Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Honey and Clover – episode twelve

July 23, 2005 on 1:02 am | In Honey and Clover | Comments Off on Honey and Clover – episode twelve

“The sudden kiss, the unexpected parting”

I’m not convinced. Beyond the cut is spoileriffic.

I really liked this episode because Honey and Clover is becoming a genuine relationship drama, but I’m not certain that it is quite the way that Shuu-chan and Takemoto have translated it. The fact that Hagu-chan is quite reticent about her innermost feelings does not help this at all, but I think that when Morita kissed her, she was genuinely shocked.

The fact that Hagu-chan is nervous around Morita is something that I would credit less to her “liking” him as to being scared of him and his constant freak behaviour. In episode ten, Morita did something that he totally did not intend to do – his apology on the ferris wheel – and then backed away from it. The kiss is the same thing. Of course, when you have your own leaning in a love triangle, you want to interpret things this way – but I think Morita’s feelings are one sided.

The fact of the matter is that Hagu-chan is at her most personable when she is with Shuu-chan and Takemoto; this says more to me, but Takemoto’s thought that “all this time I was in love by myself” is kind of heart-breaking. Regardless of the truth of the issue, the drama is excellent.
Takemoto’s trip to the airport, and his realisation of true anger towards Morita, is one of the best scenes of the entire series. It was also kind of fun to meet Morita’s brother.

Finally, Mayama gets a little screen time to look sad about Rika. The scenes about this were understated and nice – but damn if this series isn’t getting a bit down.