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Honey & Clover is a currently airing drama in Japan, based on Chika Umino’s manga of the same name. It centers around a small circle of friends who all attend an Art university. Things start off pretty simple, but soon complicate themselves because of that age old thing called ‘love’.

Honey & Clover kicks off pretty well by introducing all of the main characters within the first couple of scenes and they’re all likeable from the get-go thanks to the actors portrayals and the ways in which they’re introduced. Toma Ikuta is great as Takemoto. Ikuta always manages to play his role with just the right amount of comedic pathos and geekiness. After a string of supporting roles Osamu Mukai is given his first leading role here and so far he’s doing a good job. He plays the character of Mayama well. Hiroki Narimiya is a tad hit and miss however. Sometimes Narimiya can come off as a little too smug and annoying, causing you to dislike him on a few occasions. The leading ladies are both great. Riko Narumi plays Hagumi very well. From the very beginning you take a liking to her because of how sweet and gullible she is. It’d be horrible if she ended up dying at the end. Natsuki Harada plays Yamada very well as the talented, but ballsy girl you wouldn’t mind having as a friend or girlfriend. She plays the 2 sides of her character very well: being feared some what for her forwardness and lashing out when she’s angry, but becoming incredibly vulnerable around Mayama and baring her soul to Morita. Having not watched much of this drama I can’t say too much about supporting roles. But Yutaka Matsushige is funny as the oddball Professor Shoda. Oddballs are what Matsushige does best and I can’t help but be reminded of his character from Proposal daiskusken who coincidentally returns to University to study art. Jun Murakami who plays Hagumi’s older cousin doesn’t do much with his role. He plays a teacher who smokes and has a very round hairstyle and a face that looks like all life has been drained from it. There’s not much more to him than that, but he may change as the drama progresses.

The drama is very well shot. There are moments when the cinematography doesn’t really stand out and moments when it does. The opening scenes in the first episodes are all brilliantly shot. The cherry blossoms sweeping all around the campus really does look great on screen. Audio has made and broken Japanese dramas for me. Exaggerated the noises of punches and kicks to the point they sound too comical and cheesy, and milking the slow motion and reverb every time something dramatic happens has been enough to make me switch off of certain dramas. But Honey and clover manages not to over do these things. It also has a cool theme song performed by Ken Hirai. I’ve never been a huge fan of his, but his theme song is real nice and fitting and it sure beats a Johnny’s contributing a song.

Having not read the manga or watched the animated adaptation of Honey & Clover I can’t speak for accuracy and faithfulness to the source material. I’m enjoying Honey & Clover thus far, but my main knack at the moment is that things seem to be moving really quickly. I’m talking REALLY quickly. I thought Hagumi’s character would be brought out of her shell in a slow process, but by the end of the first episode she’s already out of her shell and partially adapted to Campus life. I guess I was expected the process to be slower, a little like Nobuko slowly warming as a person in Nobuta wo produce. Three episodes in and I’m liking it. It already has me wanting to watch more, which is a good sign as I’ve given up on dramas after 1 or 2 episodes in the past.

It’ll be interesting to hear takes on this drama from those who have read the manga or watched other adaptations of it.