Cinnamon Ass - Reborn Like a Zombie

Honey and Clover Chapter 9

Yamada is still not over Mayama (although he's not over Rika yet so what's new?), but the main focus of this episode is the Hagu love triangle. Morita makes a wooden brooch and hides it for Hagu to find, and Takemoto finally realises he has competition for her affections - when he sees just how much Hagu loves the brooch, he tries to tell her that Morita made it, only for Morita to interrupt. Who knows what's going on in his crazy head? The other subplot of the episode involves Yamada's family, whose grocery store is facing stiff competition from a local supermarket - using the power of Hagu's cuteness they manage to sell truckloads of chocolate over Christmas. Hurray for Hagu!

Hurray for Hagu generally, actually - I've definitely warmed up to her character a lot over the series so far, and her combination of childlike innocence and terrified spazzing out makes her a great character to watch, just like the rest of the cast. That said, I thought this episode was a little weaker than some of the others have been this season - it wasn't quite crazy or dramatic enough for my melodramatic tastes, I suspect, although it was still head and shoulders above most other anime. Ah well, one slightly off episode isn't exactly the end of the world.

Besides, in screencapping this episode I've realised just how well made Honey and Clover really is - I think all the shots I've captured are great, note the lighting detail in the shot of Hagu with the duck brooch in particular amongst other details. It's a really, really awesome show, basically.