Honey & Clover

Rating NR Formats DVD Genre foreign Starring Yu Aoi, Sho Sakurai, Yusuke Iseya, Ryo Kase, Megumi Seki Directed by Masahiro Takata Publisher VIZ Pictures External Links Official Honey and Clover Website

When I found out that a live-action movie of Honey & Clover was released for American viewers, I was excited. I was instantly hooked on the newly introduced manga, and was curious to see how the story played out on-screen. It was entertaining, but I have to admit I was just a tad disappointed.

Honey & Clover follows the lives of four art school friends trying to establish their careers and find their place in life. When a new student named Hagumi arrives, the circle of friends expands and brings forth a couple of love triangles in the process. My reason for singing praises to Honey & Clover is because even though it’s a simple story, it’s very sweet and innocent. There’s no violence, no impending doom, just a wholesome tale of young love and friendship. The characters are selfless and each has their own unique personality. The movie captures this well, and I thought the cast were very fitting to their drawn counterparts.

Actress Yu Aoi was spot-on with her portrayal of shy and talented Hagumi, and J-Pop star Sho Sakurai manages to emanate the emotions of lovesick Takemoto. The character that stood out for me the most was Morita, played by Yusuke Iseya. His oddball personality was toned down quite a bit compared to the manga, and his carefree attitude and wise-cracking lines added comic relief.

Towards the end of the film is where my disappointment set in. There aren’t many love triangles in the film but there were enough for me to have a reasonable assumption that a potential relationship would pan out. Instead, romantic feelings aren’t returned and the loveable group that I grew so attached to spent the rest of the movie with heavy hearts. I’m not a fan of movies that don’t provide resolution, and the finality of Honey & Clover was lacking in it. It was as if the plot slowly soared upwards and came to a climax, but then just fizzled out, leaving me wondering what happened. Since I’m only familiar with volume 1 of the manga I’m not certain just how many of the further volumes the movie covers, if at all. However I’m guessing its following its own path since many things from the first volume are left out.

The DVD provides special features, including an interesting ‘study group’ discussion where the cast interviews one another about their experience filming the movie.  There’s also the original Japanese trailer, and biographies of the director and cast. It would’ve been nice to have some commentary or even bloopers which are always fun to see.  There could’ve been more to offer, but what’s included is pretty informative.

I don’t by any means think that Honey & Clover was bad. I still enjoyed it, but just didn’t expect it to take the course that it took.  The result of my disappointment in how it wrapped up may just be the fact that I hyped it up for myself. I’d still recommend it to both fans of the manga as well as anyone who enjoys a good foreign film. It’s still for the most part a feel-good movie and will teach a lesson of the importance of friendship.