Ranked #60

Honey and Clover

Wow. Honey and Clover is a somewhat long series (considering it has two series), and watching all of it is definitely time-consuming, but I guarantee that it will be worth it.

Story: 9/10. I can definitely say, without a doubt, that this is the most inspirational and moving anime I've ever seen. At times, there is that typical shoujo-romance thing going on, but other than that, everything else is just too amazing for words. Also, the story is a bit plain at times, but I loved it nonetheless. It's very unique in its own ways -- the way it creates dramas, the way the relationships work all fit perfectly well into the storyline. It had a very calm atmosphere, yet there was enough drama to keep you watching. I love it. I couldn't ask for it any other way. :)

Art: 10/10. I thought the OP and ED were done well, the characters were drawn cutely, and the animation was good. :) No complaints here. I love the very soft atmosphere the animation gave me. It was soft and warm feeling.

Sound: 10/10. I listened to the soundtrack and I have to say I am IN LOVE with it! The music is probably one of the best features of this show. The calm relaxing acoustic music blended very well with the relaxing scenes. Suga Shikao's music felt right at home.

Character: 10/10. I thought each character in the story was unique in their own way and were all well-developed. I loved Hagu's shyness, Shuuji's parent-like personality, Takumi's maturity and understanding, Morita's crazy self, etc. I thought every personality was great and fit the characters in the story amazingly.

Enjoyment: 9/10. The story was great, everything was beautifully done, and this anime was definitely awe-inspiring for me. There were a lot of scenes that, after watching it, made me think about life. Definitely recommended for everyone to watch. I gave it a 9/10 because at parts, it was a bit slow, and I thought there were some parts that could have been more fast-paced. read more

There is always a moment where you pause, reflect, and wonder where exactly your life is heading.

Is it down the street, past your neighbourhood, out of your town, far away from home and the things you are used to? Is it that spot right where your feet are grounded, around places and people you've known longer than you've really known yourself? Sometimes, you can feel like just getting on your bike and pedalling hard until your legs start to burn and you feel like you can't push yourself to go an inch further. Sometimes you don't even know where you're going, but you know deep inside that you just have to go. There are times when we just need to know how far we can really get without ever turning back.

Honey and Clover is a wonderful anime that exudes the very nature of being young, confused and not knowing where exactly life is going to take you or where you are going to carry yourself next.

The story follows the lives of an ensemble cast in art university. Mostly, we are given the narration of Takemoto Yuuta's life. Takemoto lives a nearly impoverished collegiate/starving artist lifestyle in a broken, dilapidated but cosy apartment complex with two other members of his university. Life suddenly changes from the ordinary when a younger girl named Hagumi comes into his life, and Takemoto experiences the wonders, joys and heartbreak of a first love, friendships, and finding himself.

Honey and Clover skilfully weaves through the lives of several people who are related to Takemoto through his school and friends, giving us bits of each of their experiences from the most mundane of activities to the pivotal moments in their lives that cause them to stop or cause their worlds to collapse within them. Watching them simply carry on every day, we are struck by the beauty in simplicity within the storytelling. An ordinary life can be just as important as an extraordinary life. Its significance is measured by the effect that is has on the individual rather than the wider world. Honey and Clover tells us a story of what it is to be a young adult struggling to act, think and feel less like a child and grow into maturity that is farther than a grasp away.

The art for Honey and Clover is interesting. It is soft, filled with a lot of pastel and gentle tones. The watercolours used reflect the gentility of this anime--it isn't robust, or vivid. It exudes a certain amount of calm through each colour. Also, the ways the characters blushed was rather noticeable; they had a healthy, pretty rhubarb colour in their cheeks rather than bright stereotypical pink or garish red. The OP theme song utilises the anime's only instance of claymation and stop motion filming, and it is rather entertaining to look at it. The artwork also has a lot of important recurring images interspersed within the anime. Take for instance, when something important has happened in Takemoto's life. The image of a wheel turning, pedalling forward appears, and he knows and we know that something inevitably, painfully, wonderfully important is about to happen to his life.

Honey and Clover has an incredible score. A lot of the anime has songs incorporated into the scenes. It felt as though it rightly fit there. We're listening to the music of these characters, the songs that best exude them and their youth and the things that matter the most to them. It felt like listening to the soundtrack of their lives at points. There is a strong acoustic score, light, melancholy piano work, and sombre, sweet strings that serve as background music. The OP and ED themes are truly great songs; the ED theme in particular is noteworthy, especially as you hear it playing alongside the image of a ferris wheel in the distance, giving off the effect of something raw, changing and heartfelt against something that moves continually, following a set path, never veering off its course. Again, the images and sound of this anime are a lot more than they initially let on.

Honey and Clover's strongest resource is its cast. Takemoto makes perhaps one of the better protagonists seen in a slice of life anime. He exudes the insecurities that any young person faces, from leaving home, to falling in love, and then figuring out who exactly he is and his purpose in life. Watching his confusion, his shyness, indecisiveness, melancholy, and joy is something to behold. He is a young man coming to terms with reality and the heavy responsibilities of his life. His characterisation is subtle and brilliant. He withholds things, keeps them inside, keeps them even from himself. His love for Hagumi is one of the most bittersweet tales of unrequited love ever seen in anime. And what makes it so much more staggeringly significant than other cases of unrequited love? Takemoto's personality. We know that he's passively suffering, that he wants to express himself, that he has strong feelings for the girl who means more to him than any other girl, but she does not know, other people do not know, and if they do, it is never spoken directly. Such is the beauty of the characterisation in Honey and Clover, that the character themselves subtly act and interact with one another.

The rest of the cast of Honey and Clover is made up of brilliant supporting characters. Hagumi herself is a quiet, artistic girl whose lack of interaction has left her shy and unable to socialise, though this is amended with her friendship with Yamada Ayumi, who is a source of great comedy and also great heartbreak within the anime. She too knows the burn of unrequited love, but unlike Takemoto, who selflessly tries to shut it all in, she is much braver, maybe even a little more selfish, and speaks and acts out about it. Mayama is the older, wiser character who acts as the big brother of the group of friends. He is reliable, trustworthy and kind, but there is something stirring within him that begs him to act a little irresponsibly, especially in the matters concerning the heart and his boss. Then there's Hanamoto, a professor at the university, Hagumi's relative and the friend of several members of the cast. He is level-headed, protective and secure, being the one of the few adults in the anime who is a rock for the younger characters, anchoring them with his stability and personal strength. There's the greatness of characterisation again--each character has their own personality and way of handling and dealing with similar situations.

Honey and Clover's show stealer is none other than Morita. He is eccentric, carefree and easy-going despite him being the eldest out of the younger group of friends. His zaniness often reveals a flaky side to him, and his life as a hedonist crashes to halt when Hagumi appears. Like Takemoto, he is deeply affected by the girl, but his immaturity never lets him understand why. He enjoys dressing her up, teasing her, but there is something he cannot understand about his interest in her. Morita is the most difficult character to get into due to his unpredictable nature and the mysterious lifestyle he leads outside of art school.

An anime series of this calibre is not to missed, especially if you enjoy slice of life, drama and romantic anime. It is filled with glorious moments that truly define what realistic anime about human emotion is all about. The complexities of the characters, their relationships, the humour, the bitterness and the beauty of everyday life is all seen here, and it is done rather magnificently.

Honey and Clover gives us a look into any one of our own lives and reminds us that things cannot go anywhere if we refuse to take that step forward and never look back. Time does not stand still, and neither should life. read more

Title: Honey and Clover

Manga, Live-Action Adaptations, Anime: Honey and Clover was originally a manga created by Chika Umino. It began its run in Sueisha's CUTiEcomic maganize in June of 2000, and swithced over to Young YOU in July of 2001, and ran there until the magazine's demise in 2005, and finished up its run in Chorus in July 2006. The manga stands at ten collected volumes, and has been licensed Stateside by Viz's Shoujo Beat label; the first volume will be released on March 8th of this year. Honey and Clover also won the Kodansha Manga Award for best shoujo manga in 2003.

Honey and Clover also has two live-action adaptations to its name. The first is a live-action movie adaptation that was released on July 22nd, 2006 in Japanese theatres. The second is a live-action TV drama that started airing on January 8th of this year. Neither has been licensed Stateside, and neither will be covered in this review.

The anime adaptation was 24 episodes long, and was produced by JC Staff (famous for their work on Revolutionary Girl Utena and Excel Saga) and directed by Kenichi Kasai (famous for his work on Nodame Canabile). It ran on Japanese TV from April 14th to September 25th, 2005. It has yet to be licensed Stateside.

Story: Honey and Clover follows the lives and relationships of five college students -- Mayama, Takemoto, Morita, Hagu, and Ayu over a period of about five years.

It was really hard for me to get into this at first. For the first four episodes, I liked what I was watching, but I didn't really feel the pressing need to see what happened next. However, this changed in the next few episodes, mainly because everything had been more or less established, and they started developing things.

Those of you who are in college and watching this are going to be stunned at the realism of this. It feels like these characters could very well be people around you, and the situations they're in could be things you or your friends are going through at the moment.

Yeah, there's no overlying plot. However, unlike KamiChu, this isn't a problem, mainly because the characters and their relationships are developed well and are the actual center of the story, not driven by some cardboard cutouts and a crappy problem-of-the-week plot. Also, there's a lot of fairly obvious metaphors and some crazy-ass humor that make the show even better. ^^

And there are going to be some who are depressed at the rather open ending. However, there is the second season (Honey and Clover II), which I'm going to be starting shortly and will eventually review.

Art: Absofuckinglutely beautiful.

The background is done in what looks like watercolors, so it's kind of hazy and washed-out, similar to what you see in Potemayo's backgrounds. The character designs are a blend between the typical anime design and a more manga-esque look. They also have the budget to change clothes at least once every episode. SD is very common when tied in with the crazy-ass humor, which is just made of WIN.

All of this combined serves to make an absolutely beautiful series. It's up there with Gankutsuou's visuals, but not quite that extreme.

My only complaint is w/r/t Hagu's character design. Yes, I know that you want to emphasize that she's a bit sheltered and innocent, but really, she looks like my youngest sister, and you're trying to pass her off as 20? Work on that for next season, plz.

Music: Honey and Clover's background music is a little odd, but it's amazing at the same time, because they use vocals in a way that I've only heard Bobby McFerrin attempt up till now. There's also a piano version of either the OP or ED that plays a lot in the series, and is just beautiful.

Honey and Clover also uses a lot of insert songs; there's at least one every episode, and they're perfectly fitted to the moments that they're played in.

The OP is just annoying. I mean, the animation for the first version was absolutely amazing (food + claymation = AWESOME), but the vocalist is kind of shrill, and makes me cringe. The EDs didn't particularly stand out, but they were nice.

Seiyuu: Morita's seiyuu played Takeshi (Brock, for us Americans) in all the seasons of Pokemon, and Hakim in Victorian Romance Emma and Shuuji's seiyu was in Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ and in FFVII: Advent Children as Reno, which was fairly awesome.

And all the other seiyuu did an excellent job, as ever.

Length: Twenty-four episodes was a good length; the manga material does go further, and I guarantee that by the time you're finished, you will want more, but the second season should cover that.

Overall: A beautiful, realistic slice of college life with excellent music and some fairly good seiyuu.

One of my top picks. See this. NOW.

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

Overall: 46/50; 92% (A) read more

Ever get that nice feeling after you finished watching a really good series? That’s how I felt when I finished watching Honey and Clover.


What a wonderful story. It’s a good mix of bittersweet growing pains, salty teardrops, and huge doses of soul searching, all brought about by Love. Ah yes, Love. That is what defines the plot of Honey and Clover. Through this anime, we see how love can go both ways – it can send you flying in the sky, or it can leave you with a knife in the back.


I can relate to mostly everyone in the story, and this is also why it was so easy to understand for me. Yamada’s frustration over unrequited love, Takemoto’s fear of the future and time quickly passing by (believe me, time in this anime is fast-paced), Hagu’s feelings of pressure from everyone around her, and of course, the loneliness that everyone felt from time to time. The ability to relate to each and every one of the characters made Honey and Clover such a good watch for me, and I’m sure it will be the same for everyone who will watch this series.


Despite the serious tones, there are still moments that are quite funny. Most of the comedic relief comes from Morita, who is actually one of my favorite characters. His idiosyncrasies are what made him great to watch. I love that scene where he accepted the Mochademy Award (A nod to the Academy awards) for best CG. There was also this great episode where Morita and Takemoto played some sort of twister game until their limbs were intertwined. Of course, you can’t forget chapters L and F which were both funny as well.


I liked most of the characters because they were all so relatable and they were all managed effectively. At the end of the series, you know everything that goes/went on behind their facades. They all had well thought of histories and wonderful unique personalities that go so well together. It’s almost like an anime version of FRIENDS. I already mentioned that I like Morita, but my other favorite is Mayama. I kinda developed a crush on him too; I actually see what Yamada sees in him. I was kind of annoyed that he picked that old hag Rika over Yamada. I really hate that woman; she’s only out to hurt Mayama. I’m definitely on team Ayumi “Tetsujin” Yamada (Even though she tends to ramble on a lot)!


Drawing style was something new. It reminded me of old school anime with a new twist. It had the same look and feel of 80s anime with except it was updated and fresh. It was probably because of the coloring technique - the colors were just lovely, they weren’t vibrant, like how I usually would like colors to be, but they were done well and the colors didn’t clash, so I actually liked it. It reminded me of water color paintings, a trend I noticed from watching JC Staff series. Usually the illustrations are done well, they barely change or if there are any changes it goes unnoticed. Although I did notice a huge shift in Hagu’s appearance – She was a lot prettier in the first episode compared to the rest of the series. Her look was done well though – she had beautiful eyes and hair (same thing with Yamada).


There were different animation techniques that were used. I like the use of stop motion, I’m guessing the first opening theme sequence was made using stop motion and clay figures. There was also the use of live action, which was for the second opening theme sequence (The poodle was just adorable). Some scenes had a more weathered look, and there was even an instance were vector art was used. Of course, there was the use of CG. CG is always good if it’s used to give depth to animation.


Voice acting was actually pretty good. My favorite seiyu for this series is Tomokazu Sugita, Mayama’s seiyu, who was also the seiyu for Kyon from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, another favorite of mine. I also like Morita’s seiyu, Yuji Ueda. I think it’s funny when his voice turns soft. The other seiyus, such as Keiji Fujiwara and Mikako Takahashi were already familiar to me, since I’ve watched/currently series they worked for before, and what they did for Honey and Clover were splendid as well, but as for Hagu’s seiyu, I’m a bit indifferent. Based on the information I saw about her, she seems to be a newbie (I think she’s only 18) and Hagu Hanamoto is probably her most notable role. Anyway, everyone did a good job because they brought out their character’s personalities really well, and the dialogues were easy to follow.


I’m surprised that most of Yuzo Hayashi’s work was for Sailormoon. I actually thought the music for this anime was done well – everything was modern and contemporary. I like the wide variety of insert songs that were used as BGM, and of course, the opening and ending themes weren’t bad either. At the end of the series I found myself humming and bopping my head to the catchy music of the series.


Thank goodness for the second season, plus the extra two episodes. If it weren’t for that, I Probably would be close to tears by now. This is undeniably one of the best series (Thank God to no fan service!) I’ve ever watched, and will watch again. read more

For many of us who watch anime, the medium can become something more than simply animated entertainment. Sometimes, we will find ourselves connecting on a deep emotional level with a character or characters in a show. Sometimes, the story will seem less like a fanciful escape and more like a reflection upon society or our individual lives. These are the kind of shows stick with us. They'll make us laugh, they'll make us cry, and sometimes they'll make us realize something new about ourselves. Honey and Clover is one of those kind of anime.

Based on the manga by Chika Umino, Honey and Clover follows the lives of five fledgling artists and their journey through the exciting and simultaneously terrifying world that we know as college. Through the eyes of these five students and observe them them growing, affected by the years of challenging experiences through which they have gained many cherished friendships and also come to know the agonies of unrequited love.

One of the most noticeable aspects of the series is the animation. The bold, hard lined style you see in most anime will not be found here. Instead, animation studio J.C. Staff takes a wholly different approach by using a faded watercolor palette and soft sketched character designs. The style may not appeal to everyone, but it best reflects the true nature of the characters and their setting. Aside from the color palette, the animation goes through various perspective changes so subtly that it can even make the simple shot of a single character interesting. In essence, it is like art in motion.

Naturally, the audio needs to work hand in hand with the visuals and Honey and Clover has quite a robust soundtrack. Many of the insert selections worked well to heighten and sharpen the on-screen emotions. However, not all of the songs fit each scene like a glove and at times it felt like maybe there might even be too many songs they had tried to fit in. Despite that complaint, the songs themselves were all very good, even the instrumental tracks, and “Waltz” may hands-down be one of the best ending themes of any anime ever.

One aspect that may be universally agreed upon about this series is that the characters definitely make the show. Honey and Clover, like many other slice-of-life series, falls back on the characters to help carry the series and all five of the main characters do so phenomenally. Throughout the series, the perspective changes so that we see, hear, think, and occasionally feel what any given character is going through at that time. Depending on a viewer’s past experiences in college or even just life in general, certain characters will become more appealing and easier to relate to than others. Someone who has never been torn between someone they love and a close friend who loves them will have a hard time relating to a character like Mayama. Also, while a character like Takemoto may be more accessible to the male audience, Ayumi may be a better focal point for women.

The most important thing to realize is that just about anyone who watches this show will find a character who they can directly relate to in some way or another. From Takemoto’s indecisiveness about his own life, Morita’s slacker appeal and almost unfair success, Hagumi’s torn desire between being a success she’s not proud of or a failure she can live with. These are not just character struggles, these are struggles we all go through and we begin to see these characters as our friends and companions as we make our way through our own ordeals.

As said already, Honey and Clover is a slice-of-life series, which means it could take place anywhere at anytime with anyone inside the world as already is. It is a balanced and yet lively blend of romance, drama, and comedy without going too overboard on any single element, much like life itself. The story moves forward very quickly, skipping weeks, even months at a time between episodes. This could be viewed as slightly unrealistic as viewers may believe the characters should change faster than they do. Regardless, the character development is there, and does proceed at a realistic pace relative to the length of the series. Though the ending is inconclusive, those who enjoyed it to the end can take solace in knowing a conclusive second season awaits them to tie up all the loose ends.

Much like how Azumanga Daioh is called “the anime you should watch if you’ve been through high school”, Honey and Clover is the anime to watch if you’ve been through college. Graduates who watch this will probably feel a good amount of nostalgia. At the same time, those of us who haven’t been through college or are still going through it will enjoy a realistic simulation of where we might be going and how we might deal with it. By empathizing with the characters and relating to them, you’ll come to see Honey and Clover as more than an anime; It's a life experience.



This review is the final result of a review team composed of members from the "Critics and Connoisseurs" club. The team members were:

Katsup - Contributed to and edited the review
Splitter - Wrote the review

Here are their individual scorings for the show:
Category - Katsup, Splitter

Story - 9, 9
Art - 10, 9
Sound - 9, 8
Character - 10, 10
Enjoyment - 10, 9
Overall - 10, 9

In the club wide poll held for Honey and Clover it received an average overall rating of 9.00 read more

Some may say I like every anime that I watch but something about Honey and Clover really made me smile. Its about a group of students who attend an Art University, trying to become something related to art and creativity. Within this storyline you have love triangles, strange characters (Morita mostly *laughs*), and lots of character plots which allow you to become more enveloped with them on an almost personal level.

You could say the main character is Takemoto, a striving artist who is still struggling to find out what type of future he'll have. He moves into a dorm-like apartment not far from the campus and meets several other students; Morita, who is a super-artist though when you see him, you wouldn't know it due to how he reacts to things. He's very motivitated by money and stardom. Mayama, an older student who has a love for a woman named Rika, who's husband had passed away in a car accident, and she was badly hurt. Hagu who's a tiny little woman, almost elf-like but full of amazing art skills and innocence, striving to just happily draw. Yamada, a pottery student, who volunteers at the university and in turn is allowed to use the kiln to create her works. The love triangles are between Hagu, Takemoto, and Morita, then Rika, Yamada, and Mayama. It seems that both Takemoto, and Morita fell in love with Hagu and the story goes from there, and Yamada despretely loves Mayama, but Mayama doesn't want anything to do with it, and instead follows Rika, who fears hurting him (or claims she already has).

Throughout the storyline you learn of their lives, meet other characters that help with the story and how everyone lives have become to what they have. For anyone looking to have a somewhat serious anime, but still with laughs and stories to make you cry, I really recommend this one.

This is the first of two seasons (unless there's 3 and I just haven't found out about it yet). read more

Almost everything about Honey and Clover is unprecedented and perfected. From the unnerving OP to the moving ending narration, each episode is a dramatic and romantic take on the special lives of the six main characters. There is no action and there is no fanservice so the stereotyped teenage male audiences will avoid this series, however, the intelligent humor and very intricate intricate character development which dominates the show is sure to satisfy most mature fans who are sick of slapstick, perverted anime. At times it does get very similar to American soapies but I believe that Honey and Clover outdoes any love triangle stories. Each character goes through their frustrating situations, which don't seem to conclude detailed enough. The angelic Hagumi tackles her self-esteem issues, Mayama chases after Rika who is still mourning over her late boyfriend, Ayumi fights her depression after being repetitively rejected by Mayama, Morita (who provides for some of the best comedy I've seen in anime) tries to deal with his own expectations of life, Shuuji devotes himself religiously to the welfare of Hagu, and Takemoto attempts to escape out of the banal life ahead of him. These complex characters see the most impressive explorations of life, romance and personal fears. At times there is some repetition in the plot and it may seem a bit predictable, but there really is no competition for the best josei anime around. Recommended to anyone who wants to experience the reality of love or to be inspired and have a little cry at the end. Top notch anime 5 stars. read more

This story tells us about the struggling of youth. Youth that supposed to be the best phase of human’s life turns out to be not so sweet. In this series we’ll see the character’s struggle to express their feeling, to find what they’re really want, to accept a bitter defeat, and face the ugly side of love.

While the common Shoujou animes are quietly predictable - the female leading star will get her dream, going out with the leading man, Hachikuro give a hard cold fact that you can’t always get what you want. Hachikuro’s target audience is the young female adults. The story it self makes us reflects on the life we lead in the real world.

Amazing story line, great characterization, beautiful visual and awesome awesome theme songs. Unpredictable ending. Even though the flow of story is rather constant and simple, but it didn’t make the audience bored. Hachikuro is the best shoujo anime I’ve ever seen.
read more

My favorite genre of anime has usually been either slice-of-life or romance. This is no exception. It is one of the best romance anime you’ll probably ever see. What makes it so good, is that all the human emotions in it… they seem so real.

Story

Love is the main part of the story. Any type, you name it: confused love, selfish love, unrequited love, and just plain love. This is such a dramatic anime, but what happens to the characters makes it very realistic. Frustrations of feeling alone, the pressure of everyone around you, the anxieties of where you’ll be in life, are all things the characters have to deal with as the progress through the story. It’s one of the sweetest romance stories I’ve come across, actually. There’s no fanservice, rarely a peverted thought. Only the heart-wrenching and bittersweet notion of love.

Art

The art, I thought was gorgeous. The animation went long so smoothly, and I loved the color choices, everything looked like watercolors. I also really liked the way the eyes looked, especially of Hagu. They were very pretty an dmade her look doll-like.

Sound

The sound was great. The ending and opening themes were nice, even though I liked the first ending better than the second ending. I still liked both. The background music was sweet-sounding, a lot of piano music was used of the opening.

Characters

The characters are all believable. I ended up disliking some and rooting for others (which is partly why the ending left me dissatisfied though it was predicable). Yamada’s unrequited love for Mayama was understandable, but irritating that he didn’t love her back. I realize you can’t force yourself to love someone. But maybe this is one of the realistic aspects; there are not always happy endings. Anyway, I liked most of the characters. Morita and Yamada were my favorites, I think. Morita is just so unique. It makes me wonder what goes on in his mind. As for Yamada, I felt sorry for her and I kept wanting her to end up with Mayama throughout the series, even though it was easy to see early on that it was sort of hopeless. Takemoto is basically the protagonist, since he narrates the most, even though the story doesn’t focus entirely on him.

Enjoyment

Okay, this took me a while to get through. I started it around in December and I’m just now finishing it in May. Still, just because I took it slowly doesn’t mean it was boring for me. I really did want to finish it, and I’m glad I did because it was a thoroughly enjoyable series.

Overall

If romance doesn’t interest you, Honey and Clover may be a little on the dull side. But for everyone else it’s a spectacular watch, and deserves to be watched by you. read more

Real life is hard to animate. Several anime have made attempts, but most have failed because the “realism” extends to setting alone or because the anime insists on recording every bland nuance that someone can relate to. Real life is boring and Honey and Clover never let me forget it. Honey and Clover is a journal, chronicling the uninteresting lives of a couple of average and ordinary people. It’s supposed to be melancholy, subdued, and even heartbreaking, but it only turns out as mundane, monotonous, boring, and dull. I find this slow paced and eventless…. sometimes life can seem that way or maybe it just is.

Through some prodding from my friend I watched this anime. All I can say was oh yeah, I was right, I don't like this anime. For a second, I thought that this anime must be really-really good since it's rated so high~

The story of how a couple of kids make their way through college... that's about it that's all there is to it and if I need to explain further then imagine minami-ke or lucky star or whatever other slice of life anime you like but not as funny and a lot more pointless.

Though some may argue that anime in the "slice of life" genre need not have a plot, there should at least be something going on that keeps the anime feeling fresh and dynamic. Each episode drags, and each character repetitiously does whatever antic the creators assigned to him to make him seem more "unique." The girls whine endlessly, the guys angst and nothing ever really moves forward. Though the writers did make an effort to include two separate storylines, neither one ever goes anywhere. Instead, the characters spend a lot of time crying, suffering, internalizing their problems and staring at the sky or out of a window while music plays in the background. Occasionally, the endless boredom is interrupted by something genuinely beautiful or moving, but without fail the mood is shattered by ill-timed and badly conceived attempts at humor.

Honey and Clover is not a great anime; it is a decent one that manages to have the occasional great moment. All in all, your average slice-of-life/romance anime which tries to be clever by introducing motifs and ideas into the anime which are either too superficial or subtle for the average viewer to comprehend. It's lacking in many areas, and in the end, the anime is very much like reading a book in which there are pages upon pages of dull material… yet the final paragraphs are always excellent and worth reading.

I call this a "pathetic" anime. Pathetic in the sense that the characters you grow accustomed to are at their lowest, pathetic if you will. Perhaps they were designed so that you would feel sorry for them. That makes sense right? I mean, I guess that's why it's a feel-good anime, because of the fact that you know you're better than them? Heys, it worked for Welcome to the NHK! in a way~

Or perhaps it is just the demographics. Maybe it was made for the female viewers to feel sorry for the male characters. This sums up the value of the anime, right there. Instead of somehow making it more accessible to everyone, they closed this anime off to the girls and pansies.

Story -
The beginning was okay like over-the-top comedy which is actually funny, and pretty good introductions for all the characters. The start definitely gives the impression that they've actually done something new with this anime. But once the series gets going, old jokes get recycled, and the comedy just vanishes. But as the story goes I kept seeing the same kind of things, and it became dead boring. Needlessly to say, the best parts were the comedy since the drama-romance parts did nothing for me. The humor of the series is silly and tries to force the viewer to laugh but is at the same time it comes out from the warmth and interaction of the characters.

If I were to judge Honey to Clover solely by its outrageous opening theme, I would have ignored the show completely. I delved into the anime further, however, to find that the story is nearly non-existent. Each episode begins nearly the same way: they prepare for a social event and spend the rest of that episode shooting the bull. When this formula isn’t being executed, the show is either pushing half-baked comedy (mostly centering on Morita’s antics or the vapid interactions between the characters) or indulging in introspective monologue. To the anime’s credit, sometimes the comedy hits the mark (that Twister episode was like fun), but most of the time, it… doesn’t.

Every episode, we just get to see a snapshot of a daily life of the characters. With each new episode the story will most likely change a little, but the characters will through their relationships and as well as introspectively. But you know, that's not a story, especially when the characters spend half the screen time talking in their heads. Indeed, each of them are unique in a realistic scenario, but all together, it is just so BLAND. For example, during the beginning every episode consists of the same repeat of stuff -> random Moriota antics, the usual Takemoto "I don't know what to do" introspection, and Mayama's adaptation to his love and work.

It might be argued that the story is meant to be realistic as possible with true down-to-earth dilemmas. True, it does do that, but because of that I really found each episode to be a bore.

More importantly, it's all about the ferris wheels and bicycles!
Honey and Clover features some recurring motifs which are just too superficial and/or subtle for the average viewer to address. There's the recurring image of a Ferris Wheel, and SOMEHOW, the story centers around this confusing theme. Ferris wheels, man. What the crap. But if you think that's ridiculous, you'll love the question Takemoto asks himself every two episodes, the "How far can I go until I stop?" speech which gives a flashback to a scene where a young Takemoto is shown riding his bike until the flashback ends. This happens way too regularly and it's just exhausted...

The timeline that assigns each episode leaps literally by months in between, yet does not stay consistent in length, marginalizing the framework of the plot development and confuses viewers. As one episode features a winter festival in a shopping arcade, the next unfolds with a cruise trip in the spring. It becomes tempting to attribute any semblance of realism to the proceedings that whatever the issues that consternated characters would have been resolved during the substantial amount of time allotted between episodes. Sadly or reassuringly, they remain relatively the same, dragging down the plot overall in spite of the passage of time. Despite the transitory nature of the setting, events and characters are rather ham-handedly manipulated to keep the relationships static and stagnant.

I can't believe this story spanned several years. Nothing happens! Wait, Takemoto gets a hair cut.

There's some depressing romance stuff that doesn't go anywhere. Some lovey dovey stuff, nothing hot or steamy though. This series is going for the realistic approach or something, or the literary kind of approach anyway. Yeah yeah...it just sucked, didn't draw me in at all. I never cared what happened to anyone or what the next ep was about. I think each ep did at least contribute something though. So the romantic aspects fell short for me.

Although full of thoughts that most anyone can relate to- unrequited love, disillusionment, and individuality- it is dryly executed. For example, Hagu should have been the most dynamic character (for all the other characters seem drawn to her), but she is never fully explored, and ends up as only the typically underdeveloped kid used for the occasional comic relief. You don't feel the depth of the emotions that they portray on screen. I personally couldn't feel any emotion when watching them. After all, how can you take those weird expressions seriously.

The anime's only strong point is the style of execution.

CHARACTERS - I guess a little spoilery, but the anime just goes on and on about whatever triangle so in a way... don't really think it's that

Every every characters in this anime have their own personalities, but not all of them are interesting! I was not impressed by the characters. None of them really memorable, except maybe one, well this is "realistic" so they're expected to be ordinary and all that.... Characters change slightly in appearance over the course of the series. Big deal. They're all ugly no matter what. They're annoying with flaws or weaknesses that will piss you off. Pissed me off anyway. The characters in this anime show no driving force or motivation.

Although it boasted romance, I found the characters annoying and thus the plot had very little impact on me. Personally for me, I cannot relate to the chracters, not in the slightest. Now, here's where the turd hits the fan. A love triangle with a midget 18 year old autistic girl as the center (??) gets introduced, while another love triangle involving a school idol, a ladies-man and a older, disfigured, crippled widow takes place at the same time. I mean....why? WHY?! That's where they TRIED to be different but gave in to the cliché romance plots.

AND, everything with Takemoto was awful. His life was uninteresting and his love triangle was a joke. Despite his excellent monologues, he is a bland narrator and an even blander protagonist; his journey of self-discovery didn’t reach me, and this character is so dry. He would fit right in in a harem show. He is your typical shy, introverted nice guy. Without the handful of beautiful girls throwing themselves at him, he gets lost and doesn't know what to do. He spends most of the show confused. Pretty boring guy.

Perhaps you have to be a 19 year old adolescent with a bike to understand his feelings. I wouldn't know, I don't have a bike.

The anime centers around the previously mentioned "pathetic" 19 year old, the King of Adolescence. Unable to express himself to his friends, he decides to take a journey and we follow him (unwillingly) and watch him grow as he travels. But he doesn't, and he's still the same once he returns, and we, the viewer, feel that we've just wasted our time (which we did for watching this wretched anime).

Unfortunately we get to hear him whine the most about everything from jobs to romance. Pansy boy who can't express himself to the loli. He's 19, man. People can get married and have babies at 19... AND he doesn't mention exactly how he became attached to Hagu. Maybe he is a closet pedophile (he does not even have a girlfriend in two plus years of attending college).

There were parts of interest when the story depicted something other than the main character, Takemoto. Almost every time the story depicted Takemoto, the flow of the events became annoying because of his whiny, depressive personality combined with the notion "I just need to sit, whine and everyone will come to support me". I'd rather not want to see the Takemoto character ever again. Therefore, this whole anime as well.

Continuing on, you've got a ladies-man/player who got caught up in another love triangle who wants an older crippled disfigured widow for himself. The other girl in said love triangle wants the before-mentioned guy who likes the cripple, but she doesn't want to like him, but does so anyway (?). Then you've got an over-the-top final-year student who's good at understanding the feelings of others but is unable to express himself (how the hell...?). He often disappears, without notice, to his mysterious part-time job so he doesn't get as much air-time as the other characters. In a sense, he is the most under-developed character since in the scenes where he IS present, he does exactly the same things as he did in the last time he was present.

Hagu looks like a little hamster who really doesn't know how to do anything and who has no clue as to what is going on. She's painful to look at, and she's immature, selfish, naive. She pissed me off when she had screen time. She's an autistic girl (now, no-one's said that she's autistic before, but it all comes together when you see her talk. I mean, all artists have some mental inhibitation which gives them the ability to make trippy paintings which sell for tens of thousands of dollars, right?). Well, she's a loli and apparently, the center of a love triangle. I mean, what's so attractive about an autistic loli? I could not stand how these people kept saying how cute she was or whatever when she clearly was not. I don't get why everyone is going crazy over this tiny girl since she's annoying. She's a brat, period. Hagu's character is questionable at best.
When she was introduced, I was like "little girl". Then it was revealed she is 18. I was shocked and felt disgusted how these guys can fall instantly in love with her (they didn't know her age at the time).
She acts like a child, looks like a child, and sounds like a child. tell me again why 2 or 3 grown men are in love with her? lolita complex? if hagumi never existed these 3 fellows could be convicted sex offenders in 10-20 years (of course, in their world).

Next, we have the other triangle. Mayama is a really nice guy so I understand why Ayu loves him but hey didn't explain WHY she loves him so much. mayama is a pretty boring character. he has one thing on his mind: rika. It gets pretty repetitive...him thinking about her. And they didn't explain why Mayama continues to pursue Rika even though she's not interested. yamada actually likes this boring mayama. she doesn't even know why. exactly. again, through out the anime we get to see her talk about why she wants him and how important... blah blah blah. So I just couldn't get myself to care... Romance isn't even in the question, it's more like just figuring out the basic kinks like why the hell does _ like _ in the first place.

Only character I really liked was Morita just because he was funny. I can't take this eccentric character seriously. He's easily the best character in the series who's used as a zany way to make you laugh. It is obvious that there is more to him than meets the eye, but the anime never gave me an idea of what the hell is going on inside his head. Morita's nonstop wackiness is utterly unbelievable, ruining any serious moments involving him and casting doubt on Hagu due to her infatuation with him. Ultimately, he's only there for comic relief...

The other characters aren’t worth mentioning; they’re either too zany, too dry, or too cute. Bunch of annoying fools. And if they are none of the above, they disappear in the middle of the show.

Yes the characters are in love and supposedly that means I would want to see what happens but I didn't care because I didn't care for the characters. Because Honey and Clover relies on the charisma of its characters, if the characters fail to draw in the audience (in this case, me) then the entire anime will fall on its face.

Ultimately, they want you to empathize with at least once character so that you can compare yourself to them and then evaluate your life, right? With such unique and inaccessible characters, they won't let you.

ANIMATION
This is probably the reason why everything else was lacking.
Instead of improving the plot/character designs and whatnot, you've got overdone and over-polished animation. Not that it's a bad thing, but with such a lackluster plot, do you really need to put so much effort into the animation?

OPs and EDs had lots of live action shots, never a good sign IMO. But anyways, I thought the opening was rather innovative - featuring an assortment of hilariously twisted/grotesque food-related items.

The animation is great, different with a sort of washed out effect with all the blending and such. The animation is unique being excessively bright andhazyfor some reason- giving it a soft, gentle, dream-like atmosphere. It wasn't pale, nor it look like a amateur's work. The animation's actually pretty good and rather detailed.
The scenery in Honey and Clover is crisp and polished. The water textures and the skies in every scene have been rendered by the animators, so you can see for yourself that they have put in a lot of effort in that department.

However, the art is absolutely horrid! The drawing style was incredibly annoying but perhaps realistic. But the character designs. Um....yeah. The characters... it is almost as if they are undeserving of the beautifully done scenery they run around in. Maybe it's just the style of the designs of the characters, but the way the characters were drawn just irks me. Man I've never seen such ugly anime girls. Unfortunately, lots of the characters look like bugs, they are just disgusting. Many of the guys looked really similar except for maybe a slightly different hair color. I'll flat out say that the characters look ugly. their eyes bother me most of the time. and their mouths look like they belong on a fish, big and wide. that's on their serious expressions. the "pretty" female characters aren't so pretty. The series tried to "over-beautify" one of the characters at the begining of the series, but all that shininess made her look, well, plastic.

D:

Seen that smiley before? That's what the main character pulls off every episode. I'm not even joking, that's his most used facial expression. They have such silly looking comedical faces on half the time.

SOUND
I thought the OP was a joke at first. like Mikuru singing in the first episode of Haruhi... surely? But no , it's for reals and the OP is so lousy I couldn't listen to more than 5 seconds of it without going nuts.They picked some girl with the worst voice you can imagine. I could sing a better OP, I swear.

Music doesn't really fall into any genre, maybe emo, just like this series is emo. Since all the insert songs are done by two artists, you'll find them a bit repetitive, and they happen too frequently. About every second episode has an insert song. But still, I liked the inserts of songs during the middle of episodes.

The opening and ending match the anime though. I like the song Waltz (ending song) and sometimes they timed it very well with the story for a good, effective ending.

Takemoto had an annoying, whiny voice which matched his personality. His voice enhanced the pathetic portrayal of that 19 year old, low self-esteemed, effeminate emo.

Morita's VA was good and the rest is okay.

LAST
Well, if you don't like life animes, you might want to try provided: you have high "boring" tolerance. If you do like life animes or j-dramas or k-dramas this is a MUST WATCH. Or if you're the artsy fartsy type maybe you'll like it for it's creative value. I DID NOT LIKE IT. Lots of other people seem to enjoy it so you might be a part of that happy majority. I cannot however and thus, cannot recommend it to anyone.

I just couldn't bring myself to enjoy it. I'll never watch this again. Of course, some will undoubtedly find it charming and unique. Others, like myself, will find it frustratingly dull, filled with pointless melodic interludes and get fed up with the repetitive angsting. This anime is far from groundbreaking.

I'd just recommend NANA over this, which is similar in that it's realistic, romance, comedy, drama except I loved it instead of being bored by it. I don't think I was ever bored when I was watching NANA. Plus it's steamier and longer~ read more