水玉ハニーボーイ

MIZUTAMA HONEY BOY

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
10
RELEASE
December 22, 2018
CHAPTERS
52

DESCRIPTION

Mei Sengoku is an independent girl and captain of her high school kendo club who enjoys helping others in need. This has earned her a lot of admirers among the girls at her school, as well as a guy named Shirou Fuji well-known at school for his girly way of speaking and gestures. When Shirou asks Mei to go out with him, she simply rejects him, but he comes back the next day and tells her he's not going to give up on her so easily.

CAST

Shirou Fuji
Mei Sengoku
Manabu Nanao
Hijiri Himeno
Nadeshiko Saigou
Ichika Fuji

CHAPTERS

REVIEWS

RoseFaerie
87/100
While it may be chaotic (for better or worse), the way unconventional characters are treated makes it stand out.
We've all seen those high school rom-coms with the premise of changing yourself to get your crush to like you. I've seen way too many of those, and not all of them end with a "be yourself" message. I've seen more than my fair share of teen movies that go about this trope in the most horrible way possible. Fortunately, Mizutama Honey Boy is not like that. Despite the fact that our two leads are both fairly gender non-conforming, neither one of them ever is pressed to change their interests, even if Mei doesn't understand Fuji's feminine behavior at first. This is a great romance between a masculine girl and a feminine boy.

Mei Sengoku is the princely captain of her school's kendo club. Due to being super strong, tough, and athletic, in addition to being very kind and respectful, she earns the admiration of most of her female classmates. This includes her male classmate Fuji, who is known for being very feminine. Mei rejects him when he asks her out, but he won't give up that easily. Their relationship changes from disdain to friendship to maybe something more.

Mizutama Honey Boy is actually similar to another manga I reviewed, Heroine For Hire. However, unlike Heroine For Hire, the characters are all engaging and have definite chemistry. While the duo in Heroine For Hire were more insecure of how they didn't quite fit gender roles, they never really broke them much. Meanwhile, Mei and Fuji are both confident in who they are and never try to change. While Fuji isn't treated with as much respect in the earliest chapters, his femininity is not treated as something to be "fixed". While their relationship was a bit awkward at first, since Mei was completely disinterested and viewed him as an eccentric weirdo (who may or may not be a creep), the two of them begin to form a solid friendship built on mutual respect. I never felt like there was ever any pointless drama, and the comedy was fantastic. The characters are very chaotic and eccentric, and many of them have great banter with each other.

The biggest issues I had with the series was the structure of the individual chapters, which were very chaotic. I love chaos, as I've said before in my other reviews. Strange events are my life-blood. However, this feels like it jumps around a bit too often. Sometimes I'd get confused if I wasn't paying my utmost attention (which could be difficult if one of my sisters was watching a show in the same room as I was). It just feels like some of the chapter structures could be a bit messy.

Mei is very independent and a bit of an introverted loner. She has a hard time understanding the emotions of others, as well as her own feelings. A big part of her character's journey is to overcome her own emotional hurdles in order to confess her feelings. She's not used to relying on others, since she spent most of her time alone. She's tough and smart, but she has an obsession with getting stronger in order to become more self reliant.

Fuji on the other hand is a social butterfly. You know the trope where the girl reveals she can fight and defend herself because she had a bunch of older brothers? Fuji is an inverse of that. His mother and his three older sisters made him the way he is. He may be physically weak, but he defends Mei in his own way (tbh, I'm not sure how I feel about him pretending to be gay and hitting on the creepy guys who are bothering Mei). He's able to be the kind of person Mei can rely on and express her feelings to. He and Mei are a great match with her stoicism and his flamboyant attitude.

The side-characters were a pleasant surprise with how they were handled. Nanao is introduced in the first volume as a love rival, aiming for Mei's heart. Instead of being a nuisance who gets in the way of the main couple's relationship like you think he is, he's just a nuisance, period. He serves as a the source of most of the chaos in the series alongside his many siblings. He inherited his family's trait of running away and disappearing randomly for months at a time, he sometimes wrestles wild animals, and he decides that he's dating Fuji. Mei's close childhood friend, Hime, a tiny 20-year old who doesn't look like she's aged since elementary school, is the source of many gags. However, insight is provided to show why some of these gags exist, mainly why she's always working hundreds of jobs. Nadeshiko was another character I did not get expected to be taken seriously at all. However, she is not the butt of any jokes. She's this big, buff teenage girl whose face looks like it was ripped from the guys from Attack on Titan. She loves kendo, but she's also super kind, ladylike, and she enjoys feminine hobbies like sewing. She's a beautiful person and none of our leads are even remotely mean to her or even point out how out of place she looks. I was honestly impressed with how she was written.

The oneshots are all hits. I enjoyed every last one of them to the point where I feel super inclined to read all of this author's works. The stories she tells, the characters she creates, and her sense of humor really appeal to me. I'm actually even considering reading more of her newest work, since it was funny, even if the age gap relationship was approached really strangely (I dropped it for that reason). I think Junko Ike is a talented author, and I'd love to see how her work evolves.

The art is charming, with most of the characters having distinct character designs. I really liked the art, though it was more cute shoujo instead of the most detailed art ever. For some reason the art reminds me of Last Game, though I can't even explain why. I appreciated how both the leads looked a bit different from the average high school romance protagonists.

I genuinely appreciated this series, and I had so much fun reading it. It took a lot of concentration for me to read for some reason, but I'm glad I put in the extra effort to read it. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a fresh and funny rom-com that treats its' eccentric characters seriously.
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