Ouran High School Host Club Live Action (2011)

Fujioka Haruhi is an honor student at Ouran Academy, a very prestigious and expensive high school attended only by those with money and social status.  The middle-class Haruhi is attending the school on a full-ride scholarship and she doesn't really fit in.  One day, as she is looking for a quiet place to study, she happens upon the Third Music Room where the Ouran Academy Host Club, a group of six of the most attractive male students at the school, gathers to entertain female "clients".  During her first encounter with the club, Haruhi stumbles and knocks over a vase valued at 8 million yen.  Unable to pay back the debt, it is decided that Haruhi must work off her debt with service in the club.

Right off the bat this sounds like it's going to get weird, and oh, boy, does it ever.  I have many comments to make about the acting in this drama, but first, let's see the cast.

• Kawaguchi Haruna as Fujioka Haruhi
• Yamamoto Yusuke as Suou Tamaki (the leader of the host club)
• Daito Shunsuke as Ootori Kyoya (second-in-command of the host club)
• Takagi Shinpei as Hitachiin Hikaru
• Takagi Manpei as Hitachiin Kaoru
• Chiba Yudai as Haninozuka "Honey" Mitsukuni
• Nakamura Masaya as Morinozuka "Mori" Takashi
• Ryo Ryusei as Nekozawa Umehito

Most of these people did a pretty good job, but as you will see, there a couple of people that didn't do so well.  First on this list is Kawaguchi Haruna playing Haruhi.  I saw most of the anime version of this story long before the live action version came out, so I knew what Haruhi was supposed to be like.  Haruna I'm sure did her best, but in the end, the acting was a bit lackluster.  Haruhi is a bold character.  She has a relaxed attitude about life, so much so that she even says she doesn't care whether people see her as a girl or a boy.  She's very snarky in some ways, as well as being rather sarcastic and level-headed when Tamaki goes off on one of his "speeches".  Some of those characteristics came through in Haruna's acting, but she needed to be more up front and relaxed and far more sarcastic than she was.  She came across as sort of a sweet girl who's always a bit whiny when the boys in the club do something stupid (which is quite often, believe you me).  Not really what the character was meant to be.

Switching gears now, we have Yamamoto Yusuke as Suou Tamaki, the ring leader of the host club.  Tamaki is the most obnoxious, goofy, silly, arrogant-in-a-funny-way boy I've ever seen.  He was that way in the anime, and Yusuke did a fantastic job at bringing that across.  His "speeches" are some of the funniest parts in the drama.  Yusuke also has a knack for pulling some of the most interesting facial expressions I've ever seen, which works wonderfully well with the character.  He's supposed to have a bit of a romance with Haruhi (that's not really a spoiler; it's kinda obvious from the very first episode) and Yusuke did a good job with making it awkward and silly, which was definitely what this drama called for.

Daito Shunsuke plays Ootori Kyoya, the second-in-command, as well as PR man for the club.  Kyoya is a calm, level-headed guy with an ever-watchful eye on the club's finances.  Shunsuke did a great job in portraying the character accurately, even with a few twists they through into the live action that weren't in the anime (maybe they were in the manga, but I wouldn't know since I've never read it).  He keeps the character calm and plays the polar opposite of Tamaki quite well, while still managing to be suave and sexy all at the same time.

Takagi Shinpei and Takagi Manpei play the Hitachiin twins, Hikaru and Kaoru, respectively.  I must make a comment up front about these characters: they are supposed to be the homosexual "token" characters, if you will.  Granted, they're brothers, but that supposedly makes them more attractive to "clients" of the club.  In the anime, the relationship is taken to gag-inducing levels, but THANKFULLY they toned it way down in the drama, which I will be eternally grateful for.  As for the acting from the Takagi brothers, I commend them for being so good at portraying these characters accurately.  They did a very good job at putting the right amount of goofiness and drama into the relationship, and I say kudos to them.

Next is Chiba Yudai playing Haninozuka Mitsukuni (say that three times fast), otherwise known as "Honey". He is the cute one in the club (fuzzy-bunny cute).  This character must have been difficult to translate to live action because of the things he's supposed to do (he jumps into Haruhi's arms at one point; he's supposed to be the size of an elementary school boy).  Yudai's acting in this role is pretty good.  He did well at bringing the cuteness in the enormous quantities required for the character, but when he does eventually have a serious moment, it's done well.  It doesn't feel forced or overly ridiculous like it could've been.

The sixth and final member of the club is Morinozuka Takashi (another tongue twister), known as "Mori", and he's played by Nakamura Masaya.  Mori is the stoic "man of few words", yet somehow he's one of my favorite characters.  I must say, kudos to Masaya, because he got simultaneously the easiest and the hardest parts in the whole drama.  Easiest because he doesn't have to say or do much, but hardest because he has to convey emotion and give the character believability with little to no dialogue or action.  That means it's pretty much all in facial expressions and body language, which are appropriately subdued and well communicated.  I was mostly indifferent to this character in the anime (mostly because I don't remember seeing much of him in the anime), but in the live action, I really like him.  Overall, Masaya did a very good job with what little he had to work with.

The last character really worth mentioning is Nekozawa Umehito (yet again, difficult to pronounce quickly) played by Ryo Ryusei.  Nekozawa isn't a member of the host club, but he gets enough attention in the drama that I can't not talk about him.  He's the creepy dude.  Nekozawa is the leader of the black-magic-ish club at Ouran, and thus is always dressed in a black cloak.  He's supposed to be rather intimidating and "scary", but mostly creepy.  Ryusei did a really good job with the whole creepy thing.  His voice was perfect and he had the right look to him to make people stare (as well they should).  All in all, well done and not too freaky for this drama.

Now, on to the writing.  This drama is a little different because the original writing is known as one of the better mangas ever written (at least in my opinion).  Of course the writing's good.  Even through an anime adaptation and a live action adaptation, it's still really good.  There are some things I didn't particularly jive with in the pacing of the story in the live action, but I can understand why they had to do what they had to do.  The anime had been cut down to 26 half-hour episodes from 83 volumes of the manga, and from that the live action was cut down to 11 half-hour episodes.  Thus a few issues in pacing are perfectly understandable.

Of course, now comes the obligatory warning section.  The only thing I feel I must mention before sending people to out to watch this is this; as I said before, Hikaru and Kaoru are homosexual.  They are incestuous homosexuals, which is even more uncomfortable for some people.  However, most people already know about the Hitachiin brothers and how...er...uncomfortable scenes with them can be.  If you don't already know, just be warned (it is FAR worse in the anime than the live action though; just saying).

On the flip side, if you don't already know, this drama has wonderfully goofy comedic moments and focuses heavily on the importance of family ties.  In the few serious moments this drama has, the message about family being the most important thing (along with a few other things...thank you, Tamaki) comes through loud and clear.

Overall, I really like this drama.  I've seen it several times and I'd watch it again in a heartbeat.  The goofiness, the ridiculousness, the quirkiness of it all is totally what draws me in.  Personally, I think if you're looking for a TV representation of the manga, go with the anime; but if you always wanted to see what the story would be like if it was live action, this drama is for you.