Hachimitsu to Clover

Honestly I only came here because I have only written positive reviews so I felt like ranting about an anime that I thought sucked that apparently every other person on the planet loved.

Honey to goddamn Clover...fuck. Just typing the name irritates me. This review will be short and contain LOADS OF SPOILERS, so stop reading if you do not want that.

Anyway, this whole anime for me was one giant what the fuck.

So I love romance anime, but I kind of only want the romance anime to go well, which may not be a great trait to have but oh well I'm a sap ... for happy endings. OF WHICH THIS ANIME HAS NONE!

So you got this guy Takemoto, immediately falls for this 8 year old girl who, surprise is actually like 20-something and an art prodigy attending his college. My dude Takemoto is the nicest guy in the fuckin world! And he gets NOTHING. NOTHING I TELL YOU!

So he is just being his chill self, helping Hagu, or whatever tf her name is, get accustomed to life and the school and everything and she's like "oh thank you I really appreciate it." And here I am thinking "Okay my boy gettin that 8-year-old-lookin puuuussssss"

But then she sees this guy Shinobu's sculpture or some shit like that and meets him for the first time and BAM, she's in love with him. Shinobu falls in love with her too like instantly and thus the love triangle is established. So what happens next? Shinobu disappears for like 2 months (pretty sure I'm being over dramatic here but it was a long time).THE WHOLE TIME, my bro Takemoto is still being the best fuckin' friend to Hagu, doin' everything for her. Helpin' her when she's down. AND SHE GIVES NO FUCKS ABOUT HIM!

Then Shinbou comes back and Hagu is all about him and they kiss and it's bullshit. Then at the end Takemoto is like "I'm moving because I'm super depressed thanks to you guys, fuck all yall" and they are just like "Who tf is Takemoto again?"

Seriously this dude was so poorly treated. I have never seen someone go from Goku to fuckin' Krillin so quick.

Then there is this other love story between AGAIN this really supportive, amazing girl, and this dude who's in love with his terminally ill boss or something. EVEN THE BOSS IS LIKE "Dude, this chick is amazing and wants you so bad and supports you so much." And he's like eh, fuck her.

I said this would be a rant and I got pretty into it by the end there. Anyway, TL:DR,

The characters treat each other so fuckin shittily and in the end it's one of those "Everyone was happy because they realized how important friendship is and they all got closure" Oh bull-fucking-shit. Takemoto probably offd himself a week later, and everyone else was still probably depressed because nobody ended up with the person that they were in love with.

Oh, except the chick who moved on from the dude in love with the terminally ill chick. THAT GIRL WAS THE ONLY SANE ONE! And she was the only reason I kept watching. Fuckin; hated Hagu man...hated that bitch.

Spurred by good reviews to watch this anime, I picked it up and continued to watch hoping that the reviews would be justified. Towards the end, I toughed it out, but was ultimately greatly disappointed.

In a nutshell, this anime is a bore to watch. Unless you count graduating from college and getting a job as exciting and significant developments, every character is almost in the exact same spot they were in at the beginning of the series.

Watch one episode and you basically get the gist: A bunch of friends in art school talk, eat (a lot), get drunk (a lot), pine after this one ... or that one, cry (one character seems to cry every episode, almost every 5 minutes), fervently work on art pieces, go to festivals, take field trips, have inner monologues, and don't address what is really on their minds to the ones who need to hear it. Their failures to communicate prevents them from making breakthroughs which serve to slow any development to a snail's pace artificially.

If you don't want to watch adults fall in love with a character that looks and acts like a child, do not waste your time with this series. I expected the show to address why the character is this way and show every other character be conflicted about the attraction to her, but that didn't happen. Even if they did address the attraction, it is akin to mentally mature adults pursuing a mentally challenged adult. No bueno.

Maybe the show intended to continue after the 36th episode, but, as of now, it didn't sufficiently tie up some of the threads that I was concerned about in my opinion.

I liked how this anime looks, but the first 24 episodes seemed to have looked better than the last 12. The cartoonish expressions the characters often make gets to be too much for me though. The voice acting and sound design are the best things about this anime for me by far.

In closing, I didn't enjoy this series, I obviously won't re-watch it, and I strongly do not recommend it.

I started watching this anime..some of the guy characters were funny at first.. atleast until the middle part after they are almost late for school. However i lost my interest around the part where Hagu is introduced to the other characters. And, i just cant quite accept the fact that Hagu is 18... its kind of weird to watch. or gross. um.. ya i am already not a fan of this anime and i only seen one episode of it. heh i just cant understand why all the reviews for this anime are great reviews. I dont think this anime will ever pull me in ... if Hagu is the main love interest..Maybe it gets better if you are into children. lol i'm not. *shrug* Maybe if i'm that bored i'll decide if i want to watch a bit further since only two of the characters amused me at the beginning.

Watching, force-feeding, succumbing to Honey and Clover has been the most boring experiences I’ve had watching anime. The show is more thoughtful, more sensitive, more real than anything seen in mainstream anime, and at the same time is the least enjoyable, most dull, most tedious anime I have ever watched through all the way. Only after several attempts was I capable of finishing, the end result leaving much to be desired. It has flashes of brilliance, genuine warmth at times, and an insane amount of baggage and neurosis. It's like sitting in on someone’s therapy session.

The start’s very good, the first episode is a treat ... to enjoy, perfectly sets up the college setting, the artistic characters, and the world they live in. It has a great music montage. One of the best first episodes in anime. Provides the best possible launchpad for the story to take off into the stratosphere. Instead it goes downhill.

I don’t like the subject matter. There’s so much bitching and moaning. All anyone ever does is in Honey and Clover is bitch and moan! “Oh, I’m so uncool, woe is me, I have no talent, I love this guy but he loves this girl, I love this girl but this other guy loves this girl and this girl probably loves this guy more than me” – Holy shit! Shut up!

And don’t even get me started on the ending, do not even get me started. Ain’t no way a show ends like that and gets called a classic nowadays, ain’t no way – but do not even get me started.

But back to the start. After the first episode, nothing else happens. There is no overarching narrative driving the story. Stories instead are told on a semi-episodic basis. Episodic shows only work if every single episode is enjoyable in itself. Needless to say, that isn’t the case with Honey and Clover. We get introduced to far too many irrelevant characters, like the silver-haired guy’s step-dad, and countless other nobodies, and as a result there’s not enough time for the main cast to spend time together.

Another issue with Honey and Clover is that the show ends before it even begins. The messy-haired guy with glasses already leaves college before we have a chance to get to know him, Hagu’s cigarette-smoking guardian goes off on some trip to Africa, and Morita is hardly ever around – and yet immediately, the story thrusts itself into these sad feelings without even having laid the necessary groundwork for the viewer to become attached to these characters. The end result – I don’t care! Silver-haired guy’s feeling sad about not having enough talent? Don’t care! Pottery girl’s still hung up about her crush, messy-haired guy with glasses who loves the depressed office woman? Don’t care! Pottery girl’s crying? What? Again? Already? Time sure does fly when you’re not having fun!

Staring at the washed-out watercolour palette isn’t doing anything for me either. The artwork not having defined outlines, and the generally lacklustre animation made for a soporific viewing experience, I had a hard time focusing on the screen. It hasn’t aged that badly, but it’s not pretty, outside of a couple spots.

Obviously, there are parts, little snippets, that I like. Silver-haired guy’s bicycle trip, and his eventual return capping off the first season, where he finally gets the better of Morita, is a satisfying moment. The scene at the very, very end where Takemoto opens up the good-luck charm Hagu gave him is inspired. In general I appreciate the maturity of the writing and its attempts at realism. All the characters are very likeable so long as they aren’t whining. Morita, by himself, possesses the type of magnetic personality that makes viewers want to keep watch just so you can see more scenes with him. He alone serves as sufficient proof that this is the same author who would later make 3-gatsu no Lion.

But this is no 3-gatsu no Lion. It may have the same comedy style and unique artwork, but Honey and Clover’s subject matter is joyless, and watching it was an exercise in tedium. The phrase ‘watching paint dry’ could not be more apt. If you can stomach boredom and have a high tolerance for bullshit, there is plenty to appreciate, but I’d rather fall asleep.

Look, the animation looks amazing the colours etc, but this was not enjoyable for me. It is slow and hard to stay interested.maybe i didn't give it enough of a chance as i stopped by ep 4.i love the shyness of characters in love etc but honey looks like a child and i can't get over it.especaially with the way she behaves its too much! i just couldn't take it anymore. its obvious that it will take forever for anything profound to happen, maybe i'll try again someday.

Say, you guys who somehow managed to watch the entire series... How did you do it? I also want that superpower.

THINGS THAT I LIKED:

- Well, I liked the art. To be fair, the main reason I came here is because I liked Sangatsu no lion and since this is from the same author, I though I might enjoy it as well (my mistake).
- Music is not impressive, but not bad either.
- Unlike most of people in the comments, I do quite enjoy slice of life series. Or well, I do, when they´re nicely done. I could see, from the 3 episodes I watched before ... dropping this that the author wanted to write /draw about some seious matters... Too bad I failed to get to them.

But, wait a sec, I´ll explain why I dropped this.

THINGS I DIDN´T LIKE:

- I think my main problem with this series is the design of Hagu. Why did they design her as a 18 year old girl who physically looks as if she were seven and actually behaves like a child? How the fvck am I going to enjoy a romance story when one of the characters is 18 but my brain is telling me she´s seven? HOW.
- Not only that, that Morita guy... he´s such a creep! Like, during this few first episodes there´s a few scenes of him chasing Hagu around, scaring her, taking samples of her foot an selling it online (needless to say without her consent). Those scenes are written to be looked as funny. But honestly, I don´t see anything funny at all, more like a big red flag.
And I think that´s another of the problems of this anime: They put scenes intending them to be funny, brushing off cases of clear abuse as if it were nothing.
- I saw no plot. Literally. If you ask me to make a synopsis out of this I wouldn´t know what to say besides that´s a slice of life about college students. And yes, that´s pretty bad. Don´t blame the gender of the series btw.
- The opening is awful. I mean, not the music, like I said, music is ok. I mean the images. When I was watching I wondered if I had landed in the wrong series and was actually watching some horror food show.
- I fail to see the personality or even use of most characters. I didn´t even memorize most of their names because they all look so plain... Though I was wondering why Takemoto don´t just like asks Morita for a date (I mean, the relationship could be quite toxic for how Morita always behaves so irresponsibly and abusive, but hey, I feel more reassured knowing that the relationship is between two random dudes and not between a man and a woman who looks and acts like a child. Oh, and I chose here Takemoto because that guy seems to worry more about Morita than his own mother, probably).

OVERALL, I didn´t enjoy this anime at all. In fact, I pushed my limits watching 3 episodes.
Does it get better? For me, I doubt it. But you might as well give it a try anyway.

Honey & Clover definitely has some nice moments, but the flaws are just too major to ignore. I’m dropping it, because there is one major thing I can’t get past: Hagu.

Hagu is infantilized right from the very beginning. Her uncle introduces her as though she were a toddler who can’t speak or think for herself. Oh but don’t worry, Hagu is 18, as the show is certain to tell us right from the start. She doesn’t speak for herself. She is much more apt to just making sounds or gestures. (Seriously.. why doesn’t she speak?? and when she finally does… she sounds drunk….) Often the ... characters speak about her rather than to her. Regardless of Hagu’s stated age she is portrayed in literally every other sense as though she were a child. None of her features or characteristics or design or anything would lead you to believe that she were any older than 10 years old (IF that) if it hadn’t been explicitly stated otherwise. Episode 4, the christmas party.. there is literally a scene where Hagu and some other girl are admiring Ayumi’s legs and Takumi is like “I’m sure you guys will get legs like this when you become adults.” ?? Episode 5? same thing, but this time? breasts. same response. what the fuck.

So was there anything I liked? Actually yes. I loved the art and the music. I also love slice of life, and so I’m naturally inclined to like the slow pace and the feeling that every episode is full of moments we just happen to drop in on. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much else that I enjoyed, even putting Hagu aside (which is a pretty big ask, mind you).

So here are some other things that have been annoying me thus far:

It often feels as though there is little to no purpose/direction when it comes to scenes that are chosen to show us. They don’t always drive the story forward or develop the characters further. They’re sometimes not even very entertaining. We are only on episode 3, and suddenly we are thrown into this dramatic scene where Ayumi gets mad at Takumi for basically liking someone else and it’s like— why do we care? We barely even know anything about either of these characters yet. Why should we feel bad? Should we feel bad? It feels like we are supposed to think this dude is a jerk for liking someone else or something, but whY? Did he lead her on? Wouldn’t it be nice if we had some context, so that we could come to some kind of conclusion on our own? The main character also gives mary sue vibes. Maybe his one flaw is that he’s a bit of a pushover? There are also so many moments when, in spite of how obvious it already is, character’s feelings are explicitly stated to us via internal monologue. It really isn’t necessary.

There is a scene where Yuuta has just come to visit his mom and one of her coworkers asks, “Is it possible that you haven’t been coming home because you don’t like Kazu?” It’s immediately obvious that the answer is yes, and for a moment it seems like the show may respect the audience enough to avoid just giving us all the answers and allow us to interpret the details on our own. But no, after leaving his mom’s workplace, Yuuta immediately starts telling us about his home life in detail. Eventually, he runs into Kazu and they go to a batting cage, where he recalls what his mom’s coworker said and says, “She was right.” Seriously? Couldn’t you have just shown us all that through the plot instead of explicitly telling us that? At the very least, is it necessary to tell us that you don’t like him outright when it’s already obvious? The visit is wasted on his redundant internal monologuing. It might have been nice to just show the visit and let the viewer come to their own conclusions.

Honestly though, even if the rest of this show were better, it doesn’t matter. The whole situation with Hagu is just too fucking weird and it ruins the show.

Readers beware:Excessive use of mature language.If you are allergic to different opinions to yours then sod off or i'm bringing out the hammer.

With that outta the way let's see what's what.If you have eyes,which i pressume you have since you're here,the synopsis is somewhere here on MAL so i won't bother with that at all.I've wasted enough of my time watching the damn anime,i refuse to waste some more.

And we begin,rather confusingly,with the opening song.That's the first thing that hits your screen after all so let's go with that.It's rubbish.Plain and simple rubbish.This is the opening of an anime and what they show you is ... some food either dancing or humping or whateva..I've seen many shit in my life but this trumps it all easily.As for the song being used?That's like listening to the mumblings of a child who got hold of a bottle of scotch and drank it all in one sitting and then telling you all about it's kindergarden adventures and how nobody loves him/her and is all alone and life is terrible and my ice cream melted and SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY..Dear mf lord!

And when you go past the first boss that is the opening song you are presented with one of the most ridiculous and horrific animations ever.If we were talking about DMC or even Ebichu it would be ok.That's supposed to be a somewhat serious down to earth anime and it looks like a fucking joke.It's not DMC bad but for a 2005 anime this looks like a washed out corpse.And don't think that as eps go by the animation gets any better cause it doesn't.In fact there are times where the animation is falling down a cliff.But hey this is heartwarming so the animation doesn't nee............Wait...What?What did you say?The animation what?Again if it's something like DMC made for fun then yes.If you're going for an anime that is all about a deep story then the animation HAS to be top notch.Did you ever go to a fancy restaurant and they served you a dish that looks like someone's ear infection?I guess not unless you count food from a canteen top of the pops.I can understand low budget issues but the only time it looked good was when you were shown stills but the motion itself is rigid and limited.

And onto the story.It’s about a group of college students,mostly in arts,and how they deal with romance,friendship and misfortune.On paper this sounds interesting..But it so isn't!

First off the way you present the story or stories in this case is the A and the Ω.Cause on paper things sound ok but on screen not so much.It tries to tell many stories at once and fails miserably,much like Greece's economy.The end result is that this feels like 2 animes botched together in a hurry by someone who doesn't like anime or botching that much.The stories or these 2 animes don't fit,they don't match and they certainly don't have any effect whatsoever to each other.Let me give you a perfect example of what i'm on about.

Yuuta lives the simple life of an art student,struggling to make ends meet all the while dealing with his weird as fuck roommate,Shinobu..But then out of the blue comes a surprise in his life when his art teacher brings his cousin’s daughter and talented young woman named Hagumi to class.....What?Sorry i got that wrong..It's not that,it's the story of Ayumi a pottery student who has the hots for a man who stalks a widow......What the fuck is wrong with me today..This is about Shinobu and his brother getting back their father’s company..Basically what happened here was that many people gathered with ideas and because they were bored and wanted to be done with it they threw the whole lot in the pot and made a green potato mush garnished with sausages and crepes...And if my description doesn't sound much,you should watch it and see for yerselves what a big mess they made of the storytelling.I cannot put it into words just how bad it is.But i'll give it a go nevertheless.

Let's go for them characters now and dive deep into the sea of misery that is this cast.

Let’s start with Hagu,an 8-year-old girl who is actually 18 as we're told.Now i should stress that not only she looks like a child,but the thing is that she also acts like a child with plus the social issues of a grown up and the social insecurity.It would have been so much better and would make so much more sense if they had just said she was a child,except for the minor detail that one of the protagonists,Takemoto,is in love with her and that would spoil the story they already had.

Speaking of Takemoto,he has to be the most boring character in the anime.Apart from the said romance with the 8yr old he has nothing going for him.He feels like an extra in his own freaking story.Let me run this past you.Someone who goes to school and graduates IS NOT a story.It's betime story at best.Someone who fails because of his unwillingness but somehow gets his shit together and then graduates to become something is a story..And an interesting one at that.There's no character growth to be found here.Yuuta’s story is your basic trip to graduation promised land.And even his supposed feelings for the midget don't make it better,cause Hagu is by no means an interesting character.And as for their "relationship"?That makes no blind bit of difference cause....Spoilers so i won't get into that.Let's say it ends up with some huge hints of pedophilia..Some like this sort of stuff you know.That's why some people thought it was cute and life changing and down to earth...Pedophilia..Makes for some interesting anime.This should be the slogan for most of the reviews actually.

Then we have Ayumi and her love conquests which include half the men in Japan.That is to hide here love for the man who is friendzoned by a widow.But her story is the most interesting one in the whole anime weirdly but it falls flat because they make such a heavy use of melodrama it ends up being reduced to a ridiculous story of i can't get past my crush i shall ruin my life and commit suicide.

These characters are poorly developed.This is just a story of emotionally immature people made for emotionally immature people who can't handle life and always cry and moan about how life is unfair and cruel cause their love interest doesn't give a single fuck...Οh boohoo..Romantic comedy my hairy ass.Yes it does have some hilarity spread here and there,but it only serves as a shortcut to depression and suicidal avenue crossing the lovesickjunkies street.I've never seen such an example of people going out of their way to stay depressed.Unless we're talking about kids,but even kids grow out of it and go on.This lot doesn't do moving on.

And it's not just the characters.It's the way we're told about the story of these characters.It's also the use of music.Music if used right can convey and enhance the emotion in a scene or a dialogue.It's not something you use in massive doses otherwise you end up on the wrong side of the track.And that's the case here.Almost every dialogue or monologue is accompanied by sentimental music.This makes the scenes overdramatic when they don't need to be.

And then we have the way the story is fed to us the viewers.Here we stumble upon the biggest issue of all.If you happen to read any review you'll find that everyone says the same thing like a broken cassete player.That the greatest qualities are found in the form of inner monologues that tell us everything about what a character is thinking and feeling.Yeah...If used correctly again yes..But notice now the key to this sentence...TELLING.

These characters are telling us how they feel,not showing us.Now picture this in your head.If you take the sound down all the way to 0 in the monologues,would the characters convey the same feelings?Would it show in their expressions how they feel that given moment?The answer to that is no.

Now that is called lazy writing.It completely renders any scene devoid of meaning.In other words it's how powerful visually and intense a scene can be even if there is no dialogue at all.Anyone can draw a scene by telling us about the scene.But showing us?That's the shit right there.

Now i won't reccomend it to anyone.But if you want to watch it and draw your own conclusions that's fine by me.

I did not enjoy watching Honey and Clover. Much of the blame fall upon the characters and story (or lack thereof). The slow, slice-of-life approach can work if the main cast is compelling, but I found it hard to really care about anything these characters were going through. The character development is sluggish as well, outside of Yuuta who I felt changed too abruptly during his arc. Hagu and her childlike appearance and personality were unsettling considering her role in a love triangle with college students. The romance in general was odd, I didn't understand most of pairings or the motivations behind these relationships. All ... of this combined with the lack of a strong overarching plot made for a very boring watch.

Visually, Honey and Clover was solid. It reminded me of 3-gatsu and Nodame Cantabile, whose art I liked as well. The music was fine as well; A bit dramatic, but it fit the tone of the anime.

I'd imagine that if you can find at least one character relatable, the flaws I mentioned could be overlooked. I unfortunately couldn't, and it in turn made Honey and Clover one of the most excruciatingly boring animes I've ever watched.