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timepiececlockWhen it comes to shipping, I'm usually very straight-up canon-going (Veronica Mars, Doctor Who, MulderScully), and when I'm not, it usually follows an obvious and particular pattern, for example Tasuki/Miaka, Zuko/Katara, Spike/Buffy before Spike/Buffy became so awesomely canon. In the case of Ouran High School Host Club, an anime series I finished about two months ago but haven't gotten to read fic for until recently, I felt the pull of multiple ships but eventually settled on Tamaki/Haruhi as my favorite, though it's not that the others don't have their appeal.
Although I like the pairing, its one that I like watching as opposed to identifying with on a personal level. I mean, Haruhi is very good with Tamaki, but if I were in her place I would KILL him. I would murder him for the good of world silence. But I like watching them onscreen and in theory, I ought to enjoy fic about them.
Unfortunately, almost all the fic I found when I went scouring last night was plagued by a consistent, recurring problem: very few fic authors can actually write Tamaki-- more precisely few can accurately write him as he appears on screen. Tamaki's character jumps wildly from drama to melodrama to obtuse stupidity to compassionate insight to painful heartfelt honesty to sly scheming wit, all wrapped in a package of over-emotional ridiculousness. Few of the fics I read could capture his speech style and verbosity right, and even fewer managed to insert any real depth beyond the typical character exclamations. Tamaki is meant to be simultaneously funny, pathetic, and inspired. The only fic I've read yet that really captured his thought process and wrote him in a believable manner was this one:
Sweeter Than Chocolate by Chosuki
It's a bit Tamaki/Haruhi, but almost in a one-sided way (because the fic is entirely in Tamaki's strange little brainview and thus we have no idea what Haruhi feels), and even if you're not into the ship I recommend the fic on a purely character and friendship basis as well. There's also a one-line comment related to Haruhi's father that I loved, and a very good use of chocolate as a continuous metaphor and thematic device.
Although I like the pairing, its one that I like watching as opposed to identifying with on a personal level. I mean, Haruhi is very good with Tamaki, but if I were in her place I would KILL him. I would murder him for the good of world silence. But I like watching them onscreen and in theory, I ought to enjoy fic about them.
Unfortunately, almost all the fic I found when I went scouring last night was plagued by a consistent, recurring problem: very few fic authors can actually write Tamaki-- more precisely few can accurately write him as he appears on screen. Tamaki's character jumps wildly from drama to melodrama to obtuse stupidity to compassionate insight to painful heartfelt honesty to sly scheming wit, all wrapped in a package of over-emotional ridiculousness. Few of the fics I read could capture his speech style and verbosity right, and even fewer managed to insert any real depth beyond the typical character exclamations. Tamaki is meant to be simultaneously funny, pathetic, and inspired. The only fic I've read yet that really captured his thought process and wrote him in a believable manner was this one:
Sweeter Than Chocolate by Chosuki
It's a bit Tamaki/Haruhi, but almost in a one-sided way (because the fic is entirely in Tamaki's strange little brainview and thus we have no idea what Haruhi feels), and even if you're not into the ship I recommend the fic on a purely character and friendship basis as well. There's also a one-line comment related to Haruhi's father that I loved, and a very good use of chocolate as a continuous metaphor and thematic device.
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MOVIE SPOILERS BELOW!
Date: 2007-12-06 04:36 am (UTC)He's more confounding in the movie, because it the movie cuts out a lot of stuff from the book, adds a lot of extraneous stuff, and in the process Howl's character often gets shortchanged, much more than Sophie's. We know him much better in the book, and some parts of the book are from his 3rd person perspective. Because Howl's character in the novel is so complicated, and Sophie's so simple and straightforward, her character weathers the transition to film much better than his.
It took more than one viewing to figure out what she meant by telling her name to the young Howl-- I believe she did that as an explanation for why he rescues her in the alley in the beginning of the film. Implying that he was looking for her, or at least recognized her, as she appeared to be her younger self when she met his childhood self. But... the first time I watched the movie I thought she was merely viewing the past, not actually THERE. So who knows. One of the flaws of the film, that keeps it from being as good in pure cinematic terms as Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away, is that the ending is loosely plotted, muddled, and hard to figure out. I loved it, but I recognize its imperfections.
I can safely tell you that NONE of that is in the novel. Everything from about halfway through the film-- the meeting with Sullivan... all that is much different in the book. Certain HUGE things were cut out that dramatically changed the second half of the novel from the film ending. Also, Sullivan's character in the movie is more like a combination of two book characters, and her motivations are very different.
It's odd, but I love both stories, even though they differ significantly.
Ad to when Howl recognized her beneath the curse... I don't remember when it happened, or if it was even expressly stated. I think he realized very early on that she was cursed, but I don't remember if we ever read about the moment when he saw past it. But I believe, from my memory, that when the curse was eventually broken he wasn't surprised by her identity.