Greetings, fabulous people of the Internet! Hanime on Anime here, and welcome to the first review of March 2023. And I don’t know why I haven’t seen today’s anime sooner, but I had a blast with it!
I consider myself to be a shonen kind of girl, but this classic romantic comedy was quite a treat. It’s not flawless by any means. I did have some problems with it. But those issues are easily blown away like yesterday’s cherry blossoms with everything good about it.
I’m excited about today’s review, so let’s jump right in! Let’s get into today’s review on Ouran High School Host Club!
While trying to find a quiet place to study, Haruhi Fujioka accidentally stumbles onto the meeting room for the Host Club, a group of male students that act as something of a real-life dating game simulator for the wealthy female students of Ouran Academy. And after breaking an antique vase worth 8 million yen-($80,000), Haruhi is forced to work for the club as an errand boy to pay off the debt but is later promoted to a host after showing a natural charm with the ladies. However, the club soon discovers after an appointment gone wrong that Haruhi, who they’ve mistaken for a male student this whole time, is a girl. Despite this, the club keeps Haruhi as one of their hosts while keeping her true identity a secret from the school. All the while, they help their clients find true love and happiness while placating to their whims.
And that’s the show after the pilot. But even if the show is pretty straightforward from that point on, it works well.
This anime has a wicked sense of humor; there were dozens of times I found myself laughing out loud during this show. And it works with two different sets of jokes. The first and more obvious is hiding Haruhi’s true identity.
Haruhi pretending to be a boy during club meetings while the audience knows she’s not a boy at all leads to some situational moments that get a good laugh. Though I’ll admit, this scenario raised my eyebrow a bit. Then again, she’s not forced to keep up the act, and the guys still look out for her. At the very least, it’s not meant to be read into that much. It’s something she’s fine doing, and she knows she does it well. And in general, the fact that she becomes such a hot item with the girls is equally fascinating and hilarious, considering that she’s also the most level-headed of the group, which leads to the next big running gag this show has.
In addition to the Twelfth Night, Viola bit with Haruhi, the anime makes it blatantly obvious that most of the people at Ouran are oblivious.
With many students coming from wealthy backgrounds and Haruhi being there on scholarship and not rich, Haruhi acknowledging this can make for a few great laughs. And just everyone in the club acting weird in and of itself is a joke, not to mention an act- more on that in a minute. Because of this, Haruhi is an oddity at the school, yet a voice of reason for the audience. But it’s nice that the rest of the cast, mainly the host club members, are great characters.
The members of the host club are done remarkably well. I’ve already talked about Haruhi’s awareness of the club’s behavior, but when she’s not pointing out how out of touch a lot of the students at the school are, she’s also quick to notice that the club’s shenanigans-at least when dealing with their usual activities- are just an act. Everyone in the club has a featured episode that touches on a backstory that explains why they behave the way they do. And whether Haruhi makes them realize that or they’ve been hiding it all along, it adds a nice, deep layer to each of them. Club “king” Tamaki was a great example of this latter case. He acts like a hustler, but that’s not who he is. Oftentimes, he’s the one pushing hard to help people find love. And as elaborate as his schemes are, they work out for the best.
Overall, there’s a lot of excellent writing and characters here and funny moments that make this an enjoyable show, even if the show can push its luck at times.
And with that said, let’s get to the biggest problem with this anime.
As great as these characters are, they can sometimes go too far with some of their antics.
Now I’ll admit, a part of this came from a Comic Book Resources article about how these early 2000s characters don’t often get the meaning of ‘no means no’ and implied Tamaki as one of these archetypes. But that’s not what I find an issue with the characters.
Though to respond to that, Tamaki acting like a flirt is an act and not entirely who he actually is, but he does have a crush on Haruhi.
No, I’m talking about when the guys go full into their personas. It can get obnoxious and even a little creepy. The above picture of Hikaru and Kaoru, a pair of twins, might give you an idea why these two were my least favorite characters to watch. But that’s not because they’re terrible characters, but their antics are what’s wrong. It can still be uncomfortable even when they don’t really mean it.
But like I said, these are not bad characters at all. And them going 200% with their club acts may be a part of the show. I just thought they went too far with it. But if you don’t mind, you’ll enjoy the show. And despite my issues with it, I still had a good time with it.
A gem from the good ole’ Y2K, Ouran High School Host Club is a classic show for a good reason. The writing for the story and characters is solid and works well as a romantic comedy. And while some of the humor and characters go too far, it doesn’t completely ruin it. I absolutely recommend this show, especially if you want something light.
It’s an all-around great show to kiss kiss fall in love with!
And so that wraps up today’s review! Thanks for stopping by, and stay tuned for another new review next week. Although, if you remember what I said last week about how some of the shows I’ll be reviewing were going to be because they were popular and I had to review them, next week’s show will be one of those.
Pray for me, please.
Till then, stay tuned for more to come, and enjoy the rest of your day!
-Hanime on Anime
Hanime on Anime 
Yeah this is such a cute anime! And I love the balance between Haruhi who is a very level headed logical person and the rest of the host club that is really zany.
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