Hagu From Honey & Clover~Some Thoughts
After reading the ridiculously scathing review for this series on ANN I came to think a little about Hagu and her character type
At first glance Hagu comes off as very Moe. Some have even called her a loli because despite really being 18 she acts and looks like a little girl.
Admittedly when I first started watching Honey & Clover I couldn't stand Hagu. She was the helpless sweet female character type I hate in anime/manga. Of course there is many more things to Honey & Clover than Hagu. She is only 1 main character out of about 7 (which the review seemed to ignore) so I was able to still enjoy the series for other things.
However since there were other things I liked about Honey and Clover I continued to watch and you know what my opinion about Hagu began to slowly change as I realized there was a lot more to her than meets the eye.
Yes she acted like a little kid but it wasn't because the mangaka was trying to turn on a bunch of Otaku (considering this series is actually aimed at an older female audience). Hagu acted like a little kid because she had severe psychological issues. She grew up with a strict grandmother/aunt, she barely had any friends growing up, and she was not taught to be independent. Basically her development was repressed. This also caused her to become an extreme introvert. She eventually opened up to the rest of the main characters and became good friends with them (although even this took time) but when she is around strangers she is extremely shy and withdrawn and has severe anxiety attacks. In fact the only thing that makes her feel really comfortable is her art, where she can express the things she wants the say that she can't get out with words.
In the end Hagu is definitely far from my favorite character (that will always be Takemoto followed by the Morita Brothers) but I ended up appreciating the realism of her character. She is not cute or creepy, she is a realistic female character with psychological issues. In the end of the story she overcomes some of these issues but definitely not all of them. But then again Honey and Clover is a slice of life story and in real life sometimes not all issues are solved.
At first glance Hagu comes off as very Moe. Some have even called her a loli because despite really being 18 she acts and looks like a little girl.
Admittedly when I first started watching Honey & Clover I couldn't stand Hagu. She was the helpless sweet female character type I hate in anime/manga. Of course there is many more things to Honey & Clover than Hagu. She is only 1 main character out of about 7 (which the review seemed to ignore) so I was able to still enjoy the series for other things.
However since there were other things I liked about Honey and Clover I continued to watch and you know what my opinion about Hagu began to slowly change as I realized there was a lot more to her than meets the eye.
Yes she acted like a little kid but it wasn't because the mangaka was trying to turn on a bunch of Otaku (considering this series is actually aimed at an older female audience). Hagu acted like a little kid because she had severe psychological issues. She grew up with a strict grandmother/aunt, she barely had any friends growing up, and she was not taught to be independent. Basically her development was repressed. This also caused her to become an extreme introvert. She eventually opened up to the rest of the main characters and became good friends with them (although even this took time) but when she is around strangers she is extremely shy and withdrawn and has severe anxiety attacks. In fact the only thing that makes her feel really comfortable is her art, where she can express the things she wants the say that she can't get out with words.
In the end Hagu is definitely far from my favorite character (that will always be Takemoto followed by the Morita Brothers) but I ended up appreciating the realism of her character. She is not cute or creepy, she is a realistic female character with psychological issues. In the end of the story she overcomes some of these issues but definitely not all of them. But then again Honey and Clover is a slice of life story and in real life sometimes not all issues are solved.