Honey and Clover II, ep. 08-09

[oyceter]

I was actually going to try to finish watching tonight, except homework took longer than expected =(. I'm not even done yet! Oh well, will try to do more on Thursday.

And oh... I want to draw this out, because there are only three more episodes left, and they keep getting better.

Oh Hagu. Oh. I was so scared she would hurt herself, especially after that "I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't paint" teaser, and I thought it would be too emo. Except, the show never puts a foot wrong, and it's an awful accident. It works because they don't show it, because all we see are the moments leading up to it and the scattered pieces right after.

And instead of concentrating on the big gaping hole of angst that is Hagu not being able to paint again, there's that focus on the small moments -- Hagu trying to stay awake, her father's back silhouetted in a doorframe, on his way out with someone else, matching bruises on Hagu and Hanamoto-sensei's hands. I also love that while there is the romantic focus on Takemoto and Hagu, equal importance is placed on Hagu's relationship with Hanamoto-sensei and Hagu's friendship with Yamada. I also love that the Nomiya-Yamada sort-of romance takes second-place here; Nomiya isn't the main focus, he's there to tell Yamada to stay by Hagu.

Though I was still totally amused by Miwako and Yamazaki's reactions. Oh Nomiya. That veneer of cool is really just not working anymore, is it? And you are so much more awesome when you can't do anything but mock yourself.

I'm glad we got to see snippets of Mayama and Morita as well, though I have to say, Kaoru's emotional pain is really taking a veeeeeerrrrry small slice of my attention right now. I wonder if Morita even knows?

Also... *hugs Hagu*

I liked her before, but I love her now: the way she's not being chipper like a normal shoujo heroine would, her determination, her quiet strength, the snippets of her just looking at things like gingko leaves against blue sky and knowing that she's seeing something in a different way.

Comments

[hysteriachan.livejournal.com]

I can't believe how much I wound up loving Hagu (my very initial reaction to her was incredibly unflattering >.>)--I was in the middle of H&C II while we moved last summer, so I got behind and then watched a whole slew of them at once. And my whole memory of these episodes is of crying non-stop, so it's a little disconcerting now. ^^ Hagu was so very amazing.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

When I first saw Hagu in episode 1, I thought, "Ergh. Adorable blond moppet." I was so surprised by how awesome she turned out to be. I love how the show explores her creativity and her strength after the accident.

[oyceter]

I know! I love so much how she isn't cute and perky and that out of all of them, she's the most dedicated to her art.

But, oh, my heart just broke for her.

[oyceter]

She is so very, very awesome! I really like how she turns inward in distress -- I mean, sometimes it's not the healthiest, but I like how different she feels from the usual shoujo heroines.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

When I first began watching, I thought Mayama was one of the more interesting characters. By the end of the series, he was probably my least favorite of the central ones--not so much because I'd come to dislike him (though I did find the stalkery behavior iffy) but because I'd come to love the other characters SO MUCH.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

FYI, I was just adding this to my memories and noticed that your title line doesn't mention that this is season 2; you might want to fix that for spoiler reasons.

[oyceter]

Oooo, thanks for the note! Should be fixed now.