Review on Honey and Clover

It is a 2005 anime by J.C.Staff based on comedy, drama and romance. The main characters are Takemoto, Morita, Mayama, Yamada, Hagumi (or known as Hagu) and Shuji (or known as “Shuu-chan” by Hagu). Takemoto, Shinobu and Mayama are housemates and arts students of a university in Tokyo.

Characters:

Takemoto is the main character and narrator of the story. He is a nice and considerate person and always takes care of others. He cherishes his friends a lot and easily gets troubled by things happening around him. He is always in doubts when it comes to trouble but find ways to solve it.

Morita is Takemoto, Mayama and Yamada’s senior. He is always skipping class, missing for weeks to do his part-time job mysteriously coming back with dozens of yen notes. He hasn’t been able to graduate due to his poor attendance and late submission of final year project. He is a funny and interesting character. Despite his care-free appearance, he cares for his friends and always in deep thoughts. He is not an expressive person, but has a sharp thinking when problems arise. He has amazing talents in arts and always performs the unexpected.

Mayama is Takemoto’s senior and Morita’s junior. He is a normal art student and taking a part-time job at Harada Design. He always feels pity towards Takemoto for what Morita did to him. But, touch when Takemoto did not give up on helping Morita.

Yamada is an arts student and at the same grade as Mayama. She is good and talented in making pottery. She has feelings for Mayama but she never confessed it. However, Mayama knows about it all along. She actually admires Mayama’s strength to move forward in his career path. She feels lost about it and easily give up when she fails her interviews.

Shuji is lectuer in the university. He is mature and funny. He is protective towards his niece, Hagu, whom he is fond of. He is once an arts student in the university as well.

Hagumi or known as Hagu is a Shuji’s niece from the countryside. Despite her age, the way she look, talk and act is much like a primary school children. She is a new arts student of the university. Her thinking is very straightforward and do not understand the complications of the reality world. Sometimes, she is unable to comprehend her own feelings.

Storyline:

The anime started off with the introduction of the main characters, Takemoto, Morita and Mayama who are housemates. The Hagu’s appearance triggers the love triangle between Takemoto, Morita and Hagu. It is love at first sight for Takemoto and Morita. Hagu is afraid of Morita at first, but her feelings changes for him after that. Takemoto notices Morita and Hagu’s feelings towards each other and is in dilemma on how to face it. Despite his anxiousness, he did not feel hostile towards Morita. Hagu is unable understand her own feelings for Morita but wanted to be with him. Morita’s actions are rather incomprehensible. He is always running away and do not face his feelings for Hagu.

On the other hand, we have another even more complicated love story between Yamada, Mayama and Rika. Yamada has feelings for Mayama. Yamada’s presence is precious for Mayama, but not as a lover. Instead, Mayama is in love with his boss, Rika.

Rika is Shuji’s coursemate in the university. She is fair and timid. Rika, Harada and Shuji are good friends and housemates back then. Rika and Harada are very talented. Shuji has always admired them. Rika and Harada got married and open their own company called Harada Design. However, Harada passed away in a car accident and Rika is unable to forgive herself for causing the accident. From a scene in the anime, we can see that Shuji has feelings towards Rika but he decided to hide them forever and he did it well.

Despite knowing Mayama’s feelings for Rika, Yamada did not let go of her feelings for Mayama. She is in the dilemma of giving up or not and always changes her mind. She is always upset and cries whenever Mayama mention about Rika.

Nomiya is Mayama’s colleague in Fujiwara Design. He is cool and steady. He is interested in Yamada and always observed her from afar. Mayama thinks that he is a playboy and tries to protect Yamada from him. Despite knowing Yamada’s strong feelings for Mayama, he stays by her side and supports her whenever she is upset. He is also a considerate person and view things from different aspects before taking any further actions. Yamada slightly changes her perception about him after that. There is some possibility that Yamada will pair up with Nomiya.

The story is not incomplete and there will be a second season. The story ended with Takemoto confessed his feelings for Hagu.