Honey & Clover – 17

Short Summary:
Yamada is feeling very upset after having turned down four of childhood friends, but Ippei consoles her by saying it isn’t her fault. At his request, she promises to help with Ippei’s bakery come Christmas time. That night, back from a job interview, Takemoto introspects that he feels lost in life because he doesn’t have a goal. He proceeds to smash his tower piece for the festival. Christmas time soon comes around and Yamada keeps her promise to Ippei and, with Hagu-chan, sells cakes for the bakery. Because of the cold, her childhood friends come out and provide a stove for heat and pants for warmth causing Yamada to feel grateful that everyone is still her friend.
The group has their yearly Christmas party with only Hanamoto-sensei, Hagu-chan, Yamada, and Takemoto. After getting drunk, they decide to play Twister again, but he game ends when Hanamoto-sensei hurts himself trying to stretch his leg forward. After Christmas passes, Takemoto decides to concentrate on what is in front of him and starts to rebuild his tower. He works too hard though, and lands himself in the hospital with a stomach ulcer. Lying in the hospital bed, he is reminded of the time when he had the measles and his father took him to the hospital and held his hand. Waking up, he finds Kazu-san doing the same. At his mother’s suggestion, he decides to delay his graduation another year. Hagu-chan arrives to visit, and her smile reminds Takemoto of how worried for him Hagu-chan had been. Unfortunately, before he can confess his feelings, Hanamoto-sensei interrupts them with a portable television, with Yamada and Mayama following close behind. The group starts to watch an awards program and sees something that astonishes them all.

For the first time since they changed the ED, I prefer Mistake as the end song. That is probably attributed to the fact that there is the ominous song playing until the final fadeout, which wouldn’t have been a good place to start Waltz (unlike all the previous final scenes).
Not a bad episode, though nothing really made me laugh. We continue the drama trend with another relatively comedy light episode. The funniest thing this episode is perhaps the two art judges and their interpretation of Takemoto’s work, but even that’s not all that funny. The drama aspect remains pretty good though with the focus is gradually shifting from the Mayama and Yamada back towards Takemoto and Hagu-chan. Hopefully the Christmas party is the climax of the original group being apart, and they can finally start to come back together. Now that they’ve concluded the Yamada and childhood friends bit, they need to finish the Yamada and Mayama story, then Mayama and Rika. Everything else will probably be about Takemoto, Hagu-chan, and, of course, Morita, who is hinted to be the person accepting the award on the TV show. The preview says that he’s coming back and I hope that means a return of the laugh out loud funny scenes to Honey and Clover.