The Fall 2023 Manga Guide

Honey Trap Shared House

What's It About? 

As a child, Hayato promised to marry his first love, Seraphy. Fifteen years later, he has become one of the world's greatest spies, all while never falling for the temptations of enemy agents. A mission to expose rival operatives turns chaotic when Hayato reunites with Seraphy, and each realizes the other is a spy. Now the pair must live together, torn between love and duty. The question is…who will break first?

Honey Trap Shared House has a story by Masamune Kuji and art by Koichi Kozuki. The English translation is by Ko Ransom with lettering and touch-up by Chiho Christie. Published by Yen Press (October 24, 2023).


Content warning: Explicit sexual content.

Is It Worth Reading?

Christopher Farris

Rating:

I feel like there's a misconception that many reviewers don't rate fanservice manga that well because they think it's too stupid or lowbrow. But that's not the case; I am a simple man, and I'm not asking for my bawdy trash to be overly clever, just that it be stupid in unique, interesting ways. People just living together in a house, getting into sexy accidents? Yawn. Those people living in that house because they're all undercover spies and are engineering sexy accidents to coerce the other spies over to their side? You, keep talking. Sure, most of the horny happenings are technically of the vanilla variety glimpsed in many other manga like this. However, recontextualizing them as tactical espionage action adds an extra layer to make the humor accompanying the horniness more sputter-worthy.

Similarly, the oft-deployed childhood friends angle works wonders in this situation: It provides a reason why otherwise ice-cold super-spy Hayato would have his taciturn talents tested by these temptresses and allows for interlocking approaches in all the agents trying to turn each other. It also means the "Everyone who went to the same orphanage together wound up becoming espionage agents" plot contrivance might work as a point if you presume the institution was some sort of spy talent farm. It's almost distressing the clever amount of sense that makes coming from this silly tiddie manga. Heck, this book even trots out the tired old "Woman who can't cook" gag but then follows it up by having Hayato think he's been poisoned and having to synthesize up some Secret Spy Antidote. That's a great bit!

The only real issue I take, and I almost hate to be this guy, is the way Honey Trap Shared House feels like it's limiting its options due to how heteronormative and male-gaze-focused it is. There's an alternate, even more outrageous, version of this story about all the spies clumsily trying to seduce each other, not just Hayato, as he gets to bare all and try his own honey pot techniques. There are whiffs of that, mostly a couple of snippets later in the volume where it becomes clear he's inadvertently charming the girls by being sweetheart househusband material. The fanservice on display works well enough in the vanilla variety, especially if you're a fan of huge honkers (to the degree that remarking on this element is the total of the artist's notes at the beginning). Occasionally, there's something outlandishly clever, like a cutaway shot of Seraphy's braless breasts pressing against the inside of her own shirt. But then the rest of it is akin to stuff like the whole bonus chapter dedicated to putting Seraphy in a new titties-out outfit on every page. So you're getting a solid presentation of the kind of content you come to a manga like this for, with a clever enough story framework to make it stand out as decently entertaining, even if it's still not all it could be.

MrAJCosplay

Rating:

Man, this series is brilliant. What happens when you take the over-the-top comedies and misunderstandings of Spy×Family but give it an ecchi rating? You get Honey Trap Shared House, and much like the name implies, this series focuses on the art of seduction. For those who don't know, honey trapping is a technique that spies and agents will use to seduce their targets to either get information from them or convert them to their side. We start wholesome with two young orphans who promise to marry each other when they get older, only for them to grow up into Mr. and Mrs. Smith on opposing sides of an ongoing war. They don't think the other knows that they're a spy and, therefore, try to use seductive tactics to recruit them over.

It's silly, but damn is it entertaining. Sometimes, the sheer lengths these characters will go to keep up their façade is hilarious, and the sexy scenes are funny because they're always framed around this veil of awkwardness due to all of the characters' experiences. Despite that, it has a solid heart, and it can get surprisingly intense when it wants to. This is a spy thriller, first and foremost, with a lot of ecchi comedy sprinkled throughout. It does an excellent job creating that balancing act, and I highly recommend this if you're looking for a good time.