A Lonely Childhood
Hotohori was groomed to be the Emperor of Konan from a very young age.
Shouldering the responsibilites of the kingdom ever since childhoood, he
has been conscious of duty his whole life and has often suffered from loneliness.
He's also one of the few seishi who know from the very beginning about the
implications of the seishi symbol that he bears, and as a result he has been
waiting all his life for the Suzaku no Miko to arrive from another world,
because he thinks that she will be the one woman who will love him for himself
and not as Konan's emperor. When Miaka the miko does arrive, he falls
head over heels in love with her. However, it turns out that she falls
in love with another seishi, Tamahome, and Hotohori gets his heart broken,
but you can read more about that
here if you
want to.
The Personality
I suppose Hotohori can best be described as gallant and chivalrous. He's
always polite to the women and his charm can be quite devastating.
However, because of his position he's often very serious. We
rarely ever see him laughing like Tasuki or Tamahome, and I suppose that's
because he feels the weight of his responsibilities very keenly. He's
the emperor of Konan and he acts it. Still, that doesn't mean he doesn't
have a sense of humor because we often see him making witty remarks and teasing
his advisors, usually by making comments about his looks (^_^).
Hotohori is also extremely loyal, and is willing to go the distance
in order to help his friends (this probably results from the fact that he
doesn't have many true friends to begin with because of his station). And
there are many times when he feels trapped by his duties as emperor. It
irks him to no end when he has to stay behind while the rest of the seishi
go after the shinzaho. However, one thing I don't quite like about
Hotohori is his tendency for melodrama. His continuous declarations
of love to Miaka can become quite annoying, but then I could be biased
because I think Tamahome and Miaka fit together better ^_~
The Looks!
Hotohori is charming, authoritative, and the perfect gentleman. Not
to mention the fact that he's drop-dead gorgeous! With long brown
hair and bright golden eyes, for some reason he reminds me of Takamura Suoh
and Li Syaoran, two other yellow-eyed Clamp boys. And not only does he look
great, but he also knows it. However, I don't believe that Hotohori's
arrogance is plain conceit. Yes, he loves to admire himself, but he does
it in more of a teasing manner than out of cruelty. And hey, he's the
only man I know who can pull off hugging a teddy bear and still reduce
the female population to a pile of mush. Another thing I like
about Hotohori - he's a bishounen but he manages to look like a guy! I
mean, there are never questions about his gender (well with respect to the
audience, however it takes Miaka a little longer to catch on). Unlike
Nuriko, Kenshin, Soujirou, and a few other famous anime characters whose
genders remain questionable at first glance, Hotohori's gorgeous but he's
also a hunk! He also has a smooth, deep voice which I adore and I suppose
we must thank his seiyuu for that!
First Impressions
I'll be the first to admit that during the beginning of the anime series,
I couldn't stand Hotohori. *runs as all Hotohori fans chase her down* My
first thought was, "What in the world is he doing trying to steal Miaka
from Tamahome!!" Yes, I'll admit I started out as a die-hard Tamahome
fan and I refused to let ANYONE get in the way of true love. Maybe
it's my innate hatred of love-triangles and anything of the sort, but I couldn't
stand Hotohori's melodramatic chasing after Miaka. I don't believe
we truly see the deeper, more signifcant side of Hotohori until the OAV's,
and that's when I realized that Hotohori was my favorite seishi. After
seeing him interact with Houki and his son Boushin, it's obvious that there's
more to him than just good looks and and a tendency towards unrequited love.
He's so protective of his son and seems to care for Houki as well,
and it was those few scenes in the second OAV that made me a Hotohori fan.
The fact that I'm a die-hard fan of the Hotohori and Houki pairing
probably helps too. |
