Only The Bitch Knows

Ouran High School Host Club Review

Story: Haruhi Fujioka was accepted in Ouran High School after her last year of middle. Ouran is a prestigious school made solely for rich families; however, Haruhi isn’t wealthy in the slightest. Her grades were superb enough to get her a scholarship and in the process fame among the upper-class students that she was unaware of. I mean, Haruhi isn’t anyone special; just a commoner, right?

Well, one day Haruhi is searching for a quiet place to study but, each of the four libraries littered around the school is full of gossiping, snotty teenagers. So, in an effort to find some place to herself, she heads for a supposed empty music room. Upon entering, a gentle wind of rose pedals float past her and in unison a group of voices greet, “Welcome.” She finds six drop-dead gorgeous men that form the Host Club. “The Host Club is about”, their King, Tamaki Suoh begins with a royal tone, “these handsome guys that have time, giving hospitality to these lovely ladies who also have time and profit off of them.” Thus the motive of these popular schoolboys.

Five out of six of the club members mistake Haruhi for a boy because of her baggy clothes, her glasses, and messy, short hair. (The one member who noticed, Kyoya Ootori, keeps quiet just to see what will happen.) In the process, they also label her gay and ask which type of boy she likes. Due to their forceful nature and the shock that a club like this even exists, Haruhi backs into a vase worth eight million yen ($80,000 in the US manga translation) and it shatters into little pieces. Without getting a chance, Haruhi is recruited as the Host Club’s slave and shortly after pulling off her glasses to reveal her beauty (still mistaken as a boy, of course) she ’s promoted to a Host.

Slowly, but surely, the members begin to realize she is in fact female. Of course, King Tamaki is the last to realize until he stumbles upon her dressing but, Haruhi has no other choice to act like a male to be able to pay her debt.

Character(s) & Their Development: I feel the need to explain the types of men who make up the Host Club to be able to analyze this section fully. Tamaki Suoh is the King, Lord, Daddy, and Founder of the Host Club. A blonde haired beauty with piercing purples eyes that the girls swoon for. He is the most popular member and the most overdramatic male I have seen in a long time. He’s a bit slow to the punch, but he’s not an idiot… just stuck in his own little world per say. Kyoya Ootori is the supposed Queen, also nicknamed Mommy by the other members, and the finical advisor to each and every move the club makes with money. He’s considered the cool type with a composed speech and collected attitude that is purely only concerned with how much money he can come up with in the end. Next is Kaoru Hitachiin who works with his twin brother, Hikaru Hitachiin to have a brotherly love/slight incestuous appeal for the girls who come by the club. They are the mischievous types and get bored easily, they tend to make up games for their own enjoyment. The two are also extremely dependant on each other, but have many differences as their own entity in my own opinion (Kaoru is a bit more soft-spoken & emotionally mature while Hikaru can be a little bit more rough or insecure.) Mitsukuni Haninozuka is referred to as the loli-shota type (a affection towards younger boys). Also known as Hunny, he passes this off by his short height and childish nature despite the fact he’s a senior. He also carries around a pink bunny that he has a deep attachment, too. Surprisingly, Hunny also has experience in martial arts (to a point of insane strength) and must live up to his family’s expectations. Lastly is Takashi Morinozuka who is the least talkative of all the vigorous members of the club. Mori is also Hunny’s cousin and considered the wild type because he has a tendency to act upon his instincts.

The real question though is if the characters actually grow out of their set roles. After watching the whole series that’s both a yes and a no. It all comes down to the fact that the manga is still going and the characters are still maturing in that form; thus, they can only grow so far in the anime without making it a new story entirely. Sure, they stay towards their first impressions but, there are a handful of episodes that explain each Host Club member and their reasoning behind attitude, outlook, and for joining the club in the first place.

A keen example is Tamaki and his feelings for Haruhi. In the beginning, he takes on a father role towards her and the audience is made to believe that this is only part of his nature; however, the viewers should realize that this is because of the feelings he holds for her. Even Tamaki doesn’t understand it and in episode twenty-three is forced to question it. He probably can’t comprehend his feelings in the end, but he seems to establish some understanding towards Haruhi. Really, characters do grow but they tend to have done a lot of growing before the show was established, and quite a few past experiences are explained through-out the episodes. Either way, the audience is given the chance to fall in love with the characters before they begin to change, which adds a nice and smooth transition.

Animation: I’ve found people complain at the lack of the details made towards the characters themselves. Then again, how much detail do you want on a character that’s about to turn chibi on your ass? Seriously, the animators did a wonderful job at finding a keen balance between common and glorious so that when seriousness is needed, the characters have that necessary lovely animation while during the hyper-active moments, the characters a bouncy and have a jelly-like movement.

One thing that caught me attention after reviewing certain episodes was how detailed the background could be. I hadn’t noticed it on the first run through due to how into the show I was; however, if you pay attention, you really notice how wealthy the animators attempted to make the school look. If you look here you can see a decent example of what I’m talking about. Look at that ceiling and the inscriptions into it, that’s pretty damn detailed to me.

Music: I was iffy about the music in the beginning. Once I heard the first line of the opening, Sakura Kiss, I felt the catchiness; however, after listening to the whole thing I wasn’t direly impressed. The ending song, Shissou, I didn’t like at all. It just sounded like normal Japanese rock. I was disappointed even more when I found LAST ALLIANCE was the band who preformed it because they could have done a lot better.

Regardless, I gave the music a chance and got a copy of the available soundtracks. While watching the show I found the melody coordinated with many places perfectly, surely in the Ouran world the music full of rich violins, playful piano, and elegant harp was a match made in heaven. In it’s own way everything works… but that ending song.

Dubbing/Subbing: Since there is no dubbing released, I can’t comment on that; however, the subtitles by Lunar Anime provided on their fansub were wonderfully done. Generally, I don’t like to comment on subtitles because what’s there to say, but what I liked was how many notes were provided to get said joke. It was also produced very nicely for the English audience.

Strongest Point: Definitely the energy and liveliness of it all. It was certainly something to look forward to each time I started a new episode, and very rarely was I disappointed. At least once I got to see an overdramatic reaction from my favorite, Tamaki, which was by far the best thing to look out for. Don’t let the idea of so much vigor in a show rattle you though. Just because it’s energetic doesn’t mean it isn’t serious. The series is wonderful in it’s way to make you laugh unlike any other show has.

Weakest Point: Hrmmm, I really had to think about this before I came to a conclusion. Ouran High School Host Club has a few filter episodes that deal mainly with guest characters that get their one episode and they’re off. I didn’t enjoy this in the slightest. While it was nice to see the club helping other people, it wasn’t as fun when they interfered with other people’s problems. To me they just seemed like filter episodes to keep the story going.

A few of them are funny, don’t get me wrong but, there are some that take away the energy entirely and somehow sink your feelings (my major one was episode six). I got over them because I was too entrapped by my feelings of wanting to know what happens to the Host Club, and not some side character that had their twenty-two minutes of fame.

Overall: Simply, Ouran High School Host Club is just a fun old time. It’s got the wackiness to pull you into a fit of giggles, but at the same time enough character development to move along with a pretty random plot. I was going to skip this series entirely because I tend to avoid popular shows now-a-days; however, in the end I’m glad I didn’t. This was certainly worth my time and I guarantee it’s worth yours, too. It’s hard to find a character or a part that you plainly didn’t like. So, unless you’re extremely nit-picky, then there shouldn’t be a problem.

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