Yoshino grew up the sheltered yakuza princess of the largest crime family in Osaka, the Somei. Due to her resting bitch face and dangerous family, no man has ever approached her. When her grandfather signs a truce with the Tokyo-based Miyama crime family, he offers her up as a truce bride to the Miyama leader’s grandson! Kirishima Miyama is popular, charming, and seems totally normal.
But behind his smile is a violent sadomasochist who thirsts for her dominance even more when she impresses him with her moxie! Even though she knows how bad yakuza can be, she’s stunned by Miyama’s viciousness. She can’t turn him down with the East-West peace treaty on the line…so instead she steels herself to play ball!
The anime is finally coming out this year in October, so I obviously needed to read this manga again. It’s already been three years since I first read this story, and I’m still as obsessed with it as I was back in 2021.
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september 2022
I’m fully aware that the hero here is a walking red flag—seriously, he can be a horrific psycho at times—but the heroine is one of my favorite characters ever, so I’m obsessed with this manga anyway. I’ve read it two or three times already (maybe more, I honestly don’t remember), and that number is definitely going to go up.
Something about the female mc in a yakuza family, away from her family and in a convenient marriage with an unpredictable man is entertaining and thrilling. I liked how she remained resilient and the guy is so flippant yet a total simp. You know why I am eating this up now. 👀
I really like this manga and I can't explain why. Probably because the heroine is actually strong, idiot masochist man is crazy and funny, whole manga is on the border of...I don't know what exacly.
You know what? This was weird but actually a good read.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about the arranged marriage between the grandkids of Yakuza bosses but this actually works well. Yoshino wants nothing to do with the marriage, but makes the effort on behalf of her grandfather. It’s only when she gets to Tokyo to meet Kirishima that she realizes something about him seems to be a little off. After several interactions, it’s clear that he’s a masochist which makes their interactions even more interesting. I was a fan of the artwork and the characters even though Kirishima does some weird things. The volume ends with some interesting events related to a subsidiary of the Yakuza. I’m interested in seeing where that plot leads and what is going to happen between Kirishima and Yoshino.
Update 4/18: I have the physical licensed copy!!! Just going to casually reread this manga cause I'm in love.
IT HAS BEEN SO LONG SINCE I’VE BINGED READ SOMETHING. THIS WAS IT. IT’S STILL ONGOING BUT DAMN IT’S GOOD.
This is categorized as seinen (geared toward young male audience) so it’s not cute, fluffy shoujo. It has violence, drugs, and sex (not explicitly seen) because it is centered around yakuza culture and the intrigue political dynamic of the different clans/factions.
But also, it’s sort of a one-sided romance (so far) between a crazy masochistic trash male-lead Miyama Kirishima—who’s sort of the grandson of the Miyama Group—and exuding big step-on-me energy Somei Yoshino—who’s the spoiled granddaughter of the Somei Group. He loves her, she is just able to tame the violent. Their relationship is complicated and really interesting.
Also I love Shouma Toriashi, considered to be like a brother to Yoshino even though they aren’t blood-related. I know he could possibly be the second-lead, but I just love how protective he and Kirishima are to Yoshino. It’s great, don’t fuck with the granddaughter of a yakuza group.
And now we get this other villain(?) love interest(?) cause yeah, I’m in love with Yoshino like all these boys are.
Suou Azami, ladies, is——YES, what a great new addition. I'm ready to see his role in all of this and why he wants to meet with Yoshino so badly.
4.5 So far the story is interesting and the FL actually has a brain. I love to see the female main character stand up for herself. The ML is kinda weird but it suits the story. The artstyle is nice :)
"Didn't you say it yourself? That my selling points are my face and my body? And to sell them, earn some quick bucks? Honestly it was a major turnoff but it's not like i didn't get where you were coming from. Certain, when i first came here, i was useless fool. Just like you said, a woman that was worthless to you. So i did sell my body. One kidney. 4,000,000 yen."
"So even if i have to crawl on the floor, choking on my own blood, i'll drag you down to the underworld with me. I will fuck you up."
I LOVE HER. He's crazy psycho, she's crazy sassy.. what a combination. 🤯 Can't wait read next volume!
Add in a psychotic masochistic MMC and a strong-willed FMC...
I love it.
RECAP: Yoshino is the granddaughter of an Osakan yakuza. Kirishma is the grandson of a Tokyo yakuza. The two are slated to be engaged for optics, so she moves to Tokyo to live with the family and get to know him. But he's...off. He basically wants to be treated like a subhuman by his woman and Yoshino is too "normal". AND THEN SHE SELLS HER KIDNEY LMAO. Like what the fuck is this. I can't but also give me more. Ends with a third subsidiary granddaughter going missing.
My ultimate reading pet peeve is when the synopsis on the back of a book is a lie, as in this case.
The cover art is also a lie. This is not a spicy yakuza romance. This is a PARODY of a yakuza romance. The author says in the "thank-you for reading" at the end of the book that this manga is a SPOOF of the west's silly portrayals of Japanese yakuza.
This book is about HIGH SCHOOL KIDS. It is not a romance, it is a dramedy, and not even a good one. Two yakuza families decide to call a truce by betrothing their grandkids. The girl is sent from Osaka to Tokyo to LIVE WITH HER BETROTHED. AGAIN, they are IN HIGH SCHOOL.
The synopsis on the back of the cover would have you believe the girl is aloof yakuza royalty. Not so. She is bullied because she is tall and pretty and the other girls tease her about being a prostitute. (AGAIN, this is a HIGH SCHOOL KID.) And she wails that this is just like the way she was treated back home. No one treats her like royalty. They torment and condescend to her.
The boy was the worst character of all. He continually has an idiotic grin on his face, no matter what he's saying or doing. I thought we were finally going to see some yakuza action, instead of the boring high school drama this book is filled with, when his betrothed is accosted by some scary guys on the mean streets of Tokyo. First he beats them to a pulp and says to never speak to his woman (yay! except...high school) but then he turns to the girl and says all she has is her body, so she might as well sell it. Then for three pages he explains the wages of high-class prostitutes in Tokyo to her.
AGAIN. They. Are. In. HIGH SCHOOL.
I didn't think this book was funny as it was intended to be, nor was it entertaining. It is not a yakuza romance. I feel like I've been duped. I won't be buying any more of this.
The art on the cover is gorgeous, but inside, it just seems kind of weird. It looks like Tim Burton's version of Japanese art. Everyone is very tall and very thin, like Jack Skellington. It's weird. Maybe that's because it's satire?
Oh, yeah - one more thing. I knew from the very start I was going to hate this manga because it was written in some kind of British dialect to portray the Osaka accent. The yakuza leader says things like "lad" and "lass" and "aye." It just came across as bizarre.
That's it. I hated everything about it. I'm mad I paid money for it. lol
I'm rounding this up almost against my better judgement. It's definitely not a fluffy yakuza romance and honestly it's barely even a rom com, mostly because the guy's got some serious psychological issues. But maybe that's just me thinking that isn't the stuff campy romantic comedies are made of. At the very least this has answered the question "What if the creator of Haru's Curse wrote a comedy?"
Long overdue update: it got licensed by Seven Seas 😭 Volume 1 will be out November 2022, almost exactly one year after expressing my need for an English copy.
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11/21/2021: Whose soul do i have to sacrifice in order for this to get picked up by an English publisher
Eccentric. Disturbing. What is going on with this guy 🙈 Even the Yakuza-born girl was shocked 🤯 Her reactions, however, are EVERYTHING 😂 I usually don't prefer this graphic style, but here it worked just fine adding to the eccentricity of the characters.
I don’t understand this dynamic whatsoever. The more I think about it, the more I wonder how I even find this shit & who this is made for. That being said, I got the first 2 & I’m still at work sooooo apparently I’m about to start volume 2. 🫠
Ich mochte die Übersetzung, war also kein Fehler, mir die deutsche physische Ausgabe zu gönnen. Liebe ja den Stil schon von Haru’s Curse. Werde definitiv mit dem Manga fortfahren 🫡 Schade aber, dass das Nachwort und die Vorschau auf den nächsten Band gefehlt haben.
I was curious how this book would play out. It for sure had me pulled in.
Two yakuza grandkids are set up to meet and possibly get married, but plot twist the grandson has a weird taste in women, he wants someone to ruin his life.
The twists and turns of this book are really interesting. I can't wait to read more of the series.
Yakuza, marriage of convenience (kinda), and twisted characters are all central tropes to this manga. It's a bit campy, definitely overly dramatic, weird, and ridiculous, BUT I enjoyed it all because that was part of the charm of this manga for me. I'm personally a fan of Konishi's art style, so that was also a plus. Looking forward to the next volume!
3.5! Entertaining start though the writing style was unexpectedly juvenile lol. I’m ignoring the fact that they’re supposed to be in “high school”. These are college kids.