current state of Shimokitazawa 2077

Narrow roads and frequent alleyways makes it hard to catch anyone on the run, and subsequently underground businesses, not to mention the Discogangers’ vast preference for analog tech. So local authorities rely on uniform-less units to catch out suspicious activity the old fashioned way, like 90s detective movies.

For the longest time, the cops had it tough, the Discogangers were a pain, and if they tried to go after them the ‘ganic way, random Shibuya posergangs popping into town would rough ’em up while they were chrome-less.

This cycle went back and forth until the cops realised they were outmatched, and knew they needed a corp to step in. Segatari had a couple developments in the area, but clearly wanted to expand, one of their main issues was dealing with the same rowdy kids who wanted to keep all their retro gear and shops in the area.

So came the first ‘corporate’ alliance of Shimokitazawa, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police agreed to turn a blind eye to whatever tactics Segatari used, so long as they grounded the discogagner kids for them.

The result was a local corpo-gang war, all out high-tech corp vs urban guerrilla warfare.

The kids used their old retro scrap: glitter bombs, tear gas, speakers so loud your eardrums burst, etc. Even pretty decently put together EMP grenades.

Segatari’s tactics fell flat at first. The Discogangers knew the streets too well, had seen the tech before, and never moved as a single unit. With no leader to target, there was no head to cut off. They ran solo ops, hit and vanished, and fought harder the smaller their numbers got.

Though as they’d been riding high on their horses, the kids ran into a new issue; arcade-obsessed posergangs spilling in from Shibuya for new turf. After catching a hard L in a gang war, fans of the popular Dance Impact! arcade game needed fresh turf to practice. The Shibuya crowd wasn’t handing over the arcade change anymore. Shimokita started looking real appealing.

As they started slipping in, Segatari took advantage of the sich, and started investing in new and improved DI (Dance Impact!) tech in Arcades with strategic positioning, using the Breakers to gain control over their renovation-interest zones.

So, a new challenger, the Discogangers now face the more centralised and big-city Breakers gang (fun fact: they didn’t get the name from their dance moves).

The Breakers are still pretty new in town, and haven’t managed to set up the strongest of HQs, but in the midst of this war, some parts of the Discogangers thought to team-up and centralise, to stand better chances. Particularly the more forward thinking Silver Hands.

But wait! You thought we were done? Yakuza.

Yep. Yakuza. What a shit-show.

Turns out, when corps start messing with real estate, and non-belonging Shibuya gangers go around shaking people up for their lunch money, you start to piss off the old dogs. One day, a big dog of the Kawaguchi family got jumped in an alleyway for his change, all cause his suit didn’t match the town vibe, Breaker kids thought he was a tourist.

Even the Discogangers never poked the hornet’s nest, and now they got an infestation. Kawaguchi goons started roaming the streets with their monowires, katanas and only Arasaka knows what chrome under those fashionable, armoured suits.

And that’s about where we’re at, cops lazing around being useless, Segatari still crawling around, manipulating the scenes, the Breaker kids getting busted by the real owners of the town, while holding out in their neon playgrounds as the Discogangers start thinking to finally reform after all these years of anarchy.

Something’s gotta give. And in Shimokita, it usually explodes first. Shit’s about to get real ugly, choom.