Honey and Clover DVD 7

June 10, 2006 | 16 Comments

Since the 2nd season of Honey and Clover is coming on the 29th of this month, I think it's time to heat up the interest in the series. Before I talk about the DVD, however, I'll mention several news which some of you are probably already aware of. The official site for the 2nd series has announced a while ago that the OP and ED theme for the 2nd season has been decided. Yuki will sing the OP, which is titled 「ふがいないや」(Fugai nai ya), while Suneohair will sing the ED, titled 「スプリット」(Split). Suga Shikao, Depapepe, and Hayashi Yuzo & Salon 68 will provide some background music. If you go to Depapepe's Discography section, you should be able to listen to some examples of their songs, which are pretty good. It's nice to know that at the very least, the producer got the BGM right. The website for the film also announced that there'll be some kind of Hachikuro fair between the 10th of July to the 23rd of July. However, details of the fair has not appeared yet. As a side note, those who asked me for that Hagu paper scan, you can find it in the Volume 6 DVD entry.

Slipcase Box with attachment
DVD cover, Front side
DVD cover, Back side
Stickers

Back to this DVD, this time around the slipcover features the Fujiwara Design employees: Nomiya, Miwako, and Yamazaki. There's always a debate between Hachikuro fans whether the "F" in Chapter F actually represents Fashion or Fujiwara. I'd say it is both. Unfortunately, the paper-based extra is only a sticker. The extras inside the DVD include Chapter F, interview with Takahashi Mikako (Yamada Ayumi) and Kamiya Hiroshi (Takemoto Yuuta), a preview image for Chapter F, and image gallery. The image gallery is quite interesting because it features not only the characters but also the kind of clothes that they wear. Hachikuro is one of those rare series where the characters actually change their clothes from time to time. It's interesting to see how some of these clothes look like they were based on actual merchandise. I particularly like Takemoto's light parka because it looks good yet seems very practical for everyday use.

Prior to watching the DVD, I was hoping that the interview will feature Sugita Tomokazu considering the fact that he's currently lending his voice for Kyon in Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu. Unfortunately, he's nowhere to be seen in this installment of the interview. Looking back at Volume 6 interview, however, I notice that the voice that Sugita uses for Kyon is actually a lot closer to his own voice and inflection. On the other hand, he seems to adopt this older-sounding, calmer tone for his role as Mayama Takumi. If you have the time, listen to both roles and tell me what you think. But I've digressed too much so I better start talking about the interview. The funniest part of the interview is when Takahashi Mikako and Kamiya Hiroshi realise that the two of them and Sugita Tomokazu are the only ones who always get to deliver monologues on the show. They find it funny because they believe the monologues makes their characters sound lonely.

I think just like in Suzumiya Haruhi, the monologues in Hachikuro are some of the best I've heard. I still remember the one where Takemoto asking himself if it's harder not being able to do what you want to do or not knowing what you want to do. Anyway, I find it interesting that Kamiya Hiroshi originally also wanted to audition as Mayama but the producers only asked him to audition as Takemoto. On the other hand, Takahashi Mikako knew right from the start that she wanted to voice Yamada. The funny thing was, during audition she was asked to read for Hagu. She laughed about it because she can't imagine herself as Hagu. Just think about it, we would have heard Hagu sounding like Yamada while she was saying "Pump-Mint". I don't think it'll work. Anyway, upon seeing these interviews and rewatching the first season, I realised how much I miss the series. The series really did have some of the best Japanese VA working in it.

Please do not direct-link to the images. If you wish to link, point the link to this post instead. Here are the details of the items in case you're interested to purchase it:

Honey and Clover Volume 7 (Limited Release)
Format: R2 NTSC
Price: 3,948 Yen ($34.82 US Dollars)

© memento 2003