My fingers were itching to write about this series for a while now. Anyone who wants a good piece of entertainment with idiosyncratic characters and lot of parodical elements, please do watch this anime as it would be a refreshing experience for you. There is a reason why it has a rating of 8.4 on IMDB.
Plot
Ouran High School is for ultra-rich people. Sometimes students with exceptional talents can join the school as well. Haruhi Fujioka is one such student. Trapped into paying for an 8 million Yen vase, Haruhi Fujioka is made to join a “Host Club”. The sole purpose of this club is to serve beautiful young ladies who have time on their hands. But this “all male” group, which is devoted to make every girl feel like princess can handle a girl in their club? Or will she help others conquer their inner demons that were the cause of this “Host Club” to exist in first place?
Review
The story revolves around Haruhi Fujioka who is a bright and talented student studying at Ouran High School on scholarship, dreaming of becoming a lawyer like her mother. She is not ultra-rich and nor does she have time on her hands for others. But things change when she accidently stumbles into “Host Club”. Though from the very first minute the director was indicating what is going to happen and where to look, the end result was hilarious. Haruhi is highly perceptive and sharp student and probably is the only one who can tell apart the twins, Hikaru Hitachiin and Kaoru Hitachiin.
The twins Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin are hard to tell apart and like to play a little game “Who is Hikaru?”. They have an understanding between themselves that can let them complete each other’s sentences. But this similarity is the cause of their loneliness as well. The happier they seem the lonelier they are. Introduction of Haruhi changes this dynamic and soon these mischievous twins realizes that they cannot complete each other all their lives and they are two individuals and not one.
The club has a “father”, Tamaki Suou, who also happens to the president of “Host Club”. To the guests he is a prince and has a gentle personality. Although he has a clear affection towards Haruhi, he treats her as his “daughter”, thus often having clashes with Haruhi’s real father. This also helps him protect Haruhi, whom he cherishes at heart.
Tamaki Suou is contradicted by the club’s “mother”, Kyouya Otori. Kyouya is the brain behind the “Host Club” is more calculative and studious. He wants to stand apart from his other brothers who have already proven their worth to their father. Kyouya befriended Tamaki on the premise of “keeping the enemy close”. But things do not always pan out they seem.
And to complete the list of all parody characters, there is Mitsukuni Haninozuka, also known as Honey-senpai and Takashi Morinozuka. Although Mitsukuni looks are childish and has a great affection towards toys and sweet food, he is no way weak. Exceptionally skilled in Haninozuka Martial Arts, he is a threat for anyone in his path. Although he looks like a kid, he is eldest among all the hosts and also the smartest. On the contrary, Takashi Morinozuka is a tall stoic person but has a kind, soft heart. The two complement each other.
The direction of this anime is outstanding. You will clearly be able to tell the story and probably guess the ending of each episode as well, but it is all about the parody. All characters are parody of typical shojo manga characters and so all the events in the anime are comical as well. Although I am a big fan of parodies like Konosuba but this is on another level.
You might get bit disappointed by the animation (I personally felt that animation was below par and could had been better) but you won’t notice as the characters you are fondly watching would break 4th wall (yeah! Just like Deadpool) and will interact with the audience.
In the end, I must not forget to emphasize on the story. It might feel like there is no story as each episode might feel like independent of each other, but there is a story. Subtly the story is implanted in the reason why the “Host Club” exists in first place. So, do not forget to watch the entire series.
Overall
I would give this anime a 9/10 (a point for the animation).
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