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osprey_archerDay 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this TV season).
Crap, this meme is clearly geared toward people who keep up with TV better than I do. I don’t think I’ve seen any shows that aired this TV season yet. Oops?
But for shows that are new to me, I’ve been watching Ouran High School Host Club and it’s pretty hilarious. My friend Rick tried to warn me off it because he thinks its sexist, and there are parts of it that definitely are… But at the same time, the thing he specifically brought up were the repeated shots of silly girls squeeing over the cute boys, and I actually enjoy the fact that show is aware that being squeed over is what its cute boy characters are for. It’s like a laugh track for squee.
Also, when plotlines deal with specific girl characters (rather than the squeeing masses who act as audience stand-ins whenever the boys do something purposefully adorable), they’re treated just as seriously as the boy characters are - which is often not very seriously, because the show basks in its ridiculous tropiness and over the top characters.
But even though the characters are so OTT, the show doesn’t shy away from emotional seriousness if the occasion calls for it - I’m thinking particularly of the episode “Operation Haruhi and Hikaru’s First Date.” Before that episode Hikaru (and his twin brother Kaoru) have previously been mostly comic relief, but the episode digs into their backstory in a way that doesn’t change their characters, but makes them suddenly seem more like real people.
But most of the characters have episodes like that: at the beginning they all seem like reverse-harem anime stereotypes (the show in fact introduces them that way; it knows its own tropes), and then slowly reveal more depth. It’s kind of fun to see the masks fall away.
Crap, this meme is clearly geared toward people who keep up with TV better than I do. I don’t think I’ve seen any shows that aired this TV season yet. Oops?
But for shows that are new to me, I’ve been watching Ouran High School Host Club and it’s pretty hilarious. My friend Rick tried to warn me off it because he thinks its sexist, and there are parts of it that definitely are… But at the same time, the thing he specifically brought up were the repeated shots of silly girls squeeing over the cute boys, and I actually enjoy the fact that show is aware that being squeed over is what its cute boy characters are for. It’s like a laugh track for squee.
Also, when plotlines deal with specific girl characters (rather than the squeeing masses who act as audience stand-ins whenever the boys do something purposefully adorable), they’re treated just as seriously as the boy characters are - which is often not very seriously, because the show basks in its ridiculous tropiness and over the top characters.
But even though the characters are so OTT, the show doesn’t shy away from emotional seriousness if the occasion calls for it - I’m thinking particularly of the episode “Operation Haruhi and Hikaru’s First Date.” Before that episode Hikaru (and his twin brother Kaoru) have previously been mostly comic relief, but the episode digs into their backstory in a way that doesn’t change their characters, but makes them suddenly seem more like real people.
But most of the characters have episodes like that: at the beginning they all seem like reverse-harem anime stereotypes (the show in fact introduces them that way; it knows its own tropes), and then slowly reveal more depth. It’s kind of fun to see the masks fall away.
