Nana | Honey & Clover live-action movie

After two months without watching anime, the notelog has finally been updated. Having acquired a fair bit of Nana, I watched all the way up to 28, where a tiny end-comment by Hachi in her retrospective narration made me stop, possibly until the entire series is finished.
Foreboding indeed.

The Honey & Clover movie actually arrived last Tuesday and I watched it then, but quite a few people in my circle hadn’t seen it yet, to I refrained writing about it. I had a screening for it last night and gladly it was a success with our little group of Hachikuro lovers.

The two points I’ve been making note of about the film are that firstly, it’s a very Japanese film, styled much more after their live-action cinematography rather than the anime or manga, and secondly that some viewers who haven’t seen or read the source material may not understand a few of the things that transpire between the characters, in particular case Mayama and Rika’s story. It doesn’t detract from the film though as their story-arc isn’t the most central to the film; centre stage is taken pretty much by Takemoto which is absolutely fitting, as the first season of the anime begins and ends with him. It is the first season of the anime that the film roughly covers, with one or two things from the second season included, though there is still plenty of material available should a sequel ever be slated for production.

I loved this film.
I am in love with the very mellow and introspective style of Japanese film-making. Hachikuro is of-course for younger audiences so it isn’t as quiet as the two greats which seasoned me in the style (Mizu no Onna and my all-time favourite film, Tokyo.Sora), but it still is crafted along the same presentation principals. Events unfold slowly and carefully with much focus on the subtleties of the characters’ thoughts and emotions, and while the film doesn’t present things in the same way as the anime, it perfectly captures these tiny moments of deep feeling that the characters experience as events unfold. A lot of this is hidden in subtle facial expressions, the tiniest fragments of dialogue or reflective narration, sometimes even in the most still of poses.

The way the characters have been translated into real-life people is perfect – of-course young Japanese men are rarely as insane and extreme in behaviour as Morita is in the anime, but his real-life counterpart gives a great rendition of the characteristics of his nature. The same goes for all of the other characters in the cast including some of the side characters. On side-characters though, it is a little bit of a shame that Rika-san (of-course she’s going to be my first mention!) and Hanemoto don’t get any more screen-time, with Nomiya nowhere in sight, but as the film does focus on the Takemoto/Morita/Hagu triangle which it does well, those elements which were omitted aren’t too sorely missed. It would be impossible to pack in everything that happens in 24 episodes into a two-hour film, so what has been included is done well.

It’s worth mentioning that more than a few events from the anime have been swapped around in the film, in the sense that certain things that transpire between certain characters in the anime, have had different characters involved in them for the film. I found this really charming as your memories of the anime combine with the new angle to create a new sense of involvement with the characters. There are however some scenes which remain almost untouched, including Mayama’s observation of Takemoto seeing Hagu for the very first time, and Mayama and Yamada’s famous moonlight walk along the embankment.

There’s a wonderful sense of atmosphere in this film, though its mood is so different from the anime, it still successfully explores and celebrates the turbulent emotions of youth; the dizzying heights of joy, the terrible depths of despair and all of the trepidation and disorientation of uncertainty. So many scenes bring a tear to the eye, and though the film is so much shorter than the 24 episodes of the anime, the characters still experience a great journey, and I was there with them for every moment.