Honey and Clover – What Yuta’s Journey Meant to Me

I recently decided to rewatch an old favourite of mine: Honey and Clover. I first watched the show back in 2011, a whopping nine years ago, and, mainly because of my tendency to keep looking forward towards the next big thing, I haven’t rewatched it since. A lot has changed since then. I’ve changed. My life circumstances have changed. As such, I was interested in seeing how my experience with Honey and Clover would vary the second time ‘round. This is what motivated me to rewatch the show. Two of Honey and Clover’s storylines really resonated with me during my first brush with the show: Ayumi Yamada’s unrequited love (I’d been rejected by my crush of three years just before starting the show) and Yuta Takemoto’s solitary journey from Tokyo to Hokkaido on his beat-up bicycle. It’s the latter storyline that I want to talk about today… 

Author’s note: this won’t be my most cohesive or well-structured post. I won’t lie: I’m writing this one more for my own benefit than anybody else’s. I just wanted to jot down some stray thoughts on a storyline that really spoke to me. 

Ty’s Hidden Gems Series – Astra Lost in Space

Astra Lost in Space’s premise is simple enough: set in the distant future where space travel is a normal, everyday occurrence, a group of high schoolers, while on their class trip, suddenly find themselves transported to the far reaches of uncharted space. There they find an abandoned spaceship and soon begin their perilous journey back home, touching down on each planet they pass in the hopes of scavenging resources. Surprisingly, deadly aliens aren’t the only threat our characters face. In fact, the real threat turns out to be much closer to home. Astra may seem like an odd choice for my hidden gems series. After all, it only finished airing last year and hasn’t yet had the time to fade into obscurity like my other choices. Nevertheless, I feel that Astra, with its less-than-stellar marketing, was oft-overlooked in favour of anime like Fire Force, Dr. Stone, and Demon Slayer. I’m hoping that this review will convince you to give the show a try if you, too, passed up on it last year. 

Is It Dumb to Get Emotional Over Anime?

Last year I picked up a new pastime: Dungeons and Dragons. While, even now, some of the game’s finer mechanics elude me, I’m super invested in the story that my DM has masterfully woven together. As I’m writing this, my character, Sorrel, and his girlfriend, Tilly, find themselves in dire straights. This, partnered with the fact that our next session isn’t for another two weeks, means that I’m an emotional wreck. Regrettably, my husband doesn’t understand what I’m going through. “They’re just fictional characters! None of it is real!” All this in spite of the fact that it’s not the first time I’ve gotten upset over fictional characters… 

In fact, I cry over anime all the time. Just the other day I snotted all over my husband’s shirt while watching I Want to Eat Your Pancreas (that movie destroyed me). So you’d think he’d be used to this particular quirk of mine by now. But, is there any merit in what my husband is saying? Or what it implies: that it’s dumb to get emotional over anime? 

Ty Cleans out Her Hard Drive – the Best of 2019’s Screenshots

Regrettably, I don’t have any superpowers. In fact, the closest thing I have is the ability to produce an anime screenshot to suit any occasion. My phone (which, despite it being 2020, I still use to watch the vast majority of my shows) is packed full of screenshots, which I bestow upon my friends like a little old lady handing out sweets to her cute grandchildren. As with last year, I thought I’d take the time to also share some with you, my dear readers – completely out of context, of course! I hope that the following screenshots both amuse and confuse you! Sauce provided upon request! 

The Real Neat Blog Award 2: Electric Boogaloo

Yeah, boyyy, that’s what I’m talking about! This is actually the third time that I’ve been nominated for the Real Neat Blog Award, so, hey, maybe I should stop doubting my blog and my writing capabilities quite as much? A big thanks to Voyager over on Galvanic for the nomination (and the much-needed confidence boost)! Sorry that it took me so long to get ‘round to writing this, December’s my busiest month, blog-wise, what with the 12 Days of Anime posts and my Year in Review. I’ll answer those burning questions of yours just as soon as I list the rules of this challenge!