Yeah, I already downloaded and watched it. Good ending.
Hmm... My thoughts (and
spoiler warning for all of you who have yet to watch Honey and Clover):
The series highlight for me was Mayama, his character utterly fascinated me. Bluntly, I've
never seen his character type used before, at least not in that light. Granted, the creepiness factor of his behavior was glossed over into comedy (The movie showed a more honest view, giving such scenes as his zip-lock bag wall-collection of Rika's items. X_X), but even if you take that into account, that obsession is a GOOD thing. Honestly, I don't think any other type of person could possibly get into a successful relationship with Rika (or at least help her get through her suffering). Only someone who literally knows the other person inside and out, and also are so obsessive (or really, really lucky, which is an overused plot device) that they can't let go of them could possibly work through it. That Mayama also lacks the usual delusions of not factoring in the consequences of that behavior into everything is also a plus.
That Mayama is also voiced by Sugita Tomokazu is just the icing on the cake, although I kinda hesitate to say its 'just', anything (I swear, including him into any anime automatically makes it ten times betters. <3<3<3).
Of course, it also hurt, since I liked Yamada, and I
didn't like Nomiya. :/ The anime sort of skipped some of the deeper parts of that relationship, but even if you haven't read the manga, you have a pretty good idea that they're going to get together.
Blah...
At least it didn't disappoint me in terms of the Hagu-triangle. Breaking the mold is both a wonderful, and sad thing. I'm a sucker for happy ends, but I also dislike boring cliches, as oxymoronic as the thought is. Still, even so, I enjoyed that ending. Perhaps it's because Shuuji really WAS the best option for Hagumi, but I think it's mostly because I liked Takemoto more than Hagumi (and thus, didn't really want him to end up with her, which seemed more likely of the two despite certain circumstances).
I must also compliment the director of the anime, since there was almost no dragging of the plot whatsoever. It's good to find show that have next to no senseless waste of screentime. Although, I admit that the specials were very, very amusing, especially F. The only real disappointing part of the anime was the final episode's voice actor change. I realize that it was unavoidable, since Takemoto's VA got into an accident, but it was... shocking how much I missed hearing Kamiya Hiroshi as Takemoto. Granted, Nojima Kenji was a good choice, but he lacked certain qualities that fit the character better, so it was still disappointing, regardless of the circumstances.
I guess it was my fault for not waiting for the DVD version to get subbed though.
Oh well, anyway, I enjoyed the series quite a bit.
The first beginning animation of the first season is
still the creepiest thing I've seen in a long, long time.
*shudder*
edit: anybody know where i can find a copy of the Xenogears anime?
Via what?
I've no idea where you might find it direct, but for torrents,
Tokyo Toshokan has it listed. Just type it in the search bar.
