Ouran High School Host Club was written in September 2002 by Bisco Hatori. At the elite Ouran Academy is the Ouran Host Club where the school's handsomest boys devote themselves to entertaining the academy's young ladies, the elegant palyground for the super rich. Haruhi Fujioka, a poor student only there due to scholarship accidentally breaks an expensive vase belonging to them and to pay off the debt must work as a host in the Host Club. The Host Club are surprised to learn however that she is a girl whom everyone mistakes for a boy due to her apathy as appearing as one and overall masculine style, a secret they work to maintain so she can pay off the debt she owes. This series is an odd outlier in my list of favorites in that it is the only series without anything supernatural in it, save for the comedic exaggerations allowed in "realistic" fiction. It's also possibly the only slice of life series, with only one other series being even possibly a slice of life series. That I think however is a sign of it's quality that someone who normally does not enjoy these types of series would put it on a favorite series list. It does put me in the rather awkward position of saying why I found this one particularly exceptional, moreso then any other slice of life series I've seen.
Also before I begin I should note that my thoughts may be signifigantly influenced by the 2006 anime written by Yoji Enokido. It's been a while since I've read the manga, and I've seen the anime several times including recently so the details from the early story may come moreso from that.
3 Reasons I love it:
Similar to a few other entries it's kind of hard giving the good points becase almost everything about it is pretty good or better. Where does one start exactly and how does one delineate between the good points of a series when they flow into each other so well?
1: The characters are a really good blend of being funny cartoonish figures that it feels like they can exaggerated to the Nth degree while also being subtle enough that they feel real when they need too. All the characters have fun likeable dynamics both by themselves and with others in the series. The series, both anime and manga have the characters sometimes be comedic exaggerations able to do things like break the fourth wall, change color entirely out of shock or cause rabbit-shaped mushroom cloud explosions, their are also scenes where they feel as down to Earth as any other Slice of Life series, particularly in the manga where the characters are definitely fleshed out more due to the extended time (in particular I think Hikaru and Kaoru's personalities are easier to tell apart). In other words while this is the only series that technically doesn't have supernatural elements it does take place in a relatively abnormal setting, that being an elite school for the ultra wealthy, and will exaggerate things sometimes for the effect that a supernatural element would hold normally. Also it will sometimes do things like have a chapter/episode that is an alice in wonderland styled dream sequence which is another example of how the series can have fantastical or othewise abnormal elements without actually having the supernatural.
2: The series tackles themes like class differences, gender differences and costs of trying to live independently without help from others, all themes and topics that really interest me. The first of those themes is the most prevalent and the last is arguably the central theme of the protagonist's character arc (at the very least it definitely is in the anime). I really like how it tackles these things in a way that is fairly balanced. The rich kids of Ouran are treated as perhaps a bit naive (sometimes a lot, oohing and aahing over something like instant coffee) and are perhaps a bit condescending but well-intentioned and no better or worse then other people, plus shows the immense responsibilities that come with their position. It also shows, even it doesn't focus on it, the unglamorous lifestyle of people that are relatively lower class in a way that builds empathy. We see why Haruhi become so stubbornly independent, we see how smart and reliable it has made her but also how it becomes dangerous when she refuses to ask for help. In general I like depictions like this because not only is it funnier to me because it doesn't feel like it's attacking someone, but I also think it builds empathy and sends a nice message. We imagine that people with a different socio-economic class, gender, or personality type must live wholly differnet to us, but the reality is they are people just like you and I with their own set of difficulties and worries. This series in general has a really pleasent energy.
3: I really don't like when people use "self-aware" as a compliment, as it carries the tone that something is only good because it's different from the "conventional" as though difference and novelty were virtues in themselves. Ouran would probably be described as a "self-aware" shojo by most as it acknowledges and makes jokes about Shojo Tropes. How I would describe it however is that Ouran feels like a Shojo series made by a fellow fan for Shojo, someone who understands why they love they genre and wants to exagerate it, and knows what is frustrating about it and how to playfully acknowledge it. Haruhi is not generic Shojo Protagonist 101, a cute naive clumsy girl who has a big heart and romantic notions but not the brightest bulb. Instead she is an androgynous cynical snarker with a large intelligence who must learn the importance of trust and romantic notions. This isn't good just because it's "different" but because it's built into her actual arc and thus the difference actually does allow a new perspective. The series will joke about the silent character actually getting lines this ep, the cute young girl who is usually innocent calling the Host Club "debauchery", or basically anything Renge does.
3 Flaws:
1: This might be a really controversial take, but I don't think Ouran actually explores gender that well usually. Not that it's insulting or offensive or anything just that it doesn't actually explore gender that much. Haruhi starts the series as the kind of person who doesn't even mind if people think she's a male and as such her having to pretend to be one means causes no real conflict. Haruhi is arguably as masculine or more then most of the other members of the Host Club. Haruhi's true gender is rarely a point of importance, and I understand some people really value and appreciate that. That said for me personally I would have preferred if there was at least a little bit of annoyance of being locked into male gender roles, if only to establish that people have different expectations of boys and girls and to make jokes about that. If you compare this to something like Itsuki's character arc in Heartcatch Pretty Cure or the exploration of class dynamics in this same series, it doesn't really explore gender that much.
2: I hate to say that like it being a slice of life series is a flaw but I find that the reasons I don't love Ouran more, a lot of the come down to the fact that it's appealing to me despite it being slice of life rather then because of it. The series is mostly made up of episodic stories whereas I tend to prefer ongoing narratives with changing dynamics (although admittingly some of my favorite series do tend to have a kind of repetitive dynamic). Some of my favorite chapters/episodes of the series were where something happens in the plot or a character's backstory is revealed and some of the ones I was least interested in are the ones that are entirely episodic and don't forward anything.
3: This series has a romantic plot, something I'm all for however, especially in the manga, it does the thing I really don't like where it's really clear who the protagonist is going to end up with but it doesn't happen until near the end. I like when we get to see a romantic couple develop in their relationship. I also don't mind series where the primary point of the romance is who she is gonna end up with, I get that appeal. However it's pretty clear for Ouran that Haruhi was going to end up with Tamaki and yet it takes to nearing Chapter 70 of an 83 chapter manga for the two to actually get together.
My Favorite Part:
My favorite character in Ouran is Kyoya and my favorite part of the series is his backstory, no surprise. I think it's a really amazingly written part showing Kyoya's hidden resentment that he was the third son of the family, trapped in his box, never to inherit the family fortune. You can really understand and feel his anger with Tamaki, someone who he viewed as having the potential that Kyoya would never have but would squander it and the heartwarming resolution of how Tamaki reveals to Kyoya that the limitations he thought were unbreakable were imagined and that he was the only one limiting himself.
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