Honey and Clover II

Posted at 2006-12-05 00:11:46 in anime, reviews

I finished Honey and Clover II recently, and it was good. Actually, it's not quite as good as the first season, primarily because there's less of the Honey and Clover™-brand comedy I love so much. The drama is still quite good, though some of it didn't engage me emotionally as much as that of the first season did. But this is all fairly academic, as Honey and Clover II is a worthy finale to an excellent series, and should be taken as a whole with the first season.

Close-up of a field of clovers

But where is the HONEY?

I should also mention that the artwork looks amazing in HD, though I noticed some minor shortcuts in the animation. The music is very similar to that of the first season, which is definitely a good thing: the more Spitz, Suga Shikao, and Suneohair the better. Okay, I'll admit that I've even grown quite fond of YUKI's nasally energetic opening themes.

Yamada, Mayama and Rika at a kitchen table, each with a huge katsudon bowl; Yamada is eating furiously, while the other two stare at their bowls in disbelief

Awkward.

Takemoto gets very little screen time in Honey and Clover II, which is a bit disappointing. That's mostly just a result of the one major flaw of the series: it's too short. Better too short than too long, and I mostly can't complain about the pacing and resolution; but there's so much more that could have been done with these wonderful characters.

Side shot of Takemoto

Takemoto Yuuta.

I have one other gripe with Honey and Clover II: Takemoto's voice actor apparently had some sort of accident before the last episode, so a different voice actor had to replace him for that episode. This disconcerted me quite a bit since the difference was so noticeable: when Takemoto first started talking, I wasn't sure it was actually supposed to be his voice! Because of that, I couldn't focus properly on his monologues throughout the episode. I don't know how much this kind of thing bothers other people, but in any case it's unfortunate that it had to happen on the final episode.