''Honey Bitter'' is Japanese

josei manga , also known as and its abbreviation , is an editorial category of Japanese comics that emerged in the 1980s. In a strict sense, ''josei'' refers to manga marketed to an audience of adult women, contrasting ''shōjo'' manga, which is marke ...

Miho Obana is a shōjo manga artist born in Tokyo, Japan. Her best-known work was ''Kodomo no Omocha'', also known as ''Kodocha'', which was published in ''Ribon'' magazine, and won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo in 1998. Other works include ''Partn ...

, serialized in

Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...

's ''

Cookie A cookie is a sweet biscuit with high sugar and fat content. Cookie dough is softer than that used for other types of biscuit, and they are cooked longer at lower temperatures. The dough typically contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of ...

'' from February 2004 to December 1, 2018. In honor of the twentieth anniversary of Miho Obana's debut, a crossover between ''Honey Bitter'' and ''

Kodocha is a Japanese manga series by Miho Obana. The series was adapted as an OVA by J.C. Staff and released on December 16, 1995, by Shueisha under their Ribon Video label. An anime television series was produced by NAS and TV Tokyo, animated ...

'' called ''Deep Clear'' was released in 2010.

Plot

''Honey Bitter'' revolves around a girl named Shuri who was mistreated by her ex-boyfriend, Riki. She grew a hate for men in general after she had broken up with him, and wanted to start over fresh with her life. She started to work for aunt's company, using her ability to see things before they happened as a stepping stone to becoming a great detective. However, by mistake, her aunt hires her ex for the company as well, and Shuri's life takes a turn for the worse as she must put up with him now.

Characters

; :Shuri has ESP, and a tendency to act very cold towards men due to her experiences with her ex, Riki. She works at "Office S", her Aunt Saho's

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

agency. In ''Deep Clear'', she is hired by Rei to figure out why Akito had separated from Sana, which she learns is because he is afraid that she will die giving birth. She becomes friends with Sana and is at the hospital when Sana gives birth. She even convinces Akito to confront his fears by going to the hospital and see the birth go well. Sana is so thankful that she names her newborn daughter after Shuri. ; :A brilliant yet almost silent detective. When he met Shuri in high school, he abused her, was rough with her on bed when taking her virginity and also hit her repeatedly. Now that he's joined the "Office S" staff, he acts as if nothing happened between him and Shuri, and at points even seems to show romantic interests in her. He tries to apologize to her but Shuri says that it's impossible. He carries with him a gun and he's a very good shot, once saving his Yohta's life from a criminal. ; :The boy Shuri met when she was in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

at a

shooting range A shooting range, firing range, gun range or shooting ground is a specialized facility, venue, or field designed specifically for firearm usage qualifications, training, practice, or competitions. Some shooting ranges are operated by milita ...

. He rented one of Saho's apartments. When he could not pay the rent, he confronted Saho, who offered to let him pay his rent later in return for his services as a

bodyguard A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects an very important person, important person or group of people, such as high-ranking public offic ...

. He has a past in

kickboxing Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid Martial arts, martial art and Boxing (disambiguation), boxing type based on punch (combat), punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, norma ...

, as well as a crush the size of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

on Shuri. Throughout the series, he makes many advances on Shuri, but stops whenever she shows any sign of discomfort. ; : Shuri's maternal aunt, the head of the "Office S" detective agency. As a former detective, she has an unusually large network of contacts, including a former prime minister of Japan.

Volumes

Reception

Volume 6 reached the 22nd place on the weekly

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

manga charts with 29,422 copies sold; volume 7 reached the 16th place, with 38,895 copies sold; volume 8 reached the 20th place with 40,906 copies; volume 9 reached the 43rd place and has sold 48,195 copies as of December 22, 2013; volume 10 reached the 22nd place with 36,644 copies and volume 11 reached the 36th place and has sold 47,642 copies as of May 3, 2015.

References

External links

* {{Cookie magazine Josei manga 2004 manga Mystery anime and manga Romance anime and manga Shueisha manga Suspense anime and manga