Watari Sakou’s Honey Trap Method is finished. The 121st issue of Kodansha’s Ane Friend revealed that the manga will end in the magazine’s next issue, out December 1.
The second and final compiled volume follows digitally on January 20. Two volumes total, which makes this a short series even by the standards of a romance magazine.
What the manga is about
Honey Trap Method follows Uta Manman, the only daughter of a family of spies. She will do anything to win the family succession, including throwing away her virginity, and the premise hangs on her being bad at the one skill the job requires. She is still learning to run honey traps when she meets a certain man.
The setup plays for comedy as much as for romance. The title is literal: a honey trap is an espionage term for using romantic or sexual appeal to pull information or compliance out of a target, and the series hands that job to a protagonist who keeps fumbling it. The joke writes itself, and the manga leans on it.
How it got here
Sakou launched the series on the Palcy service on March 15, then brought it to Ane Friend in the magazine’s 114th issue on April 1. Kodansha released the first volume digitally on September 20.
From a mid-March debut to a December finale is under nine months of serialization, and the print life of the series will be two volumes.
That double launch is worth noting. Starting on an app and then adding the series to a magazine is a common way to test whether a premise holds up, because the app numbers come in fast and cheap. Sometimes that route produces a long runner. Sometimes it produces two volumes and a clean ending, which is what happened here.
Sakou’s track record
Sakou is not new to this. The previous series, Tejō to Hachimitsu (Handcuffs and Honey), ran in Ane Friend from December 2023, and Kodansha published its second compiled volume in December 2024.
English readers may know Sakou from Cosplay Animal, the 14-volume series Kodansha USA Publishing released digitally.
Ending or cancellation?
A quick ending is not automatically a cancellation, and nothing in the announcement says which it is. Ane Friend runs a mix of short and long series, and a two-volume romance with a clear premise can simply reach its natural stopping point. Sakou’s next project has not been announced either way, and there is no farewell message quoted in the magazine notice.
When readers can finish it
The final chapter lands December 1 in Ane Friend’s next issue, and the second volume arrives digitally on January 20. No print edition of volume two has been announced, and the first volume was digital-only, so digital is the safe assumption.
An English release has not been announced either. Kodansha has also not said whether the series will stay readable on Palcy after it ends, which matters more than usual for a digital-first title with no print run to fall back on.
Why it matters
Two-volume series are the part of the manga market that English readers almost never see, because licensing tends to follow length. A title that ends at volume two rarely gets picked up, which means the announcement of its ending is often the last time anyone outside Japan hears about it. If you were waiting for a translation before starting, the window is closing.
The manga also sits in a wave of ending announcements this fall. Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign wraps on December 4, Drama Queen has four chapters left, and Daily Report About My Witch Senpai closes with its final two volumes shipping December 16. December is going to be busy for readers trying to finish things before the year turns.
Source: Anime News Network, citing Ane Friend issue 121.
Featured image: Honey Trap Method volume cover art, via Anime News Network / Kodansha.
