The arranged marriage while in high school is a staple of manga romance. So too, is the young heir to a major yakuza family, and it is hardly uncommon to see those two tropes merge in a single story. That is the case here, but if you are expecting a straightforward romantic comedy, you may want to take another look at the name of the creator: Asuka Konishi's previous title to make it into English translation is Haru's Curse, which might best be described as a meditation on grief. Konishi herself refers to it as a campy work, but this is a case where campy is as campy does, and your definition of the term may differ from the author's.

The story follows two seventeen-year-old high school students, Yoshino and Kirishima. Both are grandchildren of yakuza families, one in Osaka and the other in Tokyo. In an attempt to stabilize the power structure, their grandfathers have arranged for them to marry, something Yoshino discovers in the newspaper before her grandfather has bothered to tell her. To say that she's not thrilled might be an understatement; not only does she feel like she's too young for this, but she also doesn't have much in the way of self-esteem. Not only is her grandfather well known as the head of a yakuza family, but she also has the sort of face that people say they get tired of after three days or compare to that of a middle-aged sex worker. She is, however, willing to try it at her grandfather's behest and soon finds herself moving to Tokyo to live with her prospective husband and his family. At first, Kirishima seems perfectly normal, although she does spot him coming home covered in blood late one night. She ought to have paid more attention to this because Kirishima's nice guy façade is just that: a front he puts on around most people. Yoshino discovers this when he saves her from a group of drunks who hit on her and then beats them half to death. His mask well and truly gone, he begins telling her how much she bores him before suggesting that she sell her body at one of the brothels his family runs to make money.

This scene may well be a deal breaker for some readers. Not only is it genuinely horrible to say, but he also sees nothing wrong with having said it. It is one thing to be, as the book describes him, a masochist. That's a perfectly fine kink to have in a consenting relationship. It is entirely another thing to say such repulsive and cruel things to someone's face, particularly someone who has done precisely nothing to hurt you. It is at this point that you may want to bid the book goodbye because if you do not find this at least marginally entertaining or if you are not in the mood for the romance trope of the unhealthy relationship (which is a legitimate trope in romance fiction) then you are unlikely to enjoy this story. That is because after speaking with her grandfather, Yoshino does, in fact, decide to sell her body. When we rejoin the story two weeks after her conversation with grandpa, she plunks a paper bag full of cash down on Kirishima's desk and announces that she has sold a kidney. Lest you think that this was a joke on her part, she soon makes mention of her surgical scars, implying that this was a real thing that she did. For his part, Kirishima finds this incredibly alluring, and he immediately begins to profess his love for her.

Comedy is highly subjective, and from Konishi's use in her author's note of the word "campy," we can assume that this is meant to be amusing. And it is, in a very over-the-top way; it plays into the stereotypical yakuza story and drapes it in rom-com finery. This is not, Konishi tells us, your typical romance, and frankly, I would not expect anything less from this particular creator. But this story has a real edge of meanness, a sense that Yoshino has been thrown into a situation with no real way out while she is forced to sink or swim. Kirishima feels dangerous, and not just in a James Dean bad boy kind of way; alongside the scene of him beating the thugs up, we later see an image of him calmly chatting while his subordinates crush a man's head in a vice. He may describe himself as a masochist, but there's a definite sadism to him as well, and while Yoshino is trying her best, she very well may be in over her head.

Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii will not be a series for everyone. It may best be described as a dark romantic comedy emphasizing the darkness of its male lead. Konishi's art is stylized in a way that works with the story and does an outstanding job with Yoshino's body language, such as the way she never sits with her knees pressed together and the loose-limbed look of her walk. But just because you liked Haru's Curse does not mean that you will enjoy this series, so rather than going by the name of the creator, it is perhaps better to base your decision and whether or not you find the premise of the story off-putting. This is likely to be a love-it-or-hate-it title, and more than almost anything else I've reviewed, this is firmly going to come down to the reader's feelings about the plot and characters.