Customer Reviews

Honey & Clover

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Honey & Clover opens at the home of Hanamoto Shuji, a scruffy, rumpled art professor who allows his students and students from other departments to crash at his home and have drinking parties. At this particular party, three female students are busy criticizing the appearance of a fellow student named Takemoto whose healthy appearance, cheerfulness, and ability to wear shorts differs him from is melancholy, alcoholic, and chain-smoking classmates, although he too does enjoy his alcohol and cigarettes. Others of note include Mayama, a serious young man who is in love with his boss: Harada Rika, and Yamada, a long-haired, large-eyed young woman whose love for Mayama goes unreciprocated. Needing more beer, Mayama and Takemoto rush upstairs to discover a young woman sporting disheveled hair and vivid clothing busily painting an abstract work. Later, they learn that the girl is Hanamoto Hagumi, nicknamed Hagu, Dr. Hanamoto's niece, whom the professor asks Takemoto to look after because the girl, although a brilliant artist, is quite naïve and unable to get by on her lonesome.

Takemoto, according to Mayama, instantly falls in love with the girl, and does everything in his power to be with her. Although shy, Hagu is quite receptive to Takemoto, but does not see her upperclassman's new found love for her. Things begin to become more troublesome when an older student, Morita, returns from his trip abroad. A gifted wood sculptor, Morita instantly recognizes Hagu's artistic ability, and although she is a bi put off by Morita's brusqueness at first, Hagu also recognizes Morita's ability and a close friendship forms. What is the poor boy Takemoto to do?

Based on a long running manga that stretched from 2000-06, Honey & Clover suffers from what quite a few series suffers from when based on a long running manga: crushing too many characters and storylines within a limited time space. However, being that there are also an anime version and a live action drama of the series, a number of these problems can be overlooked. Yet, the film, although quite comedic, is pretty prosaic and sticks primarily to the themes of love triangles and unrequited love. On the other hand, the film is lovely and the acting is well done with a number of well know stars. Aoi Yu as Hagu is adorable, but her childlike innocence makes her involvement, albeit unbeknownst to her, a little uncomfortable at times.

Takemoto is a struggling student at an art college, with no goals or ambitions. One day he sees a girl painting and it is love at first sight (on his part). Unluckily for him, his friend Morita also falls in love with her, and unluckily for both of them, Hagumi is totally oblivious to both of their affections. A story of the crazy antics of art and love, and the purity of art and love.

I got this film because I enjoyed the Honey & Clover manga, so I already knew the characters and story. I've watched several live action adaptions of various anime/manga series, and this one was one of the better adaptions I've seen. As with all live action adaptions, this one tries to cram to much into too little, but even someone who is unfamiliar with Honey & Clover could catch on quickly. Yes, they will miss those tiny details and obscure references, but it won't take away from their overall viewing experience. I watched this with several friends and my sisters. The friends hadn't seen/read Honey & Clover, the sisters had. Everyone enjoyed it and thought it was a cute film, but one friend (a guy no less! and not an anime fan), really liked it. No one thought it was confusing, or incomplete. It actually wraps up the story pretty well while leaving room for a sequel (not that they will do one).

The actors fit their roles quite well. It is always hard to take an anime/manga character, with their weird hair, huge eyes, and extreme hight differences (Hagumi is really short), and have them come to life in real people. I still vastly prefer the anime versions of the characters, but I came to accept their live action counterparts during the course of the movie. Other than the characters, there are no other elements in Honey & Clover that have trouble translating to live action. It was nice to see the college and dorms made real.

Overall, this is a good movie for fans of Honey & Clover, and people who had never heard of it, good for anime fans, and people who don't care about anime. It costs a little more than I would like to pay for a movie, but it isn't wildly exorbitant. I think it is a good rental movie, fun with friends or family. Enjoy!

I'm a big fan of Japanese actor, Sho Sakurai -- who plays the main character, Takemoto -- as well as being a fan of the manga, Honey & Clover. This adaptation, while not 100% accurately portraying the manga, does a fair job.

It is revolves around 5 art-school college students. Takemoto falls in love with Hagu at first sight -- the niece of his art professor. Hagu is a prodigy artist who specializes in abstract paintings. The other art-prodigy is Morita (who has been in the art school for 8 years and has yet to graduate), a wood-sculpture major, and he and Hagu seem to have a special bond over their talent and passion for art - thereby setting up a love triangle. The other 2 characters are Morita and Yamada, both victims of unrequited love. Morita loves his boss, Rika, and Yamada loves Morita. It is an eternal stalemate where neither wants to give up loving their respective interests. The story sets up as Morita returning for a prolonged absence, whereupon he's going to have an art show he's not to thrilled about. In the end, he ends up getting some bad reviews as well as good ones, and an artwork of his his bought. Hagu is encouraged to enter an art competition, but in order to win, she must not enter her abstract works, and instead do a real-life painting.

Themes in this movie that run strong are the nostalgic memories of friendship and youth, as well as the pain and joy of first love. The movie as an artistic, nostalgic feel about it, which I believe was the director's goal. There are a lot of silent moments, accompanied by piano-playing music in the background, and slight bits of humor. The orginal manga is truly heart-warming and interesting. For me, although there are many fans of this movie, I believe it falls short, in some ways. It's still a good movie, but not exactly lively. However, I believe artist fans, and fans of the manga might enjoy it!

Honey and Clover is a live-action Japanese romantic comedy movie with English subtitles. A group of struggling art students eke out a hand-to-mouth life, barely making enough to eat and pay the rent; when an innocent nineteen-year-old girl with exceptional talent joins them, a complex love triangle ensues! A delightfully emotional story about the bonds of friendship, fickle whims of love, and the determination to achieve one's dream, Honey and Clover is a joy to watch and welcome addition to foreign film shelves. 116 minutes, color.

I didn't really expect anything fantastic due to the mixed reviews of this film. I watch a lot of anime, but had not seen this particular anime series before watching the film adaptation. Going into it blindly may have been for the better.

The film is a little long, and I understand that it does cut out quite a bit of content that the manga and the anime contained... but that is a sacrifice many manga and anime adaptations must make. The story involves five friends in University. They are a mix of art and design students that have interesting personalities. I found the characters very likable in their own way.

The story does revolve around the whole 'boy likes girl' and 'girl likes boy' themes, but it still manages to bring some new life into this tried and true film formula. There is a bit of light comedy, mostly in the first half of the film. The second half is a bit more dramatic, but all the ends tie up well.

I really do enjoy Japanese film, and one of the delights of modern Japanese film is getting a feel for the country and lifestyle. Though these could be University students anywhere, the settings do have a good Japanese feel.

I would definitely recommend this film for those who enjoy pretty straightforward, yet enjoyable young adult films. Though I am a few years past this age, I still had a nostalgic feeling.

I understand that if you read the manga or saw the anime first, you might be let down by the loss of a lot of content... but if you are a newbie to Honey and Clover, as I was, prepare for a very good film experience.

You already know how this story ends. I liked this film, but...I liked the manga better. Perhaps it just felt a bit long and unrewarding in the film form. I missed many of the side stories with the other smaller characters. Overall, I would say the movie was worth seeing at least once.

Handsome ambitious art students struggle to meet ends as entering a circle of friends 19-year-old female co-student disrupted them from arrangements.

This lyric drama is of "maybe watch" value to a reviewer.

The actors were fine but it was obvious that the story lacked big chunks. Don't get this unless you know the manga or the TV series (I haven't read or seen either) or care for any of the actors.

It is not bad per se, just a bit bland.

i watched the entire series online and wasn't that crazy about it. Huge fan of Ikuta Toma but his character was dull in this drama. Also it wasn't exciting at all for me. Anyways i don't think its worth buying but you can always watch it on mysoju.com along with many more asian dramas