Everyone needs a Tamaki. Honest.
Jul. 18th, 2006 11:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieI've decided that everyone should have a Tamaki. I want a Tamaki. Our rapidly developing genetics industry should have someone take care of what is clearly an unfilled need.
But before I get to the Tamakiness of the story, I must once again both giggle and rave about how wonderfully Ouran manages to mock both anime archetypes and fangirl desires, while somehow holding a twisted mirror to reality. When Renge, the self-proclaimed club manager appears and tells the guys that their club host persona aren't very interesting because everyone needs a dark past? That's like every cool anime character (and plenty of non-anime shows too) ever. And the way she describes them is definitely like so many fanfics like to do to their characters. The twins become basketball players lost in their own little world. Honey is actually a horrible field hidden behind his sweet mask. Mori is someone who is bound to him. Haruhi is the shy student who is bullied. And Tamaki, who takes to the drama possibilities with gusto, is the "Prince of Loneliness." It's hilarious how the characters are transformed to a movie set with her words (and are commenting on how they got there, in lovely meta comments. This show loves to break the fourth wall. My favorite instance of such jokes is when ep 7 references RahXephon, with Renge cosplaying Quon and the characters having no idea what she is talking about) and are in roles that are straight out of some trailer. I loved the situations, especially Honey cornering Haruhi and threatening her and Mori telling him "Don't. When you hurt others you only hurt yourself" to which Honey retorts: "Be quiet. You want to be punished again?" Hello bad fanfic and clicheville! I was utterly giggling. Especially so when we later find out girls buy this tape by the score.
But the really fun part is that all these cliches have a grain of truth in them. The twins really are a unit who view the rest of the world as 'them' as opposed to 'us' (btw, the twins remind me of Weasley twins and make me ROFL routinely). Mori (whom I love) does take care of Honey because of family ties and family history and Honey, though no chuckling field, is much more than he appears, being an amazingly skilled martial arts master and quite capable. As to Tamaki, while nothing is further from his sweet, cheerful nature than to brood in the rain,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
crumpeteer indicated that he's been abandoned by his mother and his grandmother is cold and doesn't want to deal with him at all, so he really doesn't have anyone outside the club.
And of course, I love the running theme of Tamaki jumping to protect Haruhi (in this case, he thinks it's from bullying students) when in reality they didn't do anything and she is the one who attacted them. And then trying to console her for her tears and then finding out it's just her contact that fell out. And reason 639 that I love Tamaki, he is not put out or offended by this or anything. He just thinks it's all cute and he hugs Haruhi and tells her that if she can cry without glycerine, she is definitely a natural at being a host. The boy is so sweet and emotionally open and giving, it's lovely (he reminds me a bit of Freddy in Cotillion. Any other anime he'd be the goofy secondary character). Heart on his sleeve. I think emotionally, there is a gender reversal in Haruhi and Tamaki. Haruhi is the hard-headed pragmatic one. Tamaki is the dreamer. Of course, he is also a drama queen and I think that's why Haruhi is completely clueless to his liking her, even though it's loud and clear. She just filed anything he does under 'oh, it's Tamaki. I can be just bemused.'
I do love the one time when Haruhi really is in trouble, from the guys at the beach, and Tamaki rescues her. And he is being all capable and serious *gasp* and protective. And he gets mad because she took on those guys by herself and won't admit that it was reckless. I think he is just channeling his worry. But the thing that I really love is that the whole ep proved that Haruhi is basically afraid of nothing, but then near the end, Tamaki comes into her room at night (long story) and a thunderstorm starts and it turns out the fearless Haruhi is terrified of thunder. And Haruhi tries to hide in the closet, saying that's how she always deals with it, alone. And Tamaki realizes that she never asks for help (frex on the beach) because she never got it when she was a kid, and he is all gentle and guuuuuh. The boy really likes helping people as a baseline, but of course it's Haruhi, so it's extra cool. And he tells her he will be there for her and he gets her out of the closet and then there is thunder and she jumps into his arms. EEEEEE! And he takes care of her thunder fear by getting her earplugs and a blindfold, for the noise and the sound, but the other guys barge in and assume it's some S&M thing, and now she is thinking that is what it was too. Silly clueless girl. I do have to say, I am a bit puzzled as to whether Haruhi will ever reciprocate his feelings. She just doesn't seem to see him that way at all, filing everything under 'oh, it's Tamaki.' She also seems to have a minor thing for Mori, and while I can understand it, come on, girl!
Yeah, poor Tamaki. He keeps having fantasies of Haruhi as a proper girl, dresses etc etc and they keep getting shot down. My favorite bit though was the real life situation with Hatsumi in swimsuit and Tamaki blushing to to the roots of his hair on seeing her (and it was a modest suit, too) and thrusting a parka towards her without looking heee.
Hmmmm, more on Tamaki. It's interesting that he is so good at piano. But even more interesting that he really genuinely likes helping people. Also, he is actually quite perceptive when it comes to others: advice to that little kid about approaching the girl as a man and not a host since it's not some random one but the one he loves, is really good stuff.
But ultimately, the reason I love him so much is that he is a sweet-hearted, adorable goof.
As exemplified by his talking about a curse, and how a particular doll can curse you, citing himself as an example, saying that on his way to an exam he stepped on one:
Tamaki [very dramatically to Haruhi]: Strange mysterious words spilled on the paper and when I looked around, they were all people I didn't know. I was in a parallel dimension.
K: You took the Greek test by mistake.
Tamaki [persevering]: The next three days my feet were heavy as lead.
K: You ran the marathon the day before.
But before I get to the Tamakiness of the story, I must once again both giggle and rave about how wonderfully Ouran manages to mock both anime archetypes and fangirl desires, while somehow holding a twisted mirror to reality. When Renge, the self-proclaimed club manager appears and tells the guys that their club host persona aren't very interesting because everyone needs a dark past? That's like every cool anime character (and plenty of non-anime shows too) ever. And the way she describes them is definitely like so many fanfics like to do to their characters. The twins become basketball players lost in their own little world. Honey is actually a horrible field hidden behind his sweet mask. Mori is someone who is bound to him. Haruhi is the shy student who is bullied. And Tamaki, who takes to the drama possibilities with gusto, is the "Prince of Loneliness." It's hilarious how the characters are transformed to a movie set with her words (and are commenting on how they got there, in lovely meta comments. This show loves to break the fourth wall. My favorite instance of such jokes is when ep 7 references RahXephon, with Renge cosplaying Quon and the characters having no idea what she is talking about) and are in roles that are straight out of some trailer. I loved the situations, especially Honey cornering Haruhi and threatening her and Mori telling him "Don't. When you hurt others you only hurt yourself" to which Honey retorts: "Be quiet. You want to be punished again?" Hello bad fanfic and clicheville! I was utterly giggling. Especially so when we later find out girls buy this tape by the score.
But the really fun part is that all these cliches have a grain of truth in them. The twins really are a unit who view the rest of the world as 'them' as opposed to 'us' (btw, the twins remind me of Weasley twins and make me ROFL routinely). Mori (whom I love) does take care of Honey because of family ties and family history and Honey, though no chuckling field, is much more than he appears, being an amazingly skilled martial arts master and quite capable. As to Tamaki, while nothing is further from his sweet, cheerful nature than to brood in the rain,
crumpeteer indicated that he's been abandoned by his mother and his grandmother is cold and doesn't want to deal with him at all, so he really doesn't have anyone outside the club. And of course, I love the running theme of Tamaki jumping to protect Haruhi (in this case, he thinks it's from bullying students) when in reality they didn't do anything and she is the one who attacted them. And then trying to console her for her tears and then finding out it's just her contact that fell out. And reason 639 that I love Tamaki, he is not put out or offended by this or anything. He just thinks it's all cute and he hugs Haruhi and tells her that if she can cry without glycerine, she is definitely a natural at being a host. The boy is so sweet and emotionally open and giving, it's lovely (he reminds me a bit of Freddy in Cotillion. Any other anime he'd be the goofy secondary character). Heart on his sleeve. I think emotionally, there is a gender reversal in Haruhi and Tamaki. Haruhi is the hard-headed pragmatic one. Tamaki is the dreamer. Of course, he is also a drama queen and I think that's why Haruhi is completely clueless to his liking her, even though it's loud and clear. She just filed anything he does under 'oh, it's Tamaki. I can be just bemused.'
I do love the one time when Haruhi really is in trouble, from the guys at the beach, and Tamaki rescues her. And he is being all capable and serious *gasp* and protective. And he gets mad because she took on those guys by herself and won't admit that it was reckless. I think he is just channeling his worry. But the thing that I really love is that the whole ep proved that Haruhi is basically afraid of nothing, but then near the end, Tamaki comes into her room at night (long story) and a thunderstorm starts and it turns out the fearless Haruhi is terrified of thunder. And Haruhi tries to hide in the closet, saying that's how she always deals with it, alone. And Tamaki realizes that she never asks for help (frex on the beach) because she never got it when she was a kid, and he is all gentle and guuuuuh. The boy really likes helping people as a baseline, but of course it's Haruhi, so it's extra cool. And he tells her he will be there for her and he gets her out of the closet and then there is thunder and she jumps into his arms. EEEEEE! And he takes care of her thunder fear by getting her earplugs and a blindfold, for the noise and the sound, but the other guys barge in and assume it's some S&M thing, and now she is thinking that is what it was too. Silly clueless girl. I do have to say, I am a bit puzzled as to whether Haruhi will ever reciprocate his feelings. She just doesn't seem to see him that way at all, filing everything under 'oh, it's Tamaki.' She also seems to have a minor thing for Mori, and while I can understand it, come on, girl!
Yeah, poor Tamaki. He keeps having fantasies of Haruhi as a proper girl, dresses etc etc and they keep getting shot down. My favorite bit though was the real life situation with Hatsumi in swimsuit and Tamaki blushing to to the roots of his hair on seeing her (and it was a modest suit, too) and thrusting a parka towards her without looking heee.
Hmmmm, more on Tamaki. It's interesting that he is so good at piano. But even more interesting that he really genuinely likes helping people. Also, he is actually quite perceptive when it comes to others: advice to that little kid about approaching the girl as a man and not a host since it's not some random one but the one he loves, is really good stuff.
But ultimately, the reason I love him so much is that he is a sweet-hearted, adorable goof.
As exemplified by his talking about a curse, and how a particular doll can curse you, citing himself as an example, saying that on his way to an exam he stepped on one:
Tamaki [very dramatically to Haruhi]: Strange mysterious words spilled on the paper and when I looked around, they were all people I didn't know. I was in a parallel dimension.
K: You took the Greek test by mistake.
Tamaki [persevering]: The next three days my feet were heavy as lead.
K: You ran the marathon the day before.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-07-18 04:18 pm (UTC)And does "punish" Mori on one occassion. He also frightens everyone when he spouts off an unnecessary amount of information about cyanide poisoning.
he's been abandoned by his mother
It's not really so much abandonment as he doesn't know where she is. He was forced to leave her to become the heir of the Suoh fortune and the stipulation put on him by his grandmother was that if he did become heir he could never see his mother again (his mother was his father's mistress). Since his mother's companies had failed and she was always sickly, he agreed to so he could provide for her. He actually lived in France until he was 14.
Tamaki is by far my favorite, but I like Mori too. He's just sort of this solid, quiet guy who's very out of place in the club. In the manga Haruhi doesn't seem to be partial to any of the guys and only to Tamaki because she's a bit indulgent to him.
The thing I like about Tamaki is that he's painfully honest. What he says is what he's honestly thinking at the time. He's just such an open person. He's been through plenty in his family life yet he doesn't hold a grudge. He's just Tamaki, something that the club loves him for and Haruhi learns to appreciate. And he's never embarrassed about being himself either.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-18 07:15 pm (UTC)ROFL.
I do wonder how (if at all) they are going to tie up the romantic thing in the anime. Is it finished yet? Because isn't the manga still running? Hmmmm.
As to Tamaki, I just want to take him home and mother him.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-18 07:25 pm (UTC)I personally feel that the romance won't be solved for a very long time in the manga since it's at its core a comedy. The mangaka has seemed to favor the outcome being Tamaki/Haruhi though.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-18 07:54 pm (UTC)it's at its core a comedy
And it is one of the funniest things I've seen (though still not as hilarious as FUMOFFU). I am not a major shipper or anything (though I want Tamaki happy) which is just as well as I don't think Tamaki registers on haruhi guy radar. He really IS remarkably like her Dad though.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-18 05:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-18 07:14 pm (UTC)