Honey & Clover, it sounds like some sort of European tea of some kind doesn’t it? Does the title have anything to do with the storyline in this show? Of course not, by now we all should know that isn’t the case with anime! If you are a fan of romantic comedies at all, you’ll be right at home here with Honey & Clover. Now will it be worth your time is a different thing, but I will get right on that in a second. First I would like to point out that I will only be reviewing the first season here, basically because the second season is much different and needs its own review.

The story of Honey & Clover is a simple one; in fact nothing about the story in Honey & Clover is even remotely epic at all. It is about five college students and their lives together as they struggle with the rigors of study and love. While the story isn’t an eventful adventure with dangerous explosions and death, it is an interesting one that should keep your eyes glued to your television set. As a matter of fact the whole story revolves around two simple words, Love and…Triangles.

No, I don’t mean there are flying magical triangles that exist in the show. I am talking about that predominant part of Honey & Clover and any romantic comedy for that matter. That’s right folks; I am speaking of the wonderful plot device that is “Love Triangles”. As soon as the childlike Hagumi Hanamoto arrives on screen it is evident; someone has already fallen head over heels for her. The entire story consists of these sorts of triangles and how the characters deal with them and the rigors of life. Eccentric genius “Shinobu Morita” and untalented “Yuuta Takemoto”, are head over heels for the shy and childlike “Hagumi Hanamoto” who remains clueless about their feelings.

While the popular and beautiful “Ayumi Yamada” has a wicked crush on the calm and collected “Takumi Mayama”. Unfortunately for her it seems that Mayama has a crush outside of his school, a strange older woman named Rika Harada. A lot of the story coasts along through a series of melodic scenes of onscreen actions, at the beginning of the show you watch it wanting to know more. When the Anime gets to about episode fourteen or so, you may start to think they overdid the music to the moving scenes a bit.  The show remains charming regardless, and you’ll soon see these scenes as the filler that they are.

The thing about Honey & Clover is how the relatively simple lives of these scholastic achievers are realized. I must commend Yousuke Kuroda on the excellently crafted tale he sets before us, everything falls into place with this one in terms of comedy and drama. You’ll be watching a dramatic scene that actually plays with your heart a bit, and suddenly you’ll be busting up laughing at something zany that occurred. Then out of nowhere it strikes down on you again, that heart tugging drama returns all in the same scene and it sticks as a staple head of the series. You can see this in motion whenever Yamada and Mayama speak to each other or are speaking of each other.

On the comedy side just about any scene where Morita is involved personally had me in a riot. His character will immediately stand out above everyone else from the beginning to the end. Even though he is absent for about eight episodes later on, the show still retains its comedy and doesn’t depend on a “Clown” character for all of the jokes. This show had me laughing as much as I felt sorry for, or upset during some of the dramatic sequences. It is the first show to have me in stitches since the glorious days of pulling an all-nighter on Fruits Basket.

What’s that I hear you asking about? How is the art style of it all? Well I can tell you that the world of Honey & Clover is vibrant and gorgeous, and since the college that everyone goes to involves lots of art… it would be bad if it didn’t. I can clearly say that the art style is not a problem in Honey & Clover, from the beautiful paintings that Hagumi creates to the lush landscape that Takemoto rides though. Everything seems to be catered to the fact that these kids are living a life you can relate to. Though I do have one little thing I wanted to point out about the mouth of the characters. Everyone seems to have that “Muppet” effect going on, lips to the cheeks and a wide open pink mouth when they talk. I just wanted to point it out because I always found it a bit funny for the normal talking mechanic.

In the end Honey & Clover doesn’t really contain any of the action that comes with normal Anime romantic comedies. It is more akin to a live action television show of the same genre, except it is all combined with classic anime facial expressions and actions. The real question is should you check out Honey & Clover at all? Of course you should! It is a very enjoyable ride through the lives of truly interesting students, even if you aren’t a fan of this kind of Anime but are looking to get a start in one. This could be your starter into the Genre; it has a simple story and enough romance and drama to pull you. So I can assure you that this Honey & Clover is quite tasty!

Final Grade: Honey & Clover gets, 4 Oro’s out of 5.