Engagement Criminals is a seinen written and drawn by Asuka Konishi. It was published in 2017 in Japan and is published here by Pika Édition. Konishi is a mangaka who got her start writing online, with a penchant for psychology present in her stories.
The manga features an atypical romance between two characters raised in yakuza families. A seemingly dark universe but which will give pride of place to humor, thus creating a dynamic around the two heroes. Unlike in The Fable, another work that features mobsters, Konishi’s manga is less realistic in its representation of the environment. At the moment, the series spans 5 volumes.
First love, the last yakuza
Engagement Criminals invites us to follow Yoshino, granddaughter of the boss of the largest yakuza clan in Osaka. She was brought up in this environment, an education that allowed her to toughen up although she prefers to live a quiet life. But one day, her grandfather decides to betroth her to Kirishima, grandson of the boss of a powerful rival clan based in Tokyo, with the aim of uniting the two families. After some misunderstandings, Yoshino is forced to move to the Tokyo capital to get to know her future fiancé. A funny individual who is both endearing and creepy, hiding an ambiguous personality.
A rather nice concept on paper, in particular by the fact that this romance takes place in a mafia universe. Therefore, we are entitled to dialogues that are often raw and familiar, as well as the presence of mature themes, on everything that could affect the yakuza world. All this is brought with a lot of lightness, the manga being very focused on comedy. The mangaka plays quite a bit on the shift in the character of Kirishima, his disturbing psyche which, behind his charming smile, probably hides a much more tortured and deviant spirit than it seems.
He opposes rather well to Yoshino, more temperamental not without a touch of naivety at times. The latter is quickly overtaken by events and by Kirishima himself, who fascinates her as much as he worries her. Of course, she will be at the heart of a potential plot that we can’t wait to discover in the following chapters. This volume is access to the meeting between the two potential future fiancés.
pale flower
If humor is omnipresent, most often through conversations, it is very well highlighted by the drawing. Our heroine multiplies the comical and offbeat heads, exaggerated reactions but which work very well. Feeling reinforced by the particular graphic style chosen by the mangaka. It goes without saying that the aesthetic will not please everyone and may even put off. We even doubted its relevance on the first pages, before finally getting used to it.
We then see that this character design gives cachet to the humor. Due to the obvious discrepancy between a universe supposed to be hard, and often represented in a realistic vision, here the yakuza world is treated with a certain lightness, which immediately removes the serious tone that the story could have in view of its subject and the topics that could be addressed.
We rather have the impression of being faced with a caricature of the milieu, and of the genre perhaps. To be seen if it will work over time, but for the moment we are quite satisfied with Asuka Konishi’s touch which brings an identity to his work. In addition, level decorations we do not find this style, the drawings are more realistic, which creates a break with the representation of the characters. That said, when you see the comic potential of Engagement Criminals, difficult not to see a thoughtful and finally coherent bias in the tone.
Should we fall for volume 1 of Criminal Engagements?
Do you like stories about yakuza? Then you might find something in this manga. The delirium of romantic comedy works very well for the moment on this first volume, the two main characters are funny and complementary. We can’t wait to see their relationship evolve. And this, despite some small imperfections in the dialogues. Their construction and the language used sometimes bothered us.
Afterwards, it is obvious that the graphic aspect can complicate the involvement of readers. Nevertheless, there is charm that emanates from it. Over the pages we ended up being convinced that this choice makes sense and brings something to the manga. Especially since it doesn’t take away that the designer is able to offer more realistic and detailed drawings. Overall the visual rendering takes us directly to the field of pastiche. You only have to look at a character’s face to be convinced, however the cast does not lose any of its charisma. An interesting addition to the Pika catalog, therefore.
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A successful first volume, surprising in its graphic choices but which rather hits the mark in its comic scenes. Then the two heroes reserve good things for future chapters. Hoping all the same that other atypical personalities will intelligently complete this gallery of characters and that the yakuza universe will take more place in the story. Without being a slap, Engagement Criminals is fun to discover, we will not fail to read the next volumes.