Ouran High School Host Club Review

My complaint about one of the Eurasian characters aside, I love this anime series. I found it through a music video I saw about it on YouTube. Normally, I like the look of anime but hold no hope of ever understanding what’s going on. Still something about the scenes I saw in this caught my interest. I wanted to know their context and they seemed character based enough that I thought I might be able to wrap my mind around them. So I scoured YouTube but all the full episodes had been deleted. I then saw the first 13 on Veoh until they were deleted as well. So if my review sparks anyone’s interest, I can tell you where I finally found all the episodes. Just email me and ask.

I felt bit bad about downloading them because I would be willing to buy them, but I could not find a trustworthy website to buy them from. They were not available at amazon or any other name brand retailer I checked. If anyone does know a reliable place to buy these DVDs, let me know. I found a few sites but I don’t necessarily trust every site with a URL and a paypal. I like to know someone has bought from them before and not suffered for it.

In any event, on with the review:

This anime is only 26 episodes long which I think is a good length. It doesn’t get too weird or complicated that way. I read the manga which is slightly different and I didn’t like it as much because the anime, in my mind, already achieved perfection. Why is it so good? Character development. I know I say it a lot, but characters are easily the most important thing to me in a story. Still, there is more to this anime than that. At its core it addresses the difficult issue of gender identity while still staying upbeat and always managing to make me smile, laugh, and see the world as just a little sunnier.

At the same time it’s written as a clever satire of the feminine manga genre in Japan. But it doesn’t just make fun—it embraces what is good while laughing at the same time.

All the same, it is a good thing I became interested in the series before I heard the theme song which starts with the words “Kiss, kiss, fall in love.” Not the type of thing I would normally watch. It is also very...pink. But if you’re like me, please disregard this and skip the opening if you must because the story is worth it. Although, I must confess even the theme song grew on me after a while.

That embarrassing admission aside, I think I should explain the “Host Club.” When I first heard the word "Host" it inspired images of aliens and pod people. But maybe that’s just me. The Host Club is actually just like a group of male geisha. For anyone who does not know what a geisha is, they are NOT prostitutes. A proper geisha is a living work of art meant to please men and make them happy in various non-sexual ways. It is true that geishas hint at sex a lot. The kimono of a geisha shows off her neck more than a normal kimono which is a very risqué thing in Japan. But in the end, sex is not in any way the purpose of a geisha. She is like a hostess. There are actually professional “hostesses” in Japan as well, but they’re not geisha. Hopefully that’s not too confusing. The point is these are like male geisha: their only goal is to make the rich girls of their school happy. To do this they host what seems to be a perpetual tea party in the Third Music Room and they also plan parties, events, and costume extravaganzas. They also, of course, happen to all be good-looking. The truly ironic thing is that as much as some of the scenes would make certain puritanical Americans squirm, the only character to ever even kiss anyone is Haruhi. Tamaki talks a lot about kissing the girls he’s charming but the scene always cuts to flowers and all you here is a swoon. It’s actually tamer than the average American TV show.

With that explanation out of the way, I feel I should give a summary of each character since I praised the characterization so much. Just a little blurb on their personality and what makes it cool. Not enough to spoil anyone.

Haruhi: The main character and difficult to talk about without giving away a major story detail that you don’t find out until the end of the first episode, but I’ll do my best and resort to being brief. Haruhi breaks a vase valuing 8 million yen and is thus indebted to the Host Club. Unable to pay the debt, Haruhi becomes their “dog,” a servant who must do all the Club’s menial labor. But Tamaki is touched by the “commoner” background of this “special student” and Haruhi is a great and hilarious grounding character among this grotesquely rich crowd.

Tamaki: Founder of the club. Tamaki is probably the only one in the group who truly believes in its actual purpose. All the rest of the members he rounded up later joined the club for one personal reason or another. Still, they generally play along with Tamaki’s schemes either for amusement or because, secretly, they all love him as a true and honest friend. This does not, however, stop them from teasing him mercilessly for his unshakeable optimism and rage to help people.

Kyoya: Tamaki’s best friend and polar opposite. You’ll have to watch the series to really understand why they’re friends at all but this dark, cold, and calculating character is my favorite. He is referred to as the club’s “Shadow King” since he has invisible influence over Tamaki.

Hikaru and Kaoru: Twin brothers with a strange and even sexually ambiguous bond. Still, the series is artfully written where you can make a case that twincest is obvious or argue just as believably that they simply like messing with people. Their mischievous nature recalls the likes of Fred and George Weasley. But their past is revealed in beautiful and heartbreaking flashbacks which help you to understand how they grew up only relying on each other. You also slowly see that the two actually have distinct personalities and that Haruhi is the first person to ever tell them apart.

Honey: A high school senior and one of the oldest in the group but with his small stature you would never know it. He still acts like a child and delights in gorging on cake and carrying around a pink bunny doll. I might find this level of cuteness for an older person unbelievable if I didn’t know my sister... Still, the soft cuddly exterior hides a hidden edge. Also like my sister.

Mori Takashi: The only other senior in the club and the huge, hulking constant companion to Honey. He is quite stoic. If you put all his lines in the entire series together in 12 font and normal margins, they probably would not fill a word-processed page. He’s probably the least interesting character but he still reminds me a little of a character from my novel, so I don’t feel right signing him off completely.

As for the end of the series, while I might have enjoyed more episodes, I really like how this story ends. I won’t tell, of course, but it keeps with the feel of the series in my opinion, and I found it to be very fitting and fulfilling.

* * * * *

Click here for my Stardust Review.