However, it also comes at the expense of inflation compared to the previous game, as these skills are also some of the most expensive in the game. There is now an ability (Battle Bonus) that increases the SP payout after every enemy encounter, earning you upwards of 1,000 SP depending on your playstyle.

After a different gameplay segment (e.g., parkour, chasing), any health lost during that segment will be restored when going into actual combat immediately afterward.

Style switching is now near-instantaneous like it was for Kiryu in Yakuza Kiwami, allowing Yagami to juggle enemies seamlessly in the air.

It also carries the added benefit of preventing any unwanted enemy encounters while in the streets.

This game introduces the skateboard for Yagami, which is a very helpful tool to get around Kamurocho and Ijincho much quicker.

Carrying over from Yakuza: Like a Dragon, you can now simply fast travel with a taxi straight from your phone (the pause menu) instead of finding the nearest one, which is especially handy in Ijincho, due to its massive size.

Like in the last game, Yagami has unlimited stamina, so you can keep running around Kamurocho and especially Ijincho to your heart's content.

However, it's still pretty restricted, as Saori can't freely explore Kamurocho and she obviously can't fight to the degree that Yagami does. This time around, the player does have some more control of her, such as being able to play as her from a third-person perspective (as opposed to being restricted to a first-person view in the first game), save your game, or promptly pull out your phone and take a picture with Hoshino, Genda, and/or Yagami. She's briefly playable in Chapters 6 and 11.

And Now for Someone Completely Different: Once again, Saori.

All of the Other Reindeer: In chapter 1, as Tsukumo is discussing the bullying cases piling up, he mentions just how primitive and ancient bullying is by saying that it serves both a hormonal function in people's brains and it was the first form of societal justice - those who did not conform or contribute to society were ostracized.

An Aesop: As hammered home throughout the story, bullying ultimately does damage to everyone involved in the long-run, so it's better to intervene before it can get worse.

Cassandra Lee Morris portraying a tsundere in Itokura? Color us surprised.

This wouldn't be the first time Matthew Yang King voiced an ex-yakuza assassin, as Oni can attest.

Kyoko Amasawa mentions that she's familiar with playing darts, although she's also willing to use the darts on bad guys.

Lost judgment school stories