He was introduced in the series' 2005 debut game, where he took the blame for his boss's death to protect his sworn-brother Akira Nishikiyama, resulting in his expulsion from the clan and a ten-year stay in prison.

[2] According to Sega producer Toshihiro Nagoshi, dragons have a strong image about them, and that when players sample it, they would, as the title suggests, get a feel for the strength and manliness of the main character.

[14] During development of Yakuza 4, the staff started wondering how they would end Kiryu's story as, unlike other video game characters, he did not possess supernatural powers.

Describing him as "a super-cool and masculine guy, but since he's a well-established character with a specific personality, there are things that he would and wouldn't do", the team decided he would need a successor who would bring the staff more creativity to work with.

[19] Although Ichiban Kasuga replaces in Kiryu in Like a Dragon, Sega used him in such game as a minor character with an untold backstory in regards to his current whereabouts that is explained in Gaiden.

Kuroda described Kiryu as a true shy character, stating he does not consider himself too attractive to the point where he could not form a formal romantic relationship with Sayama in Yakuza 2.

Early in the first game he was planning on starting his own subsidiary group until he takes the blame for the murder of his boss, Sohei Dojima, to protect his best friend, Akira Nishikiyama, and is imprisoned for ten years.

Date gives him information on the three most likely suspects for Kashiwagi's death: Yoshitaka Mine, a white-collar yakuza, Goh Hamazaki, a patriarch with ties to the triads, and Tsuyoshi Kanda, who has taken over the gang once controlled by Kiryu's sworn brother, Nishikiyama.

Kiryu speaks with Katsuragi and agrees to meet on the roof of Kamurocho Hills on the condition that he fights through the entire Ueno Seiwa Clan to get there.

Kiryu later fights Daigo Dojima on top of the Millennium Tower who was seeking money to run the Tojo Clan which was offered as bait by Akiyama.

Kazuhiko Serizawa, an Osakan detective with the Organized Crimes Unit, warns Kiryu that he needs to meet with Omi Alliance Lieutenant Masaru Watase to prevent the war.

Set seventeen years before Yakuza, a 20 year-old Kiryu is framed for killing a civilian during a routine debt collection and must find the true killer before his mentor Shintaro Kazama is forced to take responsibility on his behalf.

With the help of real estate agents Tetsu Tachibana and Jun Oda, Kiryu realizes that his situation was deliberately engineered by Sohei Dojima, who wished to remove the Kazama Family so that he could acquire the Empty Lot and gain supremacy over the Tojo Clan.

They work to take over Kamurocho and protect the Empty Lot's owner, Makoto Makimura, who is also Tachibana's sister, from the bloodthirsty Dojima Family.

Finding out who is responsible takes Kiryu reluctantly back into the extra-judicial underbelly of Japan — Kamurocho, as well as a small fishing town near Hiroshima called Onomichi.

Kiryu returns to Kamurocho with the Hirose's Tsuyoshi Nagumo and Yuta Usami, learning the child's father is a former member who hit Haruka.

Kiryu makes peace with Yuta but Hirose tries to kill him when revealing the secret of Onomichi, a hidden battle ship made since World War II developed by Iwami Shipbuilding, a company founded by the chairman of the Yomei Alliance.

Teaming up with his former Tojo allies as well as Ichiban Kasuga and his friends, Kiryu oversees the dissolution and prevents an all-out riot from Omi members.

Kiryu departs, and ends up in Hawaii in 2023, where he visits a local church and leaves the engagement ring he bought for Yumi several years back.

Kiryu also reveals that he has contracted cancer and has just six months left to live, leading him to create a "bucket list" of things to do and people to reunite with before he dies.

As he grows up, Kiryu starts desiring to form his own group, but gives up on this when his girlfriend is sexually assaulted and he decides to take the blame for killing the person to protect Nishikiyama.

"[36] Cheat Code Central expressed similar comments noting that despite the character's occupation, he is so kind he takes the blame of Dojima's death at the start of the first game, resulting in expulsion from his family.

[37] Eurogamer similarly commented that "Despite all the violence, Kazuma is quite a personable bloke, whose love for his friends sees him banged up for ten years over a murder his 'brother' Nishiki committed.

"[38] VideoGamer.com's Wesley Yin-Poole also shared similar comments, adding that " Kazuma isn't averse to the odd spot of humanitarian work either – he's just a big softy really.

Anime News Network writer Dustin Bailey praised Kiryu's role in Yakuza 0 saying that while in most of the games he was portrayed as a "saintly Superman", in the prequel he enjoyed seeing the character involved in darker scenarios.

[60] Greg Miller from IGN noted how developers wanted players to "connect with that side of him [being in charge of an orphanage] because it's his motivation for everything you're going to do in the game", resulting in several cutscenes and minigames which left him mixed feelings.

[61] Matt Kim from US Gamer said Kiryu was his favorite paternal figure in gaming due to how caring he is to Haruka and to people in general despite his connections with the yakuza.

[66] GameRevolution shared similar comments, mainly on how Haruka also has been developing in previous games to stay close to her adoptive father, and it was this time Kiryu's quest to protect her.

Salivevski commented, "Well, my nickname is now "The Dragon"... Whilst in Thailand, I had people coming up to me and taking photos, others came around wondering what all the fuss was about thinking I am some kind of celebrity.

[86] In speaking to Red Bull France in an interview, Sega's chief creative officer Toshihiro Nagoshi had this to say in regard to Kiryu joining the Tekken roster: "We do get this request a lot.