Synopsis:
Haruhi, the female protagonist (who is a common girl from a poor family) enters the grand upper class Ouran High School on a scholarship. One day, lost in the school, she wanders into the high school’s male host club and accidentally knocks over an expensive vase. As a deal to repay her debt, she was recruited to join the host club under the pretence of a male. No one in the school knows her true gender identity except for the members of the host club and there, it all marks the start of this uproarious journey.

Story:
Great – or perhaps, close to perfect. The concept of a host club within a high school setting provides the stage for comedy and looking at children of a higher upbringing from a different perspective.

The creator did a splendid job in mixing and mashing the main characters whom each possesses distinct qualities and traits that complement one another. I found myself loving all 7 members of the host club.

Here, you have a seemingly frivolous narcissistic leader of the host club Tamaki Suoh, backed up by the cold scheming grinning Kyouya Ootori then coupled with the bad-ass entertaining Hitachiin twins (who in some aspects remind me of the Weasley twins from the Harry Potter fame), the quiet, thoughtful Takashi (who remains silent in most part of the manga and yet, you still somehow feel his presence – kudos to the mangaka on this, I wonder how she did it) and finally, the cute devilish Hunny senpai, the oldest of the group who however looks and acts like a six-year old.

Then in comes the innocent down-to-earth female protagonist, Haruhi, the commoner who possesses the endearing character of observing the upper class society with a pinch of salt. What I like about the female protagonist is that she is neither the damsel in distress nor the typical loud and furious heroine that wants to make known her entrance everyone she goes. Instead, she is the thoughtful girl that observes the happenings around her from a quiet perspective and intervenes only at the appropriate time. In a way, her low-profile and good natured demeanour complements that boisterous over-the-top antics of the male members in the host club.

The only reason why I ranked the story “close to perfect” instead of perfect is probably due to the lack of continuity in most chapters. Almost each chapter (at least up to the first 40-ish chapters) has its own story independent of one another and they revolve around the problems of the host club’s guests and how the hosts club helps solve the problems. It kind of shifts the limelight away from the main characters. That said though, they are sufficient to keep you entertained.

Art:
The art is rather flowery, with the dialogues and insertions crammed among the drawings. It got me a while to adjust to it as each chapter has a load of information to absorb – compared to other shoujo titles I have read, each chapter in OHSHC took me a longer time to complete due to the intense amount of dialogues and insertions.

Nevertheless, the art work visibly improves throughout the series and what make the characters attractive are the witty dialogues. The comical aspect is hilarious and at times, I found myself laughing out at the most impromptu moments.

Overall:
Overall, this entertaining manga definitely makes for my favourite top 3 shoujo titles! It sends out a strong positive message about friendship, love ties and learning how to laugh at life while learning it.