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Ouran High School Host Club!

I feel what makes it funny is the archetyping of certain qualities within each of the many characters and how it all overexaggerates to the point of what I'll call "cute, yet absurd."

It hasn't been licensed yet, or if it has, it hasn't been announced. My money is on Viz getting the license since they recently started a Shoujo Beat DVD line and so far they only have one title and there aren't that many Shoujo Beat titles with anime counterparts (just Nana, Ouran, and Aishiteruze Baby, although La Corda d'Oro has an anime airing in the fall).

I have a question. A friend of mine who totally worships the series says it's the best thing he's seen because it makes fun of other shoujo anime. Other than Fruits Basket (which he also loves) and part of Fushigi Yuugi (which he hates) I don't think he's seen any other shoujo titles.

In my opinion, I feel the shoujo label is to describe the sort of intimacy and closeness that the characters have with each other and in their relationships. I feel what makes it funny is the archetyping of certain qualities within each of the many characters and how it all overexaggerates to the point of what I'll call "cute, yet absurd."

You feel for the characters, in a way. But because of the comedy and types of characters that particpate in the various scenarios, you end up feeling good about it in the end.

So I'm wondering, do any of you believe in my friend's reasoning, or am I wrong too?

HitokiriShadow wrote:

It hasn't been licensed yet, or if it has, it hasn't been announced. My money is on Viz getting the license since they recently started a Shoujo Beat DVD line and so far they only have one title and there aren't that many Shoujo Beat titles with anime counterparts (just Nana, Ouran, and Aishiteruze Baby, although La Corda d'Oro has an anime airing in the fall).

For some reason, I hope against hope that Viz doesn't get this anime. Why? While I respect the work that Viz has done in the dubbing and presentation of their big hit shounen anime (like Naruto, Bleach, and even Inuyasha, even though I don't care for the show itself), their work on other titles like Key the Metal Idol, Ceres: Celestial Legend, Video Girl Ai, SaiKano, and Full Moon has been disappointing.

Lackluster dubs, editing mistakes, non-existent song subtitles, lack of a secondary subtitle track for songs (like in FMwS, where viewers of the English dub are suddenly left out in the cold when characters start singing in Japanese), not bothering to translate signs, subtitle scripts that contain drastic omissions or simplifications, failure to inform non-Japanese-speaking viewers of what series titles actually mean, "wtf? moments" in subtitles for anyone whose knowledge of Japanese is "fanboy-level" or less -- these are all problems that plague at least some of these releases. Compared to other companies' products, or even (dare I say it) to fansubs, many Viz releases just don't measure up.

I've seen episodes 1-4 & 6 of Ouran, and I've enjoyed it because of the way it goes 150% to excess on stereotypes and makes fun of shoujo elements as well as BL/shounen-ai material--the sheer exaggeration in those homoerotic "fangirl fanservice" scenes is just hilarious, and the rediculously wealthy atmosphere lets the characters set aside reality to focus on the comedy. I look forward to watching the rest. Do I look forward to buying it on DVD? Maybe, but if Viz releases it, I'll definitely be watching advance reviews like a hawk, since Ouran has a lot of signs and cultural/linguistic intricacies. I mean, given Viz's history, here's how we can expect some of the lines to be:
Haruhi: Hmm, maybe I should start saying "I" from now on.
Komaki: Oh, no, girls shouldn't say "I."

Viewer who doesn't know Japanese and hasn't watched the fansubs: "Wtf are they talking about?"
Viewer who either knows Japanese or watched the fansub: "Oh, yeah, she's talking about using 'ore,' a masculine version of 'I' that women don't use."

I know they'd have to work around this matter in the dub, but any subtitle script that requires (detailed) prior knowledge of Japanese to comprehend = autofail. I guess every fan has their particular company that they dislike, and Viz is in that spot for me these days.

But to me, what makes it different from something that just plain satirizes shoujo is that it actually makes an effort to establish a sense of realism.

Because in some cases those signs may be important to the story. And it doesn't help when they are translated in subtitle but not in dubbed.

LydiaDianne wrote:

Because in some cases those signs may be important to the story. And it doesn't help when they are translated in subtitle but not in dubbed.

This is why some releases have a subtitle option usually called "signs only," where they will put subtitles for any Japanese text that happens to appear. It's not standard though, which is a shame because you really can lose quite a bit if you don't know what certain things say (though, in the Fushigi Yuugi example, though I haven't watched the dub, not saying what the room is probably doesn't really effect things too much, though it would definitely be better to say what exactly it is).