Honey and Clover Vol. 1

Because I need to get the image I have of Stalin dancing to ‘Barbie Girl’ out of my head so I can actually sleep tonight.

I just don’t even know how it got there.

Honey and Clover is the sort of manga that almost everyone seems to know about – or, at least, know the general premise of it, and the fact that most people seem to think very highly of it. Unfortunately, this does tend to inspire a bit of trepidation in a potential reading, since hearing so much praise might diminish enjoyment of it in the end in the event that it is even just a touch less than you had thought it would be.

However, thus far, Honey and Clover has generally delivered on the promises of its acolytes.

It is difficult to summarize Honey and Clover, though, because of its very nature – Honey and Clover is very slice of life, with a good side of humor. But this sort of manga does not lend itself well to summarizing precisely because of its genre; does one go through summarizing each antic?

To put it simply, Honey and Clover is the story of Takemoto, a young art student going to school in Tokyo, and the sundry people he lives with, along with a few of his classmates. It is also the story of young love, as Takemoto falls in love with Hagu, the extremely young-looking niece of his professor and bonafide art genius, although the poor guy has yet to figure it out for himself. However, Takemoto is not the only one to have become interested in Hagu, as his hapless, sixth-year senior senpai, Morita, has also had Hagu catch his eye – too bad Morita expresses this affection in ways that no one else can fathom. Also in the story thus far are Mayama, who holds a dead-end torch for business-owner Rika, and Yamada, who similarly holds a dead-end torch for Mayama. Add a dirt-cheap apartment complex with starving students always hungering for meat, and a few humorous albeit one-note side-characters, and you have the makings of a good first volume.

Honey and Clover is one of the shoujo mangas which has significant crossover appeal – yes, the art is that breezy shoujo-style, and, yes, we’re looking at human relationships, but the manner in which it is conducted eschews the unpleasant taste many a dyed in the wool shoujo series with romantic elements leaves in the mouth. That the majority of characters are males who do not fall under the bishounen heading, but instead spend much of their time trying to finagle some pork or beef also helps this argument. There’s also an element of realism happily present – as a college student myself, I can relate similar stories to what occurs within the pages of this first volume.

One point of contention I have heard on occasion deals with Hagu, though. Hagu is eighteen years old. Looking at her, I’d really have to peg her for… well, maybe ten years at the most. Honestly, I do wish she looked a little bit older, but I found myself overall not terribly bothered by it. I will admit to being a bit more… forgiving about characters who look much younger than they are since I myself am routinely mistaken for being fourteen when I am fast approaching my twentieth birthday (once I handed my ID card to get scanned for dinner at the dining hall, and the cashier looked at in shock, looked back at me and declared, “My, I thought you were twelve!” -_-).

Anyway, I look forward to the next volume (and my next pay check, as that will make the next volume possible), and do recommend this to others to at least check out; you have to love the Shoujo Beat line’s pricing system, since this was $9, making it a justifable purchase.

Ok, maybe you can tell, but I probably shouldn’t be writing a review at this hour because I’m dead tired (twelve hour workdays for the win!), but, good god, I had to distract myself from Stalin dancing to Barbie Girl! MUST PURGE. Hope the review wasn’t too awful.