is a shōjo

Shojo

The term refers to manga marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10-18. The name romanizes the Japanese 少女 , literally: "little female". Shōjo manga covers many subjects in a variety of narrative and graphic styles, from historical drama to science fiction — often with a strong...

 manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 by Miho Obana

Miho Obana

is a shōjo manga artist born in Tokyo, Japan.She began her manga career as an assistant to Momoko Sakura, creator of Chibi Maruko-chan. She debuted in 1990 with the Mado no Mukō, which was published in the autumn 1990 issue of Ribon Bikkuri...

.

Plot summary

Honey Bitter revolves around a girl named Shuri who was mistreated by her ex boyfriend, Riki. She grew a hate for men in general after she had broken up with him, and wanted to start over fresh with her life. She started to work for aunt's company, using her ability to see things before they happened as a stepping stone to becoming a great detective. However, by mistake, her aunt hires her ex for the company as well, and Shuri's life takes a turn for the worse as she must put up with him now.

Characters

Shuri has ESP

Extra-sensory perception

Extrasensory perception involves reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind. The term was coined by Frederic Myers, and adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as telepathy, clairaudience, and...

, and a tendency to act very cold towards men due to her experiences with her ex, Riki. She works at "Office S", her Aunt Saho's detective

Detective

A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...

 agency.

A brilliant yet almost silent detective. When he met Shuri in high school, he abused her, even raping her once and striking her repeatedly. Now that he's joined the "Office S" staff, he acts as if nothing happened between him and Shuri, and at points even seems to show romantic interests in her.

Youta Kubo

The boy Shuri met when she was in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 at a shooting range

Shooting range

A shooting range or firing range is a specialized facility designed for firearms practice. Each facility is typically overseen by one or more supervisory personnel, called variously a range master or "RSO – Range Safety Officer" in the United States or a range conducting officer or "RCO" in the UK...

. He rented one of Saho's apartments. When he could not pay the rent, he confronted Saho, who offered to let him pay his rent later in return for his services as a bodyguard

Bodyguard

A bodyguard is a type of security operative or government agent who protects a person—usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure—from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of confidential information, terrorist attack or other threats.Most important public figures such...

. He has a past in kickboxing

Kickboxing

Kickboxing refers to a group of martial arts and stand-up combat sports based on kicking and punching, historically developed from karate, Muay Thai and western boxing....

, as well as a crush the size of Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

on Shuri. Throughout the series, he makes many advances on Shuri, but stops whenever she shows any sign of discomfort.

Volumes

1. ISBN 4-08-856548-7 published on June 20, 2004
2. ISBN 4-08-856592-4 published on February 20, 2005
3. ISBN 4-08-856646-7 published on October 19, 2005
4. ISBN 4-08-856753-6 published on June 15, 2007