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Honey and Clover: The Reality
By aimee | March 22, 2010
I’ve been meaning to write something about Honey and Clover ever since I finished watching it a year ago, but I’ve just been either busy or too lazy to write. LOL.
Honey & Clover got my attention when I first saw it in Animax, because of its weird opening theme with the animated food art. Of course, at that time I didn’t get its connection with the anime, not knowing that this series is about friends attending an art university. Although, good choice on opening theme, right? It definitely peaked my interest. I didn’t know what episode I first chanced upon but it involved Hagumi Hanamoto or aka Hagu-chan looking at Ayumi Yamada’s legs and looking back at her own and crying because of the huge difference in them. Hagu’s was thin while Yamada’s was voluptuous. Poor thing was so depressed that her body doesn’t look a bit as a teenager’s body should be (or in her case, Yamada’s body) that she couldn’t help but cry. It was just so cute to see! What made the scene even cuter is when Shinobo Morita tried to console her and ended up crying as well when Hagu mentioned the size of Yamada’s breasts! Major LOL moment there for me!
So then, I started watching it and found myself looking forward to every episode. What made t really interesting is the fact that this tackles the reality of life and not the fantasy or the idealistic world we want to live in. Just for a backgrounder, the story centers on the lives of five close friends attending an art college – Hagumi, Morita, Mayama, Takemoto, and Yamada. Those who’ve already seen this know that although romantic feelings are involved within the group, no one really got together in the end. It deals with that harsh reality of unrequited love but it didn’t depict it as an unfortunate thing. Sure, the drama was there but at the end, the characters are portrayed as contented and happy despite the absence of romantic love, and their friendship remained intact.
Moreover, Honey & Clover subtly focused more on the passion for the arts of the characters and their life in an art college. The struggle, the pressure, the talent, the passion, and the work involved in pursuing one’s own dream are clearly shown by each of them. Takemoto struggled to find his own “art” even having to go on a journey; Hagumi has been through so much pressure because of others’ expectations of her due to her amazing art; Morita shows his really got talent despite appearing to be happy-go-lucky and uncaring most of the time; Yamada continued to pursue her talent amidst the heartache she often has to go through and even channeling this to better her art; and Mayama continues to work hard and responsibly even though there are issues in his work place.
But of course, this is an anime we’re talking about and so the ‘comedic’ element can never be absent. The seemingly impossible comedic stunts that animes are known for is what completes the perfect formula of Honey & Clover’s depiction of life. After all, what is life without some fun and excitement, right? 
Topics: Anime Addiction, Honey & Clover | 4 Comments »
July 27th, 2010 at 4:36 am
This one is such a funny anime ever…in which i can’t resist any episode to finish!!
December 24th, 2010 at 2:47 am
lol, you wake my memory of this anime/manga. i still put this one as my ‘must see’. the story reminded me to my own life during university as art student
nice review. i will link to this blog.
December 27th, 2010 at 11:56 am
I can just say that’s the way to go!
December 28th, 2010 at 2:20 am
Keep it up and in 2011 !