Summary
Love comes in many forms, and it can bloom anywhere. Even romantic love can form in the grimmest places, and the world of organized crime is very grim. Particularly in the Gokudo or, as they’re better known, the Yakuza. Aside from crime, they’re also known for their strict hierarchy and moral code. People know their place in the group, and if they go against the rules, they could end up losing more than a finger or two.
Nevertheless, they’re a good source of creative inspiration for crime dramas, action stories, and more. Some mangaka have even used them andtheir different familiesto create thebest yakuza romance manga. If readers fancy a love story with a criminal edge, where its love interests could suffer more than a broken heart, they’ll find plenty of choice with this list.
Updated Jun 02, 2025, by David Heath:Yakuza romances can offer all sorts of dangerous obstacles to love, from trouble with the law, to fates worse than death. Even so, things usually work out for its lovebirds, if only by the skin of their teeth sometimes. There are plenty of choices for fans of yakuza romance stories too, particularly if they’re into BL. There’s something about a strict, largely male, organized crime group that gets the creative juices flowing for mangaka.
Whether it’s one kind of romance or another, this list has been updated with more top examples of yakuza romance manga, offering different angles on love in the criminal underworld. Whether it’s gangsters learning how to love from civilians, or ex-cons seeking refuge from the yakuza in a relationship, there’s something for everyone.
24I Won’t Fall for the Infatuated Yakuza’s Affections!
Yakuza Guardian Won’t Let His Boss' Granddaughter Out of His Sight
Sometimes, stories about a romance gone wrong can be just as satisfying as seeing a loving couple get together. For example,I Won’t Fall for the Infatuated Yakuza’s Affectionssees Riko, the granddaughter of a yakuza family, fall for her overprotective caretaker, Iori. He always spoiled her rotten, making her the center of his world. So, she couldn’t help but feel special and loved by him.
But then she discovers Iori already has a girlfriend. Sad, she tries to distance herself from Iori to get over him. But he won’t allow that. Each time she tries to do more things on her own, Iori makes his presence known, unconvinced she can do everything by herself. The manga is early in its run but has already struck a chord with readers keen on male yandere stories.
23Boss Bride Days
Yakuza Fangirl Gets Courted by Three Gangsters
Boss Bride Daysis about what happens when one’s fantasies become real. Self-proclaimed nerd Sakura would ratherspend her days indoorsplaying her yakuza-themed dating game than head outside. But when she does go outside, she saves the life of an old man who just happens to be the head of the Amo-gumi, a yakuza family. Moved by her courage, he ends up putting her into his succession plans.
If any of his three grandsons manage to win Sakura’s hand in marriage, they’ll become the family’s new boss, too. Now she’s got the sweet Shusuke, the brusque Reo, and the calculating Ryusei trying to win her over. Sakura thinks they’re just trying to use her and, to make matters worse, not everyone is happy to see her in the family. With her life on the line, they may prove their love to be genuine.
22Arrested Love
Gangster & Detective Couple Pretend to Hate Each Other
What happens when two people from opposite sides fall in love? It’s been a popular trope in romance sinceRomeo & Juliet,andit’s abundant in anime and mangathrough series likeBasiliskandLove After World Domination,among others.Arrested Lovetakes the concept and puts it into a romcom, where a detective and a yakuza boss love and hate each other at the same time.
It’s almost like a straight version ofLike the Beast, except the Tsuchigumo underboss Todoroki and 4th Police Division Detective Arigaya have reputations to uphold. When they’re together, they’re at each other’s throats, and when they’re apart, they’re over the moon about each other. Between the sting operations and stakeouts they have to avoid/conduct, they have to deal with their complicated feelings, which can be just as dicey.
21Boss Wife
Girl Escapes Debt By Marrying Into the Yakuza
It doesn’t pay to deal with the yakuza. One loan taken out with the wrong people can end up landing people in some serious hot water, or some cold ocean water as they take a seabed view via some concrete shoes. However, as Hasumi inBoss Wifediscovers, debt relief can come with some hefty conditions too. On the run from debt collectors, she has a chance meeting with her high school crush, Yamato.
Feeling things can’t get worse, she spends a night of passion with her long-lost love. Which is also when she discovers he’s since become part of the yakuza. She heads for the hills, only to be tracked down by Yamato again, who offers her an interesting proposition: he’ll buy her debt if she marries him. Hasumi could live the high life for a change, but being the wife of a mobster comes with complications she wasn’t expecting.
20Tie Me, Unravel Me, Kiss Me
A Tailor Has Complicated Feelings For the Men Trying to Shut Him Down
Tie Me, Unravel Me, Kiss Meis more than a tantalizing hint of things to come. It’s also a reference to Itabashi’s tailor shop, which he runs in a shopping district downtown. When he reunites with his old childhood friend Shinagawa, he seems happy at first. Then Shinagawa reveals he’s part of a redevelopment scheme that threatens to run Itabashi’s shop out of business.
Things only get worse when Adachi, another old-school friend, gets involved. He’s now part of the yakuza, who have a keen interest in seeing the scheme succeed. Caught between keeping his family’s tailor business alive, trying to convince Adachi to leave him be, and dealing with his old feelings for Shinagawa, Itabashi has a lot to fight against in one volume.
19Yakuza Lover
College Girl Tries (& Fails) to Resist a Gangster’s Charms
Yakuza romance stories have all sorts of twists and turns, whether they go into its hierarchy, its etiquette, orthe complicated politicsbetween one family and another.Yakuza Loverkeeps it simple by boiling the appeal of the genre to its basic elements, featuring one bad boy from the rough side of the tracks and the prim & proper girl who secretly has a thing for them. It’s perhaps a little trite, but it has a solid audience.
The manga sees Yuri, a feisty college girl, get accosted by drug dealers at a party, where she’s saved by Oya, the young boss of a yakuza syndicate. Yuri knows he’s bad news, yet she still goes to visit him afterward to give her thanks. But no matter how much Yuri tells herself she’s not in the market for a bad boy, she can’t deny she’s drawn to his handsome looks and manners. No matter how much she tries to pull away, Yuri ends up in a steamy, dangerous love affair.
18Be My Buddy
A Man’s Duty as a Yakuza Heir Threatens His Relationship
Be My Buddyoffers a tale of uncertainty and the fear of change. Takanari has been friends with Ayano since they were kids, doing nearly everything together, and even living together where Ayano acts as his ‘chaperon’. All he wants is a normal life with him, as he can’t imagine living without Ayano being there to have his back.
Unfortunately, things aren’t as simple as that. Takanari is the heir to a yakuza family and will be expected to take over as its boss soon enough. It leaves him in a dilemma: would Ayano stick around if he became a mob boss? Would he leave if he didn’t take the family’s reins? It’s a short story, though one still packed with drama.
17Juliet’s Secret
Detective’s Dream Man Turns Out to Be a Yakuza
AsArrested Loveshowed, cops and robbers falling in love is a popular trope, so no prizes for anyone who correctly guesses whatJuliet’s Secretis. It’s not a 1:1 retelling of the Shakespeare play, as it follows the story from Juliet’s point of view. She’s a detective who’s so tough she stops a purse-snatching incident at her friend’s wedding, messing up her nice formal wear in the process. Luckily, she meets a man willing to help her out.
He’s called Romeo, and he seems so perfect for Juliet that she begins to think they were fated to meet. He’s polite, charming, and the perfect gentleman in nearly every way. The problem is that she soon finds out he’s the leader of a yakuza syndicate called the Hanabishi Group. They serve opposite sides of the law, yet they love each other deeply. Is it possible for them to continue their relationship? Or will they be as star-crossed as their namesakes?
16Mobsters in Love
Gangster Falls in Love With His Boss
With the number of yakuza romances that feature complicated politics and/or forbidden romances at their heart,Mobsters in Lovekeeps things simple with a straightforward tale of emotions versus duty. Akihiro is the right-hand man of the Sawatari family, being the most trusted member of its boss, Shojiro Sawatari. But he’s got a secret he’s been holding in for years: he’s head-over-heels for Shojiro.
Practically everything about him attracts Akihiro, as Shojiro unintentionally works his charms on his subordinate. However, if his feelings were exposed, it could cost him his position in the family, if not more. Even so, the more he represses his feelings, the more likely it is that something’s going to give.
15Nezumi’s First Love
A Yakuza Assassin Discovers What Love Is
Nezumi’s First Loveis relatively new, having started running in Weekly Young Magazine in October 2023. Nonetheless, it caught on by offering a starker take on romance within the underworld of organized crime. The titular Nezumi was raised within the yakuza to be an emotionless killing machine, their own personal assassin who could take out targets without remorse or hesitation. As such, it’s a brutal and bloody strip, but one tempered by tender emotions, as Nezumi comes across a young man called Ao.
Together, Nezumi begins to have feelings she never felt before, as she starts falling for Ao and lives together with him. Even so, first loves rarely work out perfectly, and with Nezumi’s day job, her love for Ao may have been doomed from the very start. Currently, the manga is only available via fan translations, but Kodansha Comics USA announced at New York Comic Con ‘24 that they’ll be officially translating the strip into English, with its first volume due to be out in October 2025.
