Wild Ones vol. 1 and vol. 2 (manga)

Title: Wild Ones

Author: Kiyo Fujiwara

Summary (from back of the book): Sachie Wakamura just lost her mother, and her estranged grandfather has shown up to take care of her. The only problem is that Grandpa is the head of a yakuza gang! Sachie tries to continue living her normal life, but she can’t run far since Rakuto, one of the most popular guys in school, is part of her grandfather’s gang and her new protector.

Caution: Will contain spoilers

I just finished volume 2, but I’ll review volume 1 briefly as well for anyone not familiar with the series.

The manga is the summary. Like, that’s exactly what it is. There aren’t any subplots and there’s very little character development in the first volume. The plot is namely cliché after cliché: The lonely girl meets handsome boy, handsome boy saves her from creepy guy on street, handsome boy is elusive and dogmatic in (what seems to be) the typical Japanese fashion, etc. And that’s really all there is.
 
Volume 2 was even more of a disappointment. This one dragged more than the last, and I felt like Rakuto’s character changed a lot. And not in a good way. More like in the bossy, stalker-ish Edward Cullen way (I apologize to any Twilight fans out there!).

Example: Sachie and Rakuto are at the beach together, and during her time there Sachie does something sort of bold (Oh no! How dare a woman act bold!). In response to this, Rakuto puts her in timeout. Like, uh…ew.

Soon after that Sachie finds Rakuto sleeping peacefully (sexily?) near a window. She thinks to herself, “He seems to sparkle in the sunlight.” That just chilled me. Obviously it was an ominous warning: His Edward Cullen-ness was just starting.

Basically, Wild Ones is about a dull girl being bossed around by a sexist pig the entire manga. But we’re supposed to adore this “hero,” you see. (There’s another boy too, who seems quite a bit nicer but equally possessive of Sachie. Don’t let me even start on him, although he is a great deal better then Rakuto.)

Perhaps in Japanese society it’s acceptable to glamorize possessiveness and excessive domination, but I didn’t find the “romance” in this manga very romantic at all.