Growing up around the Street Fighter series, I never thought we’d be pulling valuable life lessons from Ryu. And yet, here we are. You just took me to school today and I feel like I learned something. Well done 👍🏾
That's awesome! I feel honored to be able to teach something new through one of my favorite SF characters. I hope those stoic teachings stand with you for a long time. Thank you so much for your feedback!
Gosh, framing this discussion around Ryu was such a good idea — deep and thought-provoking characters are one of Street Fighter's underrated strengths, and Ryu may as well be a Seneca for the twenty-first-century video gamer.
Anyway, on the subject of Japanese games about street-fighting with surprisingly nuanced characterization, I've gotta throw Kazuma Kiryu into the discussion. There's this one scene from Yakuza 5 that's stuck with me for over a decade: arguing with Masaru Watase, who claims that Kiryu is ultimately driven by lust for power and violence, Kiryu says "You consider the Yakuza a way to die. To me, being Yakuza is a way to live... we walk the same path, but you're barreling toward death, while I fight for life." He might be my pick for the most inspiringly resilient video game character.
Fantastic piece, and a very welcome antidote to the pseudo-Stoicism that's colonized the Western understanding of corporate work.
You had me the moment you mentioned Yakuza 5! I actually considered using Kiryu as the model to explore stoicism, but in the end, I went with a more widely known character.
That being said, I definitely need to explore Kiryu in a future piece on this philosophy. His unwavering commitment to the Yakuza as a way of life, the deep sense of abandonment he shows since the first game when he refused to lead as the Fourth Chairman, his loyalty to the Logos by staying true to his principles even in the direst situations... man, there's so much to unpack!
Anyway, thank you so much for the kind feedback! I hope I can keep delivering pieces that resonate.
Growing up around the Street Fighter series, I never thought we’d be pulling valuable life lessons from Ryu. And yet, here we are. You just took me to school today and I feel like I learned something. Well done 👍🏾
That's awesome! I feel honored to be able to teach something new through one of my favorite SF characters. I hope those stoic teachings stand with you for a long time. Thank you so much for your feedback!
Gosh, framing this discussion around Ryu was such a good idea — deep and thought-provoking characters are one of Street Fighter's underrated strengths, and Ryu may as well be a Seneca for the twenty-first-century video gamer.
Anyway, on the subject of Japanese games about street-fighting with surprisingly nuanced characterization, I've gotta throw Kazuma Kiryu into the discussion. There's this one scene from Yakuza 5 that's stuck with me for over a decade: arguing with Masaru Watase, who claims that Kiryu is ultimately driven by lust for power and violence, Kiryu says "You consider the Yakuza a way to die. To me, being Yakuza is a way to live... we walk the same path, but you're barreling toward death, while I fight for life." He might be my pick for the most inspiringly resilient video game character.
Fantastic piece, and a very welcome antidote to the pseudo-Stoicism that's colonized the Western understanding of corporate work.
You had me the moment you mentioned Yakuza 5! I actually considered using Kiryu as the model to explore stoicism, but in the end, I went with a more widely known character.
That being said, I definitely need to explore Kiryu in a future piece on this philosophy. His unwavering commitment to the Yakuza as a way of life, the deep sense of abandonment he shows since the first game when he refused to lead as the Fourth Chairman, his loyalty to the Logos by staying true to his principles even in the direst situations... man, there's so much to unpack!
Anyway, thank you so much for the kind feedback! I hope I can keep delivering pieces that resonate.