Hajime no Koi
One Day My Love Will Blossom.

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Color me surprised when I got to about the end of the second chapter...and discovered that this wasn't going to be a moody, dramatic piece full of angst, but a story with quite a lot of fluff. Most of the story is focused on Hajime and his adjusting to life as a normal citizen outside the underworld, and all the challenges that come with that.

One major downside to me is Kakeru's character, because I've always disliked it when, in yaoi, one lead is depicted as hypermasculine while the other lead is "girly". Kakeru already looks very moe at first, but not unrealistically so; by the ... end, he's gone full bug-eyed, squish-faced. He is very dainty, cute and meek compared to Hajime, which is fine in small doses, but taken to the extremes as this was, it actually comes across as TOO feminine-leaning, if that makes sense. Of course men are "allowed" to be cute and not just testosterone beasts, but...they're still men, you know? If I can picture your male character as a female one (as they are typically written in shoujo!) throughout the story, and that change has very little impact...I'm going to raise an eyebrow.

I wish Kakeru were given more moments to be proactive and independent, instead of worrying so much over Hajime. It's a pity that outside of asking Hajime out for a date, and confessing to him later on, there's not really much that can be said about his character—other than the fact that he's studying to become a vet and that he used to be a sex worker, I suppose. What hobbies does he have? What's he like aside from "loving Hajime"? Both Kakeru and Hajime are given "rescue your partner" subplots, yet Hajime is the one who grows the most as a person, while Kakeru's relegated to sort of a tag-along who doesn't "start existing" until Hajime rescues him (and even then, most of his character is still about Hajime).

At the end of the day, it's not a bad story, but it is unbalanced. If Kakeru were less moe and were given more to work with, I feel that I would've loved this manga much more. Hajime is pretty good, but I do wish there were more moments of them talking and getting to know each other (I'd sacrifice the Kanji subplot for that). But if all you're looking for is a fluff story with an ex-yakuza character, with basically no "unseemly" references to what he actually did, then you'll probably enjoy this. I still recommend it, but can't deny the un(der)explored potential.