Honey and Clover - episode nineteen

"Time Begins to Move Again"



Booooo Nomiya. Down with everyone who is actively trying to make Yamada feel bad!

This episode is another angsty Yamada Mayama effort, but the Nomiya/Yamada/Mayama triangle is not a convincingly effective one. The problem is that Nomiya is a bastard, and Mayama is also a bastard – but one with feelings. At the end of the episode one might get the idea that Nomiya has some feelings.

On the other side of the fence, Takemoto is glad to have Morita back.

When Yamada is drunk, I don’t think that one should really take her actions to heart: Nomiya accuses her of using him, but this is probably just his unique way of making people feel bad. Mayama’s attitude towards Nomiya is actually rationally explained, which makes him seem a heck of a lot less selfish than previously: Mayama knows the flippant manner in which Nomiya disposes of women. While it is true that one could say Mayama is just thinking the worst, his “if only Nomiya could show a serious side” is perfectly justified.
Still, the balance isn't the same as Yamada/Mayama/Rika, and that throws the whole thing off.

I like Takemoto a heck of a lot more than the others at the moment, and his dinner with Morita "the housewife" was a good example. Morita almost never shows signs of seriousness, so it was nice to see his warmth. I think that Morita really can appreciate that Takemoto is a good friend, despite the fact that it seems that each time they do something for the other, they hurt themselves.
The one scene shared by Morita and Hagu showed that their relationship is on an artistic rivalry platform, but perhaps their adversarial nature is conducive to romance. I just don't know.

The other bad thing about this episode is that it, like the episode that introduced Nomiya, had some really off model shots. Yamada is always hit worst by that because she can look incredibly weird if drawn incorrectly. Extreme closeups that are out of shape are not good for setting moods.

The next episode seems to include a fight between Morita and Kaoru; that should be good. Better than Nomiya giving his "home truths" at any rate.