REVIEW: ‘Yakuza Fiancé Season 1’ Is a Solid Adaptation of A Thrilling Series

Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii is a josei romance drama anime based on the manga of the same name, written and illustrated by Asuka Konishi. Though not without flaws, Yakuza Fiancé Season 1 sets itself apart from other romance titles as an excellently produced and engaging series with great potential.

Yakuza Fiancé follows Yoshino Somei (Hitomi Ueda), a seventeen-year-old girl who lives a simple life. She has no experience with boys but is friendly and well-known to many people around her. Despite this, Yoshino has an interesting background as the granddaughter of the head of the Osaka Somei Yakuza group. After years of intense rivalry, the Yakuza group reaches a truce with the Tokyo-based Miyama crime family.

As a result of this newfound friendship between families, Yoshino’s grandfather convinces her to visit Kirishima Miyama (Akira Ishida), the grandson of the Miyama Yakuza family head. The Miyama group is the most prominent Yakuza family in the Kanto region, so an arranged marriage between the two would help strengthen their relationship. Shortly after meeting him, Yoshino finds that despite Kirishima’s outward appearance as a proper, law-abiding citizen and kind student, there is much more to him than meets the eye.

Yoshino is a standout anime protagonist in Yakuza Fiance Season 1. 

Yakuza Fiance Season 1 follows Yoshino and her perspective on learning about a Yakuza member’s wild and dangerous life. At the same time, we also see the start of a budding, albeit toxic, romance between the two leads. The anime’s romance structure is the main heroine getting involved with a bad boy dynamic typical of the Shoujo series, which is a tad cliche. However, unlike similar anime, Yakuza Fiancé is not afraid to highlight darker themes, such as the dark dealings of organized crime, without holding back.

Yoshino’s character stands out as a strong female lead who doesn’t tolerate nonsense, bringing a refreshing dynamic to the romance genre. Her interactions with Kirishima are complex, oscillating between tension and unexpected understanding. Kirishima’s character embodies a duality that keeps viewers on edge—his outward politeness starkly contrasts with his underlying brutality, making him multifaceted and unpredictable.

The anime does an excellent job of showing the budding relationship between the two leads through exceedingly wild and odd adventures with peculiar characters. The first season presents several arcs, introducing several issues and characters, including interesting characters like Shoma (Kôji Yusa), a tough and cool Yakuza member of Yoshino’s family who’s quick to anger. There’s also  Tsubaki (Reina Ueda), Yoshino’s somewhat promiscuous but intelligent young cousin, and Renji (Yôji Ueda), Yoshino’s friendly but intense Yakuza grandfather.

Raise wa Tanin ga Ii continuously raises its stakes.

Each arc provides several exciting moments that raise the narrative’s stakes. Many episodes feature mystery elements that are surprisingly engaging and entertaining to follow. The anime leaves hints about events that unfold in future episodes, and attentive viewers who follow these hints and clues are usually rewarded whenever their theories are correct. However, some episodes unfortunately don’t do this as well as others.

A significant amount of episodes are also mostly filled with dialogue and exposition. While these make it easy for viewers to get to know more about the characters, and is where most of the narrative and character development lies, the vast shift in momentum from one episode to another is very noticeable and sometimes jarring.

Additionally, while the series offers a fresh take on the romance genre, it doesn’t introduce groundbreaking elements. Though engaging, the plot follows predictable beats, and the relationship dynamics tread familiar territory.

The most disappointing part of the narrative, however, is that throughout the first season, we get little hints about a grand event happening that will affect the overarching narrative between Yakuza families, but nothing substantial or even engaging comes from this, which is quite disappointing. Hopefully, this will change if a second season is produced.

Yakuza Fiance is a victim of rushed production even with a strong story.

Yakuza Fiancé also sports an excellent production quality in almost every way. Studio DEEN’s animation succeeds in capturing the nuances of character expressions and highly engaging choreography during intense fight scenes.

The backgrounds are amazingly detailed, vibrant, and eye-catching. However, some episodes, like episode 11, feature a noticeable drop in quality, seen through the very shoddy fight scene that can be distilled into a few still shots of the characters hitting each other. What’s more, almost none of the fight scenes in the anime are conclusive due to their short length. While most fights are engaging, they are also frustrating when they are cut short.

Overall, Yakuza Fiancé Season 1 is a compelling anime that combines romance, psychological depth, and crime drama. It sports great, distinctive art direction and animation quality for the most part, interesting characters that feature strong character development, and incredibly intriguing and entertaining plot points.

Yakuza Fiancé’s unflinching portrayal of the yakuza world makes it one of the most unique anime of the fall season and a highly entertaining anime of the romance and crime genres. While it may not break new ground, its execution provides a highly engaging experience for viewers seeking a unique blend of romance and crime drama.