Post by jess on May 27, 2006 12:30:52 GMT
**this review will give away a mild spoiler for the first episode... but it's relevant to the premise of the whole thing, so. /warning
Currently, Ouran is only up to the eighth episode, so this review is based on them.
General?
Ouran is a comedy, of the deliberately over-the-top shoujo variety. With gender confusion. Doesn't seem to have much of an overarching plot at the moment, but it's wonderful regardless. Very pretty, clean art - the style kind of reminds me of a cross between Fruits Basket and Tsubasa.
Plot?
The main character of the anime is Haruhi - somewhat of a rarity in the Ouran Academy, because she's not rich, and doesn't have a prestigious family - she managed to get in solely because she's clever. As such, when we first meet her, she seems to be a socially inept bookworm, who also looks like a boy. =p
One day she accidentally comes across the room where the Host Club (basically, a group of attractive guys who the female students pay to have tea with/talk to) goes on - and manages to break their 8,000,000 yen vase. Mistaking her for a boy, they make "him" come and work for them; first just doing errands, but then as an actual host once they discover "he's" actually pretty good-looking under the glasses and baggy clothes.
By the end of the first episode, they discover Haruhi's actually a girl (and Tamaki, "king" of the Host Club, gets hopelessly infatuated with her) - but by then she's already so popular among the female customers, they keep her gender a secret so she can carry on trying to work to pay off her debt.
So the series is full of them trying to stop people discovering Haruhi's a girl, random accidents suddenly managing to perodically raise Haruhi's debt, Tamaki hopeless trying to hit on her, and various odd occurances.
Because Ouran is very, very strange and surreal. But amazing with it
Characters?
Before Haruhi comes along, the Host Club is made up of five guys - Tamaki, the blond egotistical leader, 'Honey-sempai' the cute "loli-shota" and his 'big brother' Takashi, Kyouya who takes care of all the finances, and then the twins, Kaoru and Hikaru, who have a rather dubious relationship that the fangirl customers love. A variety of other characters come and go, depending on the plot of a particular episode.
So...
Ouran is definitely one of my favourite shows at the moment - it's very funny, unique, and the characters are great. Recommended! ;D
eta; Okay, a couple of additional comments:
A lot of people seem to be going in to watch Ouran thinking it's a total shoujo parody; and it is, to some extent (what with all the sparkles and rose petals etc) but, it's not completely. It can just be seen as high-quality shoujo that doesn't take itself too seriously. It makes fun of a lot of aspects of the genre (and fangirls ), but it does have its serious moments & character development.
"Ouran Private Academy is defined by...one, prestigious families, and two, wealth. And prosperous people have much time on their hands. Therefore, this Ouran Host Club is about... these handsome guys that have time...giving hospitality to these lovely ladies who also have time... and profit off them. It's an elegant game unique to this super-rich school."
Currently, Ouran is only up to the eighth episode, so this review is based on them.
General?
Ouran is a comedy, of the deliberately over-the-top shoujo variety. With gender confusion. Doesn't seem to have much of an overarching plot at the moment, but it's wonderful regardless. Very pretty, clean art - the style kind of reminds me of a cross between Fruits Basket and Tsubasa.
Plot?
The main character of the anime is Haruhi - somewhat of a rarity in the Ouran Academy, because she's not rich, and doesn't have a prestigious family - she managed to get in solely because she's clever. As such, when we first meet her, she seems to be a socially inept bookworm, who also looks like a boy. =p
One day she accidentally comes across the room where the Host Club (basically, a group of attractive guys who the female students pay to have tea with/talk to) goes on - and manages to break their 8,000,000 yen vase. Mistaking her for a boy, they make "him" come and work for them; first just doing errands, but then as an actual host once they discover "he's" actually pretty good-looking under the glasses and baggy clothes.
By the end of the first episode, they discover Haruhi's actually a girl (and Tamaki, "king" of the Host Club, gets hopelessly infatuated with her) - but by then she's already so popular among the female customers, they keep her gender a secret so she can carry on trying to work to pay off her debt.
So the series is full of them trying to stop people discovering Haruhi's a girl, random accidents suddenly managing to perodically raise Haruhi's debt, Tamaki hopeless trying to hit on her, and various odd occurances.
Because Ouran is very, very strange and surreal. But amazing with it
Characters?
Before Haruhi comes along, the Host Club is made up of five guys - Tamaki, the blond egotistical leader, 'Honey-sempai' the cute "loli-shota" and his 'big brother' Takashi, Kyouya who takes care of all the finances, and then the twins, Kaoru and Hikaru, who have a rather dubious relationship that the fangirl customers love. A variety of other characters come and go, depending on the plot of a particular episode.
So...
Ouran is definitely one of my favourite shows at the moment - it's very funny, unique, and the characters are great. Recommended! ;D
eta; Okay, a couple of additional comments:
A lot of people seem to be going in to watch Ouran thinking it's a total shoujo parody; and it is, to some extent (what with all the sparkles and rose petals etc) but, it's not completely. It can just be seen as high-quality shoujo that doesn't take itself too seriously. It makes fun of a lot of aspects of the genre (and fangirls ), but it does have its serious moments & character development.