Manga Review: Honey So Sweet, Volume 1, by Amu Meguro

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5-4

Publisher: Shojo Beat (VIZ Media)

Release Date: January 5, 2016

Volumes: 8

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 2.

Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Little did Nao Kogure realize back in middle school that when she left an umbrella and a box of bandages in the rain for injured delinquent Taiga Onise that she would meet him again in high school. Nao wants nothing to do with the gruff and frightening Taiga, but he suddenly presents her with a huge bouquet of flowers and asks her to date him—with marriage in mind! Is Taiga really so scary, or is he a sweetheart in disguise? 

Review:

I had an intuition feeling that I would love this series. And I was mostly right.

The way Nao expresses herself is a bit more exaggerated than I thought it would be, but the narration and the art has a quirky nature to it that quickly grew on me. Onise looks a lot more like a delinquent than I thought, with a mean resting face even if he doesn’t mean to. He reminds me a lot of Takeo from My Love Story!!, actually, with everyone assuming different from him, when really he’s an animal lover, embarrassed easily, with a great smile, who quickly falls in love with Nao when she helps him in a time of need.

The setting is very much a stereotypical high school, and Nao believes herself in love with her uncle, while Onise is in love with her and insecure with no friends. I love the way he forms a friendship with Nao, and with a boy in their class who has a mean front and a cute face. Nao forms an easy friendship with Yashiro, a straight-faced classmate who is relatively blunt and aware.

I love the band of characters that’s forming, and the friendship that’s growing between a group who’ve never really had friends before. It’s quirky, and Nao and Onise’s just-friends attitude is cute when everyone else sees them differently.

I’m looking forward to the next one.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!