Headscratchers / Yakuza 0

• Towards the end, when Makoto goes to strike a deal with Dojima, Dojima points out that he just needs the owner of the Empty Lot to be quiet, he doesn't actually need to own it legally. This however indicates a major error in their thinking: if all that was needed to continue the redevelopment plan was the silence of whoever it was that legally owns the Empty Lot, then all the family needed to do was leave Makoto completely alone. She had no idea that she had the title to any property and would have likely been none the wiser if she'd just been allowed to carry on her life as a masseuse, as the only way she found out was when everyone started trying to drag her into the situation.
  • At this point, the entire Empty Lot business has been an enormous drain on the Dojima clan's finances and reputation. Just finding out her identity has been a huge pain. Not only has Kiryu humiliated his lieutenants and entire army of subordinates but he's chased her up and down Japan. It doesn't help her deal would seriously impact his business as a whole. Killing her is going to be immensely satisfying to an evil old sexist like Dojima.
  • Dojima wanted her dead because proof of death would allow him to buy the Empty Lot at auction. He probably could have gotten around that without her but its a Deadly Euphemism here since the dead are very quiet. Could he have gotten around it without killing her? Yes. However, the identity of the owner was only found out recently after considerable expense.
  • Furthermore this is applying audience knowledge to a characters perspective. We know that Makoto wouldn't have been a problem if left alone, but from the perspective of the Yakuza the owner was an unknown factor who had the potential to show up and completely screw up their plans. It's a much safer play to hunt down the owner and settle the matter definitively than to just hope she doesn't become a problem later down the line.
• Why did Sagawa not kill Majima after he betrayed him to keep Makoto alive?
  • He didn't had all the pieces, Shimano kept the details murky to Sagawa to make Majima deliberately take an alternate option and find any wildcard factors that may impede him in getting the empty lot.
  • Also, Sagawa appears to actually have a soft spot for Majima. He tries to push Majima away from the Yakuza, then from the murder, making sure to warn him about what that would cost him. If Majima had ever actually told Sagawa why he was so hellbent on making it back into the Tojo clan's good graces despite being far too much of a decent person for the job (pre-Mad-Dog, at least), they probably would have come to some kind of understanding long ago.
  • It is a simple case of too useful to be killed. I mean, yeah, Majima didn't really cooperate, but if Sagawa killed him, then they're right back at square one.
• Why didn't Kiryu offer Pocket Circuit Fighter a job at his real estate business when he found out Fighter needed money and was doing multiple jobs?
  • Maybe he did and we just don't see it. Personal Fanon is that Kiryu gave Fighter a better wage at the circuit after taking over management of the place.
• How did Majima giving advice to that government guy, lead to the Lost Decade?
  • It's implied that the guy was a higher up in the governments tax department, the "Bubble" was always thought to be a temporary thing, Japan getting a massive, short-term, economic boost, that would eventually stabilise, by giving him very Yakuza-like advice (probably from Majima's experience as a loan shark at some point), that he followed, might not have caused the Lost Decade, per se, but sped it up timeline wise.
• Majima told Makoto that he was missing an eye while they were hiding in the warehouse, so wouldn't she have had a pretty good inkling about his identity as her savior in the ending when she finally sees his face with its extremely distinct eyepatch?
  • The ending suggests that Makoto might in fact recognize Majima - all with how she ends up actively staring at his face for a minute (almost if expecting Majima to reveal himself), or how she openly defends him in front of Tateyama. However, just as Majima doesn't want to interrupt her now normal life, Makoto also wants to stay as far as possible from her traumatic past, which leads both to their decision to remain strangers and not pursue any further dialogue.
• Something that still bothers me to this day is the fate of Tsuji the squatter's SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive. When Oda and Kiryu barge into his room, you can see the console hooked up to a TV during one of the camera shots. Searching around the place after it is renovated into a real estate office for Kiryu, the game console is nowhere to be found. Did old man Yamanoi or one of his employees take it home, or was it thrown away with the rest of the squatter's belongings?
• So, if Kazama’s plan all along was for Sera to own the Empty Lot by the very end of it all... Why didn’t Sera just offer to buy the Empty Lot from Makoto when she was in The Consortium’s care? She was obviously very willing to sell the Lot for peanuts at that point.
  • It probably took a few days for the transfer to go through; by the time Sera stops Majima from killing Dojima, Sera essentially already owns the Empty Lot since Makoto is still alive. So she would still give Sera the deed for the land, thus securing Sera's position as Third Chairman.
• Minor nitpick, but why does Pleasure King's idle animation show him having trouble keeping his balance? Assuming that he wears high heels on a regular basis and has done so for a while, wouldn't he be able to stand still without problem, especially since he can run and walk in high heels without falling over?
• Wasn't Makoto considered to be legally dead after her body double was found floating in the Sotenbori River? She was specifically named in news reports as being murdered, but after Sagawa finds out she's still alive, why does everyone else seem to suddenly agree she is? Surely it suits everyone better for her to be publicly considered deceased?
  • As soon as it's clear Makoto's still alive, the threat she represents becomes relevant again: that her ownership of the Empty Lot could challenge the fortunes of the regeneration project, even after its completion. Makoto wasn't “dead” long enough for any kind of legal processes to take over and disperse her estate (which would take months, presumably). By the time any of that could've happened, she has already re-emerged and is clearly alive, even to those who only see the civilian side of the story (the legal transaction between her and Sera would make that clear, if nothing else). In other words, it's not enough for Makoto to be dead right “now”, she needs to be really, truly dead—now and in the future. As soon as all of the interested parties knew she was alive, there was no point pretending otherwise.
• Why exactly is Nihara only the “acting” second Chairman? According to his info in the character page, he took over after Tojo Makoto, the first chairman died. Is this a mistake and he is merely filling in for an unseen second Chairman who died? Like how Kashiwagi was calling the shots early on in 3 after Daigo was shot? If not, what makes Sera and the later chairmen more legitimate than him?