Like the Beast by Kotetsuko Yamamoto

[reviews_and_ramblings]

 

Tomoharu Ueda is content being a police officer in his neighborhood. He likes helping people, and in return, people like him. One night, he gets visited by a yakuza who turned to be the victim of the underwear thief he caught the previous night. The yakuza is Aki Gotouda, the heir of the Gotouda group, who thanked him for catching the thief. To Tomoharu's surprise, Aki confesses that he has feelings for him. Thus starts a forbidden relationship between a police officer and a yakuza.

My Rate: 9 (mangaplanet.com/comic/5facb14faa491)

If I have to pick a work by Kotetsuko Yamamoto, my choice is between Like the Beast and What About Tomorrow. Usually I don't like when the characters are too childlike, but I will give it a pass, since in Like the Beast the two are actually adult men, looking like teenagers, but nevertheless of age. The series is not particularly sexy, even if there are those moments as well, and it's a Romeo and Julius like romance, between a cop and a Yakuza. But if you consider the Yakuza looks like a middle age school boys, and that his wrongdoings seems more like juvenile acts, then the drama is out of the picture, and only the romance remains. To me it's a bit too long as a series, but indeed, you can get attached to the characters and it's nice to see their development.