the gift of yakuza 5's haruka section
For a long time now, I've heard many people bemoan Yakuza 5 as being ruined by the dreaded Haruka section. It was often described as a pace killer, boring, and generally out of place. Yakuza 5 is already a bloated game, so adding on what is seen as a superfluous speedbump just exacerbates the game's overall size problem. While I think some of this is true, I also think people are missing the true value of her place in the story and gameplay of Yakuza 5.
But first, some context is needed. At the start of Yakuza 5, we find Kazuma Kiryu in Fukuoka, generally hiding from his past life as a mild-mannered cab driver. He is deep in a depression hole, having walked out on his family the prior summer. Details are sparse on why at first, but it becomes clear that he did this to protect the burgeoning career of his adoptive daughter Haruka Sawamura as an idol.
At around the 40% part of the story, we find out that Haruka was discovered by a idol agency president Mirei Park, who tells Kiryu that she will support Haruka and make sure his orphanage is taken care of financially on the sole condition that he disconnects from them, due to the toxic culture of idol fandom. As we later learn, there are reasons why Park in particular is worried about people digging up things from a celebrity's personal life. At this point, we join Haruka on the cusp of her big break and follow her journey through the idol industry.
Haruka's gameplay is decidedly different from every other protagonist of the series. She doesn't get into fist fights, get jumped by random creeps, or make threats of violence. She instead is free to roam Sotenbori freely, do odd jobs to promote herself, and train her skills in dancing and singing through practicing at the studio or engaging in dance battles with other girls on the street (strictly opt-in). This usually takes the form of performing one of two different rhythm minigames, but also occasionally with meet and greet events, autograph signings, or comedy duo auditions.
Now, the majority of the complaints about her gameplay is that it's highly repetitive and gets stale fast due to a lack of variety. This is not entirely untrue, but I also don't think that it is a bad thing. Throughout her story, you see through Haruka's eyes the reality of the idol industry, and it is not exactly a flattering portrait. When you are not in the pure privacy of your own home, you are always expected to be on the clock. Keeping up appearances, being endlessly kind to even the rudest and pushiest fans, and perform the same song over and over and over until it becomes not so much a genuine expression of creativity but rather a job.
To me, however, the real strength of Haruka's section of Yakuza 5 is two-fold. For one, it provides a feminine perspective that the Yakuza games, as great as they are, were firmly lacking. For two, and this is the most important part I feel, it gives the player a fucking break. This feeling is definitely more pronounced when you're playing the games back-to-back, but all the fighting and yelling and conspiring of these games can be exhausting. The true gift of Haruka's part is that it gives the player an extended period to relax and not worry about getting jumped every hundred meters. The game is firmly put at a slower pace that is controlled by the player, and just as you start to tire you can bring Akiyama back into the fold.