admit it.

[DraculaCronqvist]

Yes, it is. It acts as a shield to Majima. Acting like he does conceils his true motives from his enemies, while protecting his feelings from further hurt. He plays up the trope of "Obfuscating stupidity" by adopting Nishitani's personality for himself, a man who gave his life to protect Majima's.

[RZ_K]

I dont even think majima "loved" mirei park, it seems he kinda used her for a coping mechanism but made love to her because she believed it was real. Thats why in yakuza 5 she tells haruka that sometimes the fans "love" is fake, she says that because she has been through it herself with her fans but mainly majima, and to warn haruka not to believe that fake love. Of course when she got pregnant majima definitely wanted it but she didnt so he lashed out, he almost tried to force himself to love her but couldnt

[Arthur]

we all have that Mad Dog inside of us, but it will take perfect timing of events for it to show. in Majima's case all of those moments were all aligned for him.

[NINJUT]

I really don't think the mad dog is an act, at least not on the traditional sense. Majima's character arc in Yakuza 0 is about FREEDOM. He's trapped in Sotenbori in the caberet under Sagawas heel. When he gets back to his apartment he's being watched from all sides. He's unable to even raise his fist against a patron who disrespects him by pouring alcohol on him. He's caged up. That way near the end of the game, Majima is finally allowed to break out. Sagawa even says Majima "finally got out of the cage" and Majima himself decides to live as free as he wishes. It doesn't make sense for someone who's entire arc is about being free to suddenly trap themselves in a fake persona.

I think people want it to be an act because they have trouble reconciling the fact that Majima can have crazy moments and serious ones. In reality, those two sides of him aren't that mutally exclusive. Just because he's batshit insane in one moment doesn't mean he can't also be serious in the next. That's freedom. Being able to choose what you want to act like depending on how it suits you is the epitome of how Majima wants to live.

I mean even in his opening cutscene in Yakuza 0, he showcases that he has a flair for the dramatic when he says "Alright boys, give me one with a beat!" hinting that there's a way that'd he'd rather be acting like. In Japanese his course rough self even peeks through when he whispers "Shaa nai na" right before asking the band which is extremely informal in stark contrast to his painfully formal speaking to Sawaga and to his patrons as the lord of the night. That whisper is indicitive of the fact that his mad dog persona is actually part of his real personality. That he's being restrained and he just wants a chance to let loose.

TLDR: Mad Dog being an act doesn't mesh well with Majimas want for freedom, at least in my opinion

[dumbledoresnape]

Yes, it is. It comes from the trauma suffered in 0 and he created it so no one could predict him ever again. In a way, the unpredictability made him a king-maker of sorts

[nxm]

honestly, i never bat an eye to majima going soft and changing character from 0 to mad dog in 1, but you explained it all amazingly

[tk]

In his ending in Yakuza 0, he mentioned that he was inspired by many people during his journey (Wen Hai Lee, Nishitani, Sagawa and also awano i think), when we think about it, Awano were enjoying the leisure lifestyle (which majima is very familiar since he was the manager of the grand in osaka), in the end i think majima didn't wanted Kiryu and himself ending up carried away by leisure lifestyle like awano (that's probably the "philosophy" or the "metaphor" behind the majima everywhere)

His Mad Dog persona (i think) is mix of the craziness but not inhumane of Nishitani, the caring and protective attitude of Wen Hai Lee and the Gung ho attitude of sagawa, not to mention what he has been through

While kiryu's inspiration is from the "never give up, always back up" of Kuze, the calm and composed attitude of Shibusawa and the caring for what he loves the most from Tachibana

[caped]

I know that Majima is usually considered to be one of the best characters among the community and I honestly think stuff like this contributes a lot to it.

[Moveset-Mastery]

Great analysis, the Mirei and Makoto resemblance was on point. I also noticed it and dassumed it was due to Majima's unresolved feelings for the past.

I was glad to finally play Kiwami 2 and get that clousure for the character. Poor guy.

[muchmoist]

this was such an amazing analysis?!

like i haven't even thought about how similar mirei and makoto was before you pointed it out. it really makes sense tho, considering how much majima cared for makoto throughout the events of y0

[Skechy]

As someone who has experienced many traumas from taking the moral high ground, Majima is someone I relate to strongly.
When you are walked all over for being the "nice guy, " a single major event can cause you to change your personality as self defense. You don't want to be seen as weak, so you start acting tough to protect yourself from being taken advantage of again.
For me, I interpret the Mad Dog persona as a self creating myth for people to fear Majima rather than to challenge him. He does it to protect himself.

[kelvinhong]

SEGA probably didn't thought as much as you did on the character of Majima, it is a great explanation!

[BlackPlatinum]

Yakuza 4 was the turning point for majima. He wasn't doing any of his crazy antics anymore.

[wolfclck]

Yknow, after everything he goes through, it's really a nice thing to see Majima living a much nicer life later on in the series. Something I noticed about his appearance in Yakuza 7, his new version of "Receive You" (Receive and Turn You) just sounds a lot happier than most of the previous ones (Especially Receive and Bite You in my opinion.) I think this was a conscious decision to help paint modern Majima as a man untethered from his past, having made his amends with his brother and gotten closure on the most traumatic parts of his life.
Also Majima can create shadow clones of himself and this is just canon and something he does on more than one occasion.