Ouran High School Host Club – Review

Hello, DragonPixie here again, and I’d like to make a confession. I love quirky anime. The quirkier the better.  So take this as a warning – some of the stuff I find highly entertainment can be downright weird. I also really like shows with comedy and romance, so if I can get all three in one series I’m a happy gal. I recently stumbled across one such show  – Ouran High School Host Club.

This romantic comedy is about a lower-class girl named Haruhi Fujioka who attends the upper-class private school Ouran High on scholarship. Because Haruhi has short hair and dresses fairly ambiguously, she is mistaken for a boy by the all male members of the Host Club. What is the Host Club? Well, it’s a group of 6 attractive male students who are dedicated to keeping their “clients” – female students – entertained.

So what’s so quirky about this show?

1. Even though Haruhi is a girl, once the club finds out, they keep it a secret, and make her a fellow host and “male” heartthrob.
2. The members of the Host Club are all interesting characters. There’s a guy to suit every type: The shota (young boy) type, the cool type, the pretty-boy type, the normal/natural type,the naughty type and the strong &silent type.
3. It’s a “reverse-harem”, meaning many guys all falling for the same girl. I just can’t seem to get enough of those!
4. Sexual orientation and gender identification are constantly twisted in an amusing way. I love how sexually ambiguous this show can be.
5. The twin brothers Kaoru and Hikaru have a relationship that is, um, questionably devious at times.
6. Not only are there girls who dress like boys, there are boys/men who dress like girl/women. I won’t say more though.
7. The show makes fun of itself. Yes, there are times when the characters make it clear that they know they are only anime characters, which adds to the fun.

Now, if you can get past all of that and give the show a fair chance, you’ll find that underneath all of the silly fun lies a very sentimental, courageous, adorable, entertaining show.  There’s only two seasons of the anime and I take it that the story go further in the manga the anime is based on, but it’s enough to tell a satisfying story. If you decide to watch it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!