Ouran Host Club thoughts
History
So Funimation's streaming website has the first two episodes of Ouran Host Club online. They also have the first four episodes of School Rumble Second Term; but as the cast has already been established, I don't really think I need to give any impressions as it's fairly old news. I will say that the Second Term of School Rumble is very under-appreciated. It's not nearly as good as the first season, and has like 2/3s less plot, but as far as humor goes it pretty much stays up there. That and beardless Harima looks badass.
So anyways, Host Club. Lets start at the beginning shall we? I don't remember how I first started to "get into" Host Club, it might have been Yohkun, it might have been random curiosity, but it was right around the time of SKU's death from what I remember. This closely concides with the time of "Oh crap, Shaman King is over and I still kinda wanna be an anime fan, so I guess I should try watching stuff online like most of these otaku seem to do." So, off to Youtube I went (those were the days) and caught up, and then watched weekly. It was a fairly new thing for me. I had watched Naruto and Bleach, but mostly in batches, and it seemed kinda hollow. (pun intended) However, I am willing to say Host Club was one of the first series I got into almost on my own, and watched on my own, and enjoyed primarily on my own. I don't remember really talking to many people about it at the time, brief bits here and there, but it was oddly personal. I think I also enjoyed the idea of a "reverse harem" quite a bit; which coming from a straight male I now struggle with reasoning.
Basically, I really don't tend to like male characters. Or rather, I REALLY like female characters.
So then there's Host Club. A series with 90% male characters, and probably directed at females. If we were talking about the manga, I could probably end my rant/review here and say I have no idea why I like this thing and I need help of some kind. However, we are talking about the anime, and thus, I can move on a bit. From what I have read of the manga, the anime seems to take the premise/basic plot of the romantic comedy reverse harem shoujo; and essentially turned it into a romantic comedy reverse harem.... something. The art style is changed completely into something I love which falls somewhere between CLAMP and Eureka 7, and the writing and episode flow is generally fantastic. Despite being mostly male, I love the main cast, and at times can even relate to all of them. (even Haruhi) With amazing side characters, and a surprising amount of character development, Host Club actually ended up being one of my favourite series, a fact I have only really come to realize just now after watching the dub. Why you may ask?
Because this is my third/fourth time watching it; I plan to show my girlfriend it one day, and I still considering buying the DVDs. This was the fourth time I saw episodes 1 and 2, and I still, somehow, beyond all reason completely enjoyed it. Now for some breif dub thoughts, cause I love dubs, sorry purists.
Opening/Ending
They dubbed them. I was actually shocked when I heard an American singer on the website, I thought it was some fandub trick or something. Sakura Kiss somehow lends itself quite well to English, and they don't stretch for direct meanings like even the best fandubbers do. The lyrics are near identical, but don't try to translate things that wouldn't make sense. I think they maybe could have matched the singer's voice to the Japanese voice a little better, but it's still a lovely rendition. And it's just neat to hear the song in "official" english. The ending does both better and poorer. The translation seems to skip a few lines to make the song fit better into english, but it still faithful. The singer's voice matches surprisingly well all things considered, and even if it doesn't, it fits the music very nicely. He kinda... seems tired by the very end though, and the last line sucks the quality away quite noticably. It's still very well sung though; I just wish they did another take.
Voices
Tamaki: It's Vic. M. I was really quite shocked when I heard the man famous for Ed Elric was going to be Tamaki; especially with Tamaki having some very deep sexy lines. However after hearing his rendition, I have no doubt in my mind there is no one better in the industry to fill Tamaki's role. It's different, but it's completely in character and at times just plain impressive. And here I was thinking that the man couldn't impress me as much as he did with Mao from Disgaea 3. Vic loves his job, and luckily, he has roles which let him express this quite clearly. English Tamaki is probably 70% of the reason I am going to pick up the DVDs.
Haruhi: I was a little shocked at first as to how low they decided to go with her. At first it was kinda a turn off, while Japanese Haruhi was hardly a Mikuru, it was still more feminine than Ms. Glass. However, by the second episode I had practically fallen in love with the voice as far as the role goes, and wouldn't have it any other way. Like Tamaki, she's not matched for actor, but matched for character.
Shadow King: Not much to say for him really. It fits. I can't fault it, but I can't exactly praise it at this point.
Hikaru: A little low when compared to Kauru. But otherwise pretty good.
Kauru: A perfect choice, and a beautiful combination of using an english voice and trying to mimick the sound and feel of the Japanese actor. I prefer Kauru's voice compared to his twin, as I feel it fits his character a little better. I'm gonna hold off though until they have more lines.
Mori: lol
Honey: In my opinion, it's a tad too feminine considering the direction they chose with Haruhi. It's still good, in character, comperable to the japanese actor; but I almost wish there was more creativity.
I think that's it; if not, I really kinda failed as a fan there. As far as the translation goes, I'm going to be honest and say I am not too picky; so while I thought it was largely faithful, I'm not the kind of person who would notice things like that. I'm more in it for the voice acting, which quite frankly I love, and is my main reason for buying anime DVDs. I love supporting these people, because the writers and actors' interpretations of characters are always so very interesting, and more often than purists would have you believe; very good.
So, while I probably won't buy the series right away and marathon it like I pretty much did with School Rumble; I'm going to buy it. Yes, for the dub. I wouldn't be watching a series for the 4th time if there wasn't something new and interesting coming to the table. I'm not going to tell anyone to stop hating dubs, but I am going to suggest watching the free stuff on Funimation's website. It's free, and again, in my opinion, very good.
So Funimation's streaming website has the first two episodes of Ouran Host Club online. They also have the first four episodes of School Rumble Second Term; but as the cast has already been established, I don't really think I need to give any impressions as it's fairly old news. I will say that the Second Term of School Rumble is very under-appreciated. It's not nearly as good as the first season, and has like 2/3s less plot, but as far as humor goes it pretty much stays up there. That and beardless Harima looks badass.
So anyways, Host Club. Lets start at the beginning shall we? I don't remember how I first started to "get into" Host Club, it might have been Yohkun, it might have been random curiosity, but it was right around the time of SKU's death from what I remember. This closely concides with the time of "Oh crap, Shaman King is over and I still kinda wanna be an anime fan, so I guess I should try watching stuff online like most of these otaku seem to do." So, off to Youtube I went (those were the days) and caught up, and then watched weekly. It was a fairly new thing for me. I had watched Naruto and Bleach, but mostly in batches, and it seemed kinda hollow. (pun intended) However, I am willing to say Host Club was one of the first series I got into almost on my own, and watched on my own, and enjoyed primarily on my own. I don't remember really talking to many people about it at the time, brief bits here and there, but it was oddly personal. I think I also enjoyed the idea of a "reverse harem" quite a bit; which coming from a straight male I now struggle with reasoning.
Basically, I really don't tend to like male characters. Or rather, I REALLY like female characters.
So then there's Host Club. A series with 90% male characters, and probably directed at females. If we were talking about the manga, I could probably end my rant/review here and say I have no idea why I like this thing and I need help of some kind. However, we are talking about the anime, and thus, I can move on a bit. From what I have read of the manga, the anime seems to take the premise/basic plot of the romantic comedy reverse harem shoujo; and essentially turned it into a romantic comedy reverse harem.... something. The art style is changed completely into something I love which falls somewhere between CLAMP and Eureka 7, and the writing and episode flow is generally fantastic. Despite being mostly male, I love the main cast, and at times can even relate to all of them. (even Haruhi) With amazing side characters, and a surprising amount of character development, Host Club actually ended up being one of my favourite series, a fact I have only really come to realize just now after watching the dub. Why you may ask?
Because this is my third/fourth time watching it; I plan to show my girlfriend it one day, and I still considering buying the DVDs. This was the fourth time I saw episodes 1 and 2, and I still, somehow, beyond all reason completely enjoyed it. Now for some breif dub thoughts, cause I love dubs, sorry purists.
Opening/Ending
They dubbed them. I was actually shocked when I heard an American singer on the website, I thought it was some fandub trick or something. Sakura Kiss somehow lends itself quite well to English, and they don't stretch for direct meanings like even the best fandubbers do. The lyrics are near identical, but don't try to translate things that wouldn't make sense. I think they maybe could have matched the singer's voice to the Japanese voice a little better, but it's still a lovely rendition. And it's just neat to hear the song in "official" english. The ending does both better and poorer. The translation seems to skip a few lines to make the song fit better into english, but it still faithful. The singer's voice matches surprisingly well all things considered, and even if it doesn't, it fits the music very nicely. He kinda... seems tired by the very end though, and the last line sucks the quality away quite noticably. It's still very well sung though; I just wish they did another take.
Voices
Tamaki: It's Vic. M. I was really quite shocked when I heard the man famous for Ed Elric was going to be Tamaki; especially with Tamaki having some very deep sexy lines. However after hearing his rendition, I have no doubt in my mind there is no one better in the industry to fill Tamaki's role. It's different, but it's completely in character and at times just plain impressive. And here I was thinking that the man couldn't impress me as much as he did with Mao from Disgaea 3. Vic loves his job, and luckily, he has roles which let him express this quite clearly. English Tamaki is probably 70% of the reason I am going to pick up the DVDs.
Haruhi: I was a little shocked at first as to how low they decided to go with her. At first it was kinda a turn off, while Japanese Haruhi was hardly a Mikuru, it was still more feminine than Ms. Glass. However, by the second episode I had practically fallen in love with the voice as far as the role goes, and wouldn't have it any other way. Like Tamaki, she's not matched for actor, but matched for character.
Shadow King: Not much to say for him really. It fits. I can't fault it, but I can't exactly praise it at this point.
Hikaru: A little low when compared to Kauru. But otherwise pretty good.
Kauru: A perfect choice, and a beautiful combination of using an english voice and trying to mimick the sound and feel of the Japanese actor. I prefer Kauru's voice compared to his twin, as I feel it fits his character a little better. I'm gonna hold off though until they have more lines.
Mori: lol
Honey: In my opinion, it's a tad too feminine considering the direction they chose with Haruhi. It's still good, in character, comperable to the japanese actor; but I almost wish there was more creativity.
I think that's it; if not, I really kinda failed as a fan there. As far as the translation goes, I'm going to be honest and say I am not too picky; so while I thought it was largely faithful, I'm not the kind of person who would notice things like that. I'm more in it for the voice acting, which quite frankly I love, and is my main reason for buying anime DVDs. I love supporting these people, because the writers and actors' interpretations of characters are always so very interesting, and more often than purists would have you believe; very good.
So, while I probably won't buy the series right away and marathon it like I pretty much did with School Rumble; I'm going to buy it. Yes, for the dub. I wouldn't be watching a series for the 4th time if there wasn't something new and interesting coming to the table. I'm not going to tell anyone to stop hating dubs, but I am going to suggest watching the free stuff on Funimation's website. It's free, and again, in my opinion, very good.