Ouran High School Host Club began in 2003 and has been skewering the romantic comedy genre ever since. The shojo series follows the adventures of the members of the Host Club at the prestigious Ouran Academy. After accidentally breaking an expensive vase, Haruhi is forced to work for the Host Club to pay off the debt.
Highlights
Still feeling sick after the trip from the last volume, Haruhi continues to feel worse and worse whenever she is around Tamaki. Upon learning why, and trying to deny it, she decides to become a more proactive member of the Host Club and try to enjoy her life while she’s young. Her first decision is for the club members to cosplay as different Folk Heroes.
As Haruhi tries to become more proactive with the club’s activities, Tamaki tries to groom himself into being more understanding of his father’s business that he will one day take over. This causes him to miss out on a school wide treasure hunt. This has the unfortunate side effect of allowing Hikaru to admit to his feelings for Haruhi to Tamaki and ask that Tamaki not be at the upcoming Ski trip. The consequences of all this comes to a head with Hikaru asking Haruhi a question that was a real shocker to me, and has Tamaki rushing to the lodge.
Overall
While I am normally averse to the idea of romantic comedies as a whole, I enjoy this series. The characters have well developed back stories, and their relationships with each other as club members are enjoyable to watch as well. It’s always enjoy whenever Hunny is talking, whenever he says anything his speech balloon is always fluffy like a cloud, to show that while being a grade higher the everyone else he is still childish. Also nice, and from a story standpoint, the twins Hikaru and Kaoru are more varied in their appearance. Hikaru has darker hair which I didn’t know.
Also funny was a special chapter about Tamaki’s first time in Japan after moving from France where his mother lived. It was really enjoyable watching him try to experience Japan as his father told him about, even though everything he was talking about was about a century out of date or otherwise being a misconception.
ComicsOnline gives Ouran High School Host Volume 9 5 out of 5 cosplay outfits.
