This article has a talk page!Yakuza 5 is the first entry of the Yakuza series was the first to feature a playable female character -- but not one that fights. Shame!
Unused Models#
Yakuza splits models up into higher quality models with more advanced rigging for cutscenes, with lower quality for gameplay. These models are found in the latter category.
Yasuko Saejima#
Taiga Saejima's sister from Yakuza 4. She appears twice as what appears to be placeholder models for Kiryu's partner, Mayumi Madarame. Both of these models go unused entirely; the game appears to default to the cutscene model at all times for Mayumi.
Hana#
Akiyama's secretary from Yakuza 4. Not only does the model appear as she does before the end of Yakuza 4, she seems to be missing a lot more files, including her face texture and animation files. Assumedly, she was probably dropped earlier in development.
Azusa Osawa#
A beta model of Azusa Osawa, one of Haruka's rivals in the idol group T-Set. Interestingly, this seems to be closer towards Mai's final design. This reuses textures from one of the unnamed cabaret girls in Club Olivier.
Mai Sanada#
A beta model of Mai Sanada, the other of Haruka's rivals in the idol group T-Set. Just like her counterpart, this seems to be closer towards Azusa's final design than her own.
Y5 Saejima in Y4 Costume#
Yakuza 5 Saejima in his Yakuza 4 clothing. It is unknown what the purpose of this model was.
Combat#
Some moves go unused in this game, some of them appearing in later instalments.
Kiryu#
Kiryu's Charging Spirit from Yakuza 3 and 4 remains in the game (P_spirit), fully functional but unused. It may have been cut because Kiryu is already ridiculously powerful in this game.
Yuu Morinaga and Masato Aizawa#
Aizawa has an unused back grab (E_MOR_SYNC_catch_sp), which would have served as the setup for Morinaga to do a 5-hit combo on an immobile Kiryu.
Junji Sugiuchi#
Sugiuchi's moveset remains here, despite his death in Yakuza 4 and the fact that, notably, not a single character has reused his moveset since. What makes it noteworthy among all the other movesets from older games is the fact it has no properties at all, not even hitboxes. It also uses the filename family E_SUG, while Sugiuchi himself in 4 has his moves named E_KRT.
Shigeki Baba#
Baba has an unused karate spearhand attack in 5 (E_BAB_ATK_nukite), which would end up being used anyway by Tenkensai Nijo in Yakuza 0 and Hiroshi Hayashi in Kiwami and Kiwami 2.
Hiroshi Kugihara#
Kugihara, like Aizawa and Morinaga, has an unused back grab (done by one of his cohorts, not himself) that would serve as the setup for him to do a 5-hit combo on an immobile Saejima.
Kamon Kanai#
Kanai has an unused animation for where he is tired after doing his knockback (E_KAN_tire).
"Quick Boxing"#
A completely unused generic goon moveset.