Honey and Clover 10
Posted: July 21, 2010 Filed under: Honey and Clover 4 Comments »Chica Umino – Viz – 2010 – 10 volumes
Do you remember what I said about the last volume of Nana, that even if Yazawa never has a chance to return to the series, that the loose threads somehow make it seem more real, the characters more human? Yeah, that’s how this series goes.
I think I was reading it this entire time waiting for the nice shoujo ending. That doesn’t really happen. There are a handful of resolutions, and life takes shape, and the characters move on, and all they, and we, are left with are memories. It’s beautiful. It’s exactly what happens when you finish college. The last scene in the last chapter was absolutely the best place it could have left off. I was in tears. It was absolutely perfect.
What made it even more sad were the author’s notes that followed immediately after, where Umino describes her life after finishing the series as empty, since her head had been full of nothing but the characters for years, and now they were all gone and she had to pick herself up and move on. It was very touching, and an interesting reflection on what a lot of manga artists go through.
In other side notes (in this volume or the last), she flips the sentimentality around and talks about the friends she’s made through the series, and they way they tell personalities with Saint Seiya horoscopes. I’m sad that I’m Gemini. The villain. Twice.
The second half of the book are short stories, both related and unrelated. I had to wait a bit to read them, because I didn’t want to follow up that abrupt and beautiful ending with gag-heavy chapters. The two Honey and Clover stories are very funny though, and the other two unrelated stories are sentimental and beautiful in a completely different way.
I sincerely hope that we get to see Umino’s other work in English. She deserves all the praise she gets. This series was amazing, and an absolute must-read. In terms of… girly josei, I think I still prefer Paradise Kiss, but this is a very close second.
i balled my eyes out when i saw what was in the sandwiches. it really was perfect!
Yeah, I think I was simultaneously grossed out and saddened to my core when he started eating those sandwiches. Oh man, that scene was amazing. It’ll stay with me for awhile.
oooh have you seen Sangatsu No Lion? Its one of her newer ones, the art style is very similar and I’m liking it so far.
I LOVED this ending. Was I the only one who was so glad that hanamoto-sensei and hagu stayed together? even if hagu didn’t consider it romantically?
I’m just a sucker for older male role models in shoujo, haha.
I’ve seen a couple illustrations from Sangatsu no Lion, but I haven’t read any. I’m really hoping it gets licensed soon, I think I assumed Viz would pick it up. I wondered about the contents of Sangatsu no Lion very much, since it runs alongside Detroit Metal City and Berserk in Young Animal.
There are a lot of possible happy endings for Honey and Clover, which I think is interesting, since inevitably each one of them will still be sad. Looking for the good in the one we got is easy, true, since Hanamoto-sensei is so easy to like and Hagu and he seem good for each other in terms of support. Man, that’s still a lot of sad business mixed up in there, though. I think I completely forgot about the hospital scenes and that whole incident for awhile, I always just think of poor Takemoto riding away on the train.