Akabane Honeko no Bodyguard
Honeko Akabane's Bodyguards

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Pretty decent.

Mafia, spies, secrets, and lies are inherently woven into the classic romcom formula. Sometimes it's a throwaway side character who's secretly a trained assassin, or a love interest whose father is the head of the yakuza. But if love is war, and war has no rules, then these lies of omission are all fair game. Perhaps the prevalence of these stereotypes is a symbolic representation of how love leads us astray from reality, though they usually take the form of yet another cliche that helps sell more merchandise. With the success of Spy x Family, it's no surprise that we're seeing more stories that ... are breathing life back into these tropes, and Akabane Honeko no Bodyguard is definitely following in the right footsteps.

In this story, various factions of the yakuza find out that their boss has an illegitimate daughter: a young high school girl named Honeko. This throws a wrench in their internal battle for succession, as this unassuming high school girl now has a right to challenge this position. The yakuza boss thus entrusts a delinquent named Ibuki, one of Honeko's childhood friends, to guard his daughter from the various assassins that are after her life. The catch is that he doesn't want Honeko to know her true identity, meaning that Ibuki must also keep the secret of Honeko's identity and his battles with the assassins from her prying eyes. The setpieces for this story consist of: a deadline set to graduation, a supporting cast of tarot-card-based-specialist-secret-agent-classmates, extremely generic/edgy/dramatic villains, and a childhood promise between the two leads. But although the plot points and supporting cast are generic drama manga staples, the execution makes for a pretty fun time.

My favorite part of this manga so far is how well the two main characters mesh together. Despite her appearance and role in the story, Honeko breaks past the prim & proper stereotype, instead choosing to be a little headstrong, express complex emotions, and have goals/aspirations of her own. Like most high school romcom protagonists, Honeko performs a delicate balancing act between volatile maturity and childish obliviousness. However, unlike many of her counterparts, she is not intentionally insufferable and her outbursts are reasonable and understandable. On a similar note, Ibuki is the classic bold, brash, scary-looking loner whose serious demeanor instantly breaks down when Honeko is involved. However, unlike many annoying romcom characters who fall under this stereotype, he isn't stubborn beyond disbelief and makes several concessions throughout the story for the sake of the girl he likes. In this way, Ibuki shows that the power of love makes him not only capable of inhuman feats of strength, but also maturity and growth as a person.

At the end of the day, despite the guns and theatrics, Ibuki and Honeko's story boils down to two people in love who, despite the secrets and lies, are willing to make great sacrifices for each other. And really, isn't that what matters?

Looking forward to reading the rest.