Shun Akiyama

Shun Akiyama (　秋山駿　Akiyama Shun ) is a protagonist and the first playable character on both Yakuza 4 and Yakuza: Dead Souls. He works as a moneylender and Hostess Club manager, and is known for his interesting requirements for his loans.

Biography
WARNING: This section contains spoilers! Scroll down to the next section if you do not want to read the spoilers.

Akiyama used to work at a large bank, until he was implicated in a fraud which he did not commit, and agreed to resign so that he would not be prosecuted. After failing to find another job and spending all of his remaining money attempting to investigate who had framed him, he eventually became homeless. After the Millennium Tower incident at the end of the first Yakuza game sent Nishiki's cash floating down onto the street, Akiyama managed to scoop up a few million yen. This was nearly stolen by some thugs, but Hiroaki Arai, an up-and-coming Yakuza, intervened. Akiyama then invested it in the stock market, amassing a fortune of over ￥100 billion.

In the five years between finding the money and the events of Yakuza 4, Akiyama set up a local hostess club, Elise (エリス　Erisu) as well as a loan company called Sky Finance (　スカイ、ファイナンス Sukai Fainansu ) along with Hana, his secretary. His loans were well known throughout the area due to the fact that they were interest-free with no guarantor required. The only requirement was to pass a "test" that he would give the client, sometimes on the spot. He admitted that he made no money from the enterprise, and simply wanted to see the money transform peoples' lives.

Akiyama's involvement in the events of Yakuza 4 start when a woman calling herself Lily comes in and asks for 100 million yen. Akiyama was suspicious about her motivation for this money, but he decided to help her, in part because she bore a strong resemblance to Eri, a girlfriend he'd had in his banking days. At the same time, a number of murders of various mobsters have been going on throughout Kamurocho, one of which is discovered by Akiyama himself. His requirement to lend her the money was that she works as a hostess for 3 nights and brings in 3 million yen in sales, which she manages. He lends her the money, giving it to her in a briefcase on top of Millennium Tower. He would later find out that "Lily" is actually Yasuko Saejima, brother of Taiga Saejima.

Having been framed by a bank, Akiyama decided to not trust any more banks with his money, instead installing a large walk-in safe in his office. He is betrayed by Kido Takeshi, a man who he'd rescued from kidnap and lent money to, who manages to find the secret unlocking mechanism to the safe whilst sitting alone in Akiyama's office. He informs Arai of the fact that he's found the money, and then some workers posing as repossession men steal some money from Akiyama's safe and take it to Isao Katsuragi on the top of Kamurocho Hills.

After Kiryu and Saejima manage to take the money back from Kamurocho Hills, they all agree to take the money up to the roof of Millennium Tower, to lure out Munakata, who ends up shooting him. He survives, thanks to a large wad of notes in his chest pocket stopping the bullet.

In Yakuza: Dead Souls, Akiyama arms himself with two pistols to confront the Zombie plague, alongside the other 3 main characters; Kazuma Kiryu, Ryuji Goda and Goro Majima.

Fighting Style
Akiyama is nicknamed "Tap Dancer" due to his fast kicking style of fighting, very rarely using his fists to attack. He is able to gain up to 6 HEAT gauge segments and has a number of special moves, generally involving crushing an enemy's head against a hard surface with his feet. He can also parry an enemy attacking from behind in HEAT mode, but not in front. He can also learn double or even triple running kick combos as part of Saigo's training. He can also learn how to kick up to 10 times in quick succession as part of his 4-segment rush combo.