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Hi, person who reads this ~ ^-^
Maybe you already read into this Manga or just not yet.

But one thing is clear about this Manga:
It divides many minds.
And the reason is almost only the age gap between the protagonists Himeko and her soon to be husband. That is already mentioned in the synopsis.

But next to that "issue"...the writing of Nagakura Hiroko is refreshing and enriching, the Art Style of her is so detailed, accurate and very expressive (ugh I fell in love with it! (^▽^)ψ), the character designs are perfect (to me) and so variable even though there wasn't much to learn about ... yet BUT still I could sense each characters personality, AND the story telling is so satisfying (at least to me xD) - not exaggerated, not lame / not too fast, not too slow - just so so right that I now really cannot wait to read more. I already know it is going to be one of my favourite Manga of all time! >.<
[I hope more & more people get to know the Manga "Smoke & Honey" and someone will be able to translate it officially, so it and the Mangaka are supported in the process!]

So yes, I really can't wait for and I am looking forward to more, because for this Manga my heart skips some nice beats. XD As the Female Lead is 12, the Manga awakes my inner child, that wants to be protected, helped out, taken care of and taken to adventures...that wants to learn a lot and be capable of the things that life is about, to be a good person some day.
Even though the Male Lead is 18 years older and her fiancé, I actually enjoy how Nagakura Hiroko portrays their relationship in her Manga! Male Lead is like a fatherly and competent companion for the FL. No wonder Nagakura Hiroko chose the protagonists dynamic to be fiancés/man and wife. It is super interesting and fascinating how the Manga handles it, especially the romantic tension.

Be curious if you can. You might really enjoy the Manga Smoke and Honey

So so so... how am I gonna do this review ... I'll be honest, I don't know, BUT still I wanted to give my impression on this Manga.

What I noticed after I finished the last uploaded chapter ~ 38 (my favourite one, ehehe) ~ is, for this manga to be enjoyed, you need to take your time and maybe take pauses. This manga is full of action - not in the sense of the genre despite a lot of fight sequences - but rather, there's happening so much rapidly in a row, it is very easy to accidentally skip some pivotal points. I got ... so confused that then the Manga seemed less enjoyable as whole, because I didn't follow everything concentrated. To not let this happen, I again recommend to slowly read and observe the Manga. Because it ain't a good-feel Slice of Life or an easy show with simple matters. What also leads into my advice to be slow is the Art Style, thus very lively, rich on detail but sharp and clean enough to perceive it good when paid attention to.

That aside; for me this Manga is again "a Manga that has potential in its story/lore, characters, and so on, but it didn't know exactly how to do it the right-right way" (I love Yakuza, psychological, and romance as a side thing) (there are some very interesting characters to me .. except the female protagonist xD).
The story tries to be and present something and a lot of times the Mangaka did a great job. Still, some chapters and moments felt unnecessary and drawn out; through tedious back and forth chatter and speculations of the characters, whereas to my PERSONAL taste some parts and information just could've been presented easier, faster and more excitingly. I feel like the manga missed suspension on parts that probably should have been more exciting. (Or it just is my personal taste after all xD)

Now I know this is totally contradictory to the above statement of mine. But exactly these two contradicting occurrences got me so confused and irritated about whether I like the Manga or not, also because I love the "genres" and some of their potential wasn't portrayed as I wished. So:
- All this stuff: Story/Lore/Telling + Dynamic (I don't know how you call all this professionally.)
= 6/10 ...(￣▽￣)...

From another point of view: I think this manga is very beautiful drawn. Props to the Mangaka, really! The art style quickly developed into an incredibly aesthetical piece of art to me. (I saved some good shots of this Manga for inspiration ;) I even liked the art style from the beginning and had the impression a few times that the drawing style was somewhere similar to Komi Can't Communicate. :D
- For the Art Style definitely:
= 9/10 , especially for the recently uploaded chapters (´｡• ω •｡`) ♡

What also, in a weird way, fascinates me personally are the characters. Above all, most of the male characters (including the older ones), but also the female supporting characters, are refreshingly staged and have their unique, albeit a bit exaggerated, personalities. And that is nice.
When it comes to the female protagonist, I find her from chapter to chapter, more even from scene to scene, likeable or absolutely annoying. Her personality doesn't seem stable as for a main character; she is rather one-dimensional and has barely depth. Unfortunately, I can only give her my sympathy for few moments and then again, I simply don't like her behaviour over the course of the manga.
(Most of the time she is annoyed and gets pissed off over a lot of little things (that maybe should be funny but I don't feel it), and then suddenly she is portrayed as someone that should be seen as special...sometimes she does unusual stuff, but I guess in the Manga it is just not good presented enough that her character really hooks me.

- Sooo the Character/Personality Design (1 minus point due to FemaleLead):
= 6/10 ...(￣▽￣)...

This Love is Strawberry Sweet - yes it is ma'am! A lot of thanks to Mangaka >Irono< of this work of hers!

This Manga hits so right in my mind. - Story telling, details, humour, romance dynamic, characters themselves etc. - are so readily to read, it's inspiring for my creative and artistic mind and made me chuckle so many times.

I thought I will never find a manga that goes along with my peculiar taste ... and what I mean by that is: I adore age gap stories that go slowly and in a realistic but fluffy way (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧, a female protagonist who is ... mature for their age, ain't a pain in the ass and through the way she is presented you can better understand a bit of the multi-dimensional being of her - what I mean by that is she ain't lame xD.
The Male Lead is respectful and sees the Female Lead as a real potential partner for the good of his future! Yey! [FUN FACT: I've seen some comments on the Male Lead that go like: "I love me a gentle giant🍓" "Ahhhhh I'm screaming, a tall hot rugged kuudere ojisan" "Never would I thought that I'll be jealous of a strawberry... This delicious long haired, tall, rough looking ossan IS GOING TO BE THE DEATH OF ME." AHAHAHA - you gonna say this too ... trust me!^^
The main character designs are not over-sweetened and/or exaggerated especially for the manga or anime "vibe" like we have it nowadays (in my perspective). Instead there is a realistic take on their life of understandable protagonists and side characters. And I love that. So yes, the other characters are also well written.
Of course we have some moments of oh so beautiful or dramatic coincidences, but at least they add something positive in terms of the narrative. In this Manga you really enjoy reading these more imaginative "overdone" moments. Especially in contrast to other Josei/Shoujo Mangas that took it to the moon - I even think of overdramatic contrivances in many Bollywood Dramas...and these are yikes to me.

So to be very clear: This Manga is not really like the other romance show/novels ~ stories - I really mean what I just said - It is realistic, you want to know what's next, it's mature and not full of strange, irritating and dumb drama b*shit. So what it is then? It is ANOTHER LEVEL OF WHOLESOMENESS - and I love the fluff. Have I even mentioned: There is healthy COMMUNICATION between them! What a TWIST and rarity in Shoujo/Josei kind of Mangas ahaha xD

So now...just read the Manga fellas^-^!

You start to read this amazing (webtoon or eBook) manga and think: Well, what have I got myself into?! What is that romance dynamic? Hardly encountered one like that one... Well, reasonable questions and conclusion. And the answer is:
You got yourself into an authentic adult love story, telling us about a gemmy woman Chako who escaped an arranged marriage, your best cute girl Futaba (even better then Anya) and your definitely not communication-skilled but (to me at least) still so very lovable man Isshin. He definitely is not everyone's cup of "tea" - aaahaha - but if you keep in mind that he has ... a story and past himself too, you may be able to understand his behaviour;)

This story, surrounded by the theme 'tea' as they live and work on a tea-farm at quick time together, gets your heart for the sake of its mature love- and realistic life-dynamic. It's not the usual manga that goes around right now so this manga could be a bit irritating for some people but this is exactly what I personally searched for. If you also searching for a manga you can follow with your mature but shy heart - this is the right one. Convince yourself.

Yamanaka Umebachi is an awesome Mangaka, don't underestimate her storytelling. She surprised me with a lot of moments in the manga I really did not expect!

As far as I am informed UPDATE: there are now 32 Chapters (8 volumes) translated into English, and soon it'll be more. Whom I can't wait for. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

This is a very biased review:

As a lover of age gap stories and the quite possibly occurring romantic tension between a teacher and a student, this collection hits exactly my taste. Every chapter is written and drawn by a different mangaka/artist, so every chapter has its own special charm even though those only catch just a short glimpse of the depth and background of each of the short stories. But the variation of stories, dynamics and characters are great. Every couple/teacher & student has a different point, atmosphere, flavour to it.

This is not your typical manga in which one is supposed to identify with ... the main characters. Here you rather accompany and take notice of the little romantic slices in the lifes of the shown persons. It's their story. (What I think could actually happen or have happend in our real world too.)

For me every chapter leaved behind a particular warm feeling. I especially favour chapter 02, 05, 07, 09.
Overall I'd describe this anthology as mature, wholesome and wistful.
It very is worth a read.

Sooo, as someone who really adores it to the core of my heart, that the male lead has a wholesome gentleman-vibe with the right amount of sexual lust/appetite, this smut manga is just right.
The fact that it is a human-beast relationship is totally not the problem xD. Both main characters do have such a great fundament on developing a bonding relationship in the Manga, out of growing and learning from each other. That aspect gives this manga a really deep and kinda realistic and relatable quality.
The story telling in comparasing to other Mangas coming out at the moment is so authentic and one ... actually feels the relationship between the cute female lead and the big male-beast lead glowing up and bonding to something serious.

For me in particular there just could've been even more scenarios of the beast side of the wall, to bring the story to an even bigger significance and more meaningful conversations between more characters, as almost all the characters were good written.
I am just always wishing that the female lead would also show more playful and "dirty" initiative; in this story here it could be her also biting or petting him(I MEAN HE WOULD LOVE IT RIGHT? XD) ~ but that's just me ~ overall a very solid 10. ＼(￣▽￣)／