Honey Hunt Vol. 2 (Miki Aihara, Cheese)
Yura is an ordinary high school girl who intends to take revenge on her famous mother by becoming an even bigger star then she is. Why does she want revenge? Eh, who cares? The point is that Yura is on her way to becoming the newest acting sensation and she’s got three gorgeous men to accompany her. There’s Keiichi, Yura’s manager, and the twins, Q-ta and Naruka. The fact that this manga is part of the reverse-harem genre is clearer than ever. The series is taking on a number of different conventions and themes at once, perhaps most importantly the mangaka’s reoccurring theme of escapism.
Yura easily overcomes the obstacle that affronted her at the end of the first volume and remarkably, she does it by completely becoming the character she’s playing. This scene demonstrates a connection between acting and escapism. But it’s important to keep in mind that the whole manga works as escapism for the reader. The reader, however, is more interested in the reverse-harem aspect of the story, not seeing Yura succeed as a career woman. To accomplish this, Yura must fail as an actress. She must remain an ordinary high school girl at all times. I feel this is the manga’s core dichotomy. Normally it’s obvious that the protagonists of harem stories will never amount to much. Here it’s more of an ugly possibility. A couple key questions remain. What does it mean to succeed as a career woman? What does it mean to remain a dull school girl?
To answer the second question, you’d have to assume Yura will remain under the care of her harem. She’s already living with her manager. It must sound like a fantasy, but somewhere along the lines, things turn sour. When Keiichi says to Yura, “It’s my job to make you popular” he’s not merely describing his occupation, he’s describing his function within the reverse-harem genre. He’s willing act in way that hurts Yura if he sees it as beneficial to her career. But is it her acting career or her career as a reverse-harem manga protagonist that he cares about? There’s a funny duality on display in this scenario. The only difference between the two careers is that one relies on skill, the other not so much…
As for the first question, it presents a whole other load of issues. The real question is how can Yura possibly succeed? A lot is said about Yura’s parents and their array of successes. You might say Yura has some very sexy genes. Indeed, even one of her harem members, Q-ta, can’t see past them. He adores her father and his music more than her. As the harem master, this frustrates her greatly. Yet Q-ta also dislikes Yura because she is bland. Somehow, his passion for music allows him to exist outside of genre conventions for the most part. The irony here is that if Yura succeeds in taking revenge on her mother by becoming a bigger actress then she’ll only succeed because of the genes she inherited from her mother. Success and genetics go hand-in-hand in manga but never before has it been so confounding.
As things are now, Yura will only be able to become a popular actress because of the gorgeous men that take interest in her.
St. Dragon Girl Vol. 1 (Natsumi Matsumoto, Ribon)
Sugar Princess: Skate to Win Vol. 1 (Hisaya Nakajo, Hana to Yume)
I’m going to do everybody a favor and say as little about these books as possible. I pretty much hated them. St. Dragon Girl can be summed up as “whatever the heroine dislikes turns out to be evil so she can rightfully dispose of it”. Sugar Princess was just stupid. In one scene the rink owner agrees that if the skating team wins a competition, he won’t close down the rink. Why the heck would winning a competition suddenly make keeping a financial lose worthwhile? It got to the point where it started to seem like the mangaka was mocking her readers. I feel sorry for the unsuspecting preteen girls who pick this up expecting a good, wholesome story about skating.


