Honey So Sweet

Honey So Sweet (ハニー, Hanii) is a Japanese slice of life romance shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Amu Meguro. Published by Shueisha, it was serialized on Bessatsu Margaret magazine and has been compiled into eight volumes.^[1][2] It is a sequel to the oneshot Granulated Sugar. It is published in English by Viz Media.^[3]

Characters

• Nao Kogure: A petite shy girl who starts off as easily frightened and worried and a bit of a coward, but gains courage and self confidence throughout the series. She at first dated Onise because she was scared he would beat her if she didn't, but as she gets to know him realizes how kind he truly is and falls in love with him. Her parents passed away when she was young so her uncle cares for her. She initially believed she loved her uncle but realized that it was not romantic. Despite her shy personality, she does become more perceptive of how people feel and does everything to help others, especially her friends and family. She is cute, intelligent, and girly but a terrible cook.
• Taiga Onise: A boy with the face of a demon but the heart and purity of an angel who is in love with Kogure after she gave him her umbrella and bandages upon seeing him in the rain after a fight. He dyes his hair red which makes him seem like a delinquent but in reality did so because he admired the red ranger and wanted to look and be as heroic as him. His mother divorced his father when he was in third grade and to help support her he learned how to cook and take care of the house. He also has an older brother who is married. He is surprisingly feminine and innocent making adorable lunches (sometimes with hearts), doing grand romantic gestures like confessing to Kogure with a bouquet of flowers, and getting embarrassed at the mere thought of kissing Kogure. He is faithful to her and despite his appearances would never start a fight without a good reason. He is also an animal lover.
• Sou Kogure: Nao's uncle, who is protective of her. After his sister and brother in law's death, he quit his job and dedicated himself to taking care of his niece Nao. He is quiet, mature, and wears glasses. He is also a good cook. He is very wise, often giving good advice and insight for Nao and is envious of Taiga as Nao is growing up and moving on without him, but at the same time supports their relationship and acts a s a big brother to him. He runs a cafe called Felice. He is in his mid twenties and used to be a smoker but quit after adopting Nao.
• Misaki Ayumu: An adorable boy with a short temper and dirty mouth, often cussing like a sailor. He has a tsundere personality, often acting mean to others but then showing a soft side. He is particularly protective of his friends. He is a close friend of Onise in particular and is protective of this friendship. He comes from a family with two parents and three older sisters, with his sisters tending to bully and push him around. He has a crush on Kayo, though often gets into arguments with her due to her sadistic personality.
• Yashiro Kayo: A beautiful quiet loner who initially hangs out with the rest because of free food, but grows to truly enjoy their companionship and sees them as her friend. Despite her apathetic personality, she is actually sadistic and enjoys mercilessly teasing her friends, especially Misaki whom she sees as being fun. Her parents are often working and refuse to spend time with her and leave her money. The one time she did ask to eat together they called her selfish so she developed a standoff personality and was forced to grow up earlier, causing her classmates to see her as standoffish and avoid her. She dated an older college student who acted as her tutor because he was the firs person to care for her, but he was a no good drunkard, cheater and bully and she breaks up with him when she realizes she wants to change and treasure her friends.
• Futami Ayaha: A boy in the same class as Onise who befriends him after realizing Onise is not as bad as the rumors say. He is bright, friendly, nice, cheerful, handsome, athletic and popular. He enjoys getting attention and hanging out with others but tends to find it tiring that he has to act rightful and cheerful around people but Kogure points out his kindness at being able to handle and socialize with others, causing him to fall in love with her. He describes himself as someone who steals what he wants but realizes Kogure and Onise have a strong relationship and concedes defeat and remains friends with Onise, but promises to steal Kogure if she and Taiga break up.

Volumes

Japanese

1 (January 25, 2013)^[4]

2 (June 25, 2013)^[5]

3 (November 25, 2013)^[6]

4 (April 25, 2014)^[7]

5 (September 25, 2014)^[8]

6 (February 25, 2015)^[9]

7 (July 24, 2015)^[10]

8 (December 25, 2015)^[11]

English

1 (January 5, 2016; ISBN 978-1-4215-8325-9)^[12][13]

2 (April 5, 2016; ISBN 978-1-4215-8329-7)^[14][15]

3 (July 5, 2016; ISBN 978-1-4215-8330-3)^[16][17]

4 (October 4, 2016; ISBN 978-1-4215-8331-0)^[18][19]

5 (January 3, 2017; ISBN 978-1-4215-8332-7)^[20][21]

Reception

Volume 2 reached the 42nd place on the weekly Oricon manga charts and, as of June 29, 2013, has sold 30,308 copies;^[22] volume 3 reached the 18th place and, as of December 1, 2013, has sold 50,169 copies;^[23] volume 5 reached the 12th place^[24] and, as of October 5, 2014, has sold 108,341 copies;^[25] volume 6 reached the 14th place and, as of March 1, 2015, has sold 80,912 copies.^[26]

It was number seven in the Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2014.^[27]

References

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Honey So Sweet (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia