Opposites attract in the Jdrama Honey So Sweet (2018) starring Hirano Sho, Taira Yuna, and Yokohama Ryusei

Movie: Honey So Sweet

Country: Japan

Year: 2018

Length: 105 minutes

Genre: Friendship, Comedy, Romance, School, Youth

Starring: Sho Hirano, Yuna Taira, Ryusei Yokohama, Kaho Mizutani

My Rating: ★★★★ out of 5

You can find a list of my Japanese drama reviews on my Japanese Drama and Movie Reviews page. 

Many thanks to RJGMan56 Subs for the fansubs! It's because of folks like this person that we're able to watch quality Japanese content with subtitles! You can either stream or download with English subs from their website, go to THIS PAGE!

This film is marketed as Honey, but it's based on one of my favorite manga, Honey So Sweet by Amu Meguro.

It tells the story of red-haired delinquent Taiga Onise (Sho Hirano) and self-professed scaredy-cat Nao Kogure (Yuna Taira). On the first day of high school, Onise calls Kogure out behind the school, and asks her to date him with marriage in mind. He knows it's because she lifted his spirits once in middle school when he'd been beaten up pretty badly and was huddled on a bridge. She just thinks she's being bullied by a delinquent. Turns out that delinquent can cook, knows how to smile, and wants what's best for the people around him. He notices and cares when one of his classmates, Ayumu Misaki (Ryusei Yokohama), is alone and depressed. And he reaches out to help socially awkward Miyabi Nishigaki (Nana Asakawa), a girl who never quite knows the right thing to say at the right time. Kogure even makes a friend in classmate Kaya Yashiro (Kaho Mizutani), something she never imagined happening before. She's starting to spread her wings. As Kogure starts to realize all of Onise's good points, she's understanding that her feelings for him might just go deeper than she originally thought and that the crush on her Uncle Sou that she's had for years might just be filial love after all. But will her realization of her feelings come too late? Will she be able to clearly communicate with Onise how her feelings for him have developed?

Kogure being brave.

I struggled a bit in writing this review. I wrote one version that railed on the differences between the movie and the manga, but now, finally decided that I had to judge the movie as much as possible on its own merit. Because what we have here is a movie that is probably 65% accurate to the Honey so Sweet manga. And while I might prefer the manga overall, the movie is also excellent. It's not an excellent adaptation, but it's an excellent story on its own, so the two things, manga and movie, really are very separate.

So we'll go with that version of the review.

Onise after he was all heroic on the school camping trip.

Sho Hirano-san is outstanding as Taiga Onise in Honey So Sweet.

He plays a gentle, lonely soul who falls in love with Kogure before he even knew her name. She did him a kindness when everyone else steered clear of him. So he made a decision to change his fighting ways (or at least, the reasons why he fought). There's a joyfulness to Hirano-san's performance that is charming. He's a likable incarnation of Taiga Onise, and I adore him in the role. Yuna Taira as Kogure is equally excellent. She's well-paired with Hirano-san, and she just sparkles with a cute vibrancy. She's actually the most like her manga character, I would say. And because I can't not mention him, yes, Ryusei Yokohama is terrific. He doesn't get a whole lot of screen time, but he gets enough, and it's fun having him there as the best friend to Onise.

My favorite scene in the film, ahhhh, he stops her head from hitting the table when she falls asleep.

One of the awesome things is the total lack of a genuine love triangle. That's a good change, in my opinion, from the manga that had a couple of different love triangles going on. There's also a really solid moment of understanding for Onise as to how he can live up to saying that he will protect Kogure. It's a common thing to say in Japan, but at the same time, for Kogure who has lost both her parents, saying that he'll protect her and make her happy has to have a deeper meaning. Her uncle exhibits smatterings of character traits from the manga, but my favorite scene with him is not from the manga, actually. He has come to a full acceptance of Kogure's maturity and growth, and he lets her go in this endearing moment that relives one of her growing-up moments when she was six and had just lost her parents. It's really quite precious.

And the other half of my favorite scene.

I'm also partial to stories where the boy can be the heroic figure. I'm old-school. I like boys being heroes in terms of saving the day and protecting the girl. Who would have thought a day would come when that would be considered weird? So I love Onise's protective side, and so does Kogure. He's valiant and kind and cute and shy and all of the adorable things, all while being completely masculine. They're an excellent example of the traditional masculine and feminine, actually. And for me, I love it.

Misaki giving Kogure a little bit of a pep talk (because I have to have a picture of Ryusei).

Now, on to content. Stolen kisses do bother some individuals (a question of consent), so I'll admit that Onise steals a kiss from Kogure while she's sleeping. It also happens to be one of the cutest scenes in the manga and in the movie, so . . .? Plus, he spends a ton of time on the guilt-trip train afterward, pure Onise. We do have a high school girl whose boyfriend is definitely in his early twenties whereas she's only 15. Not cool, but also, not necessarily shocking in Japan. I'm sorry to say. There are some brawls and a boy gets beat up pretty badly in a rather violent scene. A girl has clearly been hit by her boyfriend. There's some peril and jeopardy and a girl being threatened by scary guys. A boy lets himself get beat up. And of course, there's Kogure's crush on her uncle. A common trope that goes absolutely nowhere and makes me wonder why the mangaka put it in in the first place. *sighs*

The two lovebirds, Kogure and Onise, pinching each others' cheeks to make sure the moment is really happening.

I will say that there is an unfortunate lack of time. So a lot of the relational elements from the manga get skimmed over or skipped entirely. And things are changed, like Yoshiro's boyfriend's entire personality and Misaki's character design since he's a combo plate of Misaki and Futami (an annoying love rival for Kogure in the manga). Viewers who've read the manga should be aware of the changes, and viewers who've never read the manga, well, ya'll won't know what you're missing and that's okay. Because this story does work, it's just different. Like two different chefs making strawberry shortcakes with the same ingredients. Things will taste a little different, but it doesn't mean that one is bad, it just means that you'll probably prefer one over the other based on taste. 

And because I mentioned him, Kogure's uncle, Sou (a truly kind and generous man who loves her like a daughter)

I've watched the movie more than once, and I will watch it again. But if you can, read the manga. Because, love triangle craziness aside, it's ADORABLE!

Proof from my ever-growing manga collection.

And finally, this delightful music video by JustOneGirl (because I love including these). Keep in mind, what you're seeing is the creative license of the creator. It's not entirely accurate to the movie in terms of what's actually happening. But it's cute nonetheless.