Asian TV » movie » Honey And Clover
Name:

Honey And Clover (2006)

Other name:
Genre: Romance
Country: Japanese
Release year: 2006
Status: Completed
 
Based on the hit anime of the same name, "Honey and Clover" deals with five college art students. While the premise may sound simple, it's quite the opposite; the characters struggle through school, work, and love. All within the confines of a university, "Honey and Clover" showcases the journey that everyone must take from being a young adult and following the long and challenging road to becoming a full fledged adult.First off, the cast is wonderfully presented. Their likeliness to their anime counterparts is great and for the most part (albeit hair color) spot on. The mannerisms of the cast also reflected the anime greatly and fans of the anime will certainly enjoy this aspect of the film. Another great aspect of the film is definitely the cinematography. Since this film's environment is mostly held at or around an art school, you would expect for most part, as viewer, to be stimulated visually, right? Indeed this is the case with "Honey and Clover". The film accurately displays the happenings of an art school, from the constant unfinished student projects scattered about, to the multiple classes that art students participate in, it is faithfully recreated here.The musical score by famous composer Yoko Kanno is wonderfully implemented into the movie too. I for one have taken notice that Kanno is starting to produce more film scores, and she has done great job so far. With her most recent contributions to Su-ki-da and Kamikaze Girls, her slow transition from anime composition to film composition can only be seen as a good thing. I hope to see her contribute more to the realm of films in the future. Putting music aside though, "Honey and Clover" does run into some slight problems… Based on an anime series, one can truly see the tremendous amount of time and effort it would take to condense 26 episodes into roughly a two hour film. What happens in most cases when this occurs in other adaptations is that entire story arcs, characters, and original endings are left out. "Honey and Clover" suffers from the all these. While significantly better in many regards than most anime to film conversions, the story of "Honey and Clover" is just too character driven for a film. Maybe a Japanese TV drama would perhaps work well, but due to the time constraints of a film, it doesn't provide the adequate depth that the anime series does. This leaves viewers who aren't fans of the anime or manga sometimes clueless as to what is happening on screen. Some characters relationships might be questionable for those viewers who haven't seen the anime or read the manga. Some characters just pop in with little to no background and the viewer is expected to already know who they are, what their purpose is, and what their relationship is to plot. By the end of the film, all we are left is with a cast we don't really care for (even if you have seen the anime/read the manga). This hurts a film that otherwise is a moderately accurate retelling of a rather well crafted anime series.With all but one minor quibble (a major one if you haven't seen the series or read the manga), "Honey and Clover" is one of the better anime adaptations out there. While fans of the anime will definitely enjoy this film, non-fans will probably be asking themselves why certain characters do this or that, unknowing to the fact that their questions are clearly explained in anime. In the end though, I recommend this film for fans, but I have to say pass if you haven't seen anything that has to do with 'Honey and Clover".
Comment
RANDOM
  • Ep 1 RAW

    Nodame Cantabile: The Final Score - Part II (2010) (2010)

    Nodame Cantabile: The Final Score - Part II (2010)
    Genre:
    Comedy, Music, Romance
    Country:
    Japanese
    Nodame and Chiaki mutually decide that it would be for the best if they parted ways for a while so Nodame can practice for an upcoming competition. However, when things don't go her way, she gets impatient and depressed. While Nodame is away, Chiaki's former pianist Rui Son returns to take her place. To make matters worse, Rui and Chiaki are set to play the song Nodame dreams of playing with Chiaki herself: Ravel's "Concerto in G Major".
  • Ep 1 SUB

    Miser (2020) (2020)

    Miser (2020)
    Genre:
    Comedy, Drama
    Country:
    Chinese
    The four old brothers are all fans of Journey to the West. They usually gag, spit, and abuse each other in a small city. One day, Hao Kunpeng (played by Liu Xiaoling Tong), who sells vegetables for a living, suddenly became rich overnight, changing from 20,000 to 20,000. I don’t worry about depositing the money in the bank and the habit of counting money. I took all the 20 million home and turned over the tricks to count money regularly every day.
  • Ep 1 SUB

    Gen-Y Cops (2000)

    Gen-Y Cops
    Genre:
    Action, Sci-fi
    Country:
    Hong Kong
    After a lethal American attack robot, RS1, is unleashed onto the mean streets of Hong Kong, Asia's funkiest crime-fighting team, the Gen-Y Cops, find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Their latest member, Edison, is accused of stealing RS1, and forced to go on the run. Gen-Y cops Match and Alien must find him before maverick FBI agent Ian Curtis does. Another member of the FBI unit, Jane (Maggie Q), becomes convinced of Edison's innocence. They discover that the real villain of the piece is Edison's old friend, Kurt, the warped genius who created RS1, and now follows his own deadly agenda...
  • Ep 1 RAW

    Song of Youth (2019) (2019)

    Song of Youth (2019)
    Genre:
    Drama, Youth
    Country:
    Chinese
    A story between school kids and the teacher in a high school happened in 1985 China.
  • Ep 1 RAW

    Kamoshirenai Joyutachi 2016 (2016) (2016)

    Kamoshirenai Joyutachi 2016 (2016)
    Genre:
    life
    Country:
    Japanese
    If actresses Hirosue Ryoko, Igawa Haruka and Saito Yuki chose different paths at the turning point in their lives, what kind of life would they be leading? In this world, Hirosue did not appear in the big 1997 drama hit, Beach Boys, with Sorimachi Takashi and Takenouchi Yutaka and suddenly rise to fame. She is a struggling actress in her mid 30s who gets by on part-time housekeeping work and cannot bear to give up being an actress. Hirosue fantasises about newly married life with a handsome guy and is jealous of successful actress Takeuchi Yuko who is the same age. Although she struggles alone, she works hard at her housekeeping job every day. On the other hand, Igawa did not put out the photo book ‘Good Vibrations’ at that time and has been completely forgotten now after the end of the boom of “soothing” models. She dates actor Fujiki Naohito in an unexpected turn of events. Even though she has a taste of this little happiness, she starts to grow impatient when the relationship fails to progress toward marriage. Igawa impulsively tries to make a transition to acting despite being over 40 but... Saito was afraid to spoil her pure idol image and did not star in Sukeban Deka in 1985. She ended up a one-hit wonder and faded away. To regain her teenage years, she attends university and majors in physics with the aspiration to graduate as a female scientist. She mixes with youth around 20 and joins matchmaking parties, making the most of student life. At night, Saito runs a popular bar that even the actress Kaho patronises.
  • Ep 1 SUB

    Welcome (2014) (2014)

    Welcome (2014)
    Genre:
    Drama, life
    Country:
    Korean
    One day, Hye Sook is tricked by her mother into visiting her hometown. When she finds out that her mother is fine and tries to leave for Seoul, she hears about the passing of Taek Gyoo's father. After the funeral, Hye Sook plans to return to the city. Gi Ju, a struggling writer, tries to drown himself at Andong lake but Taek Gyoo saves him. Hye Sook used to draw for Gi Ju's writings when they were young. The two were each other's first love and through the reunion, they are about to rekindle their old romance.
  • Ep 1 RAW

    Loyalist of Nanzhao Storm (2020) (2020)

    Loyalist of Nanzhao Storm (2020)
    Genre:
    Action
    Country:
    Chinese
  • Ep 1 SUB

    Commitment (2013) (2013)

    Commitment (2013)
    Genre:
    Action, Drama, School, Serial Killer, Thriller, Tragedy
    Country:
    Korean
    After completing his mission in South Korea, a North Korean spy (Park Sung-Woong) hopes to return to his motherland to see his son Myung-Hoon (T.O.P) and daughter Hye-In (Kim You-Jung) again, but he is betrayed by his own country and killed by a South Korean agent.In North Korea, his children Myung-Hoon and Hye-In are sent off to a forced labor camp. Later, high ranking North Korean military official Sang-Chul (Jo Sung-Ha) visits Myung-Hoon at the labor camp. He offers Myung-Hoon a deal. If Myung-Hoon successfully carries out a spy mission in South Korea, Myung-Hoon and his sister will be released from the labor camp. Myung-Hoon accepts the deal and undergoes 2 years of intense training.Myung-Hoon finally arrives in South Korea under the guise of a North Korean defector. He is adopted by a South Korean couple who are actually North Korean spies and enrolls at a local high school. At his new high school, Myung-Hoon sits next to a girl named Hye-In (Han Ye-Ri). She has the same name as his younger sister. Hye-In is the frequent target of bullies in their class, but Myung-Hoon falls for her. Meanwhile, Myung-Hoon finally receives his mission from North Korea. He is to locate a North Korean spy with the nickname of Big Dipper (Jung Ho-Bin) and take him out. Meanwhile, a power struggle ensues in North Korea with the failing health of dictator Kim Jung-Il and Myung-Hoon quickly becomes a liability.