Ouran High School DVD 1 Release!

Ouran High School Host Club

Studio: Bones
Genre: comedy, drama, romance, slice of life


Ouran High School. An institution of extravagance and prestige where learning is secondary to luxury.

Bookish Haruhi can't afford to slack, being on a scholarship and out of place among the moneyed. No matter… The Host Club is now open! A group of handsome boys dedicated to selling their charms to their bored female classmates, Haruhi is suddenly in debt to the club after breakingan expensive vase in their lair. The only way to pay for the damage? Haruhi will work as a Host! The only problem? Haruhi is a she! Between the wildly inflated ego of the expert escorts and the potential calamities of constant cross dressing, Haruhi's freshman year looks like it will be one to remember. - description from DVD cover



Imagine my surprise and delight when I received my pre-ordered Ouron High School Host Club DVD release a week early! A charming comedy with a touch of parody, this show is an absolute delight to watch. While never taking itself too seriously, it leaves no stone unturned in serving up common anime themes and characters in all their ridiculous glory. The Host Club itself is made up of beautiful bishie boys, each a prime example of a specific type, so there is something here for everyone to love. Tamaki as the charming, if clumsy, prince-type, or if you like, Honey-sempai as the super cute lolli-shota with his sidekick Mori a tough-guy type. I'm not a big fan of Yaoi but the parody of too-close-for-comfort Hitachiin twins is absolutely hilarious. These boys are the Host club, dedicated to serving the rich young women in their school. Fulfilling their desire for a handsome young man who will do anything to make them happy. Needless to say, they could all use a good reality check, and that comes in the form of the newest member of the Host Club, Haruhi Fujioka. Being a "commoner" in the midst of this group of priviledged youth leads to some funny situations and the running gag on the upper classes inability to understand the feelings of the working class adds to the humor and pathos of the storyline.

Visually the anime is very well drawn. The color palette is lovely. Soft pinks, blues, reds and purples along with the requisite uber-romantic falling cherry blossoms allows the animation to sparkle and shine, and creates an atmosphere of fantasy romance and beauty. The character designs are also very pleasing and expressive.

The english dub for this anime is excellent. Many BONES Studio alumni are reunited in this cast. Caitlin Glass, who we previously loved as Winry in FMA, plays the main character of Haruhi. Her voice is deep enough to be believably mistaken for a young teenage boy but her girlish glee still shines through, particularly when teasing or laughing at Tamaki. Tamaki is played by anime convention superstar Vic Mignona who does his usual stellar work with this over-the-top character. The only complaint I have is about the opening and closing songs, they were dubbed with english voices, and while the lyrics are well translated the voices are not so great. The opening number hits a few sour notes in it's attempt to imitate the j-pop buoyancy of the original song, and the closing number suffers from an unfortunate echo effect that is very distracting.

BONES studio has given us another wonderful title in Ouran High School Host Club. The studio that gave us Cowboy Bebop, Full-Metal Alchemist and Kurau Phantom Memory treads sparkling, crisp, cool waters here. The only disappointment being we have no word yet as to when the second dvd release will be. We look forward to it and hope beyond hope that BONES will consider making a season two.

My Final grade:

Animation: A
Story: A
Voice: A- (only because they gave my favorite VA a small part - Travis Willingham rules!)

Total: A