kamron.kuhn - 2015-08-07 02:38:18

One term that you don't see thrown around a lot when it comes to describing bad anime is offensive - sure, you'll see plenty of people call a show poorly written or badly paced, and you'll see people call shows boring every once in a while.  But I can't really think of a lot of shows that get called "offensive".  So when I saw the entry this show has on the "Horrible/Anime" page on TV Tropes, I was intrigued when I saw it listed as "degrading and sexist".  So, I gave it a shot one day when I felt the need for something bad.  And this filled that need perfectly.

The story is basically kind of like a master-servant relationship, except it's in a shoujo anime/manga (I believe that this began as a manga).  Now, in this case, the system is called the "honey" system - basically, a rich kid at an elite high school pays for the tuition of someone (their "honey"), and the rich kid becomes said person's master (I'm assuming that both male and female students can be masters, since there are male and female honeys, but all of the masters shown are male).   It's up to the honey to make sure that the master graduates by waking them up, getting them to class on time, etc.  Now, this premise could be interesting...in a comedy.  But unfortunately, this is a drama.

In this case, our heroine is Yuzuru - she's from a poor family, but has been accepted into the honey program - and her honey is Kai.  Who basically is what would happen if Usui from Maid-Sama! had a personality that's a combination of Makoto Itou from School Days and that one vampire from Diabolik Lovers who calls the girl in that show "Bitch-Chan" (Actually, on second thought, he's basically that vampire in the body of Takami Usui).  Basically, he's every abusive male lead in an anime that you've seen.  Fortunately, he's not sexually abusive (or if he is, it didn't go into that territory), but he's still abusive.  So, it's up to Yuzuru to try and convince him that she's not a tool to break, and stay in the program for the sake of the rest of her family.

Remember how I said that this show's premise would be interesting if it was a comedy?  Well, this show is basically what would happen if you added a master/servant system to Maid-Sama! and took away everything that made Maid-Sama! great.  There's no comedy, the cast is either unlikable or forgettable, and there's no real romantic development until the end - and said development feels INCREDIBLY rushed.  And I didn't really notice the development, since I was still cringing at a show that justified slavery (and this is coming from a guy who was able to finish all of DearS without cringing).

The animation is very poor - while the poor quality might have been a result of the service I used, it feels like the style was taken straight out of a "how to draw shoujo manga" book.  Also, the colors were kind of...faded.  Like there wasn't anything that really caught my eye.

The cast was...pretty much unremarkable. The only people that really left an impression on me were Kai and Yuzuru.  And I didn't get that much of an impression from them.

The sound is just forgettable.  It's not terrible enough for me to remember it as being horrible like, oh say, Mars of Destruction, but it's not a terrible anime with a good soundtrack like MD Geist - where I'd want to download one of the insert songs (I couldn't anyway, since I don't think there are any insert songs) - either.  The voice acting was...okay, I guess.  I can't really say anything else, since I don't remember a lot.

I've seen quite a few fanservice shows - I am a pretty big fan of Sekirei and Highschool DxD, and my fourth favorite manga is Rosario + Vampire.  But this makes those shows look like the dream anime of every extreme feminsts out there.

Just avoid this show.  While it is less than an hour, you could spend your time doing ANYTHING ELSE and it would be better spent than if you were to watch this.  You could watch paint dry for an hour, and that would still be a better use of time.

Just skip this OVA and go watch something else.  ANYTHING else.

nitzsche.jason - 2015-06-08 18:21:10

(Adapted from my MAL review)

In my years of watching anime, I have encountered a decent amount of shoujo anime. There were some good ones, some meh ones, and maybe some that were kind of bad. However, never in my life have I watched a shoujo anime that has left me so infuriated I could go on a rampage. That is, until I watched Honey x Honey Drops.

To all of the other girls out there: THIS KIND OF ROMANCE IS COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. Do NOT think it is acceptable, or I don't think we can be friends. Now, let's move on to the actual review, shall we?

The premise of Honey x Honey Drops is rather simple, actually. There is a school where rich kids take some kind of course known as the Kuge Course. The students in this class pick a student who is not taking the class as their "honey". The "honey" has to obey all of their master's commands, and in exchange, the master pays for the "honey's" tuition in the school. Yuzuru Hagino is chosen as the "honey" for Kai Renge, a rich guy who finds any way possible to sexually harass poor Yuzuru.

Yeah, I just said "sexually harass".

The story for Honey x Honey Drops.... wait, what kind of love story could be crammed into two OVA episodes? It's a generic love story that is rather poor-executed. The animation isn't too bad, but it's not great at all. The voice acting could have been done better, to be honest, and I really don't care about the OP and ED, either.

Now, with that out of the way, let's talk about the biggest problem I have with Honey x Honey Drops: THE CHARACTERS. Kai is absolutely despicable, and the things he does to Yuzuru is completely unacceptable. If he loved her, why make her suffer so much?! Yuzuru is a very stupid character, too, taking this abuse. I mean, Kai has done so many awful things to Yuzuru, yet she loves him anyway?! What the heck is with that kind of logic?! I was at least hoping for Chihaya to be a better love interest for Yuzuru than Kai, but he ends up being even more despicable than Kai! I also didn't care for any of the supporting characters.

So yeah, Honey x Honey Drops is NOT a good anime. If you want to see what a shoujo anime should NOT be like, be my guest. I warn you, though; there are better things you can do with an hour of your time.