I read a post a week or so ago but Tumblr refreshed and ate it on me. But the jist of it was something along the lines of Kyoya not being motivated by romance. And I think that's so correct BUT I would push it a little further and say it's not just that Kyoya's arc is unromantic and he's motivated by factors other than romantic love. I think...most characters are. Ouran is fundamentally a bit of a bait and switch when it comes to romance. It's supposedly a rom-com; where no one's arcs have much to do with love.
The love triangle doesn't significantly come into play until about half way through the manga. I made a post before about the primary character motivations being friendship, family, and freedom. I stand by that! Because sure, people are in love in Ouran. Hikaru loves Haruhi, Haruhi loves Tamaki, Tamaki loves Haruhi, there's other stuff happening lmao. But all of these "loves" can also be read through the frame of friendship, family, and freedom.
Family and friendship is SO important to Tamaki that he's willing to operate entirely in the delusion that his love for Haruhi is familial. Hikaru's realisation that he's in love with Haruhi is framed entirely by the breakdown of his familial relationship with Kaoru, and then as it develops past that Hikaru spends half of his narrative time crying over possibly ruining his friendship with Tamaki. So much of Haruhi's arc is realising that she actually cares about these guys, she has been consumed by their found family, and they are genuinely her friends. Her crush on Tamaki is there, but her actions towards the end of the manga (AND ANIME) are because she loves the host club as a unit, and they can't be a family without Tamaki. Ouran the anime, classically ending with no kiss kiss fall in love but instead the heartfelt declaration that Haruhi LOVES the host club, they all do!
Back to Kyoya- of course Kyoya isn't motivated by romance. I can't think of a less romantic guy. But, like every other character, he's motivated by family, friendship, and freedom. And like every other character, these elements come into conflict. So I think that actually makes Kyoya a hysterical rom-com protagonist. Completely unwilling to be there, adamantly refusing to participate in the asinine qualities of a rom-com, refusal to even accept that this might be the genre he's stuck with. He deserves his corporate BBC drama! He deserves a CBS procedural about international trade! But he's got terminal side character syndrome so he's stuck in this rom-com with these other gay losers!
(cough) Anyway. I don't think Kyoya would ever do anything for love. But he doesn't have to because Ouran is a series where everyone does everything in the name of friendship, family, and freedom. And Kyoya would do absolutely nothing for love, but he would do it for his friends, he would do it for family, and he certainly would do it for freedom.
(And technically, if you're in love with your friend, it's tearing the closest thing to a real family you've ever had apart, and this game doesn't feel like winning your freedom any more; well maybe that's motivating enough without love ever really coming into it. Who said that.)
Which characters know what taxes are?
They all have to know what taxes are because they have to know how to avoid paying any
just finished kakegurui season 1! kaede manyuda and kyoya ootori seem like same the same person in different universes to me.. especially with the way they scheme and think 1 billion steps ahead
what do you guys think?
(domestic post-time skip oikage fluff, rated G)
Tobio sighs. It's been two days since all of the gyms in their area have closed down for holidays—for an entire week, no less!
Right about now, the two of them would be doing their weight training, competing in how many reps either one of them can do with this or that weight and exchanging little tips on which techniques are the most effective for developing muscle groups that are relevant for playing volleyball. It's usually quite fun. Especially since there are only so many weeks in a year where they get to live together.
He taps his foot, feeling a little antsy, and then notices Tooru staring at him with a knowing smirk, which turns into a smile once their eyes meet.
"Can't wait to pump that iron, Tobio-chan?"
Tobio sighs again. "Yeah..."
"Such a gym rat!" Tooru chuckles and pokes him softly in his side, making him jolt and bat his finger away.
"Can't believe you keep forgetting to finally buy some weights for this apartment."
"Well, it's because the gyms around here usually never close for this long. It happens only once a year. And I'm barely ever home anyways." Tobio pouts as he enumerates his excuses.
"Blah blah! Should I stick a post-it note to your favorite pair of Asics so you remember next time?" Tooru suggests with an annoying grin.
Tobio snorts and retorts, "Let's stick it to your forehead instead", causing his brown-haired boyfriend to gasp in mock offense.
"How cruel, Tobio-chan!"
He appears to be thinking for a moment. "Wait! Does that mean that you like me more than your favorite pair of Asics?"
"Shut up!" The affectionate little smile tugging at the corners of Tobio's mouth prevents him from sounding hostile as he softly bumps their shoulders together.
Tooru giggles and wraps an arm around Tobio, pulling him into a hug. "Aw! Love you, too, babe."
"You know that I love you," Tobio mumbles grumpily into soft brown locks tickling his face.
"What was that?" Tooru demands, and Tobio is certain that he did, in fact, understand every word. Which is why he decides that it's only fair to respond by biting down on his boyfriend's neck.
"Ouch! You little vamp!" Tooru frees himself of Tobio's deadly fangs by taking his face in his hands and smashing his lips against Tobio's in a firm kiss.
"Hey, maybe we could still try to work out at home," he suggests once they pull away. "Could be fun to try some yoga. I kinda feel like stretching."
Tobio tilts his head slightly, considering the idea. It's certainly better than nothing. "Sure, we could try that."
"Cool! Let me find some video we could follow." After a quick peck on the tip of Tobio's nose, Tooru saunters toward the living room, with Tobio following close behind.
They quickly find a nice, popular channel with a large variety of yoga videos and—feeling quite confident about their general fitness—pick an advanced session to follow along with. Tooru laments the lack of yoga mats at Tobio's Italian apartment and vows to add them to his shopping post-it note right after 'dumbbells'. For now, the living room carpet will have to do.
The session begins with really easy poses, and Tobio wonders how this is even considered real exercise. But soon enough, his muscles start to stretch and burn in a way that feels very right, which reassures him that this is, indeed, quite beneficial. He even finds himself enjoying the calm and quiet atmosphere as the two of them hold still and breathe as instructed in the video.
The trouble starts when they move into their first balance-focused pose.
Tobio feels quite good about himself as he manages to stay very steady, balancing on one foot for well over a minute while holding the pose the instructor called 'The Extended Sideward Pose'. That is until Tooru's foot suddenly rams into his hip, sending him stumbling across the carpet.
"Hey! What the—" He turns to frown at his giggling villain of a boyfriend. "Asshole."
"You suck!" Tooru sticks his tongue out at him.
"No, you," Tobio responds simply, because this is how much thought he is willing to put into figuring out a come back for something so immature. He resumes the pose and as they continue the session, keeps a cautious eye on Tooru once in a while.
Unfortunately, Tooru is a master of perfect timing when it comes to his devilry. And it's only when Tobio lets his guard down while being focused on staying perfectly still in 'Warrior Three' that the second attack comes. This time, it's Tooru's fingers lightly brushing Tobio's foot in a way that is really ticklish.
Given the limited space in Tobio's living room, he initially choses to believe that it's an accident. But not when it happens the second and then the third time, which makes him sway forward dangerously and forces him to place his second foot on the floor in order to prevent himself from falling.
"Stop it!"
Tooru giggles. "I'm just making sure your training is extra advanced, Tobio-chan!"
"Yeah, right," Tobio grumbles. "Maybe you should make sure you're training at all by not wasting your time trying to annoy me!"
"Alright, alright. Sorry! I stop," the brown-haired menace promises.
Honestly, Tobio should have known better. Because, of course, Tooru wouldn't actually stop there.
And as many sacred things, Tobio's patience runs out on count three. So as soon as Tooru's hand lands on his arm as they take 'The Tree' pose, he lets his instincts take over and grabs it, pulling Tooru towards himself and tripping him up, making sure that the brown-haired jerk doesn't even get to yelp before ending up sprawled out on the carpet with Tobio's hands pinning down his wrists on either side of his silly head.
The surprized expression on Tooru's face quickly transitions into a cheeky smile.
"You look so angry," he so perceptively observes and whips his head up to press a noisy smooch against Tobio's lips.
With a frustrated growl, Tobio's mouth latches onto Tooru's throat while his fingers launch a ruthless assault on every ticklish spot on Tooru's body he knows of.
"No, Tobio-chan! Please!" he hears his insufferable boyfriend's desperate pleas blending into loud giggles as he thrashes around in agony. "Please, stop! Mercy! I give up! You win! You win!"
But Tobio won't be swayed that easily after the torment he himself had to endure. He digs his fingers deeper between Tooru's ribs, intent on getting his sweet revenge. His victim's laughter begins sounding so incontrollable that it makes Tobio laugh with him.
"Please! I can't anymore! Enough! Enough!" Tooru cries out breathlessly and, in one swift motion, overpowers Tobio, forcing him onto his back and taking his turn to pin down his wrists to the carpet.
His flushed face hovers above Tobio as the last chimes of laughter die down on their tongues, replaced by quiet panting. Tooru's hazel eyes study his face, and he releases one of Tobio's wrists to brush a thumb gently against his cheek.
"You have no idea how beautiful you look when you smile like this."
Tobio's breath catches at the unexpected compliment and at the way Tooru looks at him in this moment.
He reaches up to cup his face in his hands as Tooru leans down and proceeds to give him a sequence of short kisses, speaking in between them. "I— love— you— so— so— so— so— much!"
He seems to be unable to stop as the kisses don't end with his sentence. Tobio can't complain, though, responding to each of them with all of the tenderness flooding his ribcage.
After they both have definitely lost count, Tooru ends the series with one last lingering kiss and gets up on his hands and knees, looking down at Tobio. "Alright. Wanna finish the workout?"
Tobio nods, and they both get up from the carpet to rewind the video and resume their session.
The last exercise they're instructed to do is 'The Downward Dog'. Tobio breathes out slowly as he moves into the demonstrated pose, feeling the nice stretch all across the back of his legs.
Suddenly, searing pain ripples violently through his body as Tooru's hand lands sharply on his butt in a spank so hard that it almost sends him tumbling.
Tobio scrambles to his knees, blinking in momentary confusion. Meanwhile, Tooru uses it as an opportunity to jump away, making sure to gain a safe distance between them, his hand over his mouth as if he himself is shocked by his own actions. A quiet snort bursting out of him betrays his true feelings, however. Tobio glares at him, his face burning.
Tooru moves his hand away from his mouth, revealing his smug grin, and points a finger gun at Tobio, announcing in his best salesman tone, "And this is how you do a service ace!"
After a beat of charged silence, Tobio gets up to his feet and dashes after him with a loud growl. "Get over here! I'll show you service ace!"
Tooru lets out a high-pitched shriek and zooms in the direction of the bathroom, falsely hoping that he can save himself there. Little does he know that Tobio has a spare key.
As he stomps toward the locked door of the bathroom, he vows to himself to make sure his lovely boyfriend has a proper shower after such a vigorous workout.
Oh, and maybe that post-it about the dumbbells isn't such a bad idea after all.
[Officially on Hiatus]
mmmk it’s been long enough hi hi
forgot I drew this….enjoy(?)
Rewatching Ouran cause yes, and I like how Tamaki is smarter than he seems. Normally he's our favorite himbo who has the same iq as a bag of bricks, but he is pretty socially and emotionally smart. While he's oblivious to his feelings for Haruhi, it's hard to fault him for that, since that's due to his trauma. But in episode 2 of the anime, he was able to pick up the Princess Hanako was switching hosts to get Shima's attention. He also could tell the bitch from the 1st episode who's name I can't remember, lied about Haruhi attacking her and that she threw Haruhi's bag in the pond. He also has excellent grades according to the manga. And tends to be right, for the wrong reasons. Like when Haruhi got kidnapped in the manga. I really like Tamaki, he is best boy.
guys how does haruhi get to school? does she walk, cycle, take the bus or the train?
sillies