by Beth Mondok

Created on: May 20, 2008   Last Updated: June 12, 2008

Ouran High School Host Club is a Shojo anime that deals with high school students under an aristocratic sheath. Haruhi Fujioka, a scholarship student at the high school, stumbles across the Host Club, an all male club dedicated to charming the young ladies at the school for a price. After breaking an antique vase, Haruhi gets dragged into the club, and asked to make a payment for the vase.

Soon after Haruhi's initiation into the club, the gentlemen in the group discover that Haruhi is in fact a "she", and the hilarities of the anime take shape as Tamaki Suoh, "king" of the club, devises an elaborate scheme to keep her gender a secret from the rest of the school. Other members in the club include Kyoya Ohtori, the book keeper and general financier who is often cool, sly and possesses a dark presence, Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, the twins who live in their own little world and rarely get out of it for anyone or anything, Mitsukuni Haninozuka, refered to as "Hunny" by the rest of the group, who's the cute and deadly martial artist, and his care taker, Takashi Morinozuka, who's only redeeming quality as far as the club attendies are concerned, happens to be Hunny.

The characters, although flat at first, take on a dynamic role in each others lives as the anime progresses. The gentlemen of the Host Club find themselves attached to the "poor" girl, and find themselves needing her and eventually, she finds that she needs them as well. The story line compares to that of "His and Her Circumstances" and "Love Hina" but it adds a new dimension to the typical high school drama.

The Host club, in order to keep up with the wants of the customers, often take on different costumes, or different settings to keep things new and entertaining. Plus, with the different outfits, more clubs began to emerge, such as the Newspaper Club, the Black Magic Club, and the Karate Club. The deeds and ventures of the club give way to exciting and often over dramatized outings, such as a jungle, the beach, and even Haruhi's place of residence where they meet her cross-dressing father.

I gave this anime a 4.5 out of 5, because of the unoriginality of the subject. However, the characterization, the realizations between the characters, and the eventuality of "love" keep the story progressing quite nicely, and the voice acting (at least for the Japanese) is phenomenal. Although there's only one season out now, there are plans for a second season when more manga are published. FUNimation bought the rights and according to the website, will be published in America soon. To find more information about Ouran High School Host club, you can check out Funimations website at http://funimation.com/ouran/

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