Ok, I am seeing this on every forum dealing with this series, how everyone is so mad at the aunt for allowing Riki to continue working there after what he did to Shuri and maybe my reading comprehension is bad, but from what I gathered, Shuri's aunt doesn't actually know what really happened between her and Riki. I just re-read chapter 1 and after Shuri sees Riki working there and she freaks out, demanding her aunt to fire him, the aunt says:
A: " Ah, this is troublesome, he's the reason my niece hates men...."
S:"I'm the one who's in trouble! That asshole...Do you know what he made me go through?! Or how much he made me cry?!"
A; "[b]No, I don't. You[/b], never told me. Just how bad was it?"
S: "I...I don't even want to think about it. He was so cold and only thought about himself! He's just plain dirt!!"
A: "Why did you go out with him in the first place?"
S: "I was attracted to him at first."
A: See? You 2 had some good times. Besides Shuri, if he's the reason why you hate men, think of this as an opportunity to overcome that..."
S: "I don't need to overcome it!! If you're not going to make him quit, then I'll quit!"
R: "I don't mind quitting. When I found out that Shuri was your niece, I thought it would be kinda risky too. It's a pleasure to receive such an offer"
S: "It's a pleasure to receive such an offer What the....I'm amazed. I guess this means that he;s finally matured a little....Am I the only one who's holding on to the past and not growing up?"
A: "Ah, I'm at a lost! What should I do? Listen Shuri, I will do my best....to have you 2 work separately, and I'll support you, so...please? "
Shuri: "In that case...that's fine...I understand."
A: "She said it's ok!'
R: "...no, but..."
In all that exchange, it doesn't seem to me like the aunt knows it involved coerced sex. Shuri said he was cold, and uncaring, and that she really didn't want to talk about it. And ok, so that aunt was hesitant to let Riki go, since he's good at what he does, and it's her business who benefits from his abilities, but what does she really have to go by?
Her niece hates men because of Riki, but even before Riki coming into the picture, Shuri had emotional problems due to her abilities, her parents and friends were afraid of her abilities, so anything Riki could have done to her whatever minor would have shattered her already fragile stability. So her aunt can think of a million reasons of what went wrong, including possible rape, but if Shuri doesn't confirm anything to her, all she has to go by is the fact that her niece was already half-broken and Riki just finished breaking her.
Coming from someone who has sexual abuse in my background, I can say that living in the past is not healthy, so her aunt, and Minori telling her to move on is not a bad advice. It's actually the best advice they can give her, and her being able to talk to Riki is also good for her. I'm not saying that she should fall in love with him again, or that they should end up together, but if she can get over her trauma and is able to move on, and that involves being able to face Riki, then she's succeeded as a character.
So I think the trauma is being handled pretty well, besides everyone reacts to sexual abuse differently, both the victims and the people surrounding the victims.

I planned to write a long review of this manga, and it's half-done. I should've known better.. because I think the problem with this manga can be summed up to just one sentence : it's that one of the potential romantic partner in this manga is a rapist (and judging from his behaviour, a serial rapist). And from the recent chapters it can be seen that he's a strong, uh, contender. In a good manga, his place's in the prison. In this manga, his place is in the main character's f***ing office, working beside her (thanks to her aunt).

Which is a hundred kinds of wrong. No matter how good the character development is, that's... totally fucked up. Not to mention that it's the wrong kind of character development --- any story where the heroine's constantly pressured by her colleagues to forgive her rapist and is heading toward it, i.e forgiving (and the word 'forgiving' itself lacks nuance), is wrong.

There are several issues here as well, but the most nauseating one is that. And it's enough to make me stop reading.

... Last updated on January 26th, 2012, 1:57am

Nearly all Miho mangas not called Kodomo no Omocha are a weirdly dark an completely mediocre affair with nothing special in them. This series is though is special because it trivializes rape to an alarming degree as some have pointed out already and i would have dropped it anyway. So that is only icing on the cake.
The other offenders are the uninteresting love triangle(seriously?),very shallow leads, the lack of consequences to nearly anything, unengaged and suspenseles detective tales, a needless ESP(is this the 80s?) element and the highly thrown together scenario. So it certainly deserves to run in Cookie who is to my knowledge the worst shojo publisher out there. At least i will forget the manga next day as their publications tend to do.
Read Mars or Please Save My Earth instead for hard hitting shojo classics.

... Last updated on November 21st, 2014, 5:07pm

That's my first thought about the manga. I was really amazed and concerned at how there seems to be a message in the manga that forced sex is something that just needs to be "gotten over" with and forgotten. All the heroine's friends and her one main family, her aunt, think nothing of what she's going through. The heroine is obviously heavily scarred, and for good reason.

That being said, I've read all that has been translated. I really like the main character. She's a crier, but she isn't dumb and can really take care of herself. I also like the other guy who genuinely cares for her, and who is understanding about her past and is willing to help her deal with the trauma.

The detective part is neat too, and the aunt is an awesome investigator. This makes the manga good enough.

The positives don't quite make up for the one big negative, but they are enough to keep me interested in the story. I'm invested in the MC and her guy, because they're unique in shoujo.

Wholeheartedly agree with pshomid... I can't bring myself to continue this series because of the message the author is sending about abusive relationships and rape. Why is her aunt and everyone around her just telling her to grow up and forget about it? He clearly raped her and emotionally abused her on several occasions. The lack of remorse and the aura that shiki presents is even more disturbing. He takes the same position as her aunt, feeling she is childish while the author tries to play him off as the "cool guy" character. He successfully victimizes himself and gets her to apologize to him... This just boggles my mind.
TL;DR I can't read a manga that condones rape.

The plot is nice, not very complicated but entertaining. The factors that make me give it such a high rating are :
-good characters and character development. Except for the ex I find them all to be likeable. Well if the ex ever tries to justify himself and shuri accepts it I'll have to stop here. But I hope it won't happen.
-a romance situation that evolves ! At first I thought it would be left till the very end, but it was not the case. And the romance is well done too. Again I hope it will not involve the ex ever.
-good art, though not baffling.
- a good team that works on it. Yes, it does count when you can have new chapters regularly in a high quality, and that you can expect the project won't be dropped. At least for me, so I also evaluate it.

In the end, highly recommended.
I just hope the author doesn't make a blatant mistake.

... Last updated on January 30th, 2012, 10:43am

i've only read two chapter but its good
mihos other mangas where also nice to read
though 1 bit childish

One of the most irksome things about this manga is that she has not even tried to get vengance and is actually able to talk to him. Honestly, he should rot in hell. I love her as a character though, and her and Youta together is perfect. The author had better now screw it up and pair Riki and her together.
If I were her friend I'd douse him in gasoline so she could light the match and crisp him as black as his heart T_T

... Last updated on June 16th, 2013, 7:19pm

This series is awesome! It gets everything right. Usually manga with the whole "hatred of men" thing fall flat. But the heroin in this series not only has a legit reason to hate men, she also doesn't magically get over it by falling instantly in love with some hot guy. Even if you don't like shoujo leads who are more the crybaby type, don't let this deter you. The series is called Honey Bitter after all, and her whinyness is justified. (Not to mention, it looks like we're going to get some fabulous character growth throughout the series.) In fact, all the characters and their emotions seem well thought out. Not to mention the male lead is completely adorable.

It's also refreshing that it's not 100% about the romance and the female leads past trauma. There's a nice plot involving detectives and the female leads ESP abilities that keeps the story interesting as well.

I would highly recommend this! Obana-sensi does not disappoint!