Mangakissa – Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori

When Haruhi searches for a quiet place to study in the halls of her private high school – the library is crowded with social activity – she stumbles onto an elite group of rich students operating a “host club.”  She knows right away that she’s made a huge mistake.  She expected an empty music room when she opened the door, not the most popular group of boys in school.  At Ouran High School, where Haruhi is a scholarship student, “lineage is king, and money is consort.”  Haruhi’s “lineage,” as it were, includes a father who makes his living working at a gay bar, so Haruhi doesn’t quite make the royal court at OHS.  The Ouran High School Host Club turns out to be the collaborative effort of six privileged students who offer their entertainment services – at a price – to the bored, wealthy girls who enjoy the extra attention, which includes fabulous food, drinks, and moderately inappropriate physical contact. 

Haruhi just wants to leave without incident, but the club members like the idea of a “common boy” in the club, as a novelty, of course.  The masculine-attired Haruhi, who is anything but girly, stumbles in her efforts to leave the room, and breaks an inordinately expensive vase that she can’t possibly replace.  Her fate is sealed; the group decides that she can work off the cost of the vase with service as an escort with the host club, under their watchful eyes and guidance.  One hundred requests, or incidents when the female clients ask for Haruhi’s company in particular, is the impossibly high price set on the debt.  Haruhi is not amused but has no choice; so her adventures as a member of the Ouran High School Host Club begin.

The “king” of the club, Tamaki, is quite a drama queen, and takes a romantic interest in Haruhi right away, more so, of course, after the club members discover that Haruhi is, in fact, a girl.  Her secret is safe with them, as they are even more intrigued and entertained by her escapades as a girl masquerading as a boy trying to flirt with girls for money.  This is no ordinary game of flattery, however; the sexual tension runs high and steady between the clients and members, and between certain members of the club, to an alarming degree. 

Twins Hikaru and Kaoru appeal to the paying customers as adorable brothers who love each other perhaps a bit too much, and their “brotherly love,” which includes romantic displays of affection and dramatic concern for each other’s feelings, is a bit creepy and extreme.  The giggling interest the girls have in such behavior is even more disturbing, as they sigh and croon over the boys’ tender intimacies.  None of the other characters seem to find this a problem, and the over-the-top drama that surrounds the club in general makes the strange in this case just part of the larger dysfunctional picture.  These kids have no fear, no shame, and often, no manners with each other, propelled by a weird insanity that is ludicrously attractive.

While Bisco Hatori’s manga is disturbingly funny, the anime is over the top.  Watching the characters enact the hilarious situations so quickly, which is an anime staple, is a riot with this storyline.  Hyperactive teen sexual tension, with charming quips along the lines of “you spread your love around like cheap margarine!” and “you’re just a mushy oaf!” makes for nonstop laughter.  This may be rated Teen but the appeal has no age limit.