Posts Tagged ‘Kyoya’
Kyoya AMVs that are worth a watch
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012I fell into an AMV mood and therefore, went browsing through the expanse of YouTube. Falling in love with one Kyouya/Haurhi video that I found, I scanned the sidebar for more of a similar nature. And now I present to you three videos that not only struck me as well done, but at certain points, they strike a chord in my heart. To the editors of these videos, I tip my hat to you. Kudos! And now a disclaimer from myself: I ship Haruhi and Tamaki, but I like good videos that pair alternate options. So, don’t send me a ton of mail going “It’s not canon!!!” because, I know.
This was the first one I stumbled into, and what caught me immediately was the editing. I love a video that corresponds what I’m watching to the lyrics that I’m hearing, and this video does it right off the bat. Now, the song is “Hero/Heroine” by Boys Like Girls, and I must say I’m not a fan of it; but it’s use in the video is fantastic.
Favorite moments: At 00:53, “now I’m running and screaming,” the paired scene is priceless. At 1:24 “with the ghost of my past and the skeletons,” using flashbacks of Kyoya’s family. The way the clips flip fast at 1:49-1:54 to the newly picked up beat. At 2:40, when Kyoya’s painting is the new interpretation of “running and screaming,” in response to how Haruhi’s been affecting him over the long run. That, in turn, strolls nicely into when Kyoya pushes Haruhi into the carriage, right at the reemergence of the music. The compilation at 3:20-3:30 with “your love is the sweetest thing.” The fireworks are directly over “sweetest” and then Kyoya’s lost in thought image fades in.
In videos like these, the ending is either really good or horribly cheesy. Thankfully it was the former rather than the latter.
Edit: Oh yeah, and how on earth did I forget at 00:37 “sinister smile” lyric/ clip pairing. Bloody brilliant.
I found this second one, and again, it’s another nicely edited video. I’m not crazy about the song, “Dear Mr. President” by P!nk, but I like the lyrics. Even though Tamaki is the technical ‘president’ of the Host Club, I find it fitting for the song that Kyoya is considered the Shadow King; he’s the real brains behind the operation, not Tamaki. (He’s just the heart.) The only downside that I can find is the excessive ‘talking’ that the characters do during this slow song. I find it a bit annoying, but not enough that I discount it.
Favorite moments: 00:52 “who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep,” fits perfectly with the paired scene. 1:14 when Kyoya rolls over from his sleep into the part where Tamaki is walking away from his mother with “how do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye.” I shed a tear to that part. At 3:20, the lead in to “let me tell you about hard work,” the expression on Haruhi’s face and the bags in her hands compliments it perfectly. And from 4:17 to the end, the synchronization is spot on, and I love how the end lyrics are paired with Haruhi’s ‘final statement’ and she walks away. Then Kyoya turns around, with apparent hope in his eyes.
This song I know and love: Hawk Nelson’s “Everything that you ever wanted.” The video is about Kyoya, having lost Haruhi, is now comparing himself to Tamaki. Now, normally it irritates me when there’s subtitles in the video clips, but this is the first time where the appearance of it actually made me smile (probably my favorite moment in this video, at 3:26 ). The downsides to this video are the rest of the subtitles that appear that have no context in the video and the frequent repetition of a couple of the scenes.
Favorite moments: At 1:15-1:35, the lyrics and scene pairs are very fitting. “I fell to pieces” at 2:05 when he has his melt down with Tamaki into the subsequent “then I woke up” montage. And every time the lyrics say “It took the seasons going by,” I like how the clips flash a little more quickly to show time passage. The guitar reentering the music at the very moment Kyoya slams his fist into the car at 2:31. And again, the chorus and the scenes that are corresponding to the lyrics at 2:33 are even better than the first (note the subtitle says ‘I’m an egoist’ under the lyrics “I tried to be honest”), especially the build up at “everything but you.” Did you catch it at 3:26? “I tried to be everything but you,” and the subtitle at that moment flashes “this person is unbelievably lucky.”
Again, with the endings, they usually go very well or very corny. In this case, unfortunately, it was corny. I was excited to see it ending on Haruhi running after Kyoya, but then at the last second, I face palmed. I especially dislike when the editor puts in type to be a characters words, more so when it wasn’t done during the whole video, and even more so when it’s at the very end.
So, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.
Watch more of my favorite AMVs
More Ouran AMVs
Old school AMVs
My favorite AMVs of all time
Finally, after 8 weeks, my Live Action Ouran Review
Sunday, September 11th, 2011Ok, so after getting distracted with Tumbling for a couple of weeks (which was totally worth, fyi) I can finally accomplish the post I’ve been meaning to get to for awhile now. As you know from my super excited post way back in June, the Ouran Highschool Host Club drama was released in Japan at the end of July. So far, 8 episodes have aired, and I’ve seen 7 of them (still waiting for the 8th to be posted). It’s fun, because I’ve seen the anime enough that I know what happens, so I don’t need to wait to watch the English subtitled version. Although, some parts do deviate a little from the original, so I end up watching them twice. But hey, I’m cool with that. Anyway, 7 episodes is a sufficient amount of viewing to write a reasonable review, so here goes. By the way, there’s no spoilers here.
Mainly, my review, though it’ll go on for several more paragraphs (which you’ll still probably read), can be summed up in a single statement: IT ROCKS! Yes, yes it does.
First off, yes, there are a few things, especially with episode 2 where it doesn’t follow the anime. But that’s ok! No, seriously. What was changed, I can see why they did it as far as the story line goes, and I think they did a fantastic job with it. They kept all the ‘happy fan’ parts in the right place (and no, that’s not a ‘dirty’ term, by that I mean scenes that fans would kill people if they were cut out).
In episode 2, they took a character who literally had a walk-on role in the anime (she stood next to Kyoya in principal’s office when Tamaki started his first day of middle school, and all she did was gush when Tamaki told her she had pretty, straight hair) and made her important. That little moment caused a huge break down in that episode, where Tamaki’s words held quite an impression, and it was a much better character story to use than whiney Kanako and her tea cup, host swapping crap.
Also, episode 5, if you ask ANY Ouran fan, will be ranked in their top 3, depending on which character is their favorite it’ll be in either spot there. They pushed the episode one step further, keeping the BEST scenes in there, but adding more “OMG!” moments to it. For Kyoya fans, it’s extremely pleasant surprise, because, as we know, Kyoya’s character development in the anime doesn’t happen until two-thirds of the way in. Well, in the live action, it starts in episode 5. I’m not going to give any spoilers on that one. I’m just going to tell you it’s awesome, like, “finding money in your winter coat pocket from last season that you didn’t know you had” awesome.
Kawaguchi Haruna as Fujioka Haruhi
As for the casting, and this is coming from someone who had no prior experience with any of these actors (Ouran’s my first J-drama. I know, where have I been, right?), I think they’re all well casted. I have a couple minor nit-picks, but don’t we all. I’m not complaining, I think the cast is great. Starting with Haruhi, solely on looks, she’s perfect. When dressed like a girl, it’s completely obvious she is one, even with short hair. When she’s a host, that line blurs a lot, as it’s supposed to. Good call on that. Kawaguchi also captures the annoyance that Haruhi feels frequnetly very well.
Yamamoto Yusuke as Suou Tamaki
As for Tamaki, when I first saw him I thought to myself, “wow, his face is very unique.” But that’s not in a bad way, in fact I think Yamamoto Yusuke is a very good looking actor. Honestly, that was the thought I was hoping for with him, after all, Tamaki’s character is supposed to be half French anyway. I do wish his hair was significantly more blonde, but again, I’ve got no complaints on this one. Yamamoto nails his outlandishness and overzealous behaviors, but is still completely capable of more serious moments when they’re needed.
Daito Shunsuke as Ootori Kyoya
Kyoya, oh geez, where do I start? He was the only character that I actually wasn’t too horribly impressed with. That was short lived, mind you. I guess we’re most critical of our favorite characters. Daito nails the ‘cold as ice’ vibe that Kyoya’s known for putting off, but there’s a slight pompousness to Kyoya’s actions and speech that I feel like is missing. As the episodes go on though, and especially after episode 5, I don’t miss it. I even think I might like the live action Kyoya better than the anime one. But now after seeing the Japanese drama Tumbling, I just love Daito as an actor, period. And did I mention he’s got the most gorgeous smile that I’ve ever seen on any human being, ever? Truth.
Takagi Shinpei as Hitachiin Hikaru & Takagi Manpei as Hitachiin Kaoru
As bizarre as it sounds, I think I might have been convinced that Japan doesn’t have celebrity twins, because I nearly fell off my chair when I saw the casting for the Hitachiin brothers. Perfect. That’s all I’ve got to say. Except, again with the hair, I wish it was more orange, but that bothers me less and less as the episodes continue on. Something I’ve noticed in the anime, is that they have this attitude when they realize Haruhi can tell them apart together that’s a cross between “oh crap, what do we do now” and “well, that’s interesting.” The Takagi twins nailed it. It’s a bigger depth of character for the Hitachiin brothers than just their goofy antics and trouble making.
Chiba Yudai as Haninozuka Mitsukuni
Here I am thinking they got some twelve year old kid to play Honey, when really he’s 22 years old. Facially, they’re spot on in my opinion, but his hair drives me absolutely nuts. He’s supposed to be BLONDE, not red. But, I’ll give Chiba credit. His rendition of Honey, I think, is impressive, so again, whatever on the hair color. I was very curious as to how they would deal with the height thing, because while Chiba isn’t that tall, he isn’t short either. The shrinking when he jumps is hilarious, and I’m ok with it. As far as characters go, this casting is the one I read the most complaints about. I think they’re all nuts. He’s an excellent Honey senpai!
Nakamura Masaya as Morinozuka Takashi
Now Mori, I really don’t have a lot to say about. Sorry, the pun wasn’t completely intended, but it’s true. (If you didn’t get the pun: Mori doesn’t say much, ever.) Frankly, as far as characters go in Ouran, Mori seems to be the least important. Really, he just follows Honey around, and only has somewhat of a character development in one episode: Honey’s Three Bitter Days. That episode is not until the latter half of the series, so hopefully that’ll make me less indifferent about him. But in his favor, he does do a great job of, you know, not speaking.
I am thrilled with how Ouran is playing out. To first time Ouran watchers, keep in mind: the bizarre things are part of the charm. It is, after all, based off of an anime. As for Ouran anime veterans, keep an open mind. It’s true to the story, and even though some things are a little different, it’s still right on in character development and vibe.
Stumbled upon some Ouran treasures
Monday, August 22nd, 2011So, these two AMVs I stumbled upon tonight after getting a Something Corporate song stuck in my head. I searched for “Something Corporate” in YouTube with “AMV,” because I’d rather watch it with anime characters than just plain ol’ lyrics or something else. Anyway, I came upon an Ouran video with Something Corporate’s “As You Sleep.” The person did an excellent combining Tamaki’s piano playing abilities with that of Andrew MacMahon of Somehting Corporate, and making it look like Tamaki was the one playing. It was brilliant, until it ended abruptly.
If the video doesn’t load, watch it here: http://youtu.be/lPxU3NBmO6o
And then after it was over, and as I was sulking at the disappointing ending, I noticed a Kyoya and Haruhi AMV with All American Reject’s “Give You Hell.” I thought, well, why not, and clicked it. I’m extraordinarily glad I did. The video was set up brilliantly, making it look like Kyoya was Haruhi’s ex, and Tamaki was her new guy. Hilarious.
If the video doesn’t load, watch it here: http://youtu.be/OXdA5Q9vLEE