Ouran High School Host Club Plot:

Ouran High School is a school for the extremely wealthy or talented. Haruhi just happens to be more talented than wealthy. Since she had a hair mishap the week before school started and could not afford the school uniform, she was mistaken for a boy.

Wandering into the Third Music Room looking for a quiet place to study, she encounters the school's Host Club — a group of attractive young men who give their time and affections to females, for a fee. After she breaks an ¥8,000,000 vase belonging to the host club, the leader demands that she work off the money by becoming a host. And when they find out Haruhi is not actually a boy, humour ensues.

Alternative Titles
Synonyms: Ouran Koukou Host Club, Ohran Koko Host Club, Ouran Koukou Hosutobu
Japanese: 桜蘭高校ホスト部

Information
Type: TV
Episodes: 26
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Apr 5, 2006 to Sep 27, 2006
Producers: Bones, VAP, Nomad, FUNimation Entertainment
Genres: Comedy, Parody, School, Shoujo
Duration: 24 min. per episode
Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older


Ouran High School Host Club review

Story 10/10
"It's like Fruits Basket," said the friend who recommended Ouran to me a few months ago. "You'll like it." After watching the first three episodes, I promptly proceeded to tell said friend that I thought she was nuts. While I enjoyed the first three episodes of Ouran, arguably even more than I did those of Fruits Basket, I couldn't see even the slightest resemblance between them. Now, having finished Ouran, I think I need to apologise to her, and concede that maybe she was right after all. Though the two shows could not be further from one another in terms of subject matter, they do cover remarkably similar ground in many regards.

The desire for acceptance, the triumph of naivety and kindness over bitter cynicism, and the notion of a 'family' of friends are all ideas that are prevalent within both shows. Equally, both focus on a group of very separate people that are united by someone who looks at the world in a slightly different way: while Tooru and Tamaki are almost polar opposites, they share an enthusiasm for life, and an appreciation of the individuality in those around them. Finally, like Fruits Basket, Ouran has very little story to speak of until its latter sections, and relies instead upon its characters to draw viewers in.

Ouran, though, is rarely as dramatic or heavy as Fruits Basket. Nor does it want to be. The story is often pushed aside to make way for more comedic moments. Which is by no means a bad thing, as Ouran does comedy extremely well. While sometimes a little predictable, it is consistently funny, striking, for me, a good midway point between too predictable (a la Love Hina) and too weird (a la Excel Saga), and offering more laugh out loud moments than many anime intended as straight comedies. While the setup of the show could easily cause it to collapse into a harem-esque mess, the author, Hatori Bisuko, seems well aware of this, and the show is full of wry self-parody; Ouran very skilfully dances a fine line between being a satirical take on the shoujo genre, and being a shoujo anime itself.



Conclusion 10/10
I almost feel guilty for voting Ouran Koukou Host Club a '10', and for allocating it as high a score as I have in this review. Its jokes do not always hit the mark, its story is largely non-existent, and its lead characters, while unanimously interesting and endearing, get very little screen time as anything but instruments of comedy.

However, thinking back over the series, I find that it has left me with nothing but fond memories. It has been no more than two days since I finished watching it, and already I find myself missing it, and wishing there was more. Though I have done my best in this review to look at the series objectively, the truth of the matter is that there are very few things that I disliked about it, that I enjoyed every minute of it thoroughly, and that I will probably rewatch it within no more than a month. To write an objective review is, in this situation, probably more or less impossible, so I shall simply say that Ouran Koukou Host Club is quite simply the most enjoyable anime I have seen in a long, long time, and that it comes with my very highest recommendations.

When the comedy eventually departs to make way for more serious moments, they are handled surprisingly well. Several of the latter episodes are almost entirely devoid of comedy, yet I found them just as captivating as those in the earlier half of the series; a surprising achievement for an anime that sells its characters to the viewer as being nothing more than one-dimensional stereotypes. Perhaps the best example of this is the story of the twins, Hikaru and Kaoru, that is gradually revealed to the viewer throughout the series, that carries their relationship far beyond the bounds of 'pointless shounen ai fanservice' and that made them, for me, two of the most interesting characters in the series.

My complaint about the story, if I had to make one, would simply be that there is not enough of it. Many episodes are almost entirely devoid of character development, dedicating time instead to general silliness. Is this a bad thing? Maybe. While Ouran certainly works well as a comedy, I actually found myself even more entertained by its more serious moments, and longing for the series to lend more screen time to drama, and less to comedy. However, that is more a matter of my own tastes than it is a shortcoming of the series. Ouran never really claims to be anything but a comedy; it just happens to be a comedy that also handles drama alluringly well.


Characters 10/10
Ah. The characters... Well, I found all the main characters likable, and they all managed to leave very distinct impressions of who they were in my mind. Their actions, Tamaki especially, are very fun to watch, and some of them are very easy to picture in my mind, while I know that I haven't gotten them all covered... It is hard to tell if certain characters actually grow and change a bit, which is why I wish it was longer, however, I suppose that it's more realistic that way, since people don't change that fast.


Animation 9/10
Ouran doesn't feature anything aesthetic that will cause your jaw to hit the floor. It does, however, boast consistently good animation that is never painful on the eyes, along with some lovely character designs, a rather sweet opening animation that is well suited to the opening theme, and some very pretty artwork during the closing credits. Due to the nature of the show, everything is very bright, with an emphasis on various shades of pink. Equally, each member of the main cast is, understandably, very aesthetically pleasing, from Kyouya's icy, calculating glare to Haruhi's gender crossing charm.

It's also worth mentioning the incredibly over-the-top animation during moments of comedy, as well as the creative use of pop-up boxes explaining various elements of the show (such as Tamaki's recurring 'inner mind theatre'). While neither of these devices are anything particularly new, both are put to good use throughout the series, provoking more than a few laughs.


Sound 9/10
"Kiss kiss fall in love!" proclaims Ouran's opening song, 'Sakura Kiss', by Chieko Kawabe of Elfen Lied fame. It's a bouncy, Engrish-y J-Pop song with a nice melody, and it suits the show rather well. I liked it, but it's not really exceptional enough to sway the hearts of those opposed to pop songs about kissing and falling in love. The ending theme, Last Alliance's 'Shissou', is of much the same quality. It's not outstanding, but it's a pretty likeable J-Rock song, and I never felt particularly obliged to skip it.

Outside of the opening and closing themes, I'd describe Ouran's soundtrack as 'nice'. It's perfectly pleasant to listen to for the duration of the show, and it never feels out of place, but I don't think I'd consider buying, or even downloading it. I'd hesitate to call it background noise, as it certainly does more than just fill a gap, but, besides the various instrumental versions of the two theme songs, very few of the pieces remained with me beyond the bounds of each episode. It's 'good' music, but not much more.

The voice acting, however, is a notch higher; an important requirement, as even well scripted comedy can fall flat due to poor acting. Each character seems to have been cast with a great deal of care, and each does an excellent job of bringing their character to life. However, for me, the show was stolen by the twins' voice actors. The two actors were so good at mimicking one another that, before spotting their names listed separately in the closing credits, I had assumed that they were being voiced by the same person.