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| “ | For the longest time... my mother cared for both of my dementia-ridden grandparents. Once the disease had finally, mercifully taken them... my mother died too. So you see... Alzheimers has taken many loved ones away, even from me.
But now... it won't be taking anyone else... ever again. My entire career as a researcher... All the time I spent developing AD-9... Every single minute of it has led to this moment. |
„ |
| ~ Yoji Shono |
Yoji Shono is one of the two main antagonists (alongside Mitsuru Kuroiwa) of the video game Judgment.
He is the head researcher of AD-9 and one of the highest ranking scientists in the Advanced Drug Development Center. It is later revealed that he was one of the main conspirators in the Mole's murder spree.
He was voiced by Makoto Nagai in Japanese and by Michael Gough in the English dub.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
- After the animal trials of AD-9 on mice are successful, he begins his own secret clinical trial on human. He first tests AD-9 on Koichi Waku, a human suffering from Alzheimer's, and the test fails and kills Koichi Waku.
- After Koichi Waku's death, he disposes the corpse by dumping it into a truck that was driven by Shinpei Okubo, which eventually leads to Okubo being arrested, though he is later proven innocent thanks to Takayuki Yagami.
- After Shinpei Okubo is proven innocent, Shono, knowing that the police would start investigating him next, kills Emi Terasawa, Okubo's girlfriend, by stabbing her multiple times and burning the house, and frames Okubo instead, resulting in his conviction this time, and being put in the death row, which would have caused his execution, had Yagami not intervened. This act also indirectly ruined Yagami's career as a lawyer.
- He does not tell Ryusuke Kido, the director of the Advanced Drug Development Center, that AD-9 is lethal to human until after Ryusuke Kido announced the development of AD-9 to the world in a press conference. Therefore, Kido cooperates with Shono. It should be noted that the Advanced Drug Development Center is under the pressure of being closed at the time.
- With the backing of the senior Health Ministry official Kaoru Ichinose, Yoji Shono continues his human experiments of the drug on subjects in a secret lab established in Kamurocho. All tests results in the deaths of their subjects.
- After discovering that Toru Hashiki was a mole for the Kajihira group, who wanted to shut down the centre, he asks to Ichinose to deal with him, resulting in a brutal beating and subsequent death by the hands of Kuroiwa.
- He gets the human experiments, who are mainly yakuza since they were detested by society, from Mitsuru Kuroiwa and his allies, resulting in at least three deaths. All the subjects were brutally killed because of the experiments, causing in them a big migraine that kills them slowly and painfully, and turns their eyes blue.
- He personally gouges out subjects' blued eye caused by AD-9 after subjects' death to prevent leaving evidence suggesting the involvement of the experiments of AD-9. He's also indirectly responsible for Mitsuru Kuroiwa's heinous actions related to the experiments of AD-9.
- It's implied he also killed Kyorei Captain, Satoshi Shioya, by injecting him the serum, as his corpse was found without eyes
- Despite the heinous standards of the Like a Dragon universe, Shono stands out for starting the entire conspiracy, and for the brutality of his experiments.
- Although he may have started with noble intentions, he gradually loses over time, with his experiments being motivated by his refusal to accept that his project was a failure, and to demonstrate to others that he was right. He also refused to hand his research to other scientists because he was the one who invented it, displaying a big sense of narcissism and god complex.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- He cares for his mother and his grandparents, calling them loved ones, and was saddened by their passing, due to Alzheimer's, which motivated his obsession into developing AD-9.
External Links[]
- Yoji Shono on the Villains Wiki
- Yoji Shono on the Yakuza Wiki
[]
 Near Pure Evils
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| Main Series Yakuza Yakuza 2 Yakuza 5 Yakuza 0 Yakuza 6 Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name Spin-offs Yakuza: Dead Souls Like a Dragon: Ishin! | ||