I feel like this is the yakuza romance we're all searching for but never actually find lol. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon this manga and I have to say, it's an intriguing and hilarious read!
Story: 8.5
The story begins with Yoshino, the granddaughter of Osaka's biggest mafia boss. Due to her family connections, she's often feared in school and thus has never had a proper relationship. When she expresses her concerns to her grandfather, he suggests she get engaged to Kirishima, the grandson of another great mafia boss in Tokyo. While the idea doesn't exactly appeal to Yoshino, she still decides to give it a shot and heads on over to Tokyo.
While her initial impression of Kirishima is a textbook perfect student, she quickly realizes he's not all that he seems and is actually an asshole playboy with violent tendencies. However, despite Kirishima's true colors, Yoshino is still from yakuza, and she doesn't hesitate to call him out for his rude behavior and vows to not let him get his way. But to her enormous surprise, Kirishima takes a strange, masochistic liking to Yoshino's blunt and sassy personality. Thus unfolds a story of two high school students and their adventures with their yakuza surroundings.
While the overall direction of the story is unclear as there are still many things shrouded in mystery, it's definitely been an exciting read so far. Although some arcs and plot lines seem out of the blue, they do keep the story going and aid to further develop our main characters' interesting personalities.
Art: 8
Standard shoujo art but I suppose there's a bit more emphasis on the action part this time around. It's not amazing, but it's definitely not bad by all means. It does a pretty solid job with expressions, but I'd say it can get a bit difficult to read, especially the action sequences.
Characters: 9.5
Kirishima's hidden personality was something I expected, but the extent of his deceit genuinely did surprise me. He's hot, he's got attitude, but he's quite plainly a dick for majority of the series. His actions can be both gentle and violent but his true motives are artfully hidden. I'm expecting lots of growth on his end.
On the other hand, I expected a sassy female protagonist from Yoshino and she definitely delivered in that department. However, I did expect her to be more physically capable considering her yakuza background, but it's Yoshino's slowly revealed cunning and ruthlessness that made her character all the more likable.
While Kirishima's shifty character is not my favorite, it's undeniable how distinct and funny each character's personalities are. The two leads perfectly complement one another and there's so much mystery surrounding both of them. They fight at times, yet are also inconceivably nice to each other; put together, they make a fearsome power couple. They're both relatively hard characters to decipher and I'm excited to see how their motives are revealed and will change over the course of the series.
Overall: 9
All in all, I'm heavily invested in this series despite only the release of several volumes. I think it has tons of potential if taken in the right direction. This is for all of us that have been searching for a high school yakuza romance with some minor action. If you're looking for interesting and badass characters in a promising storyline, this is the manga for you.
