Honey & Clover – 19

Short Summary:
Mayama finds Yamada working as a consultant for Fujiwara Design with Nomiya. Angry, he confronts Nomiya about his feelings for Yamada, asking if he really likes her. Mayama feels that he’d be more at ease if Nomiya acts more serious. At school, Takemoto is still unsure of what to make of Morita’s return. He wants to dislike Morita because of Hagu-chan, but instead finds that he’s happy when he’s around him. Sakura season soon comes again, and everyone is out watching the petals fall. The mention of Rika from Mayama’s coworkers causes a semi-drunk Yamada to leave, though Mayama goes after her. She gets angry at him for wanting to leave to go back to work while wanting her to stay. Nomiya walks in on the fight, and Yamada takes the opportunity to use Nomiya to run away. He leads her to his car, then drives off. However, when she says she wants to go home, he instead confronts her about her feelings, hitting several nerves. When she starts crying, Nomiya parks the car and takes her for a walk. At the same time, Mayama is out drinking with his coworkers and Morita. They make Mayama realize that he and Nomiya are similar in many ways. On the upper floor of a building, Nomiya tells Yamada about how he often came to watch the ferris wheel across from them. Yamada remembers when she rode a ferris wheel with Mayama that time long ago. She eventually breaks down and admits that she keeps hoping that Rika and Mayama would break up. The night turns into morning and Yamada wakes up in a bed beside Nomiya. She starts freaking out, but Nomiya tells her not to worry, saying that they should ride the ferris wheel that they were admiring all night.

I think I’m to the point where I’ve almost had my fill of the Mayama and Yamada relationship. It’s good story, but we’ve been going on it for quite a while now, even with Morita back. And despite everything they keep realizing, the two really haven’t made too much progress in getting past each other (Mayama needing to stop being so protective and Yamada needing to get over Mayama). It just feels like that everytime I think we’re going to get more of the Takemoto/Hagu-chan/Morita arc, the episode ends up focusing on Mayama/Nomiya/Yamada. Enough is enough and I hope the two (Mayama and Yamada) can move forward soon.
Which isn’t to say that I disliked this episode. The exact opposite in fact. Though we’re still on their storyline, I absolutely love the way they craft it. The art, the emotion…everything is perfect. I don’t mention the animation much for this series, but it has always been good. The final scenes with the ferris wheel are just breathtaking, as are the Sakura tree scenes. I also really have to applaud them for the use of music this episode. The insert song, Suga Shikao’s 黄金の月 (Ougon no Tsuki), fits extremely well into the scene where Yamada and Nomiya run away, especially with the electric bass and the slow motion. And they finally started to use Mistake to lead into the credits, playing it right after Nomiya says his last line. Still not quite the umpf that Waltz had, but a step in the right direction.