Year in Review: Honey & Clover 2
December 23, 2006 | Television | Honey and Clover
8. Honey & Clover 2
If you had a time machine and could travel back a year, you’d be able to catch the 2005 Year in Review in this very same space. Yes, I know the blog didn’t even exist at that time. Use your imagination. You’ve already conjured up a time machine, after all.
But, anyway, if you went back a year and took a look at how I ranked my favorite shows of 2005, I’m almost certain you’d find Honey & Clover at the top of the list. So, it’s with reluctance that I rank the show’s second season near the bottom of this year’s list. As I wrote in the introduction for this year’s review, however, with so many amazing shows airing in Japan over the past twelve months, the difference between fourth and eighth place is not so great.
Of course, the second season of Honey & Clover is, essentially, one episode of recap and eleven episodes of conclusion - a (practically) seamless continuation of the first season, delayed by nine months of snow and cherry blossoms. There were some small changes, however. A shift in art style. A more serious tone. Oh, and a noticeable lack of dancing hot dogs.
It’s because the second season is almost entirely conclusion, however, that it’s as exhausting as it is enjoyable. For all of its serious drama, Honey & Clover is a breezy show. Even the name sounds breezy (”Honey & Clover”, ahh… refreshing!”). Yet, the second season is decidedly somber in tone much of the time. How could Honey & Clover be so damn depressing?
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course. After all, Honey & Clover is, for all basic purposes, a coming of age story. A bumpy ride is to be expected. Those of us who have experienced similar trials and tribulations in life can identify, I think. That’s the power of Honey & Clover. It speaks to our generation. Like Mayama, we’ll one day succeed. Like Ayu, we’ll one day fail. Like Morita, we’ll struggle at times. Like Hagu, we’ll stand at the edge of the abyss. And like Takemoto, we’re always moving forward.
But where are we headed?
I think you hit the nail squarely on the head with what’s special about Honey & Clover. It’s not the drama or the comedy, it’s that it’s easy to relate to. I myself sometimes wish I could just get on a bike and pedal away like Takemoto did near the end of season 1. I didn’t really watch it for the comedy, the drama, or just to know what happens next, but because I identified with and related with the characters going through, stumbling along, and running away from life.
I lack the brainpower to understand what you’re implying with your last statment though. :p If you’re talking about how open-ended it was, I thought there was a spin-off in the works.
Wait, Ayu’s horde of unicorns–that’s season 2 or 1? Because I think that might be the best gag in the entire series.
The unicorns were awesome! That was season 2, episode 3. One of my favorite episodes of the entire series. That’s the thing about season 2 for me: while I may like the first season better overall, the second season features some of my most beloved episodes.
Aye. The second season had more drama - which was both good and bad. Good, in that it felt more like a coherent story than parts of Season 1 did (where we, like TAkemoto, drifted)… although at the same time, the experience was, at least for me, more about the journey rather than the destination - the experience, as you put it.
I guess I should track down both seasons. I keep hearing about it. And i like the idea of a breezy show
Unfortunately, I do not have a paragraph’s worth of things to say, but I just wanted to tell you I had a slight chill run down my spine when I read that last paragraph. Good man.
I was going to comment upon the titanic battle for the supremacy over the year 2005 which the original H&C and Kamichu waged, and which I called in favor of Kamichu. But then I remembered that I only saw small fragments of H&C. The story was so obfuscated that it turned me away every time. I am going to rewatch it eventually… and perhaps rethink it.