Yagami isn't a criminal.ExplanationA sort of equivalent to "Kiryu doesn't kill" which pokes fun at the fact that Yagami, a practicing lawyer, is pretty much constantly breaking too many laws to count over the course of the games. Unlike with Kiryu though this is sometimes acknowledged and Yagami himself doesn't generally claim to not commit crimes, though the fact that he hasn't been disbarred yet is perplexing.
Oh, look, a cat!Explanation During the Active Search Mode segments in the game, one of the things that you can occasionally find during the crime scenes is a stray cat. Interacting with one causes Yagami to get briefly distracted while nonchalantly saying, "Oh, look, a cat." In true Yakuza fashion, this can be done even in the final chapter when Yagami and his friends storm the ADDC to go after Shono and Kuroiwa, and finding all 14 cats during the Story's Active Search Modes earns you a trophy of the same name. Also one of the more notorious cases of Guide Dang It! due to needing a (literal) detective's eye to find the cats on top of being an easily missable trophy/achievement.
"You scream like a fucking whore, kind of a turn on, to be honest." Explanation (Spoilers!) When Hamura has a less experienced and more innocent Higashi kill Red Nose to atone for Kaito's supposed crime of stealing money from the safe (which Hamura hired Red Nose for in the first place), he says this to Higashi as he's practically terrified at what he's about to do. Just another example of the Yakuza series' trademark Ho Yay paired with some hilariously inappropriatedialogue for the situation.
"Damn it, these guys won't stop coming on us!" Note "Uhhh... I meant, at us! "Dude, that's gross."Explanation (Spoilers!) At the second to last long battle, when the party is cornered by several cars and more mooks, Kaito says this hilarious line by complete accident.
"Have you come to bask in the shadow of my scrotum totem?" Explanation Said by Giant Impact before taking him on as part of a Side Story. Note that Giant Impact, of course, refers to A) the obvious, B) the fact that you fight this guy buck-ass naked with only a leaf to protect his modesty, and C) he's over 70 years old!
Shin Amon's framerate breaking/Essence of Framerate Drop ExplanationShin Amon's fight has become infamous in the community for the framerate often dropping in the final part (at least when played on a PS4), with players joking that this is actually part of Shin's abilities or a new Amon Clan technique.
"How do you do, fellow kids?" Explanation When it was showcased that much of the sequel would take place in a high school setting as part of Yagami's investigation in Yokohama, players had a field day with this when one remembers that Yagami is 38 years old as of 2021. Certainly not that old (especially compared to, say, Majima or Saejima - who are 57 and 55 respectively as of the aforementioned year), but still too old to be a convincing teenager by that point. And then there's the fact that Yagami can use a skateboard to get around Ijincho much quicker, too.
The Cover Art. Explanation Due to the Unintentional Uncanny Valley of Yagami's photorealistic hands juxtaposed by Yagami's (slightly) less realistic face, the cover art has been exploited for all its worth in a similar vein to the "WANNA PLAY KOF?" memes. As can be seen here and here. Pretty much brought full circle with the latter example.
Yagami Crying Explanation In the trailer, Yagami along with Sugiura and Kaito, finds a dead body of someone, which is actually Sawa, who has been murdered by Soma and in response, he cries for them; even more effective in the Japanese version, where Yagami yells like he's pissed. This image or clip is used for reactional purposes of bad news, for example, the whole controversy about Judgment's PC release.
Fuck them kids.Explanation Relating to the above, this is basically the default response most players may have when it comes to the mere idea of Yagami beating the shit out of high school students, especially given how the "Zoomer" generation as a whole is generally frowned upon by the Internet.
UNTIL IT IS DONE./Every teacher gets one.ExplanationUsed in reference to a memetic skit from the above podcast, where the hosts Woolie and Pat discuss a policy detailing how every teacher (in response to seeing rampant bullying) should be allowed one non-item based bodily action on bullies, framed as Glory Kills from the Doom reboot. Was later tied to Lost Judgment when more clips of Yagami performing EX Actions on the student enemies emerged.
"But, what about Sawa-sensei?!" Explanation (Spoilers!) Even though Sawa in question is very well regarded in the fandom, it's been noted by many people that Yagami using her death as a counterargument to many character's arguments, mainly Kuwana's, can get really annoying and repetitive quite quick, seeing there's way more people and ways of doing Yagami could use as an argument to his motives.
"Holy shit! No way!"/"USO DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Explanation Higashi's rather over-the-top reaction when he learns that that nice-looking lady he saved from some RK thugs, was actually Saori, has become bit famous in the community for well, being reallyover-the-top.
"Give them a demonic grimace" Explanation During the sidecase, "My First Errand", Yagami and Kaito, while disguised as a billboard, can give 3 levels of emotion to some unsuspecting thugs, a stare, a smile, and the grimace, and well, as you can see in the page image of the Funny Moments page of this game, that it's become (in)famous for a reason.
Jokes about comparing Yagami and Kuwana to Google and Bing, respectively, on how to deal with bullies are fairly common with their opposing views on the matter of justice.
Sega vs. Vice Ministers of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.Explanation (Spoilers!)This is the 2nd game in a row where one of the main villains has the oddly specific position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, which lead to jokes about how somebody in Sega must be carrying some sort of grudge against that position in real life. At least she's an Anti-Villain this time.
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"Repost thisto scare Johnny's" Explanation Before both Judgement titles were released for the PC on Steam in September 2022, the quarrel between Sega and Johnny's and Associates, Takuya Kimura's agency, had left an extremely bitter taste in people's mouths. The agency is extremely protective over Kimura's image. However, all of their arguments become ridiculous, because the files (and therefore, models) of both games PS4 versions have been dumped due to the console being jailbroken, and people can put Yagami in renders, and put him in other Yakuza games, Kiwami 2 for example. And now, fans have began spreading those renders and various mods around the internet to let J&A know that their efforts to keep the games on PS4 are in vain in the end because it can be dumped and modded anyways, as long as you have a hacked PS4. Likethisone.
Real detectives use a gamepad. Explanation When both Judgment games were ported to PC in 2022, they each came with their own variation on the memetic "Real yakuza use a gamepad" image from their parent series.
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