Raise wa Tanin ga Ii

I'm reading this for the art, and the female lead. She's unpredictable, strong-willed, and a realist. She's hot-blooded, but self-aware. I love that.

To tell the truth, I was getting ready to drop this before I even finished chapter two. I was worried it was about to go into the whole Men are Strong, Women are Delicate thing, with her being so shocked to see blood when both of them are supposedly from big, influential yakuza families. I was concerned she was going to be some sheltered, easily shaken, constantly screaming/shouting Damsel in Distress. I was writing it off as yet another story in which the female lead with a promisingly complicated background would prevail through all troubles through sheer force of will/a caring heart.

MC proved me wrong. I definitely did not expect her to go that far in proving me wrong though. I have high hopes for her now.

The male lead, on the other hand, I have...less positive feelings about. Yeah, he's drawn pretty. Yeah, his face and body are bishounen-like. Yeah, he's rich, smart, popular, and charismatic. Yeah, he's a Bad Boy. But he's also a mentally unstable, immoral, bloodthirsty, manipulative, sadomasochistic prick with psychopathic tendencies.

As we learn more about him, readers grow to understand his profile a bit better, and perhaps even sympathize with him on a very basic level. Like, don't get me wrong, parts of his life are traumatic and his depraved persona is an understandable result of both nature/nurture. In a way, he is pitiful.

That said, he's still a twisted mofo, and the worst of him is inexcusably cruel and inhuman. It's like how you can understand a criminal's actions without condoning them. I hope no reader think his wooby moments outweigh his so-called "yandere" constant.

All of this is pretty obvious if you read this as an adult, but I'm worried about the young, impressionable minds reading this. All these kids and teens reading stories about "yandere" and Christian Grey look-a-likes being slowly inured to these terrible relationship dynamics, and growing to normalize abusive romances... ugh.

I might rec this to a friend, but I would not rec it to people who do not yet understand the impact media can/does have on their perception of romance/relationships/the other sex/etc. I would definitely not rec it to someone who doesn't understand why "yandere" aren't attractive in any way.

Edit: The gender roles and sexism ingrained in tradition and the attitudes of the men around her with regards to her place are really irritating. The whole keep-the-women-in-the-dark/women-don?t-need-to-know thing is beyond stale - at this point it?s just rotten. I am still half in love with the female lead, and her pragmatism/bluntness just tickles me, but... it is getting harder and harder to keep reading.

i like how the author picture the main female like the usual stereotype of Japanese young lady and make the male lead a sadistic twisted yandere. they makes the best villain couple!! i hope the translation would progress faster.. definitely worth to read!!

No, not really, I meant "speechless" as in expression but obviously the cat hasn't get my tongue.
How do I put it? This manga, I only read 2 chapters so far however it's undoubtedly amazing! It really piqued my curiosity!
The plot was cliché at first. You know, that fiancé thing between strangers but hold up! It's more than just a love story.

I love how the male lead has this twisted sadistic - masochist personality, like one time he was threatening the female lead and shows no mercy at all with that heartless smile on his face but the other time he was begging for "love", being totally lunatic and couldn't care less to hide it.

The female lead is equivalently interesting. You would expect her to be your commonly found typical female lead who punched the male lead from "bullying" her, well she does stood up for herself but her comeback was in a totally unexpected way! I wouldn't do that if I was her!

And like blueoddog mentioned, yes there's this dark humor vibes and yandere thingy. Rest assure this manga will worth your time and money (or so I hope, since there's still only 2 ch so far)

Edit:

I just finished chapter 5.2, since it was in Kanji and barely furigana at that I'm not pretty sure, however so far this manga hasn't disappoint me yet. Although I would prefer more drama and action from the female lead (also actual smut scene lol), the progress is a little slow but we still have no clue how many volume this manga will have so it doesn't really matter. Just don't suddenly force an end to it.

Man, I may be biased by her other amazing mangá (haru no noroi), but I really liked this one too, even if I have just read 2 chapters. Is not cliché at all, the art is gorgeous, and I FEEL YANDERE VIBES FROM THE MAIN GUY, I mean, is obvious that he is kind of, hmmm, messed up. The female lead also is not some damsel in distress, I mean holy mother of the sacred pudim, when she went mad things got interesting. I also feel some dark humor vibes from the manga, and I am very very curious about how things will develop.

EDIT: ok 10 chapter deep into this AND I WAS RIGHT. Is serious, realistic, dark and there is a lot of subtle things happening, from which everyone understand a little differently whats happening. Is about a strong girl that takes bullshit from no one, and a manipulative creepy guy.

By no means romanticize the ''yandere'' part that I said. Is NOT cute, or lovable, or anything like that. The FL is constantly tense and mentally tired because this is how you get being around someone like Kirishima. The author does a great job portraying how things really would be in such a setting.

Ehh, just read the other reviews, im kinda lazy.

And the translators are doing a superb job.