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Reviewed by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane As I've noted before, time passes with surprising speed in Honey and Clover, with this volume covering at least six months in the characters' lives. It's now been two years since Hagu started attending the art college, and Takemoto is less and less able to pretend that he thinks of her only as a friend. But the core of their group remains unchanged, even with Professor Hanamoto off on a research trip and Mayama out working--although Mayama still lives in his old room, which is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, that means he's around to buy his starving-artist friends cheap meals, but on the other hand, it makes it that much harder for Yamada to put some distance between the two of them and deal with her broken heart. It becomes more evident with each volume that relationships are the heart of this series, and Umino does a beautiful job of capturing the ways they change and the ways they stay the same, whether the characters are clinging to the past or looking to their futures or, often, both at once. The working world and their college life overlap more and more as the story goes on, wearing down the illusion that school is a buffer against the "real world" that's out there waiting for them. I still particularly love the way Mayama and Yamada's relationship is handled, as they both keep trying to make their friendship work despite knowing that her crush on him isn't going anywhere; the burgeoning love triangle between Takemoto, Hagu, and Morita doesn't have quite the same impact on me at this point, simply because the characters aren't really talking about it or dealing with it. That said, having Takemoto and Yamada in the same story, each dealing with their own unrequited loves, offers a glimpse into the very different ways people deal with their feelings. Three volumes in, Honey and Clover has found its footing, walking the fine line between comedic moments and the believable evolution of long-term friendships. Highly recommended. This volume includes a short behind-the-scenes comic from the creator and two pages of cultural notes. Review copy provided by VIZ Media. Comment on this review of Honey and Clover v3 on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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