Pocket Circuit Fighter

Pocket Circuit Fighter (, Pokesā Faitā), real name Fujisawa (), is a recurring minor character in the Yakuza series introduced in Yakuza 0. Formerly a commentator at Kamurocho's Pocket Circuit Stadium, he is currently the owner of Fujisawa Tofu, the creator of Dragon Kart, and the president of the Pocket Circuit company.
==Profile==
===Appearance===
Fighter is of average height and has middle-parted black hair, which has become gray by 2016. By 2019, he has dyed his hair black.
==== Attire ====
During his time working at the Pocket Circuit Stadium, Fighter wears a colorful blue, red, white, and yellow leather jumpsuit with a blue headband. After quitting this job and moving back to Onomichi, he changes his outfit to a white shirt with beige apron, although he still wears a headband. When he later appears in his Pocket Circuit Fighter outfit, it is the same as before, though it has noticeably faded colors. While managing the Dragon Kart minigame, he wears a navy blue jacket over his Pocket Circuit jumpsuit.
=== Personality ===
As a Pocket Circuit announcer, Fighter is especially friendly with the local children. He is notable for his fiery style of commentary. Due to the part-time nature of his occupation, however, he initially found it difficult to keep working and considered early retirement. Thanks to the support from Kiryu and the children of Pocket Circuit, his fire was rekindled and he was able to continue until 2005 when he got married.
As he grew older and fathered a son, Sakito, he lost confidence again and distanced himself from him, allowing his wife Misaki to raise him and put him through English lessons. With help from Kiryu once more, his old personality returned and he vows to be a real father for Sakito.
== Background ==
Born in 1959, Fujisawa hails from Hiroshima. Sometime during the 1980s, he moved to Tokyo and landed a part-time job at the Kamurocho Pocket Circuit indoor stadium.
== Involvement ==
=== Yakuza 0: 1988 ===
Fighter works part-time as a commentator at Kamurocho's Pocket Circuit indoor stadium. Kiryu befriends him and soon become fond of the Pocket Circuit, and later gains fame for being the fastest Pocket Circuit racer in Kamurocho.
=== Yakuza Kiwami: 2005 ===
The Fighter meets Kiryu in front of the stadium and both men reminisce their younger days. Early on the encounter, he becomes depressed when he tells Kiryu that he was granted the opportunity to work full-time but he failed the written exam, making it impossible to acquire the full-time employee position. He also tells Kiryu that he needs a successor due to him getting married, so Kiryu helps him. When the Fighter gets a successor, he decides to retire and take over his family's long-established tofu business. Along the way, Kiryu meets some of the fellow racers from back in the day: Hideki (who now works as a salaryman), Mika (who works at a local cafe), and Takuma (who works as a host in Stardust after failing to pursue a career as an F1 racer). The Fighter's marriage puts Kiryu and all the old-timers to a shock.
=== 2005-2016 ===
Fighter marries his wife, Misaki, and returns to his hometown in Hiroshima to start managing his family's tofu business. Around 2008, Fighter and Misaki have their son, Sakito. Eventually, Fighter and Misaki decide Sakito should have mandatory English lessons. 
=== Yakuza 6: 2016 ===
Kiryu meets the Fighter in front of his tofu shop in Onomichi. There, both men reminisce the days when Kiryu was racing Pocket Circuit in Kamurocho. During the talk, Fighter's son arrived at the market and joined the conversation, where it was revealed that the Fighter sent his son to English class everyday. Later, him and Kiryu find Sakito with two yakuza, about to beat Sakito. Kiryu and the Fighter interfere, stopping the yakuza from hitting Sakito, and two other Yakuza appear as backup for the first two yakuza. After Kiryu and Fighter save Sakito from the yakuza, Misaki, Fighter's wife, interrupts them and demands Sakito to go to his English class. Sakito refuses, expressing that he wants to know his father better. Fighter then realizes what a horrible father he has been, and tells Misaki to cancel the English class. At first she refuses, but then Fighter releases his anger. Misaki agrees to cancel the English class, so Fighter and Sakito can spend some quality time.
=== Yakuza: Like a Dragon: 2019 ===
Fujisawa's tofu business makes it on TV, earning traction. Later on, his son, Sakito, sets up an online store for the business using his English fluency. After some time, the company goes public, its products are sold worldwide, and Fujisawa becomes wealthy.
By 2019, Fujisawa moved to Isezaki Ijincho and created the Dragon Kart game. Initially a racer himself under the alias "Dragon Fighter," Fujisawa takes on the role of a receptionist to scout out potential talent.
Under the name Fujisawa, he introduces Kasuga to the minigame and offers him to participate in a tutorial race. After the race, Kasuga is introduced to all of Dragon Kart's opponents and their origins. At first, unlike the previous times where Pocket Circuit had a rule to refer to participants by their first names and adding "-kun" and "-chan", Fujisawa refers to racers by "-san" instead and is shown to be calmer as the receptionist. However, after Kasuga wins the Dragon Cup by the end of the minigame, Fujisawa reveals himself as the legendary Dragon Fighter and challenges Kasuga, now calling him "Ichiban-kun", to the final rival race. His vehicle of choice is the Rising Dragon and he races on the Final Kamuro Circuit in Kamurocho.
=== Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth: 2023 ===
Now a company president, Fujisawa hears that the current Pocket Circuit Fighter in Kamurocho was in trouble, and rushes to find him. He learns from the new Fighter that he was helped by a "Kazuma-kun". Fujisawa looks at a picture of himself with Kiryu from the bubble era, reminiscing their time together and contemplating over their friendship.
== Trivia ==
*Pocket Circuit Fighter's real name and the name of his tofu shop, Fujisawa, is likely a reference to a popular street racing anime/manga series where the main character (Takumi Fujiwara) also works in a tofu shop and has a passion for racing. Fighter's vehicle in Dragon Kart, the Rising Dragon, bears a strong resemblance to the iconic AE86-generation Toyota Corolla from the same anime/manga series, which Takumi uses to deliver tofu and race around Mount Akina.
* Pocket Circuit Fighter's name and costume are most likely references to Mini 4WD Fighter, a promotional character for Tamiya's "Mini 4WD" series.
* Sakito, his son's name, is the phonetic spelling of "Circuit" in Japanese.
* A photo of Fighter and Kiryu, taken during the events of Yakuza 0, appears in the cutscene of the karaoke song Bakamitai -Sorrow- in Yakuza Kiwami. The same picture appears in Yakuza 6 when they finally recognize each other.
** In Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, a recreation of the photo taken during Yakuza 6 appears in the Bakamitai cutscene.
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Pocket Circuit
Category:Dragon Kart
Category:Yakuza 0 Characters
Category:Yakuza 0 Substory Characters
Category:Yakuza Kiwami Characters
Category:Yakuza Kiwami Substory Characters
Category:Yakuza 6 Characters
Category:Yakuza 6 Substory Characters
Category:Yakuza: Like a Dragon Characters
Category:Yakuza: Like a Dragon Substory Characters
Category:Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Characters
Category:Pocket Circuit Racers