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I recently decided to rewatch Honey and Clover after having experienced unrequited love, heartbreak, and uncertainties about the immediate future. I felt also that I should rewatch and watch some anime dealing with college, while I’m still in it myself.

I will skip over a synopsis since there already is one. As for talking about the story itself, it is slice of life to its core. Rarely, even in the same genre, can you find a story so mature, realistic, and moving. Few anime deal so much and so heavily with unrequited love, college, and the uncertainties of life. The story is able to show ... it all and more, as it takes along on its journey, that feels all too real and relatable. Now I will not lie, especially the first few episodes are slow, and it takes a while to really get into the show. But, if you keep with it, you’ll slowly start finding yourself enjoying it, and loving it—relating to it. We must realize that this show is at its core is slice of life, and it does just that showing us the realities of life and all that comes with it. It many ways it is slow, but it’s also fast.

One thing that you must realize, and probably will, is that the show is very philosophical. While I am always writing down quotes from anime, and other media that I watch or read (because I do love quotes) I always find myself writing down much more on a second viewing, and boy did I write a lot of them out. They’re very nice, but you do notice every once in a while how many times the characters dig in and think deeply about life, among other issues. It’s kind of like the show is talking to itself and also talking to us.

Honestly, the characters make up some of the best parts of the anime. Their connections to each other, their feelings, their lives—it all goes to make them feel real and relatable, but distinct and unique. There is character development, and lots of it—as they move along trying to find themselves, their feelings, and thinking about everything that’s gone on. The characters are really well done. Now I notice many people disliking Hagu, and how she’s small and everything, it got me at first as well, but you get used to it, or should.

The art is unique, but not rare. If you’ve seen similar jousei anime/manga like Nodame Cantabile they seem to share a similar feel and style, but it’s also different from it. I ended up enjoying the art style, and felt that overall it had good quality to it.

The music is very well done. The first OP is startling and stays with you. I liked almost the entire soundtrack, and the music is distinct enough that it sounds out and you can recognize it and feel connected, without it being overpowering. Though maybe they use a few of the same tracks a lot, but it’s not overpowering—mainly when you recognize it you realize what the anime is trying to convey at that moment, and the song become more memorable since it is distinct and is used more than once.

My first viewing I watched it dubbed, my second subbed. I can’t say if I prefer one over the other. They’re both good in my opinion, and you can’t go wrong with either one. I felt that for the most part the voices on both dub and sub matched up well with the characters.
The ending to the first season was well done. While a bit perhaps a bit of a cliffhanger, I can forgive it completely since there is a second season. But it also was a satisfying close to the first seasons as well, had it ended here I would have been a bit disappointed, but also strangely ok. I felt the same way at the end to the second season.

As for my enjoyment of this anime, I really did enjoy it. I was able to relate to the characters, feel their struggles, and more. If anything I’ve enjoyed it more my second viewing since I’m older now and basically the same age as many of the characters in the anime, at least those in college anyways. In many ways I’ve watched it again at just the right point in my life. Did I find all the answers to my life? No, but to quote the anime “who cares about an answer? There’s nothing like that to begin with.” I have to say I loved the quotes, and was able to get many of them. It was very enjoyable.

One of my favorite genres is slice of life, and I hold this up as one of the towering standards of the genre that everyone should watch. Sure many other anime in the genre might be “better” – Nodame Cantabile, Natsume Yuujinchou, but I think that Honey and Clover deserves a spot in the must watch category for slice of anime, or just anyone who has experienced unrequited love, uncertainty, college, or life.

Overall, I like honey and clover, and recommend watching it.

Of note, I typically don’t rate anime—which you will see if you look at my list, but it forces me to rate it to post this review, so I have thought about it what rating I should and have thus accordingly given it. But scores aren’t always everything, though. I say that…

The Story is really good, it is mainly a Slice of Life, romance, and shoujo anime. The story develops at a really good pace and it's not as deep as a phycological thriller it still tells a nice story that is fairly deep considering how you view it. The story rarely if ever got boring for me as it held be tight as I went through all the episodes wanting to see what happened next. The story is also unique with other shoujo anime and doesn't have many clichés and unlike some other shoujo anime isn't this soap opera like anime that can break out ... down at times rather it's much better. You might be thinking, well I'm a guy and shoujo anime and manga is for girls, well I too am a guy and I rather like shoujo anime and manga and romances, and I also like actions so you know. This is also one of the best romance animes that I've seen and I love romance anime. It really does a good job with the story though of course it being a Slice of Life anime some may think at times that it goes really slow, I really didn't think that when I was watching it.

The characters are a place where this shines, it has wonderful and unquie characters especially Sawako and I condsider her one of my favorite anime characters as she just loveable and wonderful. As she cries we too tear up not always because it was sad but because it was beutiful and joyus. As she laughs we too find our selves laughing. Other characters in the series are good as well and I really enjoyed them like Shouta, Chizuru, Ayane, and Ryuu. Character development is wonderful and great, we really get to see how these characters grow and develop throughout the anime. It also doesn't focus on developing just one or two characters but rather several characters to a good degree and by the end you can really see how far these characters have come. Not only that but the story doesn't focus on just one love tale or just focus heavily on one character that we don't get to see a lot of the others, we really get to see into the other characters and they are really included. Because of all of the development and the time that we spend with them they really grow on you and you really like them and want them to succeed and they become amazing.

The music is wonderful, I found the opening and ending themes to be great and awesome though they are only like 1 minute long compared to the normal 1 minute and thirty seconds however they are still great songs and are rememberable. They might not be the absolute best I've seen they are really good. It doesn't stop there the soundtrack in the anime also melds well and I can hardly remember hearing the same music over and over again to the point where it's overused. Though the soundtrack isn't as memberable as the opening and ending it did it's job well and I think that if I heard it in a playlist it would also be good. Maybe not where you have to have the CD of the sound track but nice to hear once in awhile.

The animation was good, it was nice and sweet and really well done. The characters where really well draw and the animation style was unquie and well done. That being said there were still some flaws, like I remember where when viewing a character from the side and a little diagnal and I think in a couple other view points as well we could only see one eye and the other side was kind of shaded in. It was enough for me to take notice, there are a couple of times where things like this happened but it doesn't greatly detract from the overall experience of the animation or the anime. The anime is not dubbed to my knowledge and I watched it subbed and the voice acting was pretty well done, I really don't have any complaints about it.

The ending, well there is a second season which only has 12 episodes, the first season has 25. So the ending of the first season was good, alight because there was a second season which I quickly jumped to. It's regretable that the second season though only has 12, I would like to see a third but who knows if that will happen. Though to comment on the second season's ending it was a little rushed but still good.

Overall it was a wonderful anime that I really enjoyed. I'm sure that if you like Slice of Life anime or Romance or even shoujo then you will like this anime, if you only ever watched mecha and action then maybe you will like it. It could be that nice refreshing anime that you watch. I urge you to check it out, maybe it give it a episode or just the opening, and if you don't like anime or never tried it then this could be your chance.

I now remember how I got to know the name Spice and Wolf, I think I was looking around for another anime's sequel or something when I stumbled on it's name, and then again I saw it's name. Seeing it like this and good words after it I decided to pick up the series and begin watching, what I found was one of my favorite anime of all time.


The story is wonderful, it deals with economics that can sometimes be hard to follow, romance, comedy, being alone, relationships, politics, drama, and other things as well. The story holds you tight as you sink deeper ... and deeper into it. The idea of them traveling is also a great as they visit new cities and see and face new people and challenges. I was also able to pick up on many quotes throughout my watching of the series and then again in my re-watch, as there is much dialog between the characters.


The Characters are wonderful, they are unique and funny, lovable, and so many more things. Holo and Lawrence are two of my favorite characters in anime, and the relationship they share is also wonderful, as it develops and as it moves, how they interact. It's wonderful. Not to mention characters that come up later in the series. Character development is also wonderful, it's great to see how they move and develop on the journey. Other characters don't see as much development as Lawrence and Holo, but there is still some for 'em.


The music is some of the best I have encountered in anime, the opening is one of my favorite as it is an amazing song. I even used it as a ringtone of mine for quite a while. While the opening theme is more serious and such the ending theme is much less serious and much more fun, and is amazing as well. Rarely, actually I don't think I ever skipped the opening and maybe only skipped the ending once if that. Both the opening and the ending are also both rememberable. Not to mention that the soundtrack is great as well, maybe not as memorable but still done it's job.


The Animation for the series is also well done and is really beautiful and nice to the eye, it was well done. The English voice acting was also very well done as I though each voice really fit the part and the character, I really didn't think about it too much as they started to meld into one, which happens a lot granted. I do normally have little complaint about voice acting, but this was well done.


The ending in the first season is okay, as I know that it had a second season that I quickly jumped to.


The enjoyment of this series is immense and deep, I've re-watched it before and wouldn't even mind re-watching it again. I've also bought a wall large wall scroll last year at an anime convention with Holo on it and just recently was able to hang it up and this year I also bought a button with Holo on it as well. In fact I have on my desk a jar with smelly stuff in it, you know, with sticks coming out of it, that produces a wonderful scent and whenever I smell it one of the many things I think it brings to mind is Spice and Wolf, so as It starts to vanish, I am in need of a replacement.


Overall it is one of my favorite anime, with great stuff all round, it will always hold a special place in me. You might not like it as much as me, but I truly think that you will like this series and I'd ask you to just give it one episode or just the opening and I'm sure that it might just grab you.


This was my first review, I'm not sure how you'll like it so clicking a helpful or a not helpful will help. Thanks and I hope you liked it.