Honey Hunt (ハニーハント Haniihanto) is a shōjo manga series by Miki Aihara, which began in 2006 in the magazine Cheese! and went on hiatus in 2009. It is licensed for English language release in North America by Viz Media.
Quiet and unassuming Yura Onozuka lives in the shadow of her famous celebrity parents: Yukari Shiraki, a beautiful and talented actress, and Takayuki Onozuka, the first Japanese composer to win an Academy Award. When her mother coldly announces that she and Yura's father are getting divorced, and Yura learns that her mother has been sleeping with her best friend and crush, Yura feels abandoned and left alone by everyone around her. Yura decides to become an actress with the goal of becoming a better actress than her mother so that she can show everyone that she is worth something as an individual, and not be judged a disappointment because she is continuously compared to her celebrity parents.
Keiichi Mizorogi, a professional manager formerly employed by Yura's father, scouts her to be an actress and aids her in her quest. Yura gradually develops the confidence to land the lead role in an upcoming television drama series. Along the way, Yura also gains the interest of two rising male idols: composer Q-Ta Minamitani, who first meets Yura when she is running away from her hotel during her parents' divorce, and his twin brother, Haruka Minamitani, a member of popular band Knights and the male lead of the drama in which Yura will star.
Has been on hiatus for years, and is most likely Quietly Cancelled.
This series has examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Yura's parents, of the neglectful variety. In chapter 22, it's revealed that Yukari is verbally abusive as well and expresses her expectations that Yura will fail.
- Beautiful All Along: Yura, when she loses the glasses and does something with that hair.
- Be Yourself: Yura fails most of her early auditions because she doesn't know how to relax. Q-ta finally tells her that she should be honest and treat the audition as if meeting a new friend.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Yukari, whose beauty is only skin deep.
- Extreme Doormat: Yura most of the time. She shows a spine at times though.
- Freudian Excuse: Yukari's is revealed in Chapter 22; her own parents were neglectful.
- Gold Digger: Q-ta makes the mistake of saying that marrying Yura would give him a lot of celebrity status, given her parents, at their first meeting. She immediately doubts any feelings he has for her, though he does offer useful advice to help her nail an audition.
- Happy Marriage Charade: Yura's parents start out this way. It then falls apart when they're caught cheating on each other.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Oh, Yura...
- I'm Taking Her Home with Me! : Q-Ta would like to, at least.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Q-ta, while making his gold-digging intentions clear, actually gives Yura the advice that allows her to pass an audition.
- Yura's father says that if she doesn't succeed as an actress then she has to choose between living with him in New York or with her mother. This actually is pretty valid given Yura is a minor living with several men, one of whom happens to be her manager, and not all actresses succeed.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Haruka
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Yukari, who wants Yura to fail and slept with her crush.
- Kick the Dog: Yukari refuses to let her husband visit Yura because she knows how the latter wants to be a Doting Parent.
- Orphaned Series: The manga hasn't seen any sort of continuation in over a decade, making this trope more than likely.
- Polar Opposite Twins: Q-ta and Haruka. One is a Gold Digger who is suave around Yura, the other is an honest Tsundere.
- Precision F-Strike: Yura tells the press that she wants her parents, both of them, to "Go to Hell."
- Prima Donna Director: Averted with Kenji Nakazono. He's a Nice Guy who can scout talent.
- Promoted to Parent: Keiichi Mizorogi, Yura's manager, takes her in after she refuses to live with either of her parents and takes care of her. He believes she can be a great actress.
- Rich Bitch: Yukari
- Shrinking Violet: Yura, which makes her acting career a bit difficult.
- Step Servant: If the maid is not at home, Yura is often made to wait on her mother and her clients when she comes home after being away at work for so long. Sometimes her mother is even gone for months at a time.
- Terrible Interviewees Montage: Inverted; Yura fails her first round of auditions because she is too shy. Q-ta's pep talk ends up landing her one.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Yura finally nails an audition when the director decides to take a chance on her after seeing her sudden confidence and honesty.
- Through His Stomach: Referenced; Yura during her audition for the udon noodle role says that she would like to try the bowl of udon noodles, and that it would make her a convert. Becomes an inversion when Kenji treats her to a bowl of udon for lunch, and she learns later that it was the second part of her audition.
- Tsundere: Haruka is a Type A male version for Yura.
- Unwanted Harem: Yura has three guys after her.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Yukari in spades. When Yura delivers a Precision F-Strike on camera that she wants both of her parents to "Go to Hell," while obviously upset, she manages to save her image by claiming she's going to become a better mother.
