The Basics
Episodes: 24Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Slice of Life, Girls'Aired: April 15, 2005 to September 27, 2005Directed by: Kenichi KasaiProducers: J.C. Staff, Nomad, Genco, Viz MediaOpening Theme: Dramatic by YukiClosing Theme: Waltz by Sueohair / Mistake by The Band Has No Name
Review
The Story: The story of Honey & Clover revolves around five (six, depending on how you look at it) people who are friends, and generally takes place at their art school. This slice of life series isn't exactly something I would define as “romance”, though it does have its romantic aspects. There isn't a straightforward story in the way of plot—the series jumps around to different parts of their lives during and (for some) after college to show what's going on with the friendships. You get to see them working on school things, hanging out, going to festivals—basically doing all of the things you would expect Japanese university students and graduates to be doing. It's very simple, easy to keep up with, and no doubt the lightest series I've reviewed thus far.The Characters: Of the main characters, there are three guys (Yuuta Takemoto, Shinobu Morita and Takumi Mayama) and two girls (Hagumi Hanamoto and Ayumi Yamada). Now, this is somewhat romance—can you already see the problem? Right, more guys than girls. There are love triangles built right into this series. For the most part the characters are allowed room to grow and develop, and you're able to see who they are. They all have their own personalities, some of which are amusing (Morita especially) but some of them can also be annoying as all heck (Hagumi). Still, they're all very well-distinguished and have pretty good motivation. The only thing is, I think they'd be more interesting if they weren't so worried about their relationships and just focused on their other goals.
The Relationships: Considering the relationships were basically the entire focus of the anime, I figured they'd be a pretty good “special area” for this one. Among the relationships you have simple friendships and then two different love triangles. It's pretty interesting to watch the dynamics among the groups, but then there's one thing that I viewed as an issue. There are 24 episodes to the series. So you'd expect something to be accomplished within 24 series in regards to romance, considering it is partially categorised as romance. ...Yeah, think again. I was tremendously disappointed in that not a single aspect of romance came to fruition throughout the course of the series.
Conclusion?: I will tell you this: if you're looking for something very light-hearted, where you can just lose yourself and not have to think for the duration of the series, this Honey & Clover is perfect. However, I spent most of my time watching it complaining to a friend about it. I really like it when things are being accomplished in my anime. Now, I will grant it that, as a friend of mine pointed out while I was watching it, it's very realistic. For example, one character is pretty scared to admit his feelings for a girl, and it only gets worse after he finds out another of their friends likes her as well (yeah, Love Triangle #1). Sure, that's realistic. But that doesn't win points from me.
My rating: 5/10. To be perfectly honest, I've spent the time taken to write this post trying to think of a polite way to say “It made me want to stab things”. Alas, I haven't. Basically, I didn't like it at all, though I have seen worse. This would have a much better score it something had happened, for real, at any point. Instead, the only thing it gets points for is humour.
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