The story is an okay fun quick read but if you are expecting much more between this couple then their activities in the bedroom, you will be a bit disappointed.

This is a very specific adult manga for erotic readers. The plot appeals to romance readers and people who like mafia romances. It's more character based and the plot revolves on the intense relationship of the characters, It's fun but repetitive. The artistic style is more shojo and for older teen readers with flourishes to show intense emotional states. That said, I did greatly enjoy it.

This one had pretty much no plot. The focus was on the relationship solely, but hardly anything meaningful happened anyway. I enjoyed the art but this is it.
I will not continue the series.

Oh boy. What's happened to this series? The first one was full of mystery and intrigue, the second our heroine was reduced to a whiny crybaby, and this volume is just 100% smut. I guess it's good that Oya and Yuri have a great sex life, but it was too much in this volume. This makes me a little hesitant to keep going with this series, but I probably will out of dire curiosity.

This copy was kindly given to be by Netgalley and the publisher to read for review. All opinions are my own.

I won't be picking up this series anymore. Again, having it be the only adult steamy romance manga series I have read, I am not sure if the themes and styles are universal but I am not loving them. The useless FMC was an annoying stereotype, the constant seens of love/I cant live without you... a little is okay but this was the whole point. There is no real good plot, no loveable characters and there isn't even really an humor to make up for it. The art is pretty enough though.

I enjoy a manga that has romance spilling out on the pages and let me tell you, Yakuza Lover Vol 3 did not disappoint with the spicy scenes!!! The love the main characters have for each other can seem a bit toxic at times but I do not mind because you can see that they really love and care for each other. Not only does this manga have romance there is also action and a great story line where the main characters fight for their love and each other. Overall, I am so glad I picked up this series and I would recommend it to others!! I cannot wait for the rest of the volumes to be released.

Thank you to NetGalley and Viz for this ARC

Third volume in and I am still really enjoying this this series. I adore that this volume focuses on Yuri and Oya's relationship, and their desperation for each other. Waiting for the next volume

Thank you again to NetGalley for giving me access to this ARC

Still not sure how I feel about this series - there is a ton of smut in this book not enough story almost like the vampire novels out there.

Wish they would spend as much time on the story plot.

VIZ, I just want to thank you personally for catering to your older shojo readers with a sexy adult romance with drama and a heavy dose of spice. It's taken us so long to get here, but here we are. Bless you.

I didn't read this volume. Because I had gotten approved to read Vol. 3 I found a copy of YL Vol. 1 to read, so I wouldn't be jumping into the middle of the story all confused. Sadly vol. 1 seemed more like a soft core porno than an actual story so I stopped there and did not pursue to read the following volumes. Thank you for approving me for an advanced copy sorry it wasn't for me.

Steamy manga following the relationship of a misogynistic bad boy and a perky, naive waitress. I'm not sure what happened in the previous two episodes, but I don't think this one moved the story line very far. It's told from her point of view and she's really the only character that is developed. The artwork was solid.

As the manga go on I feel like in each volume they lose more and more Plot. I genuinely enjoy the trope the story was using so I continued read. After this volume I do think I won’t continue this series as I feel like it has become more focused on the 18+ part of the story then the plot. The art style is beautiful and I understand that some people will prefer it with less plot but for me I had a somewhat hopeful feeling after volume one for more character building.

Very very adult material. Do not read unless you are down for several sexy scenes and mention of violence. It’s kind of in the name :p
Now that that’s clear; Where can I sign up to be Yuri? I wish I had read the first two installments to have more to go on but this gives a bit of a flashback so the reader does have some idea of what’s going on.
I like it.. there’s nothing really wrong with it.. at the same time I don’t find myself needing to binge read it.
Definitely check it out if you’re into bad boy meets good girl spicy love stories

Oya is finaly back after helping Yuri out of a tight spot while they were on vacation together. The summer is still on and the two are looking to make best of the time they have.

So I'm not quite sure what happened once I started I flew through the book. It was mostly sexy scenes but then theres Yuri trying to figure out what to do with the rest of the summer with Oya's limitations of being a boss of the yakuza but luckily he got them a private villa to live and enjoy eachother a bit more freely. Overall really good manga I really enjoyed it but hope for more to the story then just the sexy scenes.

I think I'm giving up on this series. Between the last one and this volume, there was no plot! I’m all for some sexy scenes, but you gotta give me something else. There wasn't any character development or anything. I'm still trying to figure out how he gets any work done with the amount of time they spend going at it.

A guilty pleasure erotic romance in manga form. The third book in the series doesn't move the needle too much in terms of "plot" and doesn't stray too far from the pattern of dangerous and jealous threat -> sex scene with over-dramatic declarations of devotion/lust of series like 365 days or 50 shades. If you are looking for any depth of story-telling or character development, this is not the series for you. If you just like the erotic melodrama series, this may be for you but you might also get annoyed that the only erotic expressions the main characters can make is just a wide open mouth. YMMV

Things are steamy over at Shojo Beat from VIZ Media with Yakuza Lover Volume 3. With plastic wrap to keep in all the naughties, this volume goes places I hope every josei will – female lead agency. Yakuza Lover is created, written, and beautifully illustrated by Nozomi Mino; Yakuza Lover is localized and published by VIZ Media’s Shojo Beat imprint with translation by Andria Cheng and touch-up art and lettering by Michelle Pang.

Last volume, I was worried about the direction that the series was going. Falling quickly into the kidnapping trope prevalent in josei romances (and of course yakuza romances across both het-romances and BL), it was a misstep in a romance that had been both steamy and filled with agency. That said, in Yakuza Lover Volume 3, Yuri is reunited at last with Oya. And in the best ways, the two savor their first night back in each other’s arms by making love until Yuri passes out from exhaustion. And the best part? She’s leading the session by being vocal about what she wants, which allows her to show sexual competence and confidence that truly makes her one of my favorite josei protagonists.

To be clear, Yakuza Lover is a Mature-rated title, but it also serves as a good entry point to mature romance manga. Half of that is due to Yuri’s ability to both be hopelessly in love and also know that she has power in her relationship. The other half? I mean, just look at the featured image above; the art is sublime. Plus, Mino has the ability to make scenes overtly sexual without losing the intimacy between Oya and Yuri. To put it simply, the couple’s dynamic grows even in those scenes.



But while the first half of Yakuza Lover Volume 3 focuses on Oya and Yuri not leaving each other’s embrace, the last half shows what happens when the two return from Shang-hai and back to reality. Of course, Yuri returns to her normal life in Japan, but it isn’t long before Oya comes to whisk her away and shake it all up. When he takes her to a private villa, Yuri believes it’s so the two of them can get a second chance at a carefree summertime romp together. But it soon becomes clear that Oya has something else on his mind, and she has to begin a new adjustment to life.

Overall, Yakuza Lover Volume 3 is just great and the answer for adult readers looking for easily attainable romances from VIZ Media that focus on an adult relationship with more adult themes. I love shoujo and the yearning they bring, but an adult josei title with a yakuza bad boy and a woman who knows what she wants just hits different. And with not many physical English translations of josei romance titles (het-romances specifically) readily available from large publishers, I hope that Yakuza Lover allows for more in that description to get greenlit for release.

Yakuza Lover Volume Three introduces new interactions and elements for Yuri and Toshiomi’s relationship.

Yakuza Lover Volume Three
Written by: Nozomi Mino
Publisher: Shogakukan
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: December 7, 2021

After a brief recap of what happened at the end of Volume Two, the next 22 pages are basically Yuri and Toshiomi having sex. I think that Mino was trying to establish the happiness that Yuri has with Toshiomi, but I think this was a little excessive. I think Mino could have shortened this up a little and still managed to establish Yuri’s happiness. At times, some of the panels in this section are drawn in such a way that they come across as being “over the top,” to the point where it was unintentionally comical. This, along with a brief scene of the two of them talking about Semilio, make up the first chapter of the volume.

The second chapter sees Yuri working at a summer job. The scene of her working at the job establishes her as a responsible worker, but will only work the breakfast and lunch shifts. Since Toshiomi usually only contacts her later in the day, she wants to be available during that time. Yuri’s summer job ends up being rather unimportant in the long run, though, because she quits it later in the volume. She has school coming up in the fall, so quitting the job makes sense, but the summer job felt more like something that was thrown in here for her to be doing something while she waits for Toshiomi to call her again.

And Toshiomi does call her again, and he says he wants to see her… and sends one of his men to pick her up. She’s taken to a house in the mountains, and Toshiomi tells her that they will be living there. He gives her the spare key and says she can come there whenever she likes, and that he’ll try to come home as often as he can. Of course, she can’t truly live there full-time, since nobody knows that Yuri is dating Toshiomi. But it’s somewhere for her to go if she wants to get away. While this comes across as a sweet gesture on the surface, I couldn’t help but think there’s something more here. While this gives them an easier way to rendezvous with each other, I felt as if this could be a way for Toshiomi to try to potentially have some control over Yuri.

In the next chapter, Toshiomi and Yuri are drinking together, and Yuri gets drunk. She starts talking about the last time she enjoyed drinking and starts telling a story about a guy at a party who tried to her home with him. Toshiomi keeps telling her he doesn’t want to hear about it, but she continues on. He takes her up to the bedroom at their place, and when Yuri sobers up, she discovers that Toshiomi has gagged her. He tells her that she put him in a bad mood, and that it’s going to be her job to get him out of it. Also, he says that if she kept telling her story, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from asking her the guy’s name.

OK, now, this scene suddenly put a lot of red flags out there for me. Toshiomi gags Yuri and punishes her because he can’t control his jealousy? This shows that Toshiomi is controlling, and this is not a healthy relationship. With this scene, I hope that Yuri is starting to realize just how truly dangerous this man is and that she’s in a toxic relationship. This scene also seems to reinforce my uneasiness about Toshiomi and the house that I mentioned earlier in this review. I felt uneasy as I read this scene, and I couldn’t help but think that Toshiomi is controlling and potentially has anger management issues.

This is the last portion of the manga to progress the story. The other three chapters are “special chapters,” and they’re much more light-hearted in nature. I guess I can understand why Mino would want to include these more light-hearted bonus chapters so the volume doesn’t end on such a dark note, but they also feel extraneous and not really adding anything to the series.

I personally did not enjoy Yakuza Lover Volume Three all that much, but perhaps readers who are more invested in this series will appreciate it. While I will try to continue following this series, I will be heading into it with a little more trepidation.

A super steamy manga series with moments of action and danger, but mostly sexy times! Yuri and Oya's relationship comes back into focus in this volume. I liked it much better than volume 2, where it got a little violent for me. This volume is more relationship (sex) focused, and the artwork was gorgeous as always. I will continue this series because I'm invested in the relationship. I would recommend this to manga readers who also read steamy romance and especially mafia romance.

Yakuza Lover vol. 3 provides more of Yuri and Oya's romantic adventures by which I mean, yes, she's trying to be a normal girl but she also has a yakuza lover. Truly this fills the smutty josei fantasy void in the current English language manga market. Unlike the previous book there's not a lot of violence in volume 3. The most action we get is Yuri's part time job as a waitress and the new home they start sharing. While the house itself looks relatively modern outside, their bedroom looks like the Late Baroque period threw up in it, which I find funnier than it should be. In case you think this title is getting soft, there is a hint at the end of the book for the next action-based plot for this title. (I received a free ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.)