Ouran High School Host Club
(page by Kendra Danner)
Bisco Hatori: Bisco Hatori is a pseudonym, and not her real name. She has worked for such magazines as LaLa. Her manga debut was A Moment of Romance in the LaLa DX magazine. Her first series was Millennium Snow. However, the comedy Ouran High School Host Club is her breakout hit.
The anime series premiered April 5 2006 on Japan's NTV network. The series was directed by Takuya Igarashi and written by Yōji Enokido, animated by Bones. The manga came out in LaLa magazine since August 5 2003.
Plot: A shoujo romantic comedy series about Haruhi Fujioka, a scholarship student at Ouran High School, and the other members of the Host Club; satire of the clichés and stereotypes that endure in series aimed at girls.
Ouran is for all grades from elementary school to high school. Most students come from wealthy families but a few students from lower income families are awarded special scholarships.
The story starts with Haruhi. Because she can’t afford the uniform, she wears just jeans and a sweater along with thick glasses. This makes her mistaken for a boy for most of the first episode. Looking for a quiet place to study, Haruhi stumbles upon the Third Music Room, the working place of the Ouran Host Club, a group of six bishounen (pretty boy) students. The boys spend their time charming and entertaining the school's girls for profit. During their first meeting, Haruhi accidentally knocks over a vase valued at ¥8,000,000. Haruhi is first asked to do errands to pay of the debt, but she becomes a host soon after while hiding her true gender from the girls at the school.
Characters (I’ll put these in the western order of first name last name)
Tamaki Suou: A 2nd year, Tamaki is the president and founder of the Host Club. As the host who receives the most requests from their customers, Tamaki is labeled as the “King”. He is usually narcissistic and dramatic, but he can also be caring at times. Tamaki grew up in France with his French mother and moved to Japan during middle school. Because he is the illegitimate son of the school’s chairman, Tamaki’s grandmother makes him live in a separate house and forbids him to have any contact with his mother (part of the deal made that allowed him to move to Japan in the first place). Tamaki is characterized as the “Prince” type.
Kyoya Ootori: A 2nd year, Kyoya, is the vice-president of the club and Tamaki’s best friend. Because of his intellect and ability to manipulate people, he has often been called the “Shadow King”. If it weren’t for Kyoya, the Host Club would fall apart because he is in charge of managing the books and scheduling events. Kyoya is characterized as the “Cool” type. He is also a glasses character (obviously one who where’s glasses) and when he is being particularly devious, is glasses shine brightly and completely hide his eyes. His father owns a small police force as well as a hospital and a few other businesses. As the third son, Kyoya strives to prove himself to his father who doesn’t believe Kyoya has risen above his brothers yet.
Hitachiin twins (Hikaru and Kaoru): Hikaru and Kaoru are both 1st years and hare in the same class as Haruhi. They pull a lot of pranks and find amusement in making fun of Tamaki’s dramatic ways. Because they are identical twins, they are easily mistaken for their brother, which lead to their game of trying to get people to guess who they are. Even if they have parted their hair in different ways, or died it, Haruhi is still able to tell them apart. This throws the twins off because they’re not use to other people being able to understand them.
In the club, Hikaru and Kaoru charm and excite the girls by using “Brotherly Love”, playing up on the girls love for shounen-ai or boy love. In this relationship, Hikaru is the seme (dominant) and Kaoru is the uke (submissive). Along with their brotherly love act, the twins use eye drops to make it appear like they’re crying
Mitsukuni Haninozuka (aka Hunny): Hunny is a 3rd year or senior. He is short, cute, and has an extremely large sweet tooth. Because of his height and child-like manor, he gets mistaken for an elementary school student when Harunhi first meets him. Hunny usually isn’t seen without his stuffed pink plush bunny Usa-chan, and his tall cousin Mori. Before Hunny joined the Host Club, he was captain of the Karate Club. His family owns a famous dojo and they also have their own martial arts style and even teach recruits in the US Army. His childish ways are looked down upon by his father and brother who don’t think he’s manly enough to take over the clan. Hunny tried to be more “manly” for them, but this didn’t work, and Tamaki convinced him that he should stay true to himself and not change his personality to please others. Hunny is characterized as the “Loli-Shota” type (basically someone who is small and child like).
Takashi Morinozuka (aka Mori): Mori is a 3rd year. He is very tall and doesn’t speak very much. He only joined the Host Club because Hunny joined. Because his family used to serve Hunny’s, Mori follows him around even though the servant-master tradition has been broken since the marriage between the two clans. Mori practices Kendo and is characterized as the “Wild” type.
Haruhi Fujioka: Haruhi is a 1st year and is also a scholarship student, one of many that is chosen from the applicants that apply each year. She is straightforward and the heroine of the story. Her intellect got her into Ouran, but she doesn’t have enough money to pay for the expensive uniforms, so she only wears jeans and a sweater. As she is searching for a quiet place to study, Haruhi stumbles upon the Host Club. The hosts mistake her for a boy and in her effort to get away from them, she accidentally breaks a vase that costs millions of dollars. To repay her debt, Haruhi works as the club’s “errand boy”. The twins discover her/his good looks and Tamaki decides that Haruhi would able to pay off the debt as a host. By the end of the first episode, Tamaki is the last one to figure out that she is actually a girl. Harunhi's type is "Natural Rookie".
Haruhi does not date any of the boys. It is never said, but it’s assumed that Tamaki has a crush on her even though he says he only loves her as “a father loves a daughter”. Hikaru seems to have a crush on her as well which distances him slightly from his brother Kaoru.
Renge Houshakuji: Renge is a 3rd year and the self-proclaimed manager of the club. When she saw a picture of Kyoya, she immediately fell in love with him and transferred to Ouran. She claims to be Kyoya’s fiancé, mainly because of their fathers’ business ties, but Kyoya says that it’s just something that she came up with on her own. The reason behind her obsession with Kyoya is a dating sims game. Renge associates Kyoya with the glasses character of this game. The twins call her an otaku and in most of the episodes, she is usually cosplaying a character.
As the manager, Renge tries to change the club members, claiming that they are not deep enough and have no real emotional problems. As the anime progresses, this is proven wrong.
Tamaki, the illigetamite son is on his grandmother’s badside and it’s unsure if he’ll become his father’s true heir because she is the real head of the family.
Kyoya is at the top of his class, but he must overcome his brothers if he is to prove himself to his father, who does not like that Kyoya is part of the ridiculous host club.
The Twins are shut off in their own world and have problems opening up to other people.
Hunny must keep up with his martial arts training and prove that he can be strong despite liking cute things.
Mori also has a hard time opening up to people besides Hunny.
Haruhi works hard at school and takes care of her mother, trying to fill the void that was left when she died during Haruhi’s elementary school years. She hardly ever thinks about herself.
Ryoji "Ranka" Fujioka: Haruhi's father, a cross dresser who works at an okama bar. He prefers to be called Ranka, his okama name. Kyoya calls Ranka regularly, giving him updates on Haruhi’s status as a host as well as gaining information on Haruhi. Ranka doesn’t like Tamaki, but their attitudes are similar when it comes to Haruhi in wanting to protect her and dress her up in girly clothes that she normally doesn’t wear.
Episode 1 Part 1
Episode 1 Part 2
Episode 1 Part 3
Other anime simular to Ouran:
Lovely Complex (comedy, romance, school)
Fruits Basket (romance, mythology)
La Corda d'Oro (music, school, romance)
Tenshi Ja Nai! (still a manga. romance, school, cross dressing)
Fushigi Yuugi (fantasy, romance, drama)
See also: Host Clubs, Anime