Alternative title(s): Raise wa Tanin ga Ii
Manga Adaptation by Studio Deen
Streaming on Crunchyroll

Premise

Somei Yoshino is a friendly, well-mannered high school girl who lives an entirely normal life – other than the fact that her family is yakuza. However, her peaceful days are thrown into chaos when her grandfather sends her from Osaka to Tokyo in an arranged marriage to Miyama Kirishima, the heir of another yakuza family. Although seemingly polite and even charming at first, claiming not to have any interest in the yakuza life, Kirishima is in reality a violent sociopath who at first dismisses Yoshino for being boring… only to immediately fall head over heels in love with her after she sells one of her kidneys to repay a perceived debt of honor.

Artemis’ verdict: A Solid 7 Out of 10 Kidneys

Think about this one too hard and it’ll be deeply problematic, but treat it as a comedic-leaning romantic drama and you’ll have a much better time. Is it supposed to be a comedy? Maybe not, or at least not explicitly so, but it’s definitely the kind of anime I enjoyed just sitting back to and treating as a laidback guilty pleasure. The main male character is presented as a (weirdly likable) literal sociopath. The main female character apparently sells one of her kidneys by the end of the first episode just to prove a point, sparking main male character’s immediate (and likely extremely unhealthy) obsession.

No doubt I’d absolutely hate all this if it took itself too seriously, but I get the feeling that while the plot itself may take some serious turns, Yakuza Fiancé still understands that it’s silly and has a great time being exactly that. As far as non-sequel shows go, this was probably my favorite premiere of the season so far.

Jel’s verdict: Engaged, for now

This episode is SO problematic, and yet I kept thinking maybe if the main girl goes full yakuza herself and takes charge of the situation, everything will be OK. I feel like they were telegraphing this from the start by having her talk like a delinquent, like she had to have it in her somewhere, right? Needless to say, her transformation at the end of the episode, whether it’s an act or not, intrigued me. It was also surprisingly comical considering how dark the premise is. Could this anime somehow turn into a black humor comedy starring terrible people that I usually love? I’m still a little skeptical, but I’m willing give it a few episodes.