I finally got around to finishing the second season of Honey and Clover last night after about four months of forgetting about it and I’m glad it’s finally over. The second half was made more dramatic with Hagu’s injury and the Morita family taking back the company they lost in their childhood and seemed more morose and more introspective than the first season or the first half of the second season. Also, this is the first series I have managed to complete blogging. (Haruhi doesn’t count because I started blogging it with episode 10.) Although it was a shorter series, I still feel it’s a notable accomplishment for me to get something from my backlog done with. My next target is NHK ni Youkoso, and then maybe I’ll marathon some anime I passed up on in previous years.

The sixth episode could have been entitled “Nothing Substantial Happened” because the storyline wasn’t really advanced that much, although some stuff did occur. Morita thought back to his childhood when he and his brother were amazed by his father’s inventions. Rika is having problems with an overly forward Spainard named Marcos so Mayama travels over there to help her get some work done (and defend his love interest). Hagu has problems acting on her ideas and wishes she had more time to “unbox” them within her mortal lifetime. Yamada has a moment with Nomiya on a bridge and then asks Takemoto if he can drive the gang to the ocean. They never actually go but they have fun imagining them together there.

The backstory of how the company run by Morita’s eccentric father (runs in the family, huh?) was subsumed by another firm was doled out in episode seven and the motivation behind the Morita brothers raising all that money is made clear - they want to acquire the company back for themselves, a feat that they accomplish in episode eight. Kaoru, the business-oriented one, is ecstatic after the buyout but Shinobu, the Morita we’ve come to know and love, is largely indifferent about it. Near the end, Kaoru visits his old house that the recently ousted CEO and his family are now living in and cries a little before being called back to a pile of unsigned paperwork.

As if fate wanted to move the main story along and force conflict to begin bubbling up, a plate of glass that was being moved into place for the Hamabi Festival is shattered by fierce winds and the tendons in Hagu’s right hand become paralyzed from the broken glass. She is determined to do her rehab without the use of painkillers but she gradually starts losing hope of ever being able to draw again.

The second-to-last episode had so much passion in it between Hagu, Hanamoto-sensei, Takemoto, and Morita that the final episode felt a little deflated in terms of momentum. But it still had enough to resolve some loose ends, especially Hagu and Takemoto parting ways. There’s something romantic about someone running alongside a moving train, trying to catch it even though they know they can’t reach it. That kind of scene used to appear in Western cinema more prominently when there were fewer freeways and it does surface, to a certain extent, with subways but trains travel further distances and thus seperate lovers more when they depart for a greater emotional effect.

The last couple episodes pushed Yamada and Mayama to the sidelines, which was fine since they weren’t that embroiled in Hagu’s incident and they did have a nice conversation about it from the viewpoint of observers. It would have unrealistic for them to suddenly get back together especially since this series plays out in a realistic world and they still remained good friends.

Overall, Honey and Clover is one of my favorite recent anime because for many reasons. The cinematography and soft art style were what I liked the most about it. For example, during the insert song of episode 11 of the second season, there was no dialogue and none was needed as the emotions of anger and unease were easy to read from the characters’ faces and actions. (Also, the skermish between Takemoto and Morita was pretty smooth.) The sense of humor managed stay alive near the end with Mayama protecting Rika, Ayu’s deadly cooking, Morita’s aloofness, and the awkward aftermath following Hanamoto’s utterance of “daisuki“. The mechanics within relationships were realistic although Ayu’s seesawing between Mayama and Noyima was irritating at times. And the music enhanced the effect of scenes more than it detracted from them.

This story followed an architecture student from entrance into an art college to his graduation, profiling his ups and downs in love and his attempt to find his place in the world. A number of motifs were introduced such as the ferris wheel, the spinning tires of a bicycle, a field of unopened boxes, bugs moving toward the light, and (of course) four-leaf clovers with honey and were used artistically as a series about collegiate art students should. Now I have to read the manga to see the art in black and white and get on writing a review of the live action movie.

P.S. Because I watched the final two episodes in succession, I could definitely tell the difference between Hiroshi Kamiya (Takemoto’s regular VA) and Kenji Nomura (his substitute for episode 12). Then again, Garten’s post over at Memento was in the back of my mind so I kind of was clued in beforehand.

P.P.S. Peter Lucas FTW!

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