I will take both the manga and the anime into consideration in this review, and unless otherwise specified, an opinion stated is applicable to <b>both</b> the manga and the anime.
Honey&Clover (Hachimitsu to Kuroobaa, HachiKuro, etc) has by far one of the most original plots I have ever come across in a manga series. It is not so much a plot, as a lack of a plot, as I to to personally prefer (it's the "Seinfeld" of manga, if you will). The story focuses on the lives of six friends attending an art university in Tokyo. At varying years and levels of maturity, they are all often absorbed in their own problems. There is a fantastic balance of drama and humor, with painfully realistic situations.
The variety of characters is part of what makes this series so unique. If any reader/watcher had to think about it, they would probably realize that they both love and hate all of the characters. In a very realistic fashion, they all fail to be villains or heros, they're human and have their faults, as likeable as one may initially appear.
The anime is very true to the manga, but cuts off before the ending (the manga is currently still on-going). Despite the fact that there's a lot of humor in it, this is a slow-paced series, and probably won't appeal to the shounen crowd (although I have heard of exceptions). There is no clear beginning or end, because it is not about any trial in particular. Except of course, life in general.
Rating:
If I had to just take the manga into account, the score would be about an 8, but the artwork in the anime failed to meet my excpectations except at a few choice moments. Umino Chika has a wonderful sense of proportions, and you don't get that "awkward" feeling from the majority of her B&W drawings. On occasion, her colour illustrations can seem peculiarly staged, but... in general, the manga art is wonderfully quirky. Not stereotypically gorgeous, but wonderful to look at.
From the standpoint of an artist, the anime is very nicely presented. There are beautifully cropped frames, and the occasional pop-art or classic-art frame thrown in for visual stimulation. But as a general watcher, there are many times when the filler frames seem to be lazily done, it is very noticeable. For that I would give the anime's artwork a 4. It does not have the clean polished feel that I think the series deserves.
Rating:
Gorgeous music. Absolutely wonderful. Made me a huge fan of Shuga Shikao and SPITZ. The only anime that has ever had a good enough soundtrack to make me willing to shell out that ridiculously insane $40-something for the OST, which includes really beautiful instrumental cuts from the series. Almost every episode had an original song insert that was perfectly fit for that particular storyline. You know those series where you're compelled to skip through the OP and ED after the first two episodes? This isn't one of them. In fact, you'll probably be replaying these (over and over and over...)
Rating:
As much as I rave about the originality of the series, there are points where it comes out a bit dry. Until one who you might consider to be the "main" character, Takemoto, does a bit of "growing up", his storylines are often frustrating and not exactly... entertaining. By volume seven I would say the storyline has properly evolved and matured, but, taking the anime into consideration, which ends right as Takemoto completes that journey of maturity, I'd have to say that the progression will probably be too slow to keep most viewers interested. The other storylines however have a great balance of humor and serious moments (honestly, I'm more tempted to call it a comedy than a romance). There is a reason why this is so popular in Japan right now, and that is because publicity, artwork, and presentation of it in general has been great enough to draw people into what may seem to be a rather boring series at first.
And I've watched each of the episodes three times (raw, once subbed, and to screen-cap) and I'd have to say that it has one of the highest re-watchability (shush, it's a word) of any of the series I've seen.
Rating:
8.0000 (good)
Reviewed by lelei, Oct 13, 2005
I've only seen 5 episodes so far but I love this anime! ^_^
i havn't read the manga though but there should be some scanslations out there right?
I like your review it isn't just prasing. (seen lot of that before -_-')
i totaly agree with you on the music! I'm a big Suga Shikao fan! Love his voice! -^0^-
Domo Arigatou for such a nice review! ^_-
The manga certainly sounds better than the anime, as I've often seen happen. It's a shame the anime is cut off
while the manga still goes, but what can you do? Like you said yourself, at times it was obvious the animatiors were
lazy with the filters, so maybe they got to that point so much they got lazy to do the anime altogether?!
If I had to choose, I think I'd rather read the manga, although the way you described the sound makes me want to go
out there and get the cd!
Good job on the review.
does anyone know how many episodes this anime has?
I really agree with your review, but I would give it a B+ instead, maybe i'm just a storyline fanatic. The art does take some getting used to though. It has a watercolorish type of art that I thought could have been better. Your review was great! Thanks!
coolest
Thanks for the review! Nice ^__^
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