Ranked #88

Hachimitsu to Clover II

Ah, Umino Chika's masterpiece, Honey and Clover. I first saw this more or less two years ago, initially thinking it was just some generic romance anime. Needless to say, I suddenly fell in love with it from the moment in season one, episode two, near the ending, when Takemoto was carrying Morita on his back. Cue. The piano stopped. And right after that, he said, "It hurts". From that point on, I knew I was watching a different kind of anime. I guess remembering that random scene from an episode proves that it had an impact.

Season one ended gracefully, you could accept it as "ending" and it can have a sequel as well. Either way, we've got a lot of questions left, like what happened to Mayama, Rika and Yamada, or is Shinobu really that much of an idiot that he couldn't fight for Hagu, as well as what would be Hagu's answer after "I'm glad you're back". I was literally jumping with joy when they decided to make another season. Everything was concluded at Honey and Clover II.

These kinds of anime is the reason why I still love the medium animation.

Color pastel-type work at its finest. They're at an art school, after all, so the art should be top-notch. JC Staff is enough said; almost anything they make delivers, and delivers well. I love how they abused the blurry, almost-dreamy look of the show. Some may find it a bit "girly", but, well, it fits the opus. It stays loyal to the manga's designs too.

One of the BEST parts of watching Honey and Clover is listening to its wonderful, wonderful music. "Dramatic" and "Waltz" got us in season one, the piano renditions of the songs were especially amazing. Now we've got "Fugainaya" and "Split", which are really blessings to the human ear. I may be wrong, but almost every episode has a different insert song with it, which was brilliantly scored to match the scene it goes with. I especially liked the song at episode nine and the song playing on the last scene. Epic.

The factor that propels Honey and Clover to its fame is its characters, and the story that they individually have, interconnected with each other. It's a story about growing up, maturity, and coming-of-age (jobs, decisions, etc) after all. Maybe it's my age, but I find its story stunningly touching and awe-inspiring. Before Honey and Clover, I thought most modern works lost the magic of storytelling. Characters were easy enough to identify with. Themes of unrequited love, talents, ties, lifelong goals, finding oneself, hardships and trials; they're all there, wonderfully packaged.

Takemoto's still the unsure, melancholic character that he was at season one but you could see he's grown up a little and learned more about how life goes. He's the banner of H&C, he represents adolescence. Morita lost most of his eccentricity and we get to see the deeper side of him, as well as the people he's closest to. Yamada, well, is Yamada, still with her unrequited love, but of course, with a twist at season two. We get to see more of Rika, Professor Hanamoto, and Mayama. But, definitely, Hagu's part on the succeeding story is probably the biggest plot point of Honey and Clover II.

What really makes this a modern gem is the way it was presented; it was music, characters, and story weaving in and out of each other in perfect harmony. At times I really find myself asking why is aging this bittersweet. Honey and Clover II is the right way to end the nostalgic series, and if you want to watch something that isn't flooded with moe, giant breasts or extreme harem, and instead want to see something of a mature slice-of-life anime, see this.

One thing's for sure. It did have meaning. read more

Title: Honey and Clover II

Anime: Honey and Clover II was once again produced by JC Staff (famous for their work on Revolutionary Girl Utena and Excel Saga), and directed by Tatsuyuki Nagain (famous for his work on My-HiME and iDOLM@STER XENOGLOSSIA) this time around. It aired on Japanese TV from June 29th to September 14th, 2006. It has yet to be licensed Stateside.

Story: Honey and Clover II picks up where Honey and Clover left off, and finishes up the remaining manga material.

I like this follow-up. It answers questions it left unanswered last season, and resolves all the relationships that were left hanging at the end of last season. And there are some absolutely heart-breaking scenes in here.

Something just seems to be missing here, though. I just can't really put my finger on it. I think it has something to do with the mood -- it seems less centered around the realism than it was last season. Not that it's not realistic, because it still is, but... I don't know how to explain it.

It's good and all, but it's just not the same as it was last season. Probably comes with the director change.

Art: Just as beautiful as it was last season, though it seems that they used brighter colors than they did last season than some of the more muted colors that they tended to use.

Music: There's another piano version of either the OP or ED that plays a lot and is really beautiful. Background music is about the same as last season.

The insert music is still done by the same artists, from what I can hear, and still appropriately fitting.

The OP is still done by the same wailing banshee lady, but the animation for it is pretty neat again. The ED's not all that remarkable, again, but I can live with it.

Seiyuu: All the same actors as last season, except for the twelfth and final episode, where Kenji Nojima replaces Hiroshi Kamiya as Takemoto's VA, due to an accident that the latter had that rendered him unable to record the episode; Nojima does a pretty good job of staying as close to Kamiya's performance as possible, but you can tell that it's not Kamiya. Good performances though, as always.

Length: Twelve episodes was the perfect length to take care of everything they left untouched last season, I think. Any longer, and it would've started to drag a bit.

Overall: A good follow-up to last season, but it's just not the same. If you want to find out how everything eventually resolves, then definitely watch it. Just be aware that it might not be quite the same impact as the first season made on you.

Story: 9/10
Art: 9/10
Music: 9/10
Seiyuu: 9/10
Length: 9/10

Overall: 45/50 (90%, B+) read more