Honey and Clover

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Honey and Clover

ハチミツとクローバー (Honey and Clover)
Genre	Comedy, Drama, Romance, Josei
Manga
Authored by	Chika Umino
Publisher	Shueisha
Serialized in	CUTiEcomic (ch. 1–14) Young YOU (until 2005) Chorus (2005-2006)
Original run	June 2000 – 28 July 2006
No. of volumes	10
TV anime
Directed by	Kenichi Kasai
Studio	J.C.STAFF
Network	Fuji TV, Animax Animax
Original run	14 April 2005 – 26 September 2005
No. of episodes	26
TV anime : Honey and Clover II
Directed by	Tatsuyuki Nagai
Studio	J.C.STAFF
Network	Fuji TV, Animax
Original run	29 June 2006 – 14 September 2006
No. of episodes	12
Movie
Directed by	Masahiro Takada
Studio
Released	July 2006
Runtime

Honey and Clover (ハチミツとクローバー, Hachimitsu to Kurōbā^?) is a manga series, created by Chika Umino. It is also known as Hachikuro (ハチクロ, Hachikuro^?).

1 Outline
2 Story
3 Characters
4 Anime
5 Trivia
6 Notes and references
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Outline

The first fourteen chapters of the manga were serialized in Shueisha's CUTiEcomic magazine from June 2000 to July 2001, and was serialized in Young YOU thereafter. With the demise of Young YOU in 2005, the series moved to the magazine Chorus, where it has formally ended its serialization, running until July 2006 with chapter 64.

In 2003, it won the 27th Kodansha Manga Award.

The series was adapted into an anime series by J.C. STAFF, first premiering between April to September 2005 across Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block. A second and final season, Honey and Clover II, premiered from June 2006. The series was also adapted into a live action movie, which was released across theaters on July 22 2006.

The title of the series, Hachimitsu to Kurōbā, stems from Chika Umino's two favorite albums: Hachimitsu by SPITZ and Clover by Suga Shikao, due to which Spitz and Suga Shikao's songs are featured prominently in the anime.

The story takes place in a fictional art college that is based on Musashino Art University, Kodaira city, in which SPITZ vocalist Masamune Kusano was also once a student.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Story

Yūta Takemoto, Takumi Mayama and Shinobu Morita are three young men who live in the same apartment complex and are students at an art college in Tokyo.

One day, one of the art professors, Shūji Hanamoto, introduces his cousin's daughter, Hagumi Hanamoto, who has come to live with him and is a first year at the art school. Upon introduction, Takemoto and Morita fall in love with her. Morita expresses his love for Hagu in ways that scare her, especially calling Hagu 'mousey' and constantly photographing her, while Takemoto hides his feelings and tries to be a friend to Hagu. Hagu herself, though initially timid and afraid of company, gradually warms up to the three.

The group also includes another female: Ayumi Yamada. She is a master of pottery, and is well known by her name "Tetsujin" (Iron Lady). When not at school or hanging out with friends from the college, she helps her family run the liquor store. She is very popular with all the guys, whether they are from the shopping district or the other male pottery students, but Mayama is the only man she is in love with.

Unfortunately, although Mayama considers Yamada a friend, he doesn't return Yamada's love and is busy chasing an older woman, Rika Harada. Rika runs an art business which she used to run with her husband, Harada before he died in a car accident which also left Rika disabled. Rika Harada and Shūji were very close friends and roommates in college. Mayama is sent by Shūji to help Rika, who has a hard time taking care of herself and running her business.

The story follows these five characters in their love triangles, graduating from college, finding jobs, and learning more about themselves.

[edit] Characters

Hagumi Hanamoto (花本はぐみ, Hanamoto Hagumi^?): Aged 18 years old (at the beginning of the story), she is affectionately nicknamed Hagu or Hagu-chan by her friends and starts the series as a first year student. She has the appearance of a young child, and to an extent, acts like one, even though she is 18. Despite her appearance, she is a highly gifted artist and her work is highly praised by art professionals. She tends to get very nervous when interacting with people and frequently becomes ill under pressure. Raised in a sheltered environment by her grandmother, she reflects the outside world she sees in her artwork. She is from Azumino city, Nagano-ken.

She is introduced to Takemoto, Morita and Mayama by Shūji, her father's cousin and also a professor at the college. Upon seeing her, Morita and Takemoto fall in love with her, though both express it in different ways. Hagu knows not of their feelings towards her, but sees them as friends, even brothers. However, Morita expresses his love for her in very odd ways, and Hagu is often seen trying to escape from whatever shenanigan Morita has planned for her.

Hagu is very shy, and because she is so nervous when interacting with people, the other art students think that she is strange. Hagu doesn't seem to be too close with family members either, with the exception of Shūji, whom she fondly calls "Shū-chan". However, as the series passes, Hagu is able to become closer friends with Takemoto, Mayama, Morita and Yamada. When Shu leaves to go do a research project in Mongolia, Hagu forms a deeper bond with all four people, essentially seeing them as a sort of family. Hagu lives with Yamada (whom she calls "Ayu") when Shu is away and they become very close friends.

Later in the series, Hagu started to avoid Takemoto after he confessed his feelings for her, leaving doubts if his love for her is reciprocated or not. In the latest manga chapters she admits that she likes Morita, but would rather be with Shūji because she knows that he can take care of her (especially after a life-altering accident that may permanently impair her abilities as an artist).

Yūta Takemoto (竹本祐太, Takemoto Yūta^?): Aged 19 (at the beginning of the series), Yūta Takemoto is a second-year student at the art college. He is from Annaka city, Gunma-ken. He lives in the same apartment complex as Mayama and Morita in room 202. His floormates are Morita and Hasegawa.

Takemoto is one of the more mellow characters in the series. He falls in love with Hagu immediately after being introduced by his professor and keeps his feelings to himself. His love for Hagu and his inability to act upon his feelings as freely as Morita causes some internal problems. For example, when Hagu noticed the bird brooch that was made for her, Takemoto couldn't bring it to himself to say that Morita made it for her. Instead of acting on his feelings, Takemoto decides to be a friend and a brother to Hagu, giving her support when needed. For example, Takemoto accepts Hagu's requests to build her sophisticated dollhouses.

His relationship with his family also contributes to his mellow mood. His father died when he was still young. Also, his mother works at a hospital as a nurse, so Takemoto would usually spend a lot of his time there, even Christmas. Furthermore, Takemoto is uncomfortable with his mother's new boyfriend, an outspoken man who seems to be the opposite of his father. However, Takemoto tries to get used to his company and tries to accept him as a person that can take care of his mother since he is now away from home.

Later in the series Takemoto has to stay another year due to getting a stomach ulcer and not being able to complete his graduation thesis. He finally confesses his feelings for Hagu, but she did not have the courage to answer him, thus Takemoto figured his feelings for her are unrequited.

Shinobu Morita (森田忍, Morita Shinobu^?): 24 years old and a 6th year student in the beginning of the series, Morita occupies room 203, his floormates being Takemoto and Hasegawa. The reason he hasn't yet graduated is because he can never wake up on time to go to classes, even with the combined help of Mayama and Takemoto. Morita oversleeps often due to the work that he does, though initially he never revealed what he actually does for work. Sometimes, his work requires so much of his time that he is not seen at the house for hours, or even days at a time. Whenever Morita decides to come home from work, he always immediately falls asleep for at least 38 hours. After coming home from his mysterious propositions, he often returns with a wad of bills in his back-pocket and, almost as if he's making it up to friends for being gone for such a long time, an assortment of random food items to share with his floormates.

Morita often does crazy things, like create a twister game with a little too many colors. He also has hilarious ways to express his love for Hagu. He often makes Hagu pose in ridiculous poses or make Hagu do certain things, and Hagu is seen trying to hide or run away from whatever Morita has in store for her. Despite Morita's antics, he has a sincere interest for Hagu. When Hagu created a scrapbook of things that she wanted to get, Morita got one of the things that Hagu wanted: expensive, brand-name shoes.

Later in the series, Morita leaves for America without saying anything to his friends, but later returns. While in America, he may have contributed to the visual effects for a movie that won an award at the Mocademy Awards (a spoof of the Academy Awards). At some point during his stay he dyed his hair blond. Morita's room is later shown to be full of high tech stuff which purpose is unknown.

Later in the series, Morita finally completed his course in his 5th and final chance to present his graduation work. Despite that he applied again for the university at another course. As he is already done with around half of its subjects, he re-enters the art school as a 2nd-3rd grader.

Takumi Mayama (真山巧, Mayama Takumi^?)

22 years old and a 4th year student at the start of the series, Mayama is from Kanazawa, Ishikawa-ken. He lives in the same complex as Takemoto and Morita. He occupies room 101, sharing the floor with an unknown individual and formerly Lohmeyer-senpai. He acts as a senior to Takemoto and tries to help Morita get up for early morning classes. At one point, Takemoto and Morita are seen sleeping alongside him in his futon. Morita also borrows Mayama's shirts from time to time because it's more comfortable.

Mayama also used to help Rika out with various errands while Rika was disabled due to the accident that left her husband dead. It is during that time that Mayama develops feelings for Rika. It is unknown whether Rika fully reciprocates the feelings that Mayama has for her, but various flashbacks imply that Mayama and Rika have 'fooled around', or Mayama took advantage of Rika's disability to fulfill his desires, although this is cleared up later as not being the case. Rika suggested that Mayama find another job so that she wouldn't have to continue hurting him, as she realizes how much he cares for her, and is unable (and perhaps unwilling at that point) to allow him to enter into her life.

Mayama eventually landed a job at Fujiwara Design. He has to deal with coworkers that are also very interested in his love life, and make comments whenever they can. Mayama also has to keep watch of his boss, Nomiya, whom he considers to be a playboy, when Nomiya begins to take an interest in Yamada.

Mayama doesn't return the feelings that Yamada has for him, but he sees Yamada as his close friend. Yamada's innocence is one thing that Mayama has to constantly guard from Nomiya, who has developed an interest with her.

When Fujiwara Design later broke up, people had to either stay in the Tokyo branch or transfer to the Tottori branch. Nomiya arranged for Mayama to be transfer to the Tottori branch, but as soon as this was announced Mayama quit. He now works again with Rika at her company, Harada Design, after forcing himself into the position in his own way.

Ayumi Yamada (山田あゆみ, Yamada Ayumi^?)

21 years old at the beginning, Yamada is well known by her peers at the art college. First, she is good at pottery, and second, she is nicknamed Tetsujin (lit. Iron-lady) for running 6km to school every morning with her dog during freshman year in order to help the dog lose weight. Due to her good looks, she also catches the attention of her male friends/coworkers at the shopping district she works with.

She and Hagu seem to be very close, like siblings. While Hagu addresses the three young men by their last names, she calls Yamada by her first name. Yamada really cares for Hagu like a younger sister. She offers to stay with her while Shuji is gone. Although not shown as much as her relationship with Hagu, she is close friends with Takemoto and Morita.

Yamada is deeply in love with one of her friends, Mayama. Mayama, however, doesn't return her feelings, asking her why she is in love with him and encouraging her to go find someone else. Even though Yamada recognizes that her love will bear no fruit, she continues to love him. She can't manage to move on and find another man. While Mayama doesn't love her in that sense, Mayama sees Yamada as an important friend, a feeling that Yamada recognizes later on when she cannot return the love of her coworkers, but still thought of them as her precious friends. Mayama's over protectiveness of her causes Yamada to get angry at him whenever he tries to protect her from his former boss, Nomiya.

Later in the series, Yamada decides to continue as a graduate student at the art college. Furthermore, she also makes pottery for Fujiwara and Harada Design.

Shūji Hanamoto (花本修司, Hanamoto Shūji^?): Shūji is a professor at the college that Morita, Mayama, Takemoto, Yamada and Hagu attend, serving as the father figure for the group. He is also Hagu's relative and the person that Hagu is really closest to, and gets very overprotective of her at times. Shūji is a close friend of Rika and her late husband.

When Rika's husband died in a traffic accident, he took care of Rika so that she wouldn't try and join her husband in death, but sometimes Shūji really wonders if Rika would've been happier if she died alongside her husband. Because of this, Shūji recommends Mayama as Rika's new assistant; he thinks Mayama's companionship would be a healthy change for Rika.

Rika Harada (原田理花, Harada Rika^?): Rika is the founder and manager of Harada Design. She also ran it with her husband until he died in a car accident that happened on the opening night of one of the stores they designed. This accident also left her badly scarred on her back, and has damaged her legs so she is unable to walk for long periods without the help of a cane and medicine. She is good friends with Shūji, for they, along with her late husband, were all very good friends in the past. It was her husband that befriended both her and Shūji, having joined both of them in their apartment. She is from Otaru city, Hokkaidō.

Mayama tends to Rika's injuries and develops feelings for her. Rika knows that Mayama likes her, but pushes Mayama away because she doesn't want to hurt him. It is unclear whether Rika reciprocates the feelings that Mayama has for her, but later chapters of the manga and the first episodes of the second series seem to imply that she does.

Later in the series, it appears that Rika finally opens her heart to Mayama after a shock ending sequence where Mayama's feelings finally flood out.

Kaoru Morita (森田馨, Morita Kaoru^?): Morita's older brother who seems to have a mysterious agenda in earning ridiculously large amounts of money. It is later revealed that he and Morita are working together to buy back his father's company which was purchased by an electrical company when they were kids.

Takumi Nomiya (野宮匠, Nomiya Takumi^?): Nomiya is Mayama's former boss at Fujiwara Design. He also likes Yamada, and tries to visit her whenever he can, although he is aware of Yamada's feelings for Mayama. Mayama tries to act as the middleman as much as he can in order to protect Yamada, as he considers Nomiya a playboy. However, later in the series, Nomiya comes to realize that he himself has truly fallen in love with Yamada.

Kazushi Yamazaki (山崎一志, Yamazaki Kazushi^?): Yamazaki is an employee at Fujiwara Design along with Nomiya and Miwako. He is romantically interested in his coworker Miwako, but so far his love is unrequited.

Miwako Teshigawara (勅使河原美和子, Teshigawara Miwako^?): Miwako is another employee at Fujiwara Design along with Nomiya and Yamazaki. She owns a dog named Leader.

Leader (リーダー, Rīdā^?): Miwako's dog who is with her most of the time.

Mitsuko Aida (合田美津子, Aida Mitsuko^?): Takemoto's mother. Works as a nurse.

Kazuo Aida (合田稼頭男, Aida Kazuo^?): Takemoto's stepfather.

Kazuhiko Hasegawa (長谷川一彦, Hasegawa Kazuhiko^?): He currently occupies room 201 of the apartment that Takemoto, Mayama and Morita currently live in. His floormates are Takemoto and Morita.

Lohmeyer-senpai (ローマイヤ先輩, Rōmaiya-senpai^?): A former housemate of Takemoto, Morita and Mayama and well-liked. He would bring meat to his housemates, and often in large quantities. Also worked part time as Nyanzaburou in an amusement park and as a result brought a lot of people there. Because of his father's condition, he goes back to his family's farm.

[edit] Anime

The first season of the anime series premiered between 14 April to 29 September 2005 across Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block. It spanned 24 episodes.

Two special episodes continuing the first season, Chapter L and Chapter F, were released with the series' 5th and 7th volume DVDs published in December 2005 and March 2006 respectively. ^[1]

A second and final season, Honey and Clover II, premiered from 29 June 2006. It spanned 12 episodes.

Main article: List of Honey and Clover episodes

[edit] Staff

First season

Director: Kenichi Kasai
Screenplay: Yousuke Kuroda
Character supervision: Chika Umino
Character designs: Hidezaku Shimamura
General animation director: Takahiko Yoshida
Prop design: Yukako Tsuzuki
Art director: Chikako Shibata
Color setting: Miyuki Ishida
Video design: Nobuo Ōkouchi
Photography director: Yutaka Kurosawa
Editing: Shigeru Nishiyama
Sound director: Jin Aketagawa
Sound production: Magic Capsule
Music: Yuzo Hayashi & Salon'68
Music production: Aniplex
Opening video: Nagi Noda (1-12 episodes), Yuichi Kodama (13-24 episodes)
Clothing supervision: Kazuki Kuraishi
Producers: GENCO
Animation production: J.C.STAFF
Production: Hachikuro Production Committee (Asmik Ace Entertainment, Shueisha, Fuji Television, Dentsu, Genco)

Second season

Supervisor: Kenichi Kasai
Director: Tatsuyuki Nagai
Series composition and screenplay: Yousuke Kuroda
Character supervision: Chika Umino
Character designs: Hidezaku Shimamura
General animation director: Masaru Heiwatari
Prop design: Yukako Tsuzuki
Art director: Chikako Shibata
Color design: Miyuki Ishida
Photography director: Yoshio Oukouchi
Editing: Shigeru Nishiyama
Sound director: Jin Aketagawa
Sound production: Magic Capsule
Music: DEPAPEPE, Yuzo Hayashi & Salon'68
Opening image: Fumiko Hirano
Music production: SME Records
Producers: GENCO
Animation production: J.C.STAFF
Production: Hachikuro Production Committee (Asmik Ace Entertainment, Shueisha, Fuji Television, Dentsu, Sony Music Entertainment, Genco)

[edit] Cast

Hagumi Hanamoto: Haruka Kudo
Yuta Takemoto: Hiroshi Kamiya (was replaced in episode 12 of season 2 by Kenji Nomura due to injury)
Takumi Mayama: Tomokazu Sugita
Shinobu Morita: Yuji Ueda
Ayumi Yamada: Mikako Takahashi
Shuuji Hanamoto/Leader: Keiji Fujiwara
Rika Harada: Sayaka Ohara
Harada: Kenyuu Horiuchi
Kaoru Morita: Takuma Takewaka
Takumi Nomiya: Kenji Hamada
Kazushi Yamazaki: Hiroshi Tsuchida
Miwako Teshigawara: Michiko Neya
Shin-san: Wataru Hatano
Rokutarou: Daisuke Namikawa
Carpenter: Takeshi Aono
Lohmeyer-senpai: Koichi Yamadera
Kazuhiko Hasegawa: Hirofumi Nojima
Tatsuo Negishi: Hiroshi Naka
Kaoro Morita (child): Junko Minagawa
Shinobu Morita (child): Rie Kugimiya
Floyd: Takashi Taniguchi
Akiko Oba-san (aunt): Miyuki Ichijou
Mitsuko Takemoto: Emi Shinohara
Yuuichi Takemoto: Akihisa Koseki
Kazuo Aida: Kenta Miyake
Professor Tange: Masashi Hirose
Professor Shouda: Mugihito
Tokudaiji: Takayuki Sugo

[edit] Theme songs

Opening themes

1. "Dramatic" (ドラマチック) (First season, episodes 1 - 24)

Lyrics and performance: YUKI, arrangement and music: Kouichi Tsutaya.

2. "Fugainaiya" (ふがいないや) (Honey and Clover II, second season, episodes 1 - 12)

Lyrics and performance: YUKI, music: Kouichi Tsutaya, arrangement: YUKI, Kenji Tamai, Atsushi Yuasa.

Ending themes

1. "Waltz" (ワルツ) (First season, episodes 1 - 12 + 24)

Arrangement and performance: Suneohair, lyrics and music: Kenji Watanabe.

2. "Mistake" (First season, episodes 13-23)

Performance: THE BAND HAS NO NAME, music: Tamio Okuda, lyrics: Shinichi Yaguma.

3. "Split" (スプリット) (Honey and Clover II, second season, episodes 1 - 12)

Arrangement and performance: Suneohair, lyrics and music: Kenji Watanabe.

Insert songs

First season:

Episode 1: Hachimitsu (ハチミツ) by Spitz
Episode 2: 8-gatsu no Serenade (８月のセレナーデ) by Suga Shikao
Episode 3: Tsuki to Knife (月とナイフ) by Suga Shikao
Episode 4: Nami Hikari (波光) by Suga Shikao
Episode 7: Tamagawa (多摩川) by Spitz
Episode 10: Sakana (魚) by Spitz
Episode 13: Sorosoro Ikanakucha (そろそろいかなくちゃ) by Suga Shikao
Episode 14: Y by Spitz
Episode 15: Yoru wo Kakeru (夜を駆ける) by Spitz
Episode 18: Yubikiri (ユビキリ) by Suga Shikao
Episode 19: Ougon no Tsuki (黄金の月) by Suga Shikao
Episode 22: Tsuki ni Kaeru (月に帰る) by Spitz
Episode 23: Room 201 by Suga Shikao
Episode 24: Spica (スピカ) by Spitz

Honey and Clover II, second season:

Episode 1: Nakayoshi (仲良し) by Spitz
Episode 2: Pool (プール) by Spitz
Episode 3: Koko ni Iru Koto (ココニイルコト) by Suga Shikao
Episode 4: Honoho (ほのほ) by Spitz
Episode 5: Je t'aime (ジュテーム) by Spitz
Episode 6: HAPPY BIRTHDAY by Suga Shikao
Episode 7: Natsukage (夏陰～なつかげ～) by Suga Shikao
Episode 8: Ringo Juice (リンゴ・ジュース) by Suga Shikao
Episode 9: Kazenagi (風なぎ) by Suga Shikao
Episode 10: Namida (涙) by Spitz
Episode 11: Futari no Kage (ふたりのかげ) by Suga Shikao
Episode 12: Inaka no Seikatsu (田舎の生活) by Spitz

[edit] Trivia

Mayama's character design is based upon Suga Shikao.
Both the anime and the manga feature Ferris wheels prominently. All the wheels featured in anime exist in reality. Episode 3 featured the wheel in Izu Bio Park, Higashiizu city. Episode 10 featured the Great Ferris Wheel of Diamonds and Flowers in Kasai Rinkai Park, Edogawa, Tokyo, and Episode 19 had Cosmo Clock 21 in Yokohama Cosmo World, Yokohama city.^[2]
The anime, especially in its second season, often showed Weider in Jelly, as it was one of the sponsors.