Ouran High School Host Club, ep. 01-08 (no spoilers)
Wed, Nov. 22nd, 2006 06:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterWow. I keep watching things that are more and more meta! I've been hearing about Ouran on my flist for quite some time, but I actually had no idea what it was. The extent of my knowledge was that it was a rather cracktastic shoujo anime set in high school, and that I tried to read the first vol. of the manga, but got completely lost because of the busy panels and the whiplash humor.
Ouran is a rather cracktastic shoujo anime set in high school, but what everyone failed to tell me was that it is so cracktastic because it lampoons various shoujo tropes and often slips into the realm of meta. It's great! I love it!
Ouran High School is incredibly rich, so much so that none of the host club members have ever tried something like instant coffee (my favorite part of the first episode involves a title reading: "The commoner prepares commoner coffee"). Alas, Haruhi is actually a bright, hard-working student from a "commoner" family (read: not super-duper-incredibly-unbelievably rich). Haruhi stumbles into the host club's domain one day and breaks an 8-million-yen vase, and as such, ends up being a fellow host in the club to repay the debt.
Aside from Haruhi, the club consists of:
Tamaki - self-titled king of the host club, blonde, able to tear up on will (he scorns the eyedrops that other hosts use), accompanied at all times by a trail of shoujo roses and sparklies. He's a giant baby who usually ends up sulking in the corner, and his voice actor reminds me a bit of YnM's Tsuzuki.
Kyouya - bespectacled and dark-haired, he embodies the "cool" archetype for the club
Honey-sempai - Senior in high school. Looks like a sixth-grader and carries a bunny around everywhere. Reminds me a lot of Furuba's Momiji. "Loli-shota" archetype. (when I'm saying what archetype they embody, I'm not making this up. That's how the characters are introduced!)
Mori-sempai - Senior in high school. Actually looks like a senior. Protect Honey-sempai, and is apparently the "wild" archetype.
Hikaru and Kaoru - the twins. ZOMG TWINCEST! Full-blown! With shoujo roses! I am twelve, but every single time the shoujo roses come out and the twins gaze longingly into each other's eyes, I nearly fall off the couch because I'm laughing so hard! Also, having eighteen girls around them squeeing with little hearts surrounding them doesn't hurt either.
Together, they fight crime!
Every time I watch an episode, I end up laughing hysterically on the sofa and waving my hands around, because it's so meta! It's basically a gaggle of the perfect bishounen, surrounded by a fanclub of squeeing girls who react exactly like fans do when confronted by perfect bishounen! I mean, they even have the twincest! They explain the appeal of the twincest! It is insane!
But! My absolute very favorite part is that the club has a manager who is a fangirl. She goes through everyone's attributes and their weak points, takes points off because they need more angst, and talks about things like "moe" and "the glasses type" (this in particular had me rolling on the floor, given a discussion at Wiscon).
And despite all this, I never get the sense that the creators are trying to make fun of fangirls or what they like; the club is largely presented as an organization that fills a particular gap in the girls' lives, and the hosts often act as yenta or fairy godmothers to gift other people with romance.
Ouran is a rather cracktastic shoujo anime set in high school, but what everyone failed to tell me was that it is so cracktastic because it lampoons various shoujo tropes and often slips into the realm of meta. It's great! I love it!
Ouran High School is incredibly rich, so much so that none of the host club members have ever tried something like instant coffee (my favorite part of the first episode involves a title reading: "The commoner prepares commoner coffee"). Alas, Haruhi is actually a bright, hard-working student from a "commoner" family (read: not super-duper-incredibly-unbelievably rich). Haruhi stumbles into the host club's domain one day and breaks an 8-million-yen vase, and as such, ends up being a fellow host in the club to repay the debt.
Aside from Haruhi, the club consists of:
Tamaki - self-titled king of the host club, blonde, able to tear up on will (he scorns the eyedrops that other hosts use), accompanied at all times by a trail of shoujo roses and sparklies. He's a giant baby who usually ends up sulking in the corner, and his voice actor reminds me a bit of YnM's Tsuzuki.
Kyouya - bespectacled and dark-haired, he embodies the "cool" archetype for the club
Honey-sempai - Senior in high school. Looks like a sixth-grader and carries a bunny around everywhere. Reminds me a lot of Furuba's Momiji. "Loli-shota" archetype. (when I'm saying what archetype they embody, I'm not making this up. That's how the characters are introduced!)
Mori-sempai - Senior in high school. Actually looks like a senior. Protect Honey-sempai, and is apparently the "wild" archetype.
Hikaru and Kaoru - the twins. ZOMG TWINCEST! Full-blown! With shoujo roses! I am twelve, but every single time the shoujo roses come out and the twins gaze longingly into each other's eyes, I nearly fall off the couch because I'm laughing so hard! Also, having eighteen girls around them squeeing with little hearts surrounding them doesn't hurt either.
Together, they fight crime!
Every time I watch an episode, I end up laughing hysterically on the sofa and waving my hands around, because it's so meta! It's basically a gaggle of the perfect bishounen, surrounded by a fanclub of squeeing girls who react exactly like fans do when confronted by perfect bishounen! I mean, they even have the twincest! They explain the appeal of the twincest! It is insane!
But! My absolute very favorite part is that the club has a manager who is a fangirl. She goes through everyone's attributes and their weak points, takes points off because they need more angst, and talks about things like "moe" and "the glasses type" (this in particular had me rolling on the floor, given a discussion at Wiscon).
And despite all this, I never get the sense that the creators are trying to make fun of fangirls or what they like; the club is largely presented as an organization that fills a particular gap in the girls' lives, and the hosts often act as yenta or fairy godmothers to gift other people with romance.
(no subject)
Sat, Nov. 25th, 2006 07:26 am (UTC)It's so awesome!
(now I want to make you watch Utena and Princess Tutu, and then your trilogy of shoujo metanarrative will be complete!)
(no subject)
Sun, Nov. 26th, 2006 04:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Sun, Nov. 26th, 2006 11:45 pm (UTC)