Weve all seen those high school romcoms with the premise of changing yourself to get your crush to like you. Ive seen way too many of those and not all of them end with a be yourself message. Ive 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 nonconforming neither one of them ever is pressed to change their interests even if Mei doesnt understand Fujis 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 schools 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 wont 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 didnt 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 isnt 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 Ive said before in my other reviews. Strange events are my lifeblood. However this feels like it jumps around a bit too often. Sometimes Id get confused if I wasnt 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 characters journey is to overcome her own emotional hurdles in order to confess her feelings. Shes not used to relying on others since she spent most of her time alone. Shes 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 Im not sure how I feel about him pretending to be gay and hitting on the creepy guys who are bothering Mei. Hes 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 sidecharacters were a pleasant surprise with how they were handled. Nanao is introduced in the first volume as a love rival aiming for Meis heart. Instead of being a nuisance who gets in the way of the main couples relationship like you think he is hes 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 familys trait of running away and disappearing randomly for months at a time he sometimes wrestles wild animals and he decides that hes dating Fuji. Meis close childhood friend Hime a tiny 20year old who doesnt look like shes aged since elementary school is the source of many gags. However insight is provided to show why some of these gags exist mainly why shes 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. Shes this big buff teenage girl whose face looks like it was ripped from the guys from Attack on Titan. She loves kendo but shes also super kind ladylike and she enjoys feminine hobbies like sewing. Shes 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 authors works. The stories she tells the characters she creates and her sense of humor really appeal to me. Im 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 Id 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 cant 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 Im glad I put in the extra effort to read it. Id recommend this to anyone looking for a fresh and funny romcom that treats its eccentric characters seriously.