Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Honey & Clover II – episode 3

“I don’t want to see your tears”

I didn’t like Nomiya last season. Now he can shed the suit of youth, stand tall and be a man!

With the revelation that Rika (and Mayama) might have to go to Spain on business, Yamada secretly breaks down. Yamada can’t keep a secret from Nomiya, though, so he drives all the way from Totori to Tokyo … only to find that Miwako had sent Yamada to Totori that very morning so that she could see him.

Everyone knows by now that the maidenly Yamada is protected by a complement of incredibly rude unicorns.
“Back to Tokyo!” they cry. “Protect the princess!”
Yes, that is magnificently funny, but that is not the point of this episode of Honey and Clover. No, the point is Nomiya, who is probably the most normal of all of the characters in all of the love polygons of the series.

Now, Nomiya was something of a jerk last season. Perhaps a jerk under the cloak of “honesty”, but a jerk nonetheless. Hamada Kenji made the natural transfer to Paradise Kiss as George with no hassles. Now he’s back and more mature. Maturity in this instance involves the ability to become embarrassed because … you care. Until now, Nomiya had a series of women he could discard at will. Yamada is different. She is fragile and delicate, liable to break into tears at the slightest provocation. Rather than run for the hills as a result, this actually intrigues Nomiya.

Yet here we have one of the strangest ideas of Japan: that your feelings for someone aren’t obvious until you’ve “confessed” to them. Surely Yamada knew that Nomiya had an interest in her? Mayama certainly knew that he did, which was why he turned into a selfish evil bastard who had Yamada’s “best interests” at heart. These people only see and hear what they want to see and hear, with information that they don’t deem relevant tossed aside.
I think I’m actually now going for Mayama and Rika, with Nomiya and Yamada together. Nomiya is the least vulnerable of the characters because it strikes me that he is capable of moving on rather than bearing things forever. Everyone in Honey and Clover is remarkably unadaptable on the whole, and their wounds run deep. Nomiya can break the curse and bring balance to the land!

Until the curse is lifted, though, I’ll be really worried about the fatalism of Rika. She seems to have a determination to see the end of everything and that does not strike me as happy in the slightest. Of all the damaged characters, her damage is the most understandable. Seeing more facets of her character makes her more interesting but also makes her an incredibly sad figure. If she wants my sympathy, she’s got it. If she’s just a digitally animated figure, she’s still got it. Her and her beautiful orange office just get right at me.

More good stuff. The dam has yet to burst.