REVIEW: ‘Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii’ Episode 8 — “To Be Honest I Want To Marry You”

Yakuza Fiancé Episode 8 continues to build-up events that began in previous episodes. “To Be Honest I Want To Marry You” is paced in a highly engaging way that lets the audience know that the explosive conclusion of the arc is upon us.

The episode starts with Ozu speaking to the goons seen in Episode 2 who have returned to get their revenge on Yoshino (Hitomi Ueda) and Kirishima (Akira Ishida). Ozu informs them of his plan to get Nao to bring the two to an undisclosed warehouse where even more thugs are awaiting their arrival. This scene also introduces an unnamed redhead character who is likely working for Ozu and his father somehow.

After the opening credits, Yoshino, overlooking Ozu and his crew, has a phone conversation with Kirishima. She tells him she looked into Ozus’s apartment in Kobe after trading contact info with Nao. She informs him of who is currently at the apartment, and describes the redhead man who Kirishima seems to recognize. Though Yoshino asks him to deal with the group as soon as possible, he refuses and advises her to leave the area. She doesn’t listen and gives Kirishima some undisclosed instructions instead. Kirishima call Shoma (Kôji Yusa) and sends him to a Karaoke bar in town, where he lies and says Yoshino is hiding. He tells him to go fetch her but actually leaves Nao there instead.

Meanwhile, as Ozu’s crew goes after Kirishima, he speaks to a dangerous-looking masked Yakuza called Azami, who he is visibly afraid of. Despite a lack of dialogue, we learn that Azami arrived in Osaka to help the goons with their revenge and that he is likely working for Ozu’s family.

The first scenes in the episode establish new characters in a positively dynamic way. However, as this is done while multiple pivotal characters interact in several different ways, it can be hard to keep track since it all happens simultaneously. This is especially true because each character has different goals in the episode, some of which are left a mystery to viewers.

After speaking to the creepy mysterious Yakuza, Yoshino meets up with Ozu, who has no idea who she is, likely as part of her plan. Despite him being cautious of her, Yoshino successfully strikes up an idle conversation and Ozu lowers his guard. The next scene shows Kirishima dropping Nao off at the Karaoke bar and Shoma barging in and looking for Yoshino.

Nao tells him where to find Kirishima as instructed, but an angry Shoma decides to drag her along. Before they can depart, Ozu’s goons show up, and a fight between them and Shoma erupts. He dispatches them quickly, but then the redhead man from earlier shows up looking for Kirishima, and another fight between him and Shoma begins.

This part in Yakuza Fiancé Episode 8 gives viewers another exciting combat scene after a few episodes lacking action. It allows Shoma to demonstrate his fighting prowess, albeit through an annoyingly short shonen-like bout. Regardless, these fights do a great job of showing the difference between Kirishima and Shoma’s fighting style, as Shoma is notably more angry and aggressive than Kirishima.

The episode cuts back to Ozu and Yoshino, where the latter seemingly tries to distract Ozu by getting him drunk. Ozu leaves and goes to the bathroom halfway into their conversation but gets a call from his disgruntled goons, who tell him what Kirishima is up to. Against his demands, they tell him they’re going after Kirishima, and he runs after them. Yoshino tries going after Ozu but is interrupted by a phone call from Kirishima.

Kirishima tells her what he’s been up to since their last call, and Yoshino gets angry at him for disrupting her plans. She planned for him and Nao to meet her and Ozu at her location so he could take care of Ozu and his goons in one go. Kirishima apologizes and says he couldn’t go along with this plan as it would endanger her. He then tells her to go home.

Yoshino quickly gets offended by this demand and scolds Kirishima for making a mess in her city. She then tells him if he decides to go along with his reckless plan, he should either be ready to die or leave for Tokyo and never see her again. Her demeanor excites Kirishima, and he asks Yoshino to marry him when he turns 18. She unsurprisingly shuts him down.

In response, he proposes that if he deals with Ozu and his goons without dying by midnight, Yoshino has to date him. If he fails, he’ll never ask to marry her again. He also adds that he is in love with her and concludes that it won’t work out for her if she ends up with someone else because the two are meant to be. Yoshino accepts the wager but on the condition that he can only win if he beats her. However, the episode ends without her revealing how.

Yakuza Fiancé Episode 8 the most exciting episode the series has had in a while. The episode introduces new characters, provides exciting combat scenes, and builds up the next and likely final part of this arc, all in a highly engaging way. The animation from Studio DEEN remains consistently great, especially the facial expressions and vibrant eye colors that signify when the two leads are emotional in serious moments.

Yakuza Fiancé Episode 8 is available now on Crunchyroll.