MANGA REVIEW: Honey Bee & Lemon Balm Vol. 1

HONEY BEE & LEMON BALM Vol. 1
by Jil Hashikura
Available April 7

At 22, Kaoru feels his life is already over. He's a former yakuza with nothing to his name. Fortunately, he's taken in by Yu, a beautiful florist who offers him a job and a place to stay. Kaoru is head over heels for Yu immediately — and even when he finds out that "Yu" is short for "Yuichiro" and his savior is a man, those feelings don't change.

What follows is a series of windows into the lives of Kaoru and Yuichiro as they live and work together. Kaoru meets Yuichiro's odd but caring siblings, grows closer to his new friend and employer, and quickly learns that he's not the only one with his eyes on Yuichiro. As the first volume ends, he finds himself caught between maintaining the status quo and telling all.

Honey Bee & Lemon Balm is a brief 12 chapters, with this first volume covering the first six. Besides the central will-they/won't-they of the main couple, Hashikura builds out a growing world of multiple interesting and memorable cast members. Yuichiro's siblings in particular are a fantastic addition and make the world feel lived in. While I'm not an expert on BL titles, many recent shorter series tend to have very interchangeable secondary characters who are there solely to be sounding boards or sources of jealousy. That's not the case here; even the "other man" has a backstory, as brief as it may be so far. And the lovely cover art is a very accurate indicator of the artwork inside.

If you're not a BL enjoyer, this isn't going to be the magic bullet that changes your mind. But it's a romance that isn't heavily trope-reliant and that centers the characters' development with their feelings woven through it. Allowing the central romance to live in an interesting world is what makes this story work.

TEA PAIRING: Sunrise Breakfast
A bold English breakfast blended with marigold petals, this versatile blend matches the blend that is Kaoru's strength and Yuichiro's kindness. Use my code KARA15 for 15% off this and other teas from Chapters Tea & Co.!