#mstyle79

from 28th June 2019 to 27th June 2021 , both photos have 730 days apart

and 730 days equals 2 years.

A COMPARISON OF SHINHWA TO THE OURAN HIGH SCHOOL HOST CLUB

Recently, I became a fan of Shinhwa and since then I have been mixing up fandoms in my mind. It’s so annoying.

To unload some of my "burdens”, here’s something I’ve been thinking about for some time: if Shinhwa members were members of the Ouran High School Host Club (OHSHC), who would they be and why?

This was hard to think of because no one in Shinhwa is exactly like any of the characters in Ouran. So why am I still thinking of it? T_T

Here’s what I was able to come up with:

1) Dongwan = Haruhi

Haruhi is known for being honest to the point of bluntness. Dongwan is like that, too. He was the one who told fans (known as Shinhwa Changjo or SHCJ) that Shinhwa was not responsible for their lives. It was a shocking when he said that because he was basically scolding the Changjos for “wasting” their lives following Shinhwa. He lost a number of fans due to this but like Haruhi, he just didn’t care ‘coz it was the truth, anyway. This turned out to be a good thing in the long run because it managed to weed out the very crazy fans from the more-reasonable-but-still-a-bit-crazy ones. Other interviews show him answering questions so honestly (i.e. What is the secret of Shinhwa’s longevity? “The contract,” he said.) that other members look at him weirdly just like how the other members of Ouran look at Haruhi weirdly for her “commoner” ways.

The thing that sets Haruhi apart from Dongwan is that he is also known for being “Ero-wan.” Think of how Naruto calls Jiraiya “Ero-sennin” due to the latter’s womanizing ways. Now I don’t want to think too deeply on how Dongwan got this nickname but Haruhi is certainly no pervert. LOL.

2) Minwoo = Tamaki

These two are kings of fan service. Minwoo, like Tamaki, is the expert on delivering cheesy lines to fans. In the anime, Tamaki is the “king” of the Host Club. In real life, Minwoo is the co-CEO of the Shinhwa Company and its “front” leader.

However, Minwoo is also known by the nickname “Special Stupid” due to stuff he did on the group’s old variety show Shinhwa Broadcast. This is so much like how Tamaki is called an airhead due to the silly things he does. This doesn’t mean they’re really stupid, though. Tamaki is ranked first in their class in the anime. To parallel it with Minwoo, this guy is responsible for producing Shinhwa’s albums: from choosing and arranging the songs to choreographing the dances. He is very musically talented.

However, the big difference between these two would be their heights. Tamaki, if I’m not mistaken, is the second tallest person in their group. Minwoo is the shortest. Hehehe... Don’t worry, Minwoo makes up for this shortcoming (pun intended) with his incredible sense of fashion.

3) Eric = Kyouya

Eric is known as the leader of Shinhwa so designating him as Kyouya, who is the vice president of the Ouran High School Host Club is wrong, isn’t it? Shouldn’t Eric be Tamaki, the king and president?

Well, as mentioned earlier, Minwoo is a co-CEO of ShinCom. The other CEO of the company is none other than Eric. In fact, it was Eric who described Minwoo as the one leading from the front while he (Eric) led from the back. This is very much like Kyouya who is in charge of the behind the scenes activities of the club like handling the finances.

However, there is no denying that Eric also has Tamaki’s personality in him. In the anime and manga, it was Tamaki that gathered the members and held the club together. In real life, all the members consider Eric as the one most responsible for the group not breaking up even if they went through challenges such as their 4-year hiatus from K-Pop activities due to their military enlistment. Eric was the one who convinced them to get back together for their return to the K-Pop scene in 2012, which turned out to be a success. Interviews with the other members show how much work he has put into making Shinhwa the group and company that it is today.

The next thing I’m going to mention about Eric, though, shows that real people are so much more interesting than anime characters. Eric is known for being “4D.” This is a term I haven’t encountered before in my years of watching anime and reading mangas. In K-Pop, 4D people are those who are “off the wall” or “alien.” After watching various variety shows with Eric in them I think what they call as 4D is his love for pranking his fellow members (and fans) and for giving weird replies to questions in interviews. Well if that’s the case, then we go to the next section...

3 (again) Eric = Hikaru and Kaoru (The Twins)

Eric loves pranks so much that he must be channeling the twins. Hikaru and Kaoru are the masters of pranking in their club. They are also the masters of “skinship” with their “brotherly love” act that has all the girls fainting over them. "What is this skinship you speak of?” you might ask. Think of it as bromance. Now that we’ve entered the topic of skinship, I have to say that ALL of the members of Shinhwa are masters of it. There are a lot of pairings in Shinhwa. We have acronyms such as RicSyung, RicDy, RicMin, WooDong, MinDy, etc. One member has been paired with another at least once in their lives -- not that any of these are happening in real life (but you never know) -- in order to satisfy fans’ delusions.

Having typed that previous sentence, I now know why I couldn’t get the comparison of the anime with Shinhwa out of my mind. The Host Club existed in order to satisfy the Ouran High School girls’ delusions just like Shinhwa exists to satisfy their fans’ imaginations (aside from making music and money). Ooooooohhh.... My mind is shattered. LOL.

Going back to our main topic, while Eric has characteristics found in the twins, all of the members of Shinhwa also have the twins in them. They all love showing hints of bromance to their fans and they all love to play jokes on each other--so much that they were able to star in their own variety show entitled Shinhwa Broadcast (a.k.a. ShinBang). Korean variety shows seem to be full of pranks and games. ShinBang was very important in cementing Shinhwa’s place in the  Korean entertainment world not only as “music idols” but also as “variety idols” as well.

Moving on to the next Shinhwa member...

4) Andy = Hani (Hunny or Honey in some translations)

Cuteness overload!

Andy, being the youngest (”maknae”) in Shinhwa, and Hani (short for Haninozuka), being the smallest and most child-like in spite of being the oldest member of the club, are responsible for the cute factor in both groups. But don’t let their “aegyo” fool you. Both can be wise and ruthless at times. Hani-sempai, in spite of looking like an elementary student, has offered wise advice to the rest of the members when they needed it in the manga. On the other hand, Shinhwa members have described Andy as being the most mature out of all of them in spite of being the youngest.

Both have a dangerous side to them, too. Hani’s monster mode is awakened whenever something precious to him is threatened or when his sleep is disturbed. Andy has a Zomdy mode (Zombie + Andy) that is awakened when he gets too competitive in the games he’s playing in variety shows. It also looks like he uses the Zomdy mode on his hyungs (the older Shinhwa members) whenever they become too rowdy during dance practices.

Ouch, that scary glare... it burnsssss.

5) Jun Jin = Mori

Ooooh... that manly charm.

This part is a bit of a joke because how could talkative Jun Jin be silent Mori? Well, since Andy, the youngest in Shinhwa, became Hani, the oldest in the OHSHC, then Jun Jin, the second youngest in Shinhwa, now becomes Mori, the second oldest member of the Host Club. LOL.

Honestly, the only similarity I can see in the two of them are that both are the “jocks” of their respective groups. Mori is an active practitioner of various martial arts like judo, kendo and karate. Jun Jin is the most athletic member of Shinhwa. This YouTube video shows him being able to do wondrous sports and gymnastic feats: https://youtu.be/bkCD-26mic0. Mori and Jun Jin’s strength is probably why members of their respective groups like being carried by them.

Based on this picture, Eric has a bit of Hani in him, too. Coincidentally, Hani has been called an “alien,” in the anime by none other than his own brother.

As mentioned earlier, Jun Jin is very talkative and good at grabbing and holding an audience’s attention. This was how he was dubbed as the “variety king” of Shinhwa. This puts him at par with Tamaki who is the noisiest of the lot and simply loves basking in the attention of the ladies coming to the Host Club. Like Tamaki, Jun Jin also has a rather troubled and dramatic background story involving his father, mother and grandmother. In spite of this, Jun Jin is still able to maintain his smile. He is considered the sunshine or mood maker of Shinhwa just like how Tamaki is for the OHSHC.

Next up is...

6) Hyesung = ?

<Pout> Who am I?

Now we come to the most difficult Shinhwa member to classify based on the Ouran High School Host Club characters. Shin Hyesung is Shinhwa’s main vocalist and “Little Prince.” What does that term remind me of?

Ah, the princely Tamaki.

This was an image given to him by their first managers when they debuted back in 1998 that somehow is still stuck to him up to this day. Little Prince Hyesung is someone who does not want engage in the riotous acts of his comrades yet somehow always gets pulled into doing them anyway. Since Tamaki is always game for tomfoolery, this aspect of Hyesung’s character can be said to be like Kyouya’s.

C’mon Kyouya, you know you want to.

Hyesung’s involvement in his group members hijinks’ often leads to either or both of these reactions: extreme embarrassment and/or the awakening of beast mode.

Embarrassed Tamaki is embarrassed.

RAWR

The members (and fans) love him for these reactions. They all want to be in a “relationship” with him, much like how everyone wants to be with Haruhi, be it a bromance or looking for “mother”. One nickname of Hyesung is “Mama Bird.” Jun Jin is his “Baby Bird.”

Everybody loves Hyesung Haruhi. Is it because she looks like is a girl?

Sometimes, Hyesung is able to shed his Little Prince image. When that happens, he turns into Jung Pil-kyo (his real name). Jung Pil-kyo is a really cool guy. He holds a 3rd degree black belt in Taekwondo. It has been mentioned earlier that Mori is skilled in various martial arts. But those skills are nothing compared to what Hani can do when he’s on a roll. In the anime and manga, Hani is said to be the best martial arts champion in Japan. His prowess is such that he has been instructed by his family to never go all-out in a public fight. It really is too bad he’s so short and doesn’t actively practice martial arts anymore. Hyesung is one of the taller members of Shinhwa. So Hyesung’s got the best of both worlds, Hani’s prowess, and Mori’s height.

Now let us all pause for a while to appreciate the awesome-ness that is Jung Pil-kyo.

I’m so awesome.

When he gets into the zone, he REALLY GETS INTO IT. Without any traces of embarrassment, Hyesung is able to joke around with the rest of the group. And that is how I was able to claim earlier that ALL Shinhwa members have “The Twins” in them. Hyesung does not shy away from pranking and even skinship. He transforms yet again into another aspect of his personality, the master mistress of erotica, Lemon Syung.

So in the end, Hyesung = the whole OHSHC. Sweet.

To recap things, here are the members of Shinhwa and their corresponding Ouran counterparts.

Dongwan = Haruhi + Twins

Minwoo = Tamaki + Twins

Eric = Kyouya + Tamaki + Hani + Twins

Andy = Hani + Twins

Jun Jin = Mori + Tamaki + Twins

Hyesung =  Tamaki + Kyouya + Haruhi + Mori + Hani + Twins = the whole OHSHC

Leader-nim sends his “Like.” But aren’t you forgetting someone?

Huh? Who... Oh yeah!

7) Shinhwa Changjo = Renge-chan and the OHSHC Fans Club

Renge-chan is the self-proclaimed president of the OHSHC Fans Club. She started out liking only Kyouya but eventually fell in love with everyone else in the Host Club. Isn’t it funny in how that parallels most Changjos’ experience with the Shinhwa fandom? Personally, I found out about Shinhwa through watching Eric in one variety show, Three Meals a Day. And look at me now, making this write-up on Tumblr after learning about and liking the other members. Sigh... such is life.   

By the way, Shinhwa’s color is orange. Isn’t it funny how Renge-chan has orange hair?

So that’s it for now. Good night everyone.

There’s JinSeo couple, you know, that podopark acc on IG who always left a comment under Yiseo’s post (the person who I assume is Jinnie). And then there’s this WooDong couple, although sadly this time Deng seemed like talking to the wind because 3 times he left a comment under Minbong’s post, yet no respond shown from Minbong (keep on going, Dane. You got our backs 😉 )

And then there’s also this bastard version of Dane who liked Minbong’s post but not doing the same to Eric. Guess the beef still going on, eh?

1st March 2021 EMD instagram update