REVIEW: ‘Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii’ Episode 10 — “To Be Honest, I Want to Marry You, Part Three”

Yakuza Fiancé Episode 10 provides the aftermath of the high-octane events in the previous episode. It slows things down, and viewers are given more insight into the events that transpired in the last few episodes.  The episode starts with Yoshino (Hitomi Ueda) and  Kirishima (Akira Ishida) in a bar with Ozu. Yoshino reintroduces herself to him and reveals she’s aware of Ozu and his group’s dealings from the Kobe apartment. She explains how she tailed Ozu and his group and how hard it was to discover what he was up to.

Ozu then lies and says he is only interested in Kirishima because he is getting closer to Nao. As he says this, Nao and Shoma (Kôji Yusa) arrive, and the two decide to eavesdrop on their conversation. Knowing that Ozu is lying, Kirishima commends him for his spotless background after digging for dirt he could use to blackmail him.

He then informs Ozu that despite appearances, his mother, a renowned reporter, had an affair with someone. Kirishima reveals he arranged the affair and uses it to blackmail Ozu to leave Nao alone. Ozu then attempts to blackmail the two by saying he could just go to the police. Yoshino responds to this by claiming she could also ruin his life by revealing he coerced her to drink with him despite her being a minor.

Ozu admits defeat and promises to leave the group alone, and Nao reveals that she’s been recording their conversation. In the next scene, Yoshino and Shoma are having a conversation after reuniting. Yoshino makes fun of Shoma for having a tough time with his last fight, and Shoma scolds her for not responding to his calls. She also reveals that she used a small pick-up truck to tail Kirishima before the events of the last episode.

After some deliberation between the two, Yoshino concludes that someone must have forced Ozu to follow the plan to chase after her and Kirishima. Shoma then recalls Naoya telling him a big dispute between Yakuza families is on the horizon. This could explain why Azami and Naoya orchestrated the whole ordeal in the last episode.

Not much happens in the first half of Yakuza Fiancé Episode 10 other than slight revelations that summarize and explain all that transpired in this arc. However, while the storyline regarding Ozu was wrapped up in an entertaining way, as the character received some poetic justice, it is a shame that it was done in a short, one-off way off-screen. It would have been more engaging if viewers had witnessed more of what happened.

In the next scene, Kirishima sees Nao off, advising her to avoid being alone and to be in the public eye to avoid further trouble. They discuss Yoshino, and Nao calls her stupid and reckless. Kirishima responds by alluding that he was only with her briefly for Yoshino’s sake, which Nao unsurprisingly takes offense to. She leaves with a scornful look at Yoshino after telling Kirishima never to contact her again.

Yoshino and Kirishima then start their own conversation. Kirishima reveals he was aware that Yoshino was tailing him in her mini truck prior to the events of the last episode. She then reveals she was tailing him because she knew he was up to something and approached Nao to learn more details.

Yoshino also learned about the Ozu’s apartment after some digging and was able to meet him afterward, which explains how she reached him before Kirishima did. Kirishima then realizes that she was able to track him due to the tracker she placed in the charm she gave him. Yoshino, shocked he was aware of this, then explains how and when she did it.

This scene does a great job of showing Yakuza Fiancé‘s methodical narrative structure and tying together some of the clues sprinkled in several episodes prior, making all the build-up worth it. However, while the revelations in Yakuza Fiancé Episode 10 can already be anticipated by attentive viewers due to the aforementioned clues, it’s not rewarding. The revelations, such as Yoshino tailing Kirishima and Kirishima’s actions regarding Ozu, were done in a simple way. These specific scenes didn’t have any clues for viewers to follow in previous episodes, so their revelations felt sudden and didn’t feel as rewarding or exciting.

Production-wise, Studio DEEN maintains the animation’s excellence. This is seen in the great facial expressions of each character and in the little details in the episode, such as the visible scars left on Kirishima’s body from the last episode. Yakuza Fiancé Episode 10 also features great background tracks that match the intensity of each scene quite well. The songs heard during the flashback scenes, as well as Yoshino and Kirishima’s intense conversations, sound great and match the tone quite well.

After Yoshino reveals how she tracked him, Kirishima responds by voicing his frustrations in his usual unhinged way but still claims he is happy she cared enough to follow him. He then reminds her about their bet and how he won it. To find out the true winner, however, the two play rock paper scissors, with Kirishima winning every time, which ends the episode in a rather comical way. It also means Yoshino now has to officially date Kirishima.

Yakuza Fiancé Episode 10 neatly wraps up the anime’s recent arc. While not much happens, it excellently showcases the anime’s great narrative depth and structure and how capable its protagonists can be.