A bit of a belated post if only because there seems to be a dearth of anime this past week. It’s strange, isn’t it? I think “Blood-C” has been rather sub-par thus far, but it’s still weird not having an episode of it to watch every single week. Well, the lack of my usual anime does give me an excuse to get back into the world of live dramas. Of course, with “Ouran High School Host Club,” I’m not particularly interested in the plot. After all, who hasn’t seen the anime adaptation? As a result, there’s not much use in rehashing the story. As always, I’m more interested in how a switch in medium can affect things.
Some things just don’t translate well to live action, but I can’t say Haruhi really suffered too much from the change. She’s just… quite a bit less masculine-looking than one might expect. I don’t think it would have been all that difficult to make Haruhi’s actress look a little more boyish. Naturally, then, I must wonder why the live drama adaptation pulled its punches.
Even after her quick makeover, Haruhi still clearly looks feminine. As with the “Arakawa Under the Bridge” adaptation, I wonder if Haruhi’s androgyny is being normalized to a certain extent for the live drama audience. Still, Haruhi’s conversion to live action seems fine for the most part. It’s the boys who look rather… peculiar.
First, it’s a smidge more difficult to imagine that these guys are hot stuff, but hey, I guess I’m no expert so we’ll just put this aside for now. The real problem with the conversion to live action is that, well, the guys come across as creepy. Two boyish twins hugging and embracing each other in anime doesn’t seem all that peculiar for a couple reasons. The twins are more boyish looking in the anime so there’s more innocence to the act. More importantly, however, there’s a level of artifice with animation that you don’t get in live action. With flesh and blood actors, the whole forbidden love aspect between the twins are just a little less fantastical and a little more real. Honestly, that’s just creepy.
Then we get to to Honey. In the anime, Honey looks like a child. Even though we’re told that he’s around the same age as everyone else, his appearance diffuses any potential weirdness. In the live drama, we’ve got an actor, clearly in his mid-twenties or older, acting like a child and jumping into Haruhi’s arms. Like with the twins, that’s just…well, creepy. Then you also have the live drama Honey literally shrinking in midair as he leaps into Haruhi’s arms… yeah, that’s a whole ‘nother level of weird.
Everything else
• Tamaki seems a little more stately in the anime, but this is probably due to the voice acting. True, his character was always a little goofy and dense, but the live drama seems to have taken the silliness up another notch or two.
• Kyoya and Mori didn’t seem to suffer much from the conversion either. It’s just the eyes that are lacking. In the anime, the eyes add an extra level of characterization to the characters. How do you make someone look cool and arrogant? Give him cool and arrogant eyes, of course. In Kyoya’s case, you can’t even see his eyes behind his glasses sometimes in the anime. It’s thus a little harder to read the character’s emotions. This isn’t a big issue, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
• Storywise, the first episode didn’t change things up too drastically. Some minor character ended up getting more screentime, but I think that’s the only big change.
• Does every shoujo at every rich Japanese high school have to talk to some dead female relative? I know Haruhi did this in the anime too, but it’s just so annoying when you start to notice this trope in every single harem where the lead is a girl.
Moe Sucks 
*shiver* I’m just a little freaked with the fact that such a live action adaptation exists. Never liked Ouran then, Never liked it now.
If any anime can be a Live Action Adaptaton, what would you choose?
I’ve always preferred the live action “Nodame Cantabile” to the anime. I just felt the live action had better energy. I think it would be really difficult to adapt most anime to live action if only because anime often involves too much fantasy. A live action “Mawaru Penguindrum” would look ridiculous, for instance. Shows like “Usagi Drop,” however, shouldn’t have any problems, which probably explains why there’s a movie being made for it.
LOL Personally, I would like to see moeblobs rewritten to full-fledged live action dramas with actual conflict. Think of how less of a pain might be if Hanasaku or AnoHana turned live Action with a better rewrite. XD
I think a live action adaptation of “Hanasaku Iroha” would probably do wonders for the show. It has all the potential for a cheesy family drama, but the story has mostly focused on the girls and their fun antics. I’m sure a live action adaptation would shift the focus a bit more to the far more complex adult characters. There’d also be less pointless fanservice since that wouldn’t fly. The few live dramas that do show skin are very rare and often unpopular.
Maybe the protagonists and perspectives in the LA can be all of the adult characters, while Ohana can be just like the voice over Narrator that spectates everything instead, who knows?
I would like a Live-Action version of Evangelion. Seeing how they would do the Angel battles would rock.
There’d also be less pointless fanservice since that wouldn’t fly. The few live dramas that do show skin are very rare and often unpopular.
LA shows dont…have….pointless….fanservice? Damnit, now I wish there were more Live Action shows than anime!
You’d need some really good special effects to pull something like NGE off without looking plain dumb.
I didn’t say they don’t exist. There’s just far less from the shows I’ve seen. In the shows obviously targeted at women, you’ll see some shirtless pretty boys, but nothing as egregious as naked girls wrestling in the bath.
I like Ouran Host Club dubbed version. Its so Hilarious. This live action…thingy, um…wow. creepy…much? live action Honey scares me. He could turn out like that Misery lady with that behavior. Did i mention he knows kung fu. Oh no!!!
I wanted to see the dub, actually, but I wasn’t going to pay fifty bucks for an anime I didn’t really care all too much about.
I saw it on cable.
Eww at that “hot stuff” image. It’s like a bunch of shirtless 12 yr olds.
ugh, they just freakin ruined a decent manga, and the special effects are too over the top to be funny….
i find it annoying to say the least. I love Yamamoto Yusuke but what the hell kind of acting is this? Every time he yells *Haruhi! Haruhi* i die a little inside. In Hana Kimi Ikuta Toma did a goofy role but it was so good! this is just -_- OMG! Please stop now. The rating are so low too.
i hate this…why are the people that are suppose to be blonde NOT blonde? i dont get it and i dont like it…just. stop. TRYING. to. make. this. anime. a. live. action.
Easy cash in. In other forms of media, there’s going to be an Elder Scrolls Online, and whoo boy, that will be bad.