Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Honey and Clover – episode twenty-two

September 30, 2005 on 3:44 pm | In Honey and Clover | 1 Comment

“When I got out of the tunnel, the view was beautiful.”

After a week of watching some of Japan’s less inspired material, I’m reminded how truly great Honey & Clover is. With only one shot of Morita and Mayama presented as an abstract concept, this episode belongs to the spheres of Takemoto, Yamada and Hagu.

Takemoto has been riding for more than a week and has exhausted half of his savings. He had decided that, when he reached the halfway mark, he would turn back; he doesn’t. When he meets a group of temple restorers, he begins to receive at least mild inspiration from the idea that Japan is full of nice people.
Meanwhile, Hagu-chan is criticised for wanting to return to the country side, and Yamada meets Rika.

I realised that probably a large part of what I like about this series is that the characters reflect each other; each is made up of little parts of the others, with Shuu seeing himself in Takemoto and, in this episode, disappointed professors not wanting Hagu to follow the paths that they did – the Hagu and Shuu scene leading to one of the more beautifully composed scenes in the series.

The character that suffers from the reflection complex is Yamada, who defines herself entirely through other people. She was amazingly composed during her meeting with Rika, but all the while her inner monologue was running about how this is the woman that Mayama loves, and other similar angsty things. The girl needs to stop worrying about all of this stuff and just get on with her life. At least now she understands that Rika has her own concerns far removed from Mayama.
It’s just a pity that all of the scenes with female characters were quite frequently off model.

Watching Takemoto actually succeed in his journey of self discovery is one of the more rewarding aspects of this series, and on this level I tip my hat. To see him achieve something solid after so much adversity is well worthwhile.

There is also, of course, the issue of Hagu worrying about Takemoto’s welfare … and the brief flash when she feels that Morita is watching over her. I give up on speculation here. I don’t think that that storyline will be resolved by the conclusion, so I’m not going to worry about it.

Garten suggests that episodes 25 and 26 will be extra episodes exclusive to DVD, while Anime News Network says that episodes 24 and 25 will be a one hour finale – so I’m not actually sure if we’ve got two or three more episodes of story left.
On reflection, my theory is that episode “25” is counted as part of 24. Don’t quote me on that. … damn.

However many episodes left, they’re sure to have that special magic Honey & Clover feeling about them. Although, to be honest, I really don’t know if this series depresses or inspires me.