Honey and Clover ep.18

August 22, 2005 | 13 Comments

Well, this episode turns out to be a full-on acid trip. Of course, that is to be expected with Morita returning to the series. Nevertheless, I was quite surprised to see the amount of film and video games references included in this episode. For example, I can't be the only one who thinks that Space Titanic and its director, Peter Lucas, are references to a certain movie director. Then there is Morita's hilarious "I'll be back" line which of course, refers to Terminator. Two of the most memorable gags in this episode, however, comes from the Street Fighter II games. I really thought that the nurse's kick was some kind of freaky spoof of Cammy's cannon drill. And there is no denying that Yamada was trying to channel Chun Li and lightning-kicked Mayama to oblivion.

The episode begins with the announcement of Mochademy's special FX award winner: Shinobu Morita for his work in a film called Space Titanic. Not surprisingly, the announcement shocks his friends in Japan, driving them into loud, frenzy talks inside the hospital despite warning from the nurse. Meanwhile, Morita himself begins to deliver a long-winded speech about how the director of the film, Peter Lucas, has mistreated him during the film-making process. The speech, however, takes forever to complete, forcing the Mochademy committee to usher in few bodyguards to take Morita away from the podium. Nevertheless, Morita manages to have the last word as he tells everyone that he'll be back to sue the director. Back in the hospital, Takemoto wonders what will happen to him and Hagu now that Morita is back. Before he can wonder for too long, however, a face appears behind a curtain next to him. One that belongs to Morita.

As if that is not enough of a surprise, however, a big manly nurse then appears and begins to Canon-Drilled Mayama into a wall. He/she then threatens to give the others some bodily harm as well if they don't stop being noisy. Fearful for their life, everyone decides to run away from the hospital and leave poor Takemoto in the hand of the nurse. Oh, the horror! The next morning, everyone is still reeling in from the shock of previous night. Nevertheless, they decide to return to the hospital to let Morita know that his graduation project is due at 5PM that day. Another brief encounter with the scary nurse makes them realise that the reason Morita was hospitalised is because he ate too much Honey Roasted peanuts provided by the airplane. That, however, does not stop Morita from wanting to run away and get some more. Before he can do so, however, Shuuji manages to tie him up and take him to Professor Tange.

After Shuuji, Morita and Hagu left, Mayama and Yamada decide to take a walk together to their respective workplace. During the trip, however, Yamada realises that she still hasn't been able to move on from Mayama and ends up running away from him in tears. Meanwhile Morita is seen trying to persuade Professor Tange to let him graduate. Professor Tange, however, refuses to let Morita graduate unless he can produce something that he has carved. Suffice to say, Morita manages to do this in a rather unconventional way. This means that after 8 long years, Morita finally becomes a graduate. To celebrate this momentous event, the University holds a fun-filled graduation party for Morita and the rest of the graduands that night. The party, however, ends on a rather emotional note with Professor Tange telling Shuuji how teachers are always left behind with nothing but memories no matter how much they care about their students.

Fast-forward to what is possibly a few days or a few weeks later, Hagu and Takemoto begin their final year at the university. Much to his surprise, however, Takemoto realises that things haven't changed much despite the recent chain of events. He feels strangely relieved to know this, causing Shuuji to advise him not to be afraid of changes. Having said that, Shuuji agrees that sudden change can be a bit scary despite being refreshing. It looks like his belief is shared by Morita because not long after Shuuji completed his words, Morita appears looking giddy in a school uniform. He then tells everyone that he's going to repeat the third year again because he feels that he still lacks certain knowledge. Everyone is horrified to hear this because Morita will actually be Takemoto and Hagu's junior now. After Morita left, however, Takemoto wonders if Morita's reason for staying has more to do with Hagu than anything else.

Impression:

This is a very funny episode throughout with few emotional scenes thrown in for good measures. Judging from this episode alone, it looks like Yamada is still unable to move on from Mayama. However, at least she now begins to realise the futility of the whole situation. Interestingly enough, the inability to move on seems to be given a big focus in this episode. The episode shows that Yamada is not the only one who doesn't want/unable to move on. As one can gather from the conversation between Professor Tange and Shuuji, teachers are often left with nothing but memories of their favourite students while those students move on with their life. Similarly, both Takemoto and Morita seem to be afraid of change and find themselves constantly back to the place that they are familiar with.

Timeline:

I'll assume that the start of the episode happens in late February or early March given what happened in the previous episode. In addition to this, it's tempting to note that the Academy Award, which is what Mochademy Award is based upon, usually doesn't begin until early March. In that case, there's at least a few weeks to 1 month time jump between the graduation and the start of the new semester. The Cherri Blossom that appears in the later half of the episode easily suggests that the new semester begins in April.

© memento 2003