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Honey and Clover Vol. 1 – Manga Review

After trying Honey and Clover out in Anime and Movie forms, I finally went to the roots and read the manga version. Not surprisingly, it’s awesome. I should’ve read this a long time ago.

After trying Honey and Clover out in Anime and Movie forms, I finally went to the roots and read the manga version. Not surprisingly, it’s awesome. I should’ve read this a long time ago.

Book Blurb:
Takemoto, a sophomore art student in Tokyo, thinks his greatest worries in life are finding ways to eat more meat and getting to class on time. But with friends like his, life is never going to be that tame.

Review:
Ah, undergrad college. Certainly a time for learning about life. Certainly a natsukashii time. I still think back on my college days as being really awesome. Having a tight-knit group of friends and just having a lot of fun. So for me, Honey and Clover is really about romanticizing the experience.

Takemoto is the green sophomore and Morita + Mayama are his senior guides to life. The companionship the three dudes have is pretty interesting all by itself. Morita sort of manipulates the other two, Mayama is really cool but also kind of messed up, and Takemoto is just really sincere about everything.

On top of that situation, Hagu is the new student who Takemoto instantly falls in love with (and so does Morita, but his love manifests itself in much wackier ways. Yamada is the “Iron Man” potter who every guy loves but whose love (for Mayama) goes unrequited. And Yamada is stalking his employer, a crippled widow.

Basically, it’s a love tetrahedron (or some other really complicated shape).

But instead of piling on the emo-ness of love, Honey and Clover balances the emotions with comedy. For every tugged heartstring there’s an equal and opposite Ham-senpai. Sure, Risa is rejected by Yamada, but then Morita blocks one of her attacks and comments on her childish panties. Hagu vomits from too much stress but she also gets jealous of Yamada’s nice legs. It makes Honey and Clover really easy (and enjoyable) to digest.

Let’s face it. Volume 1 is pretty much flawless. It sketches out the relationships for all of the characters, sets the characters up themselves and ends up being thoroughly entertaining throughout. I really loved the anime, but the manga outdoes it 100%. My only complaint? The manga doesn’t play “Moon River” for me (and other diagetic songs).

Do yourself a favor and get some Honey and Clover. Mmmmm… nostalgia…

Thanks to Viz Media for sending me a review copy of Honey and Clover Volume 1!

2 replies on “Honey and Clover Vol. 1 – Manga Review”

and the only problem is the girls character design, that cause them to look like dolls, and that’s the only thing that keeps me from checking out the franchise.

Honey and Clover has got to be my favorite series right now! It’s got likable characters, hilarious scenes, and it doesn’t let the love get ridiculously sappy like in some shoujo titles I’ve picked up. Being a fine arts undergrad myself, I can really relate to the setting, too. It’s nice to see that other people like this manga as much as I do!

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