José is no ordinary schoolboy – he's the heir to a vast fortune. But being rich comes with its own set of problems: relentless bullies who are more interested in his money than his wellbeing. Desperate for protection, José hires Yoko-Chan, a fierce, no-nonsense bodyguard to keep the tormentors at bay. There's just one catch: José can only afford her for three minutes a day!

Can three minutes of super-powered protection really be enough to outsmart his bullies? With Yoko-Chan's martial arts skills and unwavering determination, José might just survive – if he can convince her to stick around for the overtime!

3-Minute Bodyguard Yoko-chan has story by Susano Hara and art by Sakamoto Shino. English translation is done by Andria McKnight. and lettering by Youssef Mohamed. Published by Titan Manga (January 6, 2026).

Erica Friedman
Rating:

Yoko is a high-heeled, waist-coat and slacks wearing super bodyguard. For three minutes every day she will do whatever it takes to protect her client, José. Hijinks ensue, as her time runs out before she can untie José or when she drops a gun in front of the bad guy she just disarmed. Yoko's weakness is cats and José has a building crush on this immensely skilled and strong bodyguard, who is a complete airhead when not on the clock.

There is a trick to enjoying gag comics. In Japan, a monthly comic will contain a few pages of the comics, so the joke does not become tired. Often a gag comic serves as a palate cleanser between other, more intense stories. Not always of course, there are entire magazines filled with nothing but gag and situation comedy comics—I'm looking at you Comic Cune. But generally a gag comic is not meant to be read as a single volume in one sitting. To fully appreciate a gag comic, one must read a chapter, then put the book down and do something else. Come back to it later. Then the joke feels if not fresh, then at least amusing.

That is critical, because as with most gag comics, there is only one joke for most of this volume. Yoko is José's bodyguard for three minutes. Then she stops. Of course that joke is pushed and pulled and stretched in every chapter for the purposes of the story. And, after a day in which José and Yoko have what he thinks of as a date, it is imperative to create a second gag, in order to allow some tension to exist in that first one. We are introduced to a second over-powered women in José's life, his maid, who obsessively protects him.

This is a cute gag manga, the art is very decent and as long as you read responsibly, you'll find 3-Minute Bodyguard Yoko-chan entertaining.

Kevin Cormack
Rating:

Somewhere between a short gag manga and a more serialised story, 3-Minute Bodyguard Yoko-chan isn't best suited for reading through a whole volume at once. Comprising very short chapters of only 6-7 pages each, this slim 160-page volume crams in 23 of them, making for a very bitty, somewhat repetitive reading experience.

It's also one of those comedy manga where the single, central joke is repeated ad nauseum. Perpetually-targeted-by-criminals rich kid José's allowance can only stretch to hire uber-efficient bodyguard Yoko for three minutes per day, and she clocks off and on with pin-point accuracy, regardless of whether the baddies have tied him up, trapped him up a church steeple, or not been fully defeated. José also clearly crushes on Yoko something awful, so he's forever trying to contrive ways to get her to stick around past her working hours minutes.

It's like a more hyperactive, episodic version of Mechanical Marie, though not as cute or whimsical, and the central conceit begins to wear thin within a few repetitive chapters. Thankfully towards the end of the volume, author Hara starts to change things up a little, adding supporting characters that promise more variety in future.

I'm not averse to this kind of manga – after all, Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle's entire plot hinges on a single, infinitely-iterated-on joke, and I adore all 28 currently-published English language volumes. I don't want to write off 3 Minute Bodyguard Yoko-chan just yet, as it is genuinely amusing at times, and I'll probably never tire of the overpowered yet cute action girl trope. I'd risk giving this a second volume to see how the formula might evolve into something more worthwhile.