Ouran High School Host Club - RePost

Ouran Ouran High School Host Club is the tale of Haruhi Fujioka, who due to her diligent studies, has begun high school at the exclusive and prestigious Ouran Private Acadamy, a place she does not belong. Haruhi is so poor and destitute that she can’t even afford a school uniform. On a mission to find a quiet and secluded place to study she stumbles upon the club room of the Host Club. This exclusive, and as they put it, unique to their lifestyle, club caters to any girl or woman’s needs and fantasies. The members entertain numerous stereotypes and character roles in order to swoon their customers. It is made up of the most beautiful and charismatic male students in the school and is also the most popular club. Haruhi mistakenly stumbles upon them and the members are instantly drawn to her. At first, due to her appearance, everyone assumes she is a boy. In an attempt to escape the overwhelming personalities of the club Haruhi backs into a vase, sending it crashing to the floor. The club informs her that they were going to use that in an auction and that she would have to pay them back by joining the club and being their servant.

    The first order of business is to change her clothes, so they provide a spare boys uniform for her to change into. In the process of changing all members of the club finally realize that she is in fact not a boy. They immediately latch onto the charm that she can present as a girl hiding her gender and instead of keeping her as a slave they make her a member of the club. She is forced to concede since they are forcing her to do it in order to pay off the vase she broke.  On top of that she has to continue to pretend, for the entire school, that she is a boy, otherwise she would not be able to do her duties as a member of the Ouron High School Host Club. Now the private, studious and humble Haruhi is in the lions den with most noticeable, manipulative and objective driven students in this exclusive academy for the children of the worlds rich and powerful. The members are;

Tamaki Suou – Founder and President of the club. He is the dimmest of the member’s; he was the last to figure out Haruhi’s gender. Once he does though he takes to her like a father and also yearns for her love. He is the most flamboyant and vocal member of the club, frequently breaking down in comical ways.

Kyoya Otori – the calculating, bespectacled vice president of the club. He is quite, reserved and manages all of the finances. Nothing bothers him on the surface and little bothers him internally. He is the 3rd son of a major medical family and is working to take over his father’s empire but must top both of his exceptional older brothers to do so.

Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachin – these identical twins are cold and sarcastic. The only love they have is for each other, they play this out as a yaoi fantasy for their customers most of the time. They feel that no one else is as good as they are.

Mitsukani Haninozuka – the loli character, nick named Honey. This senior is often confused with a grade school student. He plays this off completely. Underneath though he is the heir to one of the strongest dojo’s in Japan and demonstrates his martial abilities with devastating skill when provoked enough.

Takashi Morinokuka is the quiet giant out of the group. He is Honey’s cousin of the same age and is the tallest and most intimidating member of not only the club but of the school. He is quite, reserved and a man of few words. He chooses not to speak unless it fits and chooses his words vary carefully. He is the heir to the secondary dojo in the same family as Honeys dojo.

    The series goes in chronological order but you don’t necessarily need to view all episodes in the correct order. Some characters show up in multiple episodes but story lines generally do not go beyond 2 episode arcs. The main points of the series are; to see if Haruhi’s gender is ever made public, if she ever can pay off her debt and if Tamaki will ever win her affection. Otherwise the series follows the characters on crazy and bizarre adventures. Some of the best are when Tamaki convinces everyone to experience life as a commoner like Haruhi. The funniest episode is when they show up at her house for a day of shopping and cooking and meet her father who is a cabaret performing okama. Through everything Haruhi’s only goal is to be able to study and finish school, she has no concerns for anything else and is generally pretty defensive and unenthusiastic during all of the high-jinks.

    This bishonen series designed for the female audience is really enjoyable. It is entertaining enough to draw in people who would normally not watch a series like this. The comedy is rife with slapstick and visual humor. The characters are all likeable and become well developed as it progresses. The artwork is a little plain, the characters look like Clamp rip offs and the detail is not that fine. The soundtrack is forgettable but the opening theme is a bubbly girl pop anthem that can actually stick to you pretty quickly, for better or worse. My friend and I were a bit sad to see this series go after 26 episodes but it ended well and we don’t expect or yearn for any more to be made. There is an extensive collection of manga but I don’t know if I will ever get around to reading any of it. If you are a fan of Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge, Ranma ½ or Azumanga Daioh this series would fit pretty well into your collection. FUNimation has released the series on DVD in America.