Customer Reviews

Yakuza In Love Volume 1 (Yaoi) (Deux)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Aoi is only a lucky boy with some secrets in his past. He has joined a Yakuza family and for a twist of the fate he saved the boss' life. But other members in the family know the truth and want to uncover it.

The boss, for his own reason, choose to assign Aoi as bodyguard to Sakiya, an old member of the family, just out of prison. Sakiya is of the old way, he was a man of the old boss and he is not at all agreed with the "new" business of the boss' son. Aoi falls for Sakiya at first glance.

Sakiya takes at heart Aoi's fate, cause he has the same name of his former lover, a woman killed for her bond with Sakiya. Meanwhile, another man of Sakiya, takes in another young guy, who shares an unrequieted love for a man he can't have, like Aoi, and a dangeruous relationship with a man of the boss.

The story is not bad, but a little difficult to follow: many events and too less close points. Maybe cause it's a first book of three, and some events will end in the following books. And then I can't "feel" the bond between Aoi and Sakiya, it's like if I'm waiting for the real Aoi's Mr Right to appear in the story...

But as always the graphic is very "pure" and beautiful. The characters are more "japanese" than in other yaoi manga, and maybe reading the three volume one after the other will help to understand better the story.

Yakuza In Love: Volume 1 was an extremely absorbing read. Aoi Ichimura is not only attractive, but comes complete with a lovely 'x' scar on his cheek. While some of the plot is a little bit out there, what yaoi isn't? (^_^) There were a lot of knee-slappers (ugh, what an old-person reference...) throughout the manga. I'm anxious to read the next volume and see where this web of relationships goes...

Yakuza in Love 1 is a nice start to what I hope will be a good series. Aoi becomes the bodyguard/housekeeper to an underboss of a Yakuza group. Sakiya, the underboss, just got out of jail where he has been for five years. The new "Don" has changed some of the ways the group functions to the dismay of Sakiya. There are several chapters and some of the scenes are hysterical. There is an actual storyline. Not to give too much away, there is some emotional interaction between Aoi and Sakiya but nothing what I would call truly intimate and there is some questioning on Sakiya's part of whether or not he really feels anything for Aoi or is "left over" from his love for his dead girlfriend of the same name. There are no explicit body parts shown in the intimate encounters between the other Yakuza. In one scene it even looks like it was hazed out during the drawing process as opposed to having just invisible parts later on.

Yakuza in Love is the second yaoi series after the Kizuna series I've read, that has a setting centred around the members of a Yakuza family. And there are a number of similarities, but also some differences between those two series. However I think it wouldn't be fair to compare Yakuza in Love, of which I so far have only read the first volume, with the Kizuna series, which I've read in it's entirety.

Aoi Ichimura has been newly accepted as a member of the Yakuza family "The Flower Gang". By accident he saves the life of the gang's boss and is therefore promoted very soon and becomes the apprentice of the underboss Yuji Sakiya. There is an instant attraction between Aoi and Yuji, they both can't quite explain, and soon Aoi finds himself falling in love with Yuji.

But some members of The Flower Gang are jealous of Aoi's quick success and Yuji strongly disagrees with the new policy of the gang's boss. So they both face an uncertain future in their Yakuza family.

I really liked the drawings in Yakuza in Love and some of them are really funny. The story overwhelmed me at first, because there are a few flashback scenes and a lot of characters and their stories are introduced. But I didn't noticed that as really negative and I remember the same "overflow" from the first volume in the Kizuna series. It was a very nice read and made me anxious for the other two books in the series.

This was an interesting story. I 'll be glad to read the next two books in the series. One point, do't buy the dvd of the same name, it isn't the same story. The dvd is a heterosexual love story.
Aoi and Saki are an interesting pair.

Aoi Ichimura, currently a rising star in the underworld of society which was brought about by accidentally saving the Don's life? But little did anyone know, he is actually a scaredy-cat and a big softie. "Yakuza in Love" describes the life of a man who thought that with his looks there wasn't much he can do in the professional world other than being a thug. He goes through his daily activities praying to god that his true self wouldn't be exposed. In no time, he discovers that maybe.. just maybe he's in over his head.. when he is told that he would be the apprentice of the underboss, Sakiya, who has been recently released from prison. Being a real Yazuka is hard...