Normally proportioned girls and varied sex makes this a title worth picking up.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Umashika
Translation/Adaptation: Sebastien Azar
What They Say
Seven intensely erotic stories with submission as the main theme. Misato – Two security guards become unwitting test subjects for their company’s aphrodisiac, losing themselves to their secret lesbian desires for one another. Cage of the Banquet – A corporate spy is slowly transformed into a sex slave by her sadistic captor and his assistant… the girl she was supposed to rescue!
Packaging:
And this one time, at band camp . . . The front cover depicts a girl checking her flute for other, non-musical uses. The back cover has a cute girl dressed like a 18th century musician, very cute but doesn’t correspond to any chapters in this book. This is another good book from Icarus Publishing, smudge free with good panel alignment and sizing. Extras consist of a couple humorous pages of back and forth banter between the women of the different chapters. There is also the Icarus glossary of honorifics and pronunciation guide.
Artwork:
Umashika’s art is more realistic than some ero-manga styles. Honeybee Whispers characters are proportioned and there is good use of crosshatching for shading. While most of the women have very similar bodies, they are all attractive and each girl is easily discerned from another. The author obviously has a thing for shaven women, so furburger hunters should look elsewhere. Backgrounds are sparse, but I appreciated the minimal use of screen tone and the greater use of speed lines for action and crosshatching for shading.
Text/SFX:
Oh yeah, my man Azar is back on translation for this book and it shows. The difference in quality between the two Icarus translators is surprising. The dialogue reads well and I only recall one misspelled word. Honorifics remain in translation along with the Japanese SFX, which lack an English translation that could add to the story.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Honeybee Whispers is a collection of short stories, but much to my enjoyment two different stories span more than one chapters. These multi-chapter stories are definitely two of my favorite in this book. The Sweet Scent story of Yuuka and Misato is just plain hot, especially if you’re a fan of girl/girl scenes. Both girls work as partners for a security firm tasked with guarding shipments of industry secrets for wealthy companies. The sex in this story kicks off when Misato escorts a businessman carrying a new perfume formula into an office building. The guy succeeded in delivering his work package, but now he has ideas about delivering his own package. After temporarily paralyzing Misato with an aerosol spray, he proceeds to tweak her naughty bits until she screams for sex. Things only get funkier after the guy disappears and the perfume company’s head honchos show up. In the meantime, the deliveryman sneaks back down to the car where Yuuka is waiting. Let us just say that Yuuka and Misato eventually find themselves tied together and sexually joined with their nightsticks. Do both girls swing that way? If they don’t, can they find it in themselves to enjoy it?
There is the almost obligatory office lady story where a hottie has been sexually trained to fulfill the desires of the company president and the student that blackmails his teacher for sex story. Sexier than those is the chapter about a female elevator conductor probed by a stranger while the elevator is full of passengers.
The other two-chapter story should please the girls in glasses fans out there. Company spying leads a woman into the underbelly of a competitors firm. Turns out being built like Ron Jeremy drives some chicks wild. Will glasses girl fall prey to the sexual prowess of her enemy? Why not, the last spy did.
In Summary
This is a solid release from Icarus. Umashika’s art is good and the sex is varied enough for most tastes out there. One aspect that many ero-manga fans seem to hate or love is when an artist does not draw the faces of the male characters. Umashika’s falls into that category of ero-manga artists with his refusal to draw the faces of his male characters. Most scenes depict guys from the nose down or hide their faces with heavy shadowing. Faces or no, it doesn’t bother me much, but fair warning for those that have a strong dislike for this practice.
I’m really glad to see Azar translating this book and I hope Icarus will someday use his services exclusively. The rest of the book is solid and the fairly tame sex should make it palatable to most ero-manga fans out there. Easily recommended.
Overall Hotness (1 to 5): 4:Orgasmic!
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 18+
Released By: Icarus Publishing
Release Date: July 31st, 2008
MSRP: $19.95
