Introduction
Ouran High School Host Club (桜蘭高校ホスト部, Ōran Kōkō Hosuto Kurabu?) is the title of a Japanese fiction series created by Japanese author Bisco Hatori centering around a group of high school friends in the same club - the Host Club.
The series started as a manga serialized in LaLa magazine on August 5, 2003. The manga is unfinished with ten complete volumes released in Japan. The manga has been licensed by United States based company Viz Media with nine volumes released in English. Ouran was adapted into a 26-episode anime television series directed by Takuya Igarashi and produced by Bones, which aired from April 5, 2006 to September 26, 2006 in Japan.
The North American English-language edition uses the title Ouran High School Host Club, while the Singapore English-language edition excludes the word school from the title. As for the Japanese title itself, the kanji "部" (pronounced as bu in most cases) is used, but it can be read as kurabu (the Japanese transliteration for "club"). The character, "部" ("bu") is a typical contraction for "部活動" ("bukatsudō") within Japanese schools. In the drama CDs and the anime adaptation, it was both pronounced as "bu" and "kurabu" by the cast.
Plot
Ouran High School Host Club is a story that takes place primarily at Ouran High School, an exclusive institution for students from incredibly wealthy and affluent families. One exception is scholarship student Haruhi Fujioka, a young student from a lower-middle class family. Because of the superlative cost of the school uniform, Haruhi resorts to wearing long slacks, polo shirts and a vest that resembles the male student's uniform with large glasses and tousled short hair. Therefore, upon entering school, Haruhi was assumed to be, by most, a male student.
Because the Ouran High School libraries are filled with gossiping students, Haruhi seeks out the Third Music Room, supposedly unused, as a quiet place to study. But Haruhi finds that this room has been taken over by the Host Club - a group of six attractive male students who spend their time charming and entertaining the school's girls for profit. During their first meeting, Haruhi is shocked at their behavior which causes her to accidentally knock over a very expensive vase valued at ¥8,000,000 ($80,000 in the English manga). This causes Haruhi to contract a massive debt with the Host Club. In order to pay off the large sum, Haruhi is employed as the club's "dog" and is constantly ordered to do menial tasks for the members such as serving food or cleaning up.
Once the club president, Tamaki Suou, sees how attractive Haruhi looks without glasses, Haruhi is promoted to be one of the hosts of the club as a way to pay off the huge debt. One by one, the other club members take notice, until even the club president finally discovers that Haruhi is, in fact, a female, with a self-proclaimed 'low threshold for gender identity'. However, since she has already been accepted by the club's customers and has become one of the main attractions, Haruhi is allowed to continue being a host provided she conceals the fact that she is a female. She is forced to stay until she has accumulated a total of 100 (later, 1000) customers, at which time her debt would be considered paid in full.
Later, Haruhi develops close personal relationships with the members of the host club, managing to capture most of their hearts. In Volume 10 of the manga, Kaoru is the first to openly say that he like her. But in episode 16 of the anime, Kaoru sets up Hikaru and Haruhi on a date. Hikaru is the first to go out with her.
Ouran Private Academy
The bulk of the story takes place at Ouran Private Academy, which is a school encompassing all the grades from kindergarten to high school. The vast majority of students are from very rich families and have connections with family businesses going back generations. Students who are not as financially well-off as others are able to attend the school due to a special scholarship, though the ones who are able to obtain this rare offer must be very intelligent. Haruhi Fujioka is one such student. It is implied that this scholarship is offered to only one student per level, as Haruhi had to take a make-up test when her ranking fell to no. 3 from the top spot. According to Kyoya, if she had done poorly in that test again, she would have been demoted to Class D, or even forced to leave Ouran.
The bulk of the story takes place at Ouran Private Academy, which is a school encompassing all the grades from kindergarten to high school. The vast majority of students are from very rich families and have connections with family businesses going back generations. Students who are not as financially well-off as others are able to attend the school due to a special scholarship, though the ones who are able to obtain this rare offer must be very intelligent. Haruhi Fujioka is one such student. It is implied that this scholarship is offered to only one student per level, as Haruhi had to take a make-up test when her ranking fell to no. 3 from the top spot. According to Kyoya, if she had done poorly in that test again, she would have been demoted to Class D, or even forced to leave Ouran.
School culture
An unofficial motto of Ouran is "Lineage comes first, wealth is second". Indeed, students whose families were wealthy but have low social status (i.e gangsters, like Kasanoda) were put in the "D" classes, which is the worst classification. Conversely, students with stellar family backgrounds (notably, the Host Club boys) were assigned to the "A" classes. Another reason is that the Host Club members (including Haruhi) have high marks, as students with high marks are usually assigned to Class A, and those with lower marks in Class D, so that each student progresses at a suitable pace: No one will delay others' progress, and no one will fall behind if placed in a class with students of the same level. Although Haruhi comes from a common lineage, she was assigned to Class A for her special status as a scholarship student.
Another event at Ouran is the school anniversary. This occasion, unlike the light-hearted events of Halloween or Christmas, is a serious affair for Ouran students. The students would come up with proposals for the festivities, and their parents would judge them, based on their performance and execution of their proposals. This is a test of sorts for the students, and their parents would take this opportunity to consider their successors to the family businesses/careers.
Characters
There are seven main characters: Tamaki Suou, the leader of the Host Club; Kyoya Ootori, the financial planner; the Hitachiin twins, Hikaru and Kaoru; Mitsukuni "Hunny" Haninozuka and Takashi "Mori" Morinozuka, cousins with very contrasting appearances; and Haruhi Fujioka, the newest addition to the Host Club. There is an extended supporting cast of characters, including other students, the families and friends of the Host Club members, and more.
Host Club
Tamaki thought up the idea of the Ouran High School Host Club during the winter of ninth grade and started it upon entering the high school department of Ouran Academy. During the time that girls attend Host Club, members can be designated, meaning that members are chosen by specific clients. Host Club members have different ways of entertaining their guests and at other times, greet all of their customers at once. BL fan service is used as a tactic to get the ladies giddy, such as the Brotherly Love technique.
Set in a large room filled with furniture, food and drinks, the Ouran High School's third music room, which is not being used for music lessons, has been assimilated by the Host Club for their own use. Host Club members sit around and talk with their customers about anything that the girls bring up. Sometimes, the club room has a specific theme to heighten the experience of the customers and to make it more interesting for them; various themes include a tropical setting or a traditional picnic.
Dark Magic Club
The Dark Magic Club at Ouran High School is led by the third year student Umehito Nekozawa. The club members seem to spend most of their time in a dimly-lit room poring over objects that would be considered a form of dark magic, such as the cat-puppet Beelzenef that Nekozawa carries around with him everywhere. This puppet can take the form of a wooden doll and it is said that if you write the name of a person you dislike on the back of the doll, they will be cursed (troubling Tamaki in one episode). Nekozawa has claimed on one occasion that the Dark Magic Club is running a constant Mass. One would assume from context that this is a Black Mass where those practicing black magic would congregate and practice it together. Each member of the club wears a black coat, like the one Nekozawa wears, and is provided their own free Beelzenef doll (their choice of fabric or wood).
True to their nature, the Dark Magic Club did not pass up the opportunity to scare the students of Haruhi's class, Class 1-A, during their class event for Halloween aptly named by Renge as the Halloween Special Test of Courage Tournament (ハロウィンスペシャルきもだめし大会, Harowin Supesharu Kimodameshi Taikai?). Once the students assembled in the academy greenhouse, the club cut the lights and used the shadow of Beelzenef to scare Class 1-A.
In the anime, Nekozawa is the only member shown and it is unknown if he managed to recruit anyone into his club. However, he has somewhat "adopted" the Host Club as part of his club as shown in the Halloween episode, 21.
In the manga however, we do see that Nekozawa has members. We do not know their names, but we know that Nekozawa isn't the only one in the Black Magic Club. They are shown in the Halloween episode in the manga as they decide that they're to scare Class 1-A. A bonus chapter art in Volume 8 indicates that Kirimi Nekozawa has adopted her older brother's ways, wearing a mantle and carrying a hand-puppet of her own.
Zuka Club
The White Lily Group of St. Lobelia's Girls' Academy, otherwise known as the Zuka Club (ヅカ部, Zukabu?) (in reference to Takarazuka, a theater group composed entirely of women) is a cultural club with a thirty-year history at St. Lobelia's. In the English manga, St. Lobelia's is referred to as St. Roberia's. The group is a strong advocate of female superiority. The club hosts a wide range of activities at St. Lobelia’s, such as tea ceremonies and discussion groups, but its main function is theatric performances. Their formal name, 'White Lily Group', may be a double entendre as 'lily' in Japanese is yuri, a euphemism for lesbianism. Certainly, the Zuka Club does not seem to be opposed to the concept and receives plenty of adulation from the all-girl student body of St. Lobelia's. The name of the group could be a parody of the "Mountain Lily Council" of Maria-sama ga Miteru, a series with shoujo-ai undertones.
The leading body, composed of third-year student Benio Amakusa, second-year student Chizuru Maihara and first-year student Hinako Tsuwabuki, have gained idol status at St. Lobelia's; their leader Benio, especially, is the subject of extreme affection from her fellow students, requiring her own student security agents to prevent her from being mobbed. The Zuka Club is invited for a performance at Ouran for a cultural exchange meet and its leaders avail themselves of the opportunity to visit—and mock—the Host Club, which they consider inferior due to its lack of history and because of a fair amount of dislike for men, due to their opinion that women are constantly being discriminated against. Ironically, as observed by Haruhi, in their typical displays of rudeness, their inexperience with life beyond the circle of the rich and their outrageous behaviour, the Zuka Club is a female mirror-image of the Host Club.
During their visit, the leading body of the Zuka Club immediately recognizes Haruhi for a woman and takes offense on her behalf for her being 'forced' to crossdress and having to work for the 'lowly' Host Club, trying to tempt her into coming over to St. Lobelia's Academy. This sparks Tamaki's paranoia, as he believes Haruhi would do extremely well in the Zuka Club (since she seems to slightly prefer male clothing and does not object to listening to girls chit-chat) and because her intellect would make it easy for her to apply for the St. Lobelia scholarship. The leading body takes liberties with Haruhi of a physical affectionate nature and constantly call her otome (乙女, otome? meaning maiden). Benio especially acts more affectionately than is appropriate and later tries to steal Haruhi's first kiss in an act of spite against Tamaki. The members of the leading body fawn on Haruhi, often complimenting her physical appearance.
In the overall story, the Zuka Club is probably the closest thing the Host Club has to an archenemy. Ironically, Benio frequently refers to herself with the term 'boku'. When used by a woman, this Japanese word for 'I' indicates either a tomboy or a woman who wishes to be male. Benio wears a fake mustache for a short time during one episode, which is taken off by Chizuru Maihara. Benio is the one wearing a tuxedo or pants the majority of the time, while the other two members wear dresses. Benio only wears a skirt when she is in the proper Lobelia school uniform.
Karate Club
Little is known about this club, but it is known that Hunny was a captain of the club, until he left the Karate Club and joined the Host Club in his second year of High School. Hunny was strict and hard on the students in an attempt to purge the cuteness from him, but was also thoughful. Later on, Hunny's younger brother Yatsuchika (Chika) became the leader of the Karate Club; he was even more strict than Hunny.
Newspaper Club
The Newspaper Club at Ouran contains three members: Akira Komatsuzawa, who is the chairman of the club, Chikage Ukyo and Tomochika Sakyo, who strive to have the Ou Spot Newspaper Club become more popular than the Host Club, but their newspaper mostly consists of articles pertaining to romance gossip on campus or power struggles between families that are causing divisions within classes. Since the stories are simply fictitious, no one bothers to read them anymore. The reason they did this was because they wanted to pull in more attention for their newspaper, but it did not work to improve their reputations or popularity within the school. Akira's attempt to find dirt on the Host Club so that he could destroy it and win ascendance for his own Newspaper Club fails miserably due to Kyouya's talent for planning ahead.
American Football Club
Exclusive to the manga series, the American Football Club consists of three known members: Takeshi Kuze (九瀬 猛 Kuze Takeshi) who is captain of the club and the fiance of Kanan Mitsuyama (満山 香南 Mitsuyama Kanan), who is in the student council, the vice-captain Makoto Togoin, and Hayato Tarumi . The captain of the club's family controls the largest domestic share of fruit and vegetable imports, so the members are constantly eating fruit. The team is called the Ouran Orage, which means "storm" in French. It sounds like 'Orange', and they go by that name too. The Captain of the team holds a personal grudge against Kyoya because when they were in kindergarten Kuze was boasting about the properties of oranges, and Kyoya disagreed, gaining the attention of their classmates and embarrassing Kuze. Matsuyama, in the end, was the one who tried to pull the Host Club out of the competition, as she thought Kuze would never beat Kyoya. The club members believe that the orange has calming properties, so they smell one whenever they get worked up.
Manga
Main article: List of Ouran High School Host Club manga chapters
The Ouran High School Host Club manga started its run on August 5, 2003 in Japan in LaLa. So far, the individual chapters have been collected into ten tankōbon and continues to run in Japan. As of 2007 it is being released in North America under the license of VIZ Media and their Shojo Beat line, and also in Indonesia in the monthly manga magazine hanalala. It is published in Singapore (in both simplified Chinese and English) by Chuang Yi. Included in some of the volumes is the series Romantic Egoist.
Anime
Ouran High School Host Club premiered in Japan on the terrestrial Nippon Television network. The series was directed by Takuya Igarashi while the character designer and chief animation director for the series was Kumiko Takahashi. It later aired across Japan on the anime satellite television network, Animax, starting in October 2006, and was the series' first satellite broadcast. Currently, there are no plans for a second season.
Japanese voice actors
Maaya Sakamoto as Haruhi Fujioka
Mamoru Miyano as Tamaki Suou
Ayaka Saito as Mitsukuni Haninozuka (Hunny)
Daisuke Kirii as Takashi Morinozuka (Mori)
Yoshinori Fujita as Kaoru Hitachiin
Kenichi Suzumura as Hikaru Hitachiin.
Masaya Matsukaze as Kyoya Ootori
Episodes
Main article: List of Ouran High School Host Club episodes
The first episode aired on April 5, 2006, and the show has 26 episodes. The last episode aired on September 26, 2006.
Drama CDs
The drama CDs of the series predate the anime with the first release in 2003. There are three drama CD releases, as well as two tracks included in Lala magazine's 28th and 29th anniversary CDs. Interestingly, a number of voice actors who had voiced the main characters of Gundam series voiced characters here as well.
Japanese
Aya Hisakawa as Haruhi
Hikaru Midorikawa as Tamaki
Soichiro Hoshi as Hikaru
Kenichi Suzumura as Kaoru (He is the only member of the original drama CD cast (for the Host Club members) to return for the anime version, in which he voiced Hikaru.)
Junichi Suwabe as Kyoya
Kenjirou Tsuda as Mori
Ikue Ootani as Hunny
Video game
A PlayStation 2 adaptation was released on April 19, 2007, in Japan only. The game is an adventure video game and for one player. The player goes through the game as Haruhi and makes decisions during the day that affect the other Host Club members' feelings toward her. The game also features original characters named Jean-Pierre Léo, who is a long-time and close friend of Tamaki and Himemiya Sayuri, who is a childhood friend of Haruhi, designed by Bisco Hatori especially for the game.
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