Honey Bee & Lemon Balm Volume 2 Review

“Romance? It’s too much for him to handle.” Ryo, telling Kaoru about his brother Yuichiro. “He gets so overwhelmed he even ends up pushing away people he does have fond feelings for.”

When young ex-yakuza Kaoru stumbled on Yuichiro’s nighttime florist’s, his life entered a new, optimistic chapter. Kind-hearted Yuichiro gave him a place to live and a job and even though Kaoru knew nothing about flowers, he’s beginning to learn – and, inspired by Yuichiro, even has his first go at the art of ikebana! But his feelings toward his attractive employer are becoming even more confused so when he bumps into Yuichiro’s policeman brother Ryo in the local supermarket, he ends up asking his advice.

However, a flower delivery to Club Dandelion brings Kaoru face-to-face with his old yakuza boss, the charismatic and dangerous Mitsuki Kikushima – and he ends up (after a little pressure from his boss) helping out at the club. Is this part of a ploy to get him back? Kaoru, when questioned by Mr. Kikushima, does his best to tell him that there’s no way he wants or intends to return to his old way of life. But when Mr. Kikushima turns up at the florist’s, Kaoru finds himself at the centre of a heated negotiation. Mr. Kikushima wants to take him back but Yuichiro is determined not to let him go. Kaoru intervenes, telling his old boss that he doesn’t want to return, and things start to turn nasty…

I really liked the first volume of Honey Bee & Lemon Balm. Even though Jil Hashikura employs some of the BL tropes which I’m not a fan of, especially the male love interest whom everyone mistakes for a girl, they do it so persuasively that even an old cynic like me is won over. What works is Kaoru, the young, fresh out of prison yakuza, with a perpetual scowl and a deeply wary attitude to everything life has thrown at him. Yes, this is also a well-worn theme, but he really comes to life on the page and it’s impossible not to root for things to work out for him. So when his old boss (who let him take the rap and go to prison) reappears and is leaning heavily on him to come back to his side, it’s a moment of genuine peril not just for Yuichiro (whom Kikushima misgenders and seriously underestimates) but especially for Kaoru.

What makes this an engaging read is the mangaka’s ability to tell the story in an unobtrusive but well-constructed way. The story is involving and it evolves through skilful use of timing and panelling. This skill is not always evident in quite a few BL manga being licensed these days and it makes such a difference to the reading experience as well as the impact of what happens to the characters. You’ll want to find out what happens to Kaoru and whether there’s any hope for him of a relationship with Yuichiro. Above all, the way these two interact is depicted in a natural and believable way – and that’s a great bonus in any romance story.

Adrienne Beck is again the translator for Kodansha and with Adnazeer Macalangcom’s lettering, their work makes for an enjoyable read. There are helpful (and detailed) translation notes at the end, as well as a couple of 4-koma manga about Yuichiro’s twin sister Yukimasa and brother Ryo. And a fun addition in the two-page afterword is another little comic drawn by the mangaka’s friend Ichiko, as well as the mangaka’s illustrated thoughts on finishing the manga. They express the wish ‘to dig a little deeper into the characters of the story’ – a wish which was granted as there’s a one-shot sequel due out from Kodansha in October entitled Honey Bee & Lemon Balm Sweet Moment.

If you enjoyed the first volume of Honey Bee & Lemon Balm, there’s no way you’ll want to miss the second volume – and also discover the relevance of the ‘lemon balm’ in the title.

Our review copy from Kodansha was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.