Honey & Clover – 12

Short Summary:
It’s spring and Takemoto is feeling down, physically because of allergies and emotionally because of Hagu-chan. At a festival, he notices that Hagu-chan is intentionally hiding from Morita, who’s there performing. A few days later, Morita finds her in the park. He ties his scarf around her neck and proceeds to kiss her, which sends her into shock (and sends him running). Takemoto learns from Hanamoto-sensei that Hagu-chan has had a fever since that day. The two of them put the pieces together and conclude that she likes Morita. Takemoto later thinks that he hadn’t noticed that she was in love because he was the one who was really in love. He’s talking with Mayama at home when a well dressed man pulls up in a car and rushes into Morita’s room. He breaks in and throws Morita’s passport to a messenger on a bike. As he’s leaving, Takemoto asks if Morita is going somewhere. The man replies that Morita is going to Los Angeles for a long time. Of course, Takemoto decides to go with him to say goodbye to Morita. However, they arrive too late at the airport and all Takemoto can do is yell at the planes. On the way back, the mysterious man reveals himself to be Morita’s brother. Getting out of the car, Takemoto finds that he really cares about what happens to Morita, who won’t be back for a while.

I didn’t expect the parting to be Morita, as I always took for granted that he was the comedic support for this series. But I don’t expect him to be gone too long, especially since this show has a way of making time pass quickly. Morita probably knew that he’d be going, and perhaps that’s why he kissed Hagu-chan. But the question circling my mind is: what exactly does Morita do for a living?!
I like how, during the Hagu-chan/Sleeping Beauty scene, the rooster weather vane stopped spinning. Subtleties like that make me appreciate the thought that the production team put into this series.
I’m really looking forward to next episode. Never mind that Hagu-chan and Yamada are in yukata, I’m more interested in the fact that it’s probably going to be a Yamada/Mayama episode, at least based on the preview shots.