Ouran High School Host Club
| Ouran High School Host Club | |
|---|---|
 The cast of the Ouran Host club. From bottom going counterclockwise: Takashi, Mitsukuni, Haruhi, Kyouya, Hikaru, Kaoru, Tamaki. | |
| Original Manga | Bisco Hatori |
| Director/Artist | Takuya Igarashi |
| Format | Anime (TV) |
| Made By | Bones |
| Episode Length | 24 minutes |
| # of Episodes | 26 |
Contents
Genre
Comedy, Reverse-harem, Drama, Shoujo
Sum it up in a Sentence
A relatively normal girl earns a scholarship to enter a super-elite high school for the rich situated in Japan, only to accidentally destroy a vase worth ¥8,000,000 and joins the school's Host Club to pay off the debt...much to her chagrin.
Main Description
Ouran High School is grounds to children of the extremely-wealthy and influential members of society, and therefore only allows students outside their society class in under special occasions. Haruhi Fujioka is one such case, as she is very intelligent and earns a scholarship to attend Ouran High. However, problems begin when she meets the Host Club; a group of handsome male students who profit from playing host to and entertaining the girls of the school. She accidentally destroys an expensive vase, and is forced to work off her debt first as the "dog" of the club, but later as a full-fledged Host Club member despite the ordeal involving her gender. Concealing Haruhi's gender is then cause for concern, drama, and much comedy as her now-upside-down life continues into the rest of her school year.
Main Characters
Haruhi Fujioka
Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto
Type: "Natural"
The protagonist of the series. She comes from a lower-middle income family and joins the Host Club to repay her debt from breaking a ¥8,000,000 vase. She disregards borderlines between rich/poor and men/women when it comes to measuring what's important for a person: the inside. Despite her intellect, she can be very ignorant of subtle nuances and moods in her surroundings.
Tamaki Suoh
Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano
Type: "Prince"
The creator and self-proclaimed "king" of the Host Club. He is very egotistical but very selfless to the needs of others. His optimism is always kept at an immeasurably high level no matter what the situation, and is prone to coming off as an idiot to those who are critical of him. Although he may be naive to many things, he is able to detect underlying feelings people hide or find difficult to express.
Kyouya Ootori
Voiced by: Masaya Matsukaze
Type: "Cool"
Also deemed "mother" and "Shadow King" of the Host Club. Very calculating and runs the business end of things for the Host Club. He is the third son of his family, and often only agrees to do things he finds "interesting" or beneficial to him. A very knowledgeable person, Kyouya will often offer explanations about the course of action the club should take or about the situation they are in.
Hikaru Hitachiin
Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura
Type: "Little Devil"
The older brother of the twins. Has an innate devious nature and is sometimes tactless. Along with his brother, they often like to amuse themselves at the cost of Tamaki's irritation, and is easily bored. He is very selfish about those whom he holds dear.
Kaoru Hitachiin
Voiced by: Yoshinori Fujita
Type: "Little Devil"
The younger brother of the twins. Is accurate in mimicking his brother and is very caring towards him. Kaoru is shown to be more calm and logical than his brother when they find themselves in more serious situations.
Mitsukuni Haninozuka
Voiced by: Ayaka Saito
Type: "Loli-shota"
A very short but extremely cute senior. Loves cake and his stuffed bunny doll. He is rarely seen without Takashi. Most people address him as "Hunni" for short, and only Takashi is shown addressing him as "Mitsukuni" on a regular basis. Mitsukuni also has a younger brother. Despite his seemingly childish disposition, Mitsukuni is shown to have very mature insights about the people around him.
Takashi Morinozuka
Voiced by: Daisuke Kirii
Type: "Wild"
Tall, taciturn and quiet, "Mori" rarely speaks unless he needs to. He often stays with Mitsukuni and vice versa. The way people address him is similar to that of Mitsukuni, where most call him "Mori" for short and only Mitsukuni is shown addressing him by his given name "Takashi" regularly.
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Personal Opinions
Willsun
A series that at first, required a lot of effort and spurring on from friends to watch mainly because I thought this was going to be something dripping heavy with yaoi (not saying there's anything wrong with it, but it's not my thing). However, once you get past the "pink" of its appearance, I found the humor of Ouran to die for. The director kept well in line with the humor style of the manga (of which I later found out on my own because I can't get enough of Ouran) and all the visual cues and attitude was perfect. Even the characters poked fun at the whole yaoi matter themselves, of which yaoi is barely even present throughout the whole series. Hell, I even grew to love the pseudo-homo-incest humor the Hitachiin twins take when they're doing business in the Host Club.
Despite humor being a central part of Ouran, there's quite a lot of character development that happens later and sometimes unexpectedly. The characters all deal with problems that are real, and often of societal expectations that many people don't like to deal with. It never gets "dark" by any means, but they can take it to a level of seriousness that really stands out amidst all the comedy.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, and there's good drama. Please take my recommendation and check out Ouran. I urge you to get past the girly appearance because even though it is considered "shoujo," normal guys like you and me can appreciate it. Just remember that it never sinks to any queasy level of bitching and moaning, and that comedy is its main schtick. In fact, all the other genre tags aside from "comedy" is just a formality. If you're still scared of checking it out, just open up a manly webpage you can alt-tab to in case someone walks in or something. --Willsun 09:36, 11 February 2008 (CET)
