Honey and Clover
Synopsis
Takemoto is a second year college student living in a run down apartment with a few other college students. What lies ahead for Takemoto and the people around him as they try and discover their identities being this far already in life?
Review
Ok, I know my synopsis doesn’t really say much. But to be honest, I don’t know what else to say. Honey and Clover introduces people to none else than college life of a few people and their daily life. It sounds extremely simple in description yet indescribably complex regarding character motivations and the struggles each have with themselves and with the people around him.
College is a time of hardships, tough decisions, and conflicting emotions. However, it is also a time of independency, discovery of oneself, friendship, and hope. But what does what I say have anything to do with Honey and Clover? Everything. Before I even finished watching Honey and Clover, I knew this was something special. The way each character enters into the anime and the delicate feelings carefully weaved between each person showed me how much emphasis is placed on character developments.
For one, I found that the characters are more easy to understand and relate to as the anime progresses. Not only do we see the characters open up more and more but we can understand their motives. In order to better understand any character in an anime, manga, book, movie, and anything else, it is not only important to see what someone feels for someone else on the outside but also what that person feels on the inside, what he does not show superficially. This is exactly what we see in Honey and Clover. A careful blend of change in point of view between first person to third person omniscient allows the viewer to gain great insight to each character. For example, the complicated relationship between Mayama, Yamada, and Rika can be difficult to understand by the viewers if Mayama did not open himself up to a first person point of view and Rika’s feelings can not be understood consequently. In addition to all of this, the characters emotions seems real and reasonable. What I mean by that no one seems to be a drama queen. This isn’t like Saikano where the whole goal of the anime is to get you feeling sorry for someone through extreme fabricated events. The emotions we see in Honey and Clover seem authentic. And what we see are not sudden but developed and changed through time, shaped by the people associated with that specific person. It is truly unique to witness characters such as the ones in this anime.
While the plot and theme of Honey and Clover seems confusing and weak in the beginning with only a spinning bike wheel to go on, a question is posed by Takemoto, one of the first characters to be introduced. What is interesting, however, is how constantly this spinning wheel is brought up and even stopping spinning at times, never allowing it to leave the back of the mind of the audience. It is a reminder that whatever the theme is, it is constantly being strengthened and surprisingly enough, by non other than the characters. And even though the theme is not revealed until later near the end by Takemoto, it does not mean it has remained stoic throughout the anime. For example, we see how Morita leaves for his secret jobs but still always return to Takemoto and his gang. And even though he is able to graduate, he continues to remain a student at the art college. Why else would he do that? Now, think about Takemoto near the end and what he does. Doesn’t it resemble what Morita does in a way? So therefore whether you were aware of the development of the theme, it is constantly happening and being strengthened by the characters.
In addition to strengthening the theme of Honey and Clover, I feel that the animation of the background and scenario somehow seem more brilliant and alive with the descriptions by the characters. Yamada outside in the dark during winter describing the sharp coldness of the air, Mayama on the tour boat describing the sun set made me feel like I was almost there with them, feeling the same coldness and seeing the same sunset that they were able to see. From the animation of the Urban life to the vast fields of Japan, the animation does not fail short of being masterful. And though I have heard that character drawings could have been better, I also feel that there is nothing wrong with any of the character animation and outfits. Thumbs up for me.
For the music, what we hear goes beyond just the opening theme Dramatic and the ending theme Waltz (then later Mistake). Throughout the anime, we hear numerous great songs by various artists, some of which include Tamagawa and Hachimitsu by Spitz. So the OST is definitely something to check out.
If you are looking for something inspiring, go watch Honey and Clover. And if you are looking for something in life and haven’t found it, keep searching, because the answer won’t come to you.
The Breakdown
24 episodes to Honey and Clover. And if you aren’t satisfied with just the Anime, there is always the Manga that goes beyond.