Website - Honey and Clover

Honey and Clover is an anime series that follows the lives of several students who attend an art college in Tokyo. It is slice-of-life, with many comedic and some dramatic elements.

Characters

Takemoto Yuta

The main character. He begins the series as a sophomore, and meets Hagu in the first episode.

Hanamoto Hagu

18 years old at the beginning of the anime, she has blond hair and is often mistaken for a young child by those who do not know her. She is an art prodigy and is taken care of by her cousin Hanamoto.

Morita Shinobu

A 6th-year senior at the art college. Responsible for most of the comedic episodes in the series, he is a happy-go-lucky person with a knack for taking high-paying one-time jobs, and is considered a prodigy.

Hanamoto Shuji

A 30-year old professor who is responsible for most of the students in the anime, with the exception of Morita.

Mayama Takumi

A 4th-year senior at the art college. He is Ayu's love interest.

Yamada Ayumi

A student at the art college who specializes in pottery. She has an amusingly quick temper, likes the sake, and is considered a beauty.

Review

This is one of my recent (as of Mar. 2007) favorites. The animation for the opening credits is what it is currently most-famous for — various creative uses of food. It is primarily slice-of-life, and has plenty of comedic moments. Luckily, these outnumber the drama moments that bring other anime series down (I'm looking at you, Bokura ga Ita).

The first episode was enough to get me hooked, especially because of the comedic theme that Takemoto and Morita played, with the former trying to wake the latter in time for his graduation thesis presentation. When Takemoto took a romantic interest in Hagu but was never able to express himself, I was a bit worried that this would turn into a lousy angst-fest. Luckily, the series kept moving and focusing on other characters as well, with several amusing group situations. Near the end of the first season, Takemoto decides to act on his expressed wish to see "how far can I go without looking back" by biking from Tokyo to various parts of Japan. The last episode tied that in masterfully with the other themes of the series. This more than made up for one or two slow-moving introspective episodes near the middle, since at least the main character was able to move forward and make progress with his life.

The music fit the mood of the series quite well, and there was a good selection of it throughout, more so than most anime series. It was mostly mellow stuff, but it worked. No J-rock operas here, The songs usually matched individual scenes quite well, lyrically, and helped to give added meaning.

The comedic elements were a breath of fresh air. While watching the series at anime club, laughter shook the room after some of Morita's stunts. I almost died laughing (metaphorically) during Morita and Takemoto's birthday Twister game. As lame as it is to applaud a recorded work, such as a movie (aside: I thoroughly disdain applauding during movie credits), this had moments that were worthy of it.

All together, I would heartily recommend this series. After becoming tired of the standard harem anime and high school anime fare, this series helped to get me back into anime viewing. Stick out the few boring moments and you will find the series very rewarding. I eagerly anticipate watching the second season (well ... I'm actually somewhat less-than-eager after reading the Wikipedia entry for Honey and Clover. Curses!).

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