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Now in Japan
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Written by maehara
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Tuesday, 31 May 2005 11:47 |
 Time for some shoujo, this time from the romantic comedy genre, in the form of Honey & Clover.
I challenge anyone to tell me what this show is about having only
watching the opening credits. :) 18-year-old Hagumi Hagamoto -
Hagu to those who know her - is about to start university, which is
going to make the lives of a group of male students very interesting...
1 - I Just Saw the Moment a Person Falls in Love for the First Time. Oh Boy...
Yuuta Takamoto is at art college in Tokyo, and finding life quite
hard. At least his apartment's a sociable place, even if he is
used as the block whipping boy by some of the other residents. His
life brightens up when 18-year-old Hagumi Hagamoto starts at the same
college - Hagu's very short and very quiet, but Yuuta's smitten from
the word go...
2 - The Beginning of Two Loves
Morita's been teasing poor Hagu-chan mercilessly since she arrived -
someone her size is just too easy to pick on. He's even made a
website featuring all the photos he's taken of her. On the
occasions she's had peace & quiet, she's been working on her latest
piece of art - a human sculpture - and it's quite the piece, giving
Yuuta even more reason to fall for her, although she's also giving him
delusions of inadequacy. How can he keep up with someone that
talented? And how can he keep doing an art course when he's so
far off her level? Some helpful words from Takemoto give him some
pointers for what to do next. Meanwhile, Hagu meets pottery
student Ayumi Yamada & strikes up a friendship, while Morita
decides to be nice to Hagu for once...
If there was ever a series that you shouldn't judge by the opening
credits, this is it - a montage of pictures made from food, including a
cake made to look like soaked panties. Hmm. Quite what it
has to do with Honey & Clover completely escapes me, but there you go.
Once you passed the bizarreness of the OP, the show itself is something
of a surprise, and much more normal - it's a romantic comedy, and looks
set to be something of a reverse-harem, as shy little Hagu gathers her
male admirers around her, although Yuuta seems to be set up to be the
'true love' guy. I'm guessing Hagu's meant to bowl us all over
with her innate cuteness, but for once it doesn't work on me - her
character design does her no favours & is out of keeping with the
rest of the characters in the series. Chalk up one black mark.
Apart from that, this has been pretty good so far, with the focus as
much on Yuuta's flatmates as on Hagu, and it's an approach that works
really well. Comic relief comes from Morita (any bets on him
doing medical guineapig work during his mysterious absences?), but
there's a fairly large cast, all of whom are interesting in their own
way.
I started off Honey & Clover not expecting to like it
much - especially after that OP - but it's surprised me with how
enjoyable it was to watch. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.
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