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Jul. 30th, 2011 09:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieI have finally had a chance to check out the first episode of a liveaction take on one of my all-time favorite mangas, Ouran High School Host Club and I am in love in love in love in love in love.
Somehow they managed to transfer the cracky, cheeky, post-modern metaish, with a hidden heart vibe of the manga (and the awesome anime. It was the only shoujo anime Mr. Mousie ever liked).
The story, such as it is, is about Haruhi, a brilliant scholarship student in a ritzy school. Haruhi is a girl but has little interest in gender norms - she wears a male uniform as more comfortable and has her hair chopped short (I am not getting into long meta again but I really like this drama's take on gender). Through a hilarious set of circumstances, Haruhi ends up working as a host with the Ouran High School Host Club in order to pay a debt. The hosts are the only ones who know she's a girl and Haruhi is very popular with the ladies as a femmy type of boy. Haruhi is pragmatic and no-nonsense and is both puzzled and amused (and occasionally exasperated and always unimpressed) by her fellow hosts, especially by the leader, Tamaki, is a diva and a drama queen and totally lacking in street smarts and is the sweetest, kindest, loveliest person. Needless to say, Haruhi/Tamaki is my (and the manga's) OTP.
If you are looking for realistic exploration of class differences or low-key acting, stay away! It you want a funny, endearing, irrestible bit of fun, come right in!
Here is our heroine, who looks like Harry Potter, imo.
The hosts:
Haruhi and Tamaki in a nutshell. He's being super-dramatic and showing off and she's wondering "who is this lunatic?"
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahaha.
Petals!
Mocking (and profitting) from fangirls' love of slash, especially incest slash :P
I have never seen the actor who plays Tamaki before, but he totally takes it and runs with it. He makes me LOL like no other. I think half of my caps are of his facial expression. He's totally Tamaki brought to life.
She puts him down without meaning to, just with her common sense. Bwahahahaaaaaa.
They are all 'well done.' And she's all 'what did I do, I didn't do it on purpose.' Bwahahahaha.
"Commoners' Coffee!!!!!"
Yeah, that pretty much sums up their relationship in a nutshell:
Plying his 'skills':
Seriously, how could you not adore them? I started the manga years ago, when it wasn't clear at all they were the endgame (or that there would be an OTP at all, it's not a romance-heavy manga) and am so glad it worked out! Even though emotionally they were denser than a forest. Haruhi needs someone fun and impulsive and wide-open in her life, to unfreeze her after her mother died. And Tamaki needs someone steady, common-sense and who won't play games because he has enough of that from his psycho family. Plus, at the end, they move to Boston! So she could continue studying with her brilliant brain. Which makes me AWWWWWWW!
Haruhi gets a makeover so as to become a host:
The hosts approve:
Someone has got a crush!!!! Bwahahahahahahahahahahhahaaaaa!
Haruhi is v.v.v.v.v. popular. Hey, she looks manlier than a lot of the Johnnies :)
Like I said:
She's getting bullied - someone emptied her bookbag into the water and everything is soaked and she can't find her wallet. My opinion is: if you pick on Haruhi, you should die.
Both LOL and AWWW (which is pretty much what Ouran makes me feel all the time, simultaneously). Haruhi is wading and looking for her wallet and Tamaki sees and is all 'what are you doing?' and she's all 'yeah, hahahahaha the silly commoner is looking for her 10,000 yen which is nothing to you guys, go away and laugh somewhere else' but Tamaki just wades in to help her look (of course, being himself, he must dramatically remove his shirt first). "Handsome men can't be hurt by water." Bwahahahahahahahaa. It's funny, because this was the exact moment I fell for his character in every version of this. :) (Though for the love of God, Tamaki's actor and every other jdrama guy, please keep your shirt on. Or eat 10 sandwiches first).
And then all the hosts join in.
The girl who bullied Haruhi throws water at her but Tamaki jumps to cover her. Heeee.
"People who pick on Haruhi are unwelcome."
At the end of the ep, he's all excited because he found her wallet:
And then he sees!
"Haruhi, you are a girl?!?!"
The rest of the hosts "oh my God, you are dense, you finally figured it out?"
She's like "yeah, but I don't care one way or another, wearing a guy's uniform is fine etc."
LOLing forever!!!!
So yes, a total adoration. I have no idea how much of it is because I am so familiar with the story (i.e. I can't tell if there are any narrative gaps because I know the story backwards, and I come into it already loving the gang) but I do think it's really good. I will probably not even bother waiting for subs any more because I can follow raws (Darksmurf does fast and decent subs btw).
In conclusion, have a shippy anime MV, mainly because I adore the song:
Somehow they managed to transfer the cracky, cheeky, post-modern metaish, with a hidden heart vibe of the manga (and the awesome anime. It was the only shoujo anime Mr. Mousie ever liked).
The story, such as it is, is about Haruhi, a brilliant scholarship student in a ritzy school. Haruhi is a girl but has little interest in gender norms - she wears a male uniform as more comfortable and has her hair chopped short (I am not getting into long meta again but I really like this drama's take on gender). Through a hilarious set of circumstances, Haruhi ends up working as a host with the Ouran High School Host Club in order to pay a debt. The hosts are the only ones who know she's a girl and Haruhi is very popular with the ladies as a femmy type of boy. Haruhi is pragmatic and no-nonsense and is both puzzled and amused (and occasionally exasperated and always unimpressed) by her fellow hosts, especially by the leader, Tamaki, is a diva and a drama queen and totally lacking in street smarts and is the sweetest, kindest, loveliest person. Needless to say, Haruhi/Tamaki is my (and the manga's) OTP.
If you are looking for realistic exploration of class differences or low-key acting, stay away! It you want a funny, endearing, irrestible bit of fun, come right in!
Here is our heroine, who looks like Harry Potter, imo.
The hosts:
Haruhi and Tamaki in a nutshell. He's being super-dramatic and showing off and she's wondering "who is this lunatic?"
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahaha.
Petals!
Mocking (and profitting) from fangirls' love of slash, especially incest slash :P
I have never seen the actor who plays Tamaki before, but he totally takes it and runs with it. He makes me LOL like no other. I think half of my caps are of his facial expression. He's totally Tamaki brought to life.
She puts him down without meaning to, just with her common sense. Bwahahahaaaaaa.
They are all 'well done.' And she's all 'what did I do, I didn't do it on purpose.' Bwahahahaha.
"Commoners' Coffee!!!!!"
Yeah, that pretty much sums up their relationship in a nutshell:
Plying his 'skills':
Seriously, how could you not adore them? I started the manga years ago, when it wasn't clear at all they were the endgame (or that there would be an OTP at all, it's not a romance-heavy manga) and am so glad it worked out! Even though emotionally they were denser than a forest. Haruhi needs someone fun and impulsive and wide-open in her life, to unfreeze her after her mother died. And Tamaki needs someone steady, common-sense and who won't play games because he has enough of that from his psycho family. Plus, at the end, they move to Boston! So she could continue studying with her brilliant brain. Which makes me AWWWWWWW!
Haruhi gets a makeover so as to become a host:
The hosts approve:
Someone has got a crush!!!! Bwahahahahahahahahahahhahaaaaa!
Haruhi is v.v.v.v.v. popular. Hey, she looks manlier than a lot of the Johnnies :)
Like I said:
She's getting bullied - someone emptied her bookbag into the water and everything is soaked and she can't find her wallet. My opinion is: if you pick on Haruhi, you should die.
Both LOL and AWWW (which is pretty much what Ouran makes me feel all the time, simultaneously). Haruhi is wading and looking for her wallet and Tamaki sees and is all 'what are you doing?' and she's all 'yeah, hahahahaha the silly commoner is looking for her 10,000 yen which is nothing to you guys, go away and laugh somewhere else' but Tamaki just wades in to help her look (of course, being himself, he must dramatically remove his shirt first). "Handsome men can't be hurt by water." Bwahahahahahahahaa. It's funny, because this was the exact moment I fell for his character in every version of this. :) (Though for the love of God, Tamaki's actor and every other jdrama guy, please keep your shirt on. Or eat 10 sandwiches first).
And then all the hosts join in.
The girl who bullied Haruhi throws water at her but Tamaki jumps to cover her. Heeee.
"People who pick on Haruhi are unwelcome."
At the end of the ep, he's all excited because he found her wallet:
And then he sees!
"Haruhi, you are a girl?!?!"
The rest of the hosts "oh my God, you are dense, you finally figured it out?"
She's like "yeah, but I don't care one way or another, wearing a guy's uniform is fine etc."
LOLing forever!!!!
So yes, a total adoration. I have no idea how much of it is because I am so familiar with the story (i.e. I can't tell if there are any narrative gaps because I know the story backwards, and I come into it already loving the gang) but I do think it's really good. I will probably not even bother waiting for subs any more because I can follow raws (Darksmurf does fast and decent subs btw).
In conclusion, have a shippy anime MV, mainly because I adore the song:
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no subject
Date: 2011-07-30 03:06 pm (UTC)Since I watched this drama a few years ago, did Tamaki really know her true identity as a girl after looking at her identity card?
no subject
Date: 2011-07-30 03:38 pm (UTC)I don't mind Hunny, simply because I don't think it's humanly possible to get the proper Hunny unless they cast a 10yr-old and that would be kind of iffy.
The one who looks a little off to me is Kyouya (I just always pictured him sharper-looking) but not enough to bother me.
Re: Tamaki. I think so (though in the anime it was a different way, I think) but tbh, I read that part of the manga so long ago, I honestly cannot remember. Time to reread :)
no subject
Date: 2011-07-30 03:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-30 03:34 pm (UTC)Oh heck yeah. I plan to watch it as soon as I can get my grubby hands on it, I don't even need subs.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-30 03:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-30 03:43 pm (UTC)I am pretty used to manga and liveaction people look pretty different so I don't even notice.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-30 05:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 06:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-30 05:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-30 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 02:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-30 05:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 06:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-30 07:56 pm (UTC)And wow ~ love at first sight, lol.
Who would've thought so many gags could translate so well into a live-action drama!! It was so funny and amusing. I'm already loving all the main characters, especially Haruhi and Tamaki. And the twins - OMG, hahaha.
So, being unfamiliar with the story, I can tell you there really were no narrative gaps that I could see. As zany and off-the-wall as these characters are, everything (oddly enough) actually made perfect sense. My only complaint is that it's only a half hour, and we only get one episode a week. It definitely gave me an appreciation for Korean dramas... waiting was pure torture.
Can't wait for the subs for episode 2 to come out!! I tried watching the raw without, but quickly abandoned that idea, being unfamiliar with the source-material like I am. Oh, how I envy you. ^_^
no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 06:01 am (UTC)I wonder how they will cram it into 11 (???) half-hour eps. The manga was 18 volumes. But it's not plotty so I can see them doing it OK.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 07:56 pm (UTC)I have no idea how they'll fit it all in either. I'm actually glad I'm not familiar with the manga and anime, because I can just enjoy every episode as they come. It reminds me a bit of Azumanga Daioh in that regard... so even if the plot never really goes anywhere, I don't think I'll really mind. Just as long as it keeps me laughing and entertained, lol. ^_^
no subject
Date: 2011-08-01 02:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-30 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 06:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-30 10:20 pm (UTC)Also:
he must dramatically remove his shirt first
This reminded me so much of my 16-year old brother that I LOLd. You know, I think they have the same body build too, so the reaction is completely understandable. =P
no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 06:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-30 11:14 pm (UTC)But whee! Glad to hear that the manga is translating well into live action. Really, really happy to hear that the actor playing Tamaki is working out because I had my misgivings when I saw his picture before.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 02:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 03:18 am (UTC)Maybe that's what was throwing me off. Hmm. Although, admittedly, I have been reading the scanlations because I'm way too impatient to wait for North America to catch up to Japan.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 03:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 06:00 am (UTC)The actor is totally spot on :)
no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 03:49 pm (UTC)If you could point me in the direction, that would be great actually. I know where I can read it online but I can only find the raws as downloadable files.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-01 02:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-03 02:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-30 11:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 05:59 am (UTC)I am quite obsessed about it.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 02:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 05:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 06:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 01:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-01 08:25 am (UTC)But your screencap of Haruhi aaagh makes me want to squish her >< wae so cute and they cast the perfect Mori (who is my fave character keke) Definitely watching this now.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-03 02:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-02 01:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-03 02:08 am (UTC)