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Plot Synopsis

Haruhi is a poor girl in a rich kids' school. She only got to go there because of a scholarship. She happens upon the Host Club when she is looking for a place to study quietly. After getting there, she breaks an $80,000 vase. After which, she is forced to work at the club to pay off the debt. The only problem is that the members don't realize she's a girl....

Story & Characters

Due to this week's ending of the anime Ouran High School Host Club, I feel happy to be finally writing a review for this year's hit series.
Ouran falls under the romance and comedy genre, and is based on a manga by the mangaka Bisco Hatori. Very few people have not heard about this show, due to the wide interest of the series' unique qualities.

Haruhi Fujioka is a new student at the prestigious Ouran High School, a place where sons and daughters of the highest positions all over the country gather to be educated. Haruhi, being a smart and reliable girl, unfortunately comes from a middle-class family and has been admitted as the one special student that Ouran has taken in. Upon coming to the school, however, Haruhi gets into an incident that causes her to be forced into a host club of rich boys who have enough time to entertain all the girls in the academy...and she ends up having to crossdress to be one of them!

One spectacular advantage of this series is its handling of stereotypical shoujo plot points. With Haruhi\'s beginning with crossdressing, Ouran could easily have fallen into a melodramatic angsting shoujo to be a copy of the popular manga Hana-Kimi. Or the suggested twin incest between Hikaru and Kaoru could have become a tragic tale of forbidden love instead of the fantastic comedic bursts of fanservice that it has turned into.

Just like in the series, the host club's young men entertain the people who watch the anime, just like they make the customers of the club squeal in joy. Ouran does not have antagonists, no matter how they may be annoying. All throughout we see the supportive and kind members display their friendship with Haruhi and each other, making themselves likeable in each their own way.
The dramatic and cheerful Tamaki, the eccentric and mischevious twins Hikaru and Kaoru, the seemingly (but actually not) cold and calculating Kyouya, the cute and tiny loli-shota style Hunny, and the stoic and speechless Mori - all of them have such distinct qualities and pasts of relationships that will be told into the series. And Haruhi - the protagonist of the series, will find herself actually enjoying herself with the involvement of the club.

Certainly the series is not realistic in any way. The characters' family fortunes are much too exaggerated, and the characters are generally not very realistic. But the plot and characters captivate you, and motivate you to be caught up in their world, believing and enjoying your stay at the Ouran High School Host Club.

Rating

9 (very good)

Art

The art in Ouran is very good, to say the least. Body proportions are always done correctly, and the faces never lose their bishounen shine. The eyes are spectacular and often have their own look, as well as the clear difference between each characters' hair styles. Fashion style is also a part that I must point out, as it is cute, elegant, and beautiful (most of the time.)
The colors are well done, and the quality overall is excellent. Ouran must definately be praised for its technical achievements.

The character designs follow the mangaka's style well, and also manages to create backgrounds that are both beautiful and fitting.

Rating

9 (very good)

Sound

Upon the sound section, I must comment on the voice actors first.
Tamaki's voice was wonderful. It fitted his character perfectly, and his slightly feminine ring to his voice when he was excited was both comedic and well suited. His voice also changed slightly when he was actually serious or downcast, instead of having one sound to his voice.
Kyouya had a very cool and *ehem* sexy voice. It also fitted his character well, but at times I felt it was a bit too mature.
Hikaru and Kaoru had voices that I was very impressed by. Each of them had different voice actors, and while they have the potential to speak in unison in the same voice, Kaoru has a slightly higher and more vulnerable sound. The twins' voices are a big part in separating them.
Mori hardly talks, but his stoic and deep voice was good enough to comment on. Hunny's voice is very cute and childlike, as would be expected.
And Haruhi's voice is the most unique voice of all, voiced by the excellent and talented Maaya Sakamoto (voice actress of Hitomi from Escaflowne and Lunamaria from Gundam Seed Destiny.) Once again she demonstrates a whole new voice that absolutely NO ONE can even come close to portraying (I know this because I'm a part of the amateur voice acting society on the net, and we haven't heard a single voice actress that can do Haruhi's voice all too well).

The OST of Ouran is, like its setting, elegant, posh, and cheerful. This music keeps the consistent mood of Ouran stay happy and enjoyable.

The opening, Sakura Kiss is... well, it gets stuck in your head. Majorly. I swear, if you hear it once, it will never leave you. But I guess that's alright, because it's a pretty good song which mixes well with the opening clips.
The ending is sung by a guy, and is also very cheerful and upbeat. It is matched with one of the color images from Ouran's manga series.

Overall, the series is good with sound as it is with everything else, despite the fact that it didn't leave that much of an impression on me as the art did.

Rating

8 (good)

Presentation

Ouran High School Host club has a better flow than most of the series that are its size.
All throughout it is entertaining, funny, and you can't get bored of it. The character stories don't veer off from the ongoing plot, and it blends well into the series instead of sticking out and gathering more than necessary attention. Somehow, the seemingly pointless plot of Ouran turns into a great anime series with a surprising amount of in-depth relationships that are not romantic. The characters are able to maintain their personalities even with plot twists and dramatic incidents - and also throughout their changing relationships.

The change of course from the manga at times was good, and much better than most of the fillers that any other anime demonstrated. The ending, which was an original wrap up from the ongoing manga, did well and blended perfectly into the series it had become. Despite its setup, Ouran survived as a great series that didn't fall into the angsting melodrama genre.

All throughout, Ouran maintained good humor and laugh-out-loud comedy, all the while keeping all of us squealing with the fanservice it provided with its charismatic points.

This is a great anime, and for all those bishie-lovers or good-quality anime fans searching for a new series to get addicted to, this is for you!

Rating

9 (very good)

Final Verdict

8.83 (very good)

Reviewed by Rosegirl18, 1y 48wk ago