By Skylar KAN
One of my favorite Anime “Ouran High School Host Club”(OHSHC) almost got ruined by its live-action movie. Sometimes ACG is too perfect to be recreated...
OHSHC is manga series with an anime adaptation. I first discovered the anime, then I read the manga. I’m happy to say I liked them both. But the anime definitely added its own twists, which I understand.
The storyline and characters from the manga are more complete.
The manga gives more time and pages to slowly build up the personalities and the background of each role. It gives more detail so that the characters are more distinctive with their own unique stories.
On the other hand, some iconic sub-plot got removed in the anime. For example, the celebration of the Shota Honey Senpai fighting cavity was to express how much he was relieved and others were happy for him. But it got replaced by him eating a cake, which by comparison can’t really present the plot as memorable. However, I appreciate how they added details to the plot, smoothing out the jumping and cutting. But still, I’ll be happier if I could see those scenes come to “life” in anime too.
I love how the manga comes to “life”, but not the “real-life”.
The fantasies stop at anime.
Let’s just talk about how the movie almost got my fantasies shattered.
First, the cast. The story setting was a girl who accidentally joined the school club of a bunch of good-looking, Prince-like boys. The perfect outlook is one of the characteristics of these roles. I’m not here to comment on people’s appearance. But we all know that beauty standard is different for everyone. Choosing real actors for these roles is like boiling the ocean. You can’t praise everyone. These characters live in people’s imagination as perfect-looking Princes. It’s just too risky to make them alive.
We all know the over-exaggeration is the normal in ACG. When it comes to live-action, not only the CG effects, the acting and props are essential too. And it all comes to the setting again. The story happened in an exclusive, expensive, royal, private school. We expect to see luxurious furniture, houses, and maybe just high-quality-looking school uniform. But the movie just didn’t give off this vibe. It all looked odd to me. And again, because of the limited time, the movie cut out even more details, leaving even shallower characters and stories.
Adaptation will always get criticism. It’s all up to the audience to decide the success of the recreation. However, it’s hard to please everyone. But I still appreciate those who tried.
There's a musical version in 2022!
I saw the poster and at least their costume looks legit this time.
I hope it'll make me fall for it this time.
Let me know if you think they will make it or not this time!
ACG: Anime Comic Game
Shota: Cute childlike male character in ACG
Some cosplayers are really good, at least at the looks and the acting. I don't know why production companies can't put more effort...
I stan for the comic version of every anime, movie or whatever. They created the developed stories and characters. They represent originality. It's good to see them come to life but what's the point if the recreation only recreates some parts but not the whole story?