Leroy's Yaoi Review: Honey Darling

HONEY DARLING
SUBLIME

CARTOONIST: Norikazu Akira
TRANSLATION: Christine Dashiell
LETTERING: Sabrina Heep
ISBN: 978-1-4215-4343-7; paperback; Rated “M” for “Mature”
194pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $14.99 CAN, £8.99 UK

Norikazu Akira is the creator of such manga Beast & Feast, Heart Strings, and Twin’s Labyrinth. SuBLime, a new global yaoi/boys’ love publisher that has partnered with VIZ Media, recently published an English-language edition of Norikazu Akira’s Honey Darling.

For those that don’t know, boys’ love (abbreviated as “BL”) manga is a comic book that features romance between male characters. “Yaoi manga” is a subset of BL that usually depicts explicit sex. Honey Darling is a stand-alone, yaoi graphic novel that tells the story of an idle young man whose rescue of a kitten brings him purpose and maybe love.

The focus of Honey Darling is Chihiro Takahashi, a young man who drifts through life with no purpose. One evening, shortly after leaving work, Chihiro finds an abandoned kitten in a box. Initially reluctant, he rescues the female kitten and names her Shiro. She becomes his surrogate daughter, and soon, he couldn’t imagine his life without her.

One evening, he arrives home to discover that Shiro has fallen ill. While searching aimlessly for an animal hospital, Chihiro runs into Daisuke Kumazawa, a local veterinarian who takes Shiro into his care. Watching Dr. Kumazawa in action, Chihiro realizes that he would like to work in a vet clinic. The good doctor hires him to work at Kumazawa Pet Clinic, but he also needs a live-in housekeeper. Soon, Chihiro has a new home, double-duty at the clinic and in Kumazawa’s home. But living with the handsome vet makes Chihiro feel really strange inside. Is this love?

Creator Norikazu Akira tells the story of Chihiro Takahashi and Daisuke Kumazawa (and Shiro, of course) over the course of a seven-chapter serial entitled, “Animal.” Individually, they read quite well, with each short story having a solid beginning, middle, and end. Collected as the graphic novel, Honey Darling, the offers the reader a chance to savor a slow building love story that is built around romantic cliffhangers accentuated with flower tones and effects.

Chihiro Takahashi is an especially likeable character, a sort of lovelorn, girlish, yet somewhat masculine man. Daisuke Kumazawa is a bit aloof, perhaps too aloof, which comes across in the story; I found that I sometimes could not warm to him. Shiro the kitten is a scene-stealer, almost turning this boys’ love manga into a cat manga.

Honey Darling is cute and charming and goes down like a cup of hot cocoa, but this is not a love story as empty calories. The romance does hit many bumpy moments – enough to keep the reader interested. Norikazu Akira saves the best, the hot sex, for last, and boy, is it hot. The passion is, however, a nice payoff for the patient reader, and Honey Darling will make for a happy reader.

A-

SuBLimeManga.com


Buy Honey Darling (Yaoi Manga)

SuBLime Debuts "Honey Darling" and "Three Wolves Mountain"

GLOBAL YAOI/BOYS’ LOVE MANGA PUBLISHER SuBLime DEBUTS FIRST PRINT RELEASES WITH “HONEY DARLING” AND “THREE WOLVES MOUNTAIN”

Bold Yaoi/Boys’ Love Manga Publisher Releases Two Acclaimed New Titles This June

SuBLime, the global yaoi manga (graphic novel) publishing initiative between VIZ Media and Japan’s Animate, Ltd. (Animate), delivers its first pair of print editions with the worldwide debuts of HONEY DARLING, by Norikazu Akira, and THREE WOLVES MOUNTAIN, by Bohra Naono. Both new manga (graphic novel) are available now, are rated ‘M’ for Mature Readers, and carry an MSRP of $12.99 U.S. / $14.99 CAN.

Digital versions are available worldwide in a download-to-own format for $5.99 each from http://www.sublimemanga.com/, are viewable as a PDF on any enabled eReader device or computer, and also may be accessed via the online manga viewer found on the web site.

HONEY DARLING by Norikazu Akira • Rated ‘M’ for Mature Readers • MSRP: $12.99 U.S. / $14.99 CAN • Available Now!

Chihiro drifts through life with no purpose, going from girl to girl, until one day he finds an abandoned kitten in a box. He quickly falls in love with little Shiro and couldn’t imagine his life without her. One evening, Chihiro finds Shiro has fallen ill. While searching aimlessly for an animal hospital, he runs into Kumazawa, a local vet who takes Shiro into his care. Watching Kumazawa in action, Chihiro realizes he wishes to learn the value of life and asks Kumazawa to consider hiring him at the vet clinic. Kumazawa agrees, but only if Chihiro serves as his live-in housekeeper. Has Chihiro finally found his purpose in life, or will living with the handsome vet be a little too much to handle?

Norikazu Akira is also the creator of the manga series Twin’s Labyrinth, Heart Strings, and Beast & Feast.

THREE WOLVES MOUNTAIN by Bohra Naono • Rated ‘M’ for Mature Readers • MSRP: $12.99 US / $14.99 CAN • Available Now!

Way up in the mountains, far from any major cities or towns, Kaya Susugi runs a small café by day and guards a haunted cemetery by night. Then, one night, he comes across werewolf brothers Taro and Jiro. Cheerful but klutzy younger brother Jiro quickly falls head over heels for the capable loner Kaya. What results is a dive into the hot, tail-twitching delight of werewolf mating season!

Bohra Naono has created over 20 manga series, some of which have been adapted into drama CDs. She has also published “doujinshi” (independent comics) under the pen name of “NAIFU.” THREE WOLVES MOUNTAIN is Bohra Naono's second English-language release, with her first being Yokai's Hunger.

“The summer heats up in a sexy way with our publication of THREE WOLVES MOUNTAIN and HONEY DARLING in June,” says Jennifer LeBlanc, Editor, SuBLime. “THREE WOLVES MOUNTAIN creator Bohra Naono is one of the most requested creators among yaoi fans. In THREE WOLVES MOUNTAIN, readers will learn of all the strange things that go bump in the night at a foreboding cemetery as well as the love that binds two people together – even if one of them is a werewolf! HONEY DARLING is also not to be missed with its heartwarming tale of an unlikely love between a vet and his live-in housekeeper.”

For up-to-date news and release information, please visit the SuBLime website at http://www.sublimemanga.com/, or follow SuBLime on Twitter at @SuBLimeManga and Facebook at facebook.com/SuBLimeManga.


About SuBLime
SuBLime is a global yaoi/boys’ love manga publisher, and is a partnership between VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, and Japan’s Animate, Ltd. (Animate). This bold, global publishing initiative will present English-speaking fans everywhere with a broad selection of high quality titles. SuBLime will offer titles digitally worldwide available at www.SuBLimeManga.com, with many available in Download-to-Own format, and selections in print also available in English-language editions worldwide.