Goro Takemura

Goro Takemura is Saburo Arasaka's personal bodyguard in. He is a stoic man of honor and fiercely loyal to Arasaka, but finds himself betrayed and out of his element in Night City.

Biography
Goro Takemura was born in Chiba-11, a dangerous district in Japan with the highest murder rate. While bathing in a river like all the other boys in Chiba-11, Arasaka recruiters came by and recruited the cleanest boys as they often do. Takemura was chosen and felt like he had won the lottery. Takemura was conscripted into Arasaka's corporate army and eventually joined their special forces division. One day Saburo Arasaka came to recruit one of the special forces operators to be his personal bodyguard and chose Takemura out of hundreds of candidates. He idolized Saburo and developed undying loyalty to the Arasaka family. Takemura even personally trained Sandayu Oda to be a cyberninja and bodyguard to Hanako Arasaka.

2077
Takemura arrived to Night City alongside Saburo Arasaka for a visit of his son, Yorinobu situated in Konpeki Plaza. The purpose of the visit was the reclaimation of the Relic Yorinobu had stolen. Takemura wanted to make a thorough security sweep of Yorinobu's suite, which would have uncovered V and Jackie Welles, but he was ordered to leave the room with Adam Smasher. With V and Jackie looking on, Yorinobu then murdered his father. When Takemura returned, Yorinobu claimed Saburo had been poisoned, assigning blame directly to him for not doing a more thorough sweep, which made the bodyguard increasingly skeptical of the claim, although unable to immediately act.

Once V and Jackie escaped Konpeki Plaza, Takemura tracked down their fixer, Dexter DeShawn. As DeShawn had already killed V in an attempt to cover his tracks, Takemura forced DeShawn to bring him to V's body, which had been disposed of in a dump on Night City's outskirts. Once V had been found, alive beyond their expectation, Takemura executed DeShawn and notified Yorinobu that he had captured his father's killer. Fearing V could expose his crime, Yorinobu sent an Arasaka hit squad to eliminate both V and Takemura before they returned to the city. Takemura endured the assassins' initial onslaught long enough to revive V to assist him in fighting them off. Once they were free of pursuers, Takemura brought V to Viktor Vector so they both could receive medical care.

After V recovered, Takemura contacted them to discuss how to get revenge against Yorinobu for his betrayal. He laid down claims of having powerful connections able to help clear their names and remove Yorinobu from power, replacing him with his sister Hanako. The first step of this plan was contacting Oda. Meeting Oda, however, did not go according to conjecture - he is reluctant to listen and threatens with ending their lives should they show their faces again. Their next hope was fixer Wakako Okada, who will, once swayed to assist, provide them with information regarding the parade and Hanako's planned movements during her stay on the float. The proceeding reconnaissance and sabotage can be left to Takemura alone or he could be joined by V for a better control of the situation. After the float has been sabotaged, the plan was in motion. As soon as the snipers, netrunner and Oda, who Takemura will wish to be spared, are dealt with, he snuk into Hanako's float. Trying to explain the situation to Hanako was unsuccessful, so he knocked her out with a sleep dart just before the Arasaka forces arrived.

Takemura proceeded this kidnapping attempt by bringing her to an abandoned apartment building and providing medical care. He offered tea as well, which she politely refused. Once civilities have been done with, he called V. Once V arrived, they attempt explaining everything to Hanako but are quickly ambushed by Arasaka forces led by Adam Smasher. The explosion knocked down V to the floor below the apartment while Takemura is left to face the soldiers.

Dependent
V was informed by Johnny Silverhand that Takmura is as good as dead in attempt to get them out of danger quicker. Should V leave the building without trying to save Takemura, he will die fighting the soldiers.

If V decides to save Takemura, he can be found fighting off Arasaka soldiers on the floor above. Takemura tells V, that they shouldn't have come back because they could both die. After defeating the soldiers they escaped the hotel but they part ways in order to keep a low-profile from Arasaka. Once the chaos is over, Takemura was contacted by Hanako and informs V that he is in a safe place. Takemura expresses gratitude for his life and shows concern for V's well-being.

In the Devil ending, if Takemura is saved, he will accompany V to rescue Hanako and testify in front of the board of directors with V. Yorinobu attempts a military coup to destroy all other factions of Arasaka. V and Takemura will fight together against the soldiers and Adam Smasher. After V is done with the procedure and spends time in the Arasaka orbital station, Takemura will visit them mentioning how barbaric it is to keeping them in room for days. Takemura mentions he has been transferred to Takamatsu and no longer is the bodyguard of Saburo Arasaka. When asked how he felt of the situation, he says justice was served and Hanako made the best call. Takemura tells V that the procedure could not pervert their death and offers an alternative, to live on in Mikoshi after passing.


 * If V refuses, Takemura asks them to reconsider and shows concern for their situation. V tells him that they have what Takemura never had, freedom.
 * If V accepts the deal, Takemura says he hopes to see them again and mentions to visit him in Kagawa where he hopes to show V real food.

In epilogues where Arasaka is hurt and Yorinobu is successful, Takemura will show disdain and hatred towards V for betraying him and not allowing him to get his revenge.

Database Entry

 * The only bodyguard of Saburo Arasaka who truly done fucked up. While obeying orders, he was unable to prevent the death of his master at the hands of Saburo's son, Yorinobu. After the Relic was stolen, Takemura went after the thieves, eventually leading him to a landfill, where he zeroed Dexter Deshawn and saved V- the sole living witness to Yorinobu's crime. In his mission to find the truth, Takemura became Arasaka's most wanted fugitive pursued by every agent in Night City. The ex-bodyguard is driven by a desire for vengeance and won't rest until he brings Saburo's murderer to justice - even if it means working with a petty thief like V.

Associated Quests

 * The Heist
 * Playing for Time
 * Down on the Street
 * Gimme Danger
 * Play It Safe
 * Search and Destroy
 * Nocturne Op55N1 (dependent)
 * Last Caress (dependent)
 * Totalimmortal (dependent)
 * Where is My Mind? (dependent)

Trivia

 * His story arc's quest names are all references to either songs by The Stooges (Down on the Street, Gimme Danger, and Search and Destroy) or Iggy Pop (Play It Safe).
 * Sometime after completing the Gimme Danger quest, there's a possibility to trigger an additional text exchange with Takemura. It will start with him sending the player a picture of bakeneko taken on the rooftop. It is currently unknown what triggers this, as replicating the circumstances present in the reference have yielded no result.