Ouran High School Host Club

Ouran High School Host Club (桜蘭高校ホスト部（クラブ）) is a manga series by Bisco Hatori, serialized in Hakusensha's LaLa magazine since August 5 2003. The series follows Haruhi Fujioka, a scholar student at Ouran High School, and the other members of the titular host club. The screwball romantic comedy focuses on the relationships within and without the Club and satirizes the clichés and stereotypes that endure in series aimed at girls. The manga has been adapted into a series of audio dramas, an animated television series directed by Takuya Igarashi and produced by Bones, and a visual novel by Idea Factory.

Plot
Haruhi Fujioka is a scholarship student at Ouran High School, a fictional school located in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Because of the superlative cost of the school uniform, Haruhi resorts to wearing long slacks, polo shirts and vests. Combined with her large glasses and tousled short hair, Haruhi's look causes her to be confused for a boy.

Looking for a quiet place to study, Haruhi stumbles upon the Third Music Room, the working place of the Ouran Host Club, a group of six attractive male students (Takashi "Mori", Mitsukuni "Hunny", Kaoru and Hikaru, Tamaki, and Kyouya) who spend their time charming and entertaining the school's girls for profit. During their first meeting, Haruhi accidentally knocks over and break a vase valued at ¥8,000,000, estimated to be US$80,000.

In order to pay off the large debt, Haruhi is employed as the club's "dog" and constantly ordered to do menial tasks like serving food or cleaning up. The Club president, without knowing she is really a girl, promotes Haruhi to "host" as soon as he discovers her potential. Even after the truth comes out in the Club, Haruhi continues the charade and is allowed to pay off the rest of her debt working as a host; in order to accomplish this, Haruhi conceals her true identity/gender from the customers.

Clubs
The Ouran Private Academy encompasses kindergarten to twelfth grade. Most students come from wealthy families but, in rare occasions, special scholarships are granted to students from a lower income bracket. The school's unofficial motto is "Lineage counts first, wealth a close second," meaning students with stellar family backgrounds are given top priority over those from rich families but low social status.

Host Club
Tamaki thought up the Host Club while in eighth grade and started it upon entering the Ouran High School. The members of the club include:


 * Tamaki Suoh: The president or "King" of the Host club. He is a very silly character with an obsession for the "commoner's lifestyle". Tamaki tends to be over-dramatic and yet a very kind empathetic person.  He can be very serious when the situation calls for it. He considers the Host Club to be a family and named himself father and Kyouya as the mother. His father is the chairman of Ouran High School and his family is probably the wealthiest in Japan. His mother was forced to leave him so he could be recognized as the son of the Suoh family. Tamaki is half-French. He later discovers he possesses feelings for Haruhi that he is unable to decipher.


 * Kyouya Ootori: The Vice President and "Shadow King". He is behind most of the Host Club schemes and the other club members tend to go along with whatever Kyouya says. He is a third son and has spent his whole life honoring his family name and yet yielding his true abilities as to not overshadow his brothers.


 * Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin: Twin Brothers who used to reject others. Only recently after they joined the Host Club did they start to open up and allow other people into their world. They are the same age as Haruhi and are in her class, and so have a special bond with her; Haruhi is the first and only person who is able to tell the twins apart.  They enjoy playing "games" and tricks on classmates, especially Tamaki. The twins later on discovers that, they too, harbor feelings for Haruhi. But the question remains, there is only one Haruhi, so who shall win her heart?


 * Mitsukuni Haninozuka: Also known as "Hunny" or "Honey," he is the cutesy shota character — he looks like an elementary school student rather than a high school student. Hunny is obsessed with sweets and cute things. He is very smart despite his looks and is usually found with Mori who is his cousinand a very upbeat character. Honey comes from a family known for their martial art abilities.


 * Takashi Morinozuka: Also known as "Mori". The tall, stoic character. Mori dedicates his life to Hunny by protecting him and an angry Mori is only seen when Hunny is injured or hurt.  His character for the most part is very silent and only speaks occasionally. Mori's family has served Honey's family for years, until a marriage two generations ago — Mori and Honey are cousins.


 * Haruhi Fujioka: Haruhi is the heroine of the story. She comes from a very poor family, but is very intelligent and so she is a scholarship student at Ouran.  Her mother died when she was very young and so her cross-dressing father raises her on his own.  She is an apathetic heroine who has no interest in pretty and flashy things, sweet food, or bunnies.  The members of the Host Club all have a sort of weakness for her and absolutely adore her. Haruhi appears as if she cares not about the host club member's feelings. However, she actually studies each and every one of them individually. The twins begin to realize that Haruhi appears to care more about Tamaki than she seems to demonstrate. Thus, trouble in the host club paradise arises.

The members of the Host Club are highest ranking students at the school. At Ouran High School, class is determined by lineage and intelligence ("A" is the highest class and "D" the lowest usually consisting of the kids of Yakuza leaders). All the members are in class A and tend to be number one or two in their class coming from the wealthiest families in Japan with the exception of the twins and Haruhi. The twins are ranked fourth and fifth in their class and Haruhi is a scholarship student receiving the special privilege of being in class A due to her scholarship status (she is ranked number one in her year).

Customers have the freedom to choose which host will entertain them, playing to their specific needs and interests. Most of the members in the Host Club strikingly resemble the characters from Bisco Hatori's other shōjo manga, Millennium Snow. The Third Music Room has been outfitted by the Club to accommodate their business and, sometimes, it has a specific theme, ranging from a tropical paradise to a traditional picnic, to heighten the customers' pleasure and keep things interesting.

Black Magic Club
The Dark Magic Club is led by Umehito Nekozawa, a third year student. The club members seem to spend most of their time in a dimly-lit room poring over witchcraft paraphernalia, but the Club President insists they are performing a Black Mass. Each member wears a black coat and is provided their own free Beelzenef cat-puppet.

In the television series, Nekozawa is the only member shown and it is unknown if he managed to recruit anyone into his club. However, it is shown in the manga (volume 10) that there are four other members, including Reiko Kanazuki, who seems to have developed a crush on Mitsukuni Haninozuka.

Newspaper Club
The Newspaper Club is made up by its Chairman Akira Komatsuzawa, Chikage Ukyo and Tomochika Sakyo. The Club strives to be more popular than the Host Club, but their newsletter is a sensational, gossip-filled tabloid no one bothers to read.

Zuka Club
The White Lily Group, otherwise known as the Zuka Club (ズカ部) in honor of the Takarazuka Revue, is Ouran Host Club's counterpart at St. Lobelia Girls Academy (St. Roberia Girls Academy in the manga). The leading body, composed of third-year student Benio Amakusa "Benibara", second-year student Chizuru Maihara "Suzuran", and first-year student Hinako Tsuwabuki "Hinagiku", have gained idol status at St. Lobelia; Benio, particularly, is the subject of extreme affection from her fellow students, requiring her own student security agents. The group is a strong advocate of female superiority. Besides theatric performances, the club hosts a wide range of activities, such as tea ceremonies and discussion groups.

American Football Club
The American Football Club consists of Captain Takeshi Kuze, Vice-captain Makoto Togoin and Hayato Tarumi. Kuze's family controls the largest domestic share of fruit and vegetable imports. The team is called the Ouran Orage, which rhymes with "orange" and is French for "tempest". The American Football Club only appears in the manga. It is shown that the captain, Takeshi Kuze holds some sort of grudge against Kyouya. The grudge apparently comes from when they were very young, and Kyouya contradicted Kuze's knowledge on the nutritional value of oranges (and their peels). The American Football Club does not appear in the anime version.

Karate Club
Little is known about the Karate Club, besides that Honey was its captain before joining the Host Club in his second year of high school. As captain, Honey was strict and hard on the students in an attempt to purge the cuteness from him. The current captain is Honey's stricter, younger brother Yasuchika Haninozuka.

Visual Arts Club
The only thing known about this club is that their works are featured on the Ouran Gondola.

Gardening Club
This club only comes out in the manga, probably the only thing we know about this club is that "Bossa-nova" is in the club, and is constantly growing crops for Haruhi.

Classical Music Club
Very little is known of this club, apart from the fact that Shirou Takaouji is in it, along with his crush, who is set to move to Germany. The club performs large concert pieces, none of which are actually seen in the anime, but are spoken of. And the club consists mainly of pianists it is shown.

Manga
The Ouran High School Host Club manga started its run on August 5 2003 in Japan in LaLa. So far, the individual chapters have been collected into thirteen tankōbon and continues to run in Japan. As of 2008 it is being released in North America under the license of VIZ Media under their Shojo Beat line, and also in Indonesia in the monthly manga magazine hanalala. It is published in Singapore (in both simplified Chinese and English) by Chuang Yi. Included in some of the volumes is the series Romantic Egoist.

Audio dramas
The audio dramas were released from 2003. There are three drama CD releases, as well as two tracks included in LaLa magazine's twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth anniversary CDs. No English translation is available.

Anime
The animated television series premiered April 5 2006 on Japan's NTV network. The series was directed by Takuya Igarashi and written by Yōji Enokido (Revolutionary Girl Utena, The Melody of Oblivion), while the character designer and chief animation director for the series was Kumiko Takahashi (Cardcaptor Sakura). It also features a different cast from the audio dramas, with Maaya Sakamoto starring as Haruhi Fujioka and Mamoru Miyano portraying Tamaki Suou. Ouran High School Host Club finished its run on September 26 2006, totaling to twenty-six episodes. The series is licensed for distribution in North America by FUNimation Entertainment, set for release across the region in summer 2008. Caitlin Glass is the director of the series. FUNimation will be announcing two cast members every Friday on their website for the series leading up to the main cast announcement at Anime Expo 2008.

Visual novel
The Ouran Host Club visual novel was released for PlayStation 2 on April 19 2007 by Idea Factory. Based on the television series, the player makes decisions as Haruhi that affect the other hosts feelings toward her. The game features the characters of Jean-Pierre Léo, a long-time French friend of Tamaki, and Sayuri Himemiya, a childhood friend of Haruhi, designed by the series creator. The game has been released exclusively in Japan.