This is a list of characters of the manga series Honey and Clover written and illustrated by Chika Umino. It was published by Shueisha from June 2000 to July 2006 and collected in 10 volumes. It follows the lives and relationships of five students at a Tokyo art college, three of whom live in the same apartment building.
Main characters
Portrayed by: Haruka Kudō (anime, Japanese), Heather Halley (anime, English), Yū Aoi (movie), Riko Narumi (Japanese TV drama) A supremely gifted artist, Hagu's immense talents are esteemed by all who witness her works, catching the eye of numerous professional artists who insistently urge her to submit her work to exhibitions to heighten her publicity (which she seems to find daunting). She is 18 years of age at the beginning of the series and her appearance is that of a child, and she conveniently behaves as one. Raised in a largely sheltered and obscure home by her irritable grandmother, her sociability is below average. It is while living in that home that Hagu develops her skill in drawing and painting, her only pastime, though she finds nothing to sketch save for the never-changing view she has from her porch, varying only in seasons. Hagu is from Azumino city, Nagano-ken. She is introduced to Takemoto, Morita and Mayama by Shūji, her father's cousin and also a professor at the college. Upon seeing her, Morita and Takemoto fall in love with her, though both express it in different ways. Hagu knows not of their feelings towards her, but sees them as friends. However, Morita expresses his love for her in very odd ways, and Hagu is often seen trying to escape from whatever shenanigan Morita has planned for her. Though later Hagu develops feelings towards Morita, although she does not at first realize this, as Shūji points out. Hagu is very shy, and because she is so nervous when interacting with people, the other art students think that she is strange. Hagu doesn't seem to be too close with family members either, with the exception of Shūji, whom she fondly calls "Shū-chan". However, as the series progresses, Hagu is able to become closer friends with Takemoto, Mayama, Morita and Yamada. When Shūji leaves to go do a research project in Mongolia, Hagu forms a deeper bond with each of them, essentially seeing them as a sort of family. Hagu lives with Yamada (whom she calls "Ayu") when Shūji is away and they become very close friends. During parties, she is seen to be crying because of her envy of Yamada's beautiful legs and beautiful breasts. Mayama tries very hard to comfort her but failing rather miserably saying that "You'll have one of those when you're older....probably". While Hagu is crying, Morita is also crying because of her infectious tears. Later in the series, Hagu started to avoid Takemoto after he confessed his feelings for her, but at the end when he was leaving on the bullet train she gave him bread with honey and four leaf clovers, proving that she considered him a precious friend. At the end of the series, Hagu accepts Morita's confession of love and quickly realizes his intentions. Begging him not to run away and promising to always watch him, she returns to Shūji to complete her rehab. Mayama said that there are people who pursue love, and there are ones who choose passion. Hagu seems to be the second type. Moreover, Shūji is a very important person to Hagu and is "like a rain that soothes her". Hagu is often troubled by the thought that she's a burden to Shūji.
Portrayed by: Hiroshi Kamiya (anime, Japanese), Yuri Lowenthal (anime, English), Shō Sakurai (movie), Toma Ikuta (Japanese TV drama) Aged 19 (at the beginning of the series), Yūta Takemoto is a second-year student at the art college. He is from Annaka city, Gunma-ken. He lives in the same apartment complex as Mayama and Morita in room 202. His floor mates are Morita and Hasegawa. Takemoto studies architecture, but has little certainty as to what he wishes to do upon graduating; his decision to attend art college was because he liked to build things with his hands, like he had with his father. Takemoto is one of the more mellow characters in the series. He falls in love with Hagu immediately after being introduced by his professor and keeps his feelings to himself throughout most of the series. His love for Hagu and his inability to act upon his feelings as freely as Morita causes some internal problems for Takemoto. For example, when Hagu received a bird brooch that was made for her as an anonymous present, Takemoto couldn't bring himself to say that Morita was the one who had made it for her. Instead of acting on his feelings, Takemoto decides to be more of a brother figure to Hagu, giving her friendly support when needed. For example, Takemoto accepts Hagu's requests to build her sophisticated dollhouses and the like. Takemoto is very close to her. His relationship with his family also contributes to his mellow mood. His father died when he was still young. Also, his mother works at a hospital as a nurse, so Takemoto would usually spend a lot of his time there, even his Christmas holidays. Furthermore, Takemoto is uncomfortable with his mother's new husband, an outspoken man whose persona seems to a polar opposite to that of his father. However, Takemoto tries to get used to his company and tries to accept the fact that his step-father is capable of looking after his mother, since Takemoto has worried about his mother's well-being ever since he left home. His mother's remarriage and her assurance that he is now free to do as he wishes instead of taking care of her all the time later influenced Takemoto's decision to attend art college. Later in the series Takemoto has to stay another year due to getting a stomach ulcer and not being able to complete his graduation thesis. Near the end of the first season, Takemoto goes on a journey across Japan on a bicycle, meeting several people on the way, including a group in Zuigan-ji in Matsushima which is involved in the renovating of ancient Japanese structures and buildings all around the country (which he wishes to join), finally reaching Cape Sōya in Wakkanai, Hokkaidō. After arriving back to Tokyo, he finally confesses his feelings for Hagu though he knew from the start that his feelings for her were unrequited. At the end of the manga, he chose to work with the renovating team he had met and left for Morioka.
Portrayed by: Yūji Ueda (anime, Japanese), Sam Riegel (anime, English), Yūsuke Iseya (movie), Hiroki Narimiya (Japanese TV drama) 24 years old and a 6th year student in the beginning of the series, Morita occupies room 203, his floor mates being Takemoto and Hasegawa. Morita is unable to graduate, as he can never wake up on time to go to classes. This is mainly due to the work that he does, which forces him to go missing for periods of time. What he does for work though remains a mystery. When Morita comes back from his mysterious job, he immediately falls asleep for at least 48 hours, due to the amount of work he does. He also returns with a large sum of money in his back-pocket and brings a food item to share with his flat mates. Although the flat mates believe he does it to mock them, such as when he brings a bag of croquettes instead of meat, Morita does care deeply for his friends such as Takemoto. Despite being pretty weird sometimes, Morita is extremely smart and talented, showing talent in many fields from a young age such as creating toys, sculpture, drawing, playing musical instruments, and especially CG effects (which is exploited by Peter Lucas). Though he often appears to be childish and playful, he's actually a very thoughtful person, often gives advice and consolation to his friends, mostly Yamada. He also used his crazy methods to rescue his friends from difficult or embarrassing situation (like the Yamada-Mayama related cases). Morita is a very mysterious person. He does many random, crazy things for his personal enjoyment, such as creating a twister game with too many colors, which resulted in horrific pain for him and Takemoto. Morita is a perceptive individual, but tactless and often states the truth, such as how Mayama secretly stalks Rika outside her apartment, when nobody wants to hear it. He also expresses his love for Hagu in weird and quirky ways, such as forcing Hagu to dress up as a mouse. Morita's obsession with Hagu stems from a fondness of cute things during his childhood, such as causing a cat to become neurotic after cuddling it too much. As a result of Morita's obsession Hagu becomes afraid of him and tries to avoid him but eventually falls in love with him later on. Despite the way Morita treats Hagu he sincerely cares for Hagu, getting her a pair of expensive mules and creating a brooch with a dove on it, both of which was in her scrapbook of things she wanted. Later in the series, Morita leaves for America for work without saying anything to his friends. He eventually returns in about a year's time, and Morita's friends finally discover what he does for his work, being awarded best CGI in the Mocademy Awards (a spoof of the Academy Awards) for the movie 'Space Titanic', after studying with acclaimed director Peter Lucas. Morita's room, which no one had ever been inside, had also been discovered after his departure, and contained a lot of high tech equipment. After returning from America, Morita finally manages to graduate from his course in his 8th year handing his work in on the very last day. Despite graduating and becoming rich from his work in America, Morita applies for a Japanese Arts course believing he hasn't studied for long enough, even though he's been there for 8 years. He re-enters the art school as a 3rd grade student, having already completed half the subjects. From the last chapters of the series, we find out that Morita has been earning money all along to help his brother Kaoru get revenge on a company who ruined his father's company by foul methods. Morita doesn't want this revenge from the bottom of his heart, but did so because of his brother and the former faithful employers of his late father. Hearing Hagu's accident, he rushed back to see her. Looking to her as an escape, he said that it was absurd thinking life only means something if you leave work behind. Morita also finally confesses his love for her. Hagu reciprocated his feelings, but sees through his intentions, begging him not to run away. Promising to always watch over him, Hagu returns to Shūji and her rehab because she cannot imagine her life without drawing. Later, Morita decides to work in Peter Lucas's company.
Portrayed by: Tomokazu Sugita (anime, Japanese), Cam Clarke (anime, English), Ryō Kase (movie), Osamu Mukai (Japanese TV drama)