Ouran High School host club #1

Last year Ian and I watched the anime series Ouran High School Host Club. Having enjoyed the series I decided to go back to the source and read the manga by Bisco Hatori. Volume One introduces most of the major characters and sets up the comedy. It begins with Haruhi looking for a place to study and stumbling onto the Host Club held in Music Room Three. There's just one slight problem: they all think she's a he and after she accidentally breaks an expensive vase she has to spend the rest of her school career repaying the debt by acting as one of their hosts. One thing that differs with the manga from the anime is that Haruhi's choice of outfit is more quickly established, as well as her unusual home life. I think it works better in the anime to have the full reason revealed well after Haruhi as a member of the Host Club is established. It turns "cross-dressing is funny" into "it's good to be yourself." The anime condenses things down so that the jokes hit quickly. Volume one is so busy setting up the situation that it doesn't let any of the jokes linger either. Unfortunately volume two had some pacing issues which I will address in that review.

The boy who wanted to play piano, the underground water park and some other stuff. It was good but I'm not sure I want to keep reading. It's a shame because I loved the anime.

Screaming and crying and laughing at the same time, this is one of my favourite manga of all time!! Just the storyline and the characters who are silly yet has their own personal growth too (I'm talking about the manga as a whole!), and how forward-thinking the story is too. Particularly in this volume I love how stupid and late Tamaki is finding out that Haruhi is actually a girl...... (lovingly) stupid Tamaki

A fun series with great characters. I like how the main girl isn't your typical heroine.

First one is ruff. The art feels rushed and inconsistent. The twins looked like totally new characters every other page. But the story was light fluffy and made me giggle.

cute!

The manga made me remember why I love anime so much! It was such a fun time to read this manga and it gave me a break from the other books in my tbr. Haruri is such a contrasting character in comparison with the boys in the club and their antics. I would really recommend giving this manga a chance if you want to read something fun betwin other reading or was a fan of the anime.

I picked up this manga because I found the tiktok edits hilarious. It’s a cute and funny story about rich kids with far too much time on hand, and perfectly over the top to make it a fun and light-hearted read. I’m definitely going to keep this one on the list to read in between some heavier manga and books!

Reread:09/01/21 I’m doing a reread after 10 years wow! I must say that the anime has spoiled me, because I keep expecting certain things to happen a way and when it different I get a little confused! I think my favorite part is reading the Itachin twins 👯‍♂️ been instigators or the totally random things Tamaki does like calling himself father and then calling Kyoya “Mother” and Kyoya completely playing along with his antics. I think after I while Kyoya is still my type 🤷🏻‍♀️ what can I say I like an angsty troubled man 😆🥲

Reread: 09/13/21 I feel that it’s finally picking up, there is just so much happening on this volume that in a beginning I felt a bit overwhelmed. The Japanese Garden Tea, the medical exams, the fight, the elementary kid, and the water resort. That it’s a lot! I think my favorite part is that we see Haruhi showing interest on a boy for the first time is so exciting and sweet! I’m picking up the 3 volume ASAP!

Reread: 09/19/21 Funny this one has one of my least favorite chapters. I dislike when they do Alice in Wonderland retellings… not sure why it annoys me so much. Other than this book was really funny. I also realize that since I’m Team Tamaki! I get a bit bored if I see very little development on the romance part on the story. It’s crazy how we change with time :’( This volume also has the Love Egoist one shot… but I haven’t read it. I might start the next tomorrow.

Reread: 09/25/21 This volume has 3 stories, but I could only remember 2; the one with the summer pensione and the one with the Nekosawa Princess. By far one of my favorites, we are starting to see more of the character’s personalities and intentions and those are some of my favorites parts in a story it gives it more depth. We are also seeing Haruhi paying more attention to what other characters are felling, because let’s face it she is soooo clueless. My favorites story is definitely the last half of the summer pensione. I’m a Tamaki stand and I loved the way he handled everything 😍 Also I’m no really a fan of the Egoistic Love side stories so I really appreciated that we get a bonus chapter about Mori-Senpai.

I accidentally hit this one rather than the first part but THIS IS MY FAVORITE SERIES OF MANGA EVER. I absolutely adored both the manga and the anime, and found that I prefer the manga just because it was more in depth with more moments between the characters and included a kick-ass ending that we never see in the anime. This is a good choice to read since the anime can seem over the top at times and I definitely love going back to the beginning to see the beautiful art style. I recommend this for everyone!!!

⭐⭐⭐/5 Bookstagram After watching the anime of Ouran High School Host Club I was very much so excited to get into the manga. While the first book was very entertaining, introducing the characters, and starting to set up the plot - I had found it lacking. So when coming into Volume 2, I had expected a little bit more. Specifically: consistency with the illustrations, a set plot and more character development. While Volume 2 of Ouran High School Host Club was not awful and has its own strengths - it still had many faults and weaknesses. The first one - which I pointed out in my Volume 1 review - is to much going on in each panel. I never really knew where to start reading and where to end reading. The flow between each of the panels is very choppy and confusing sometimes. I understand wanting to get in as much dialogue as possible - however the point of manga is to let the panels speak for themselves, the dialogue is just support (not the main feature). The second weakness, that I also found from Volume 1, is the inconsistency of the character illustrations. The manga author is still trying to get her foot steady on what she wants her characters to look like. While I am understanding that it is hard to stick to a character style - it is important that each character be distinct in their own ways and I find that the characters are not only lacking diversity but they are also lacking in physical consistency. The characters that I felt became more developed within Volume 2 would have to be the twins. They, I believe, were the only ones that grew throughout the manga. It is strange that our main character Haruhi has not gotten much character development as of yet - especially since she is the "main" show. Another large issue is that Volume 2 lacked any plot. It was more for content rather than pushing the plot along. I will admit there were many hilarious scenes and I enjoyed the antics of all the characters. However, just like any book or manga, plot is the key to everything. Plot is what moves the readers and what controls the characters. Without plot, well than there would be no book and in this case Volume 2 was almost like a bunch of random cut scenes that were just laying around and the author felt she needed to make them into a manga. While I was very disappointed with Volume 2, I do plan on continuing with the manga. I absolutely loved the anime and I am still hoping the manga will get better as each volume goes on. I understand that it is only the second volume. So with that, hopefully the plot will be more pronounced in Volume 3 and that the characters - specifically Haruhi - will have much more development in their personality and consistency in their physical traits.

⭐⭐⭐.5/5 Stars I am always in the market for a good manga and what better manga than the classic romantic comic Ouran High School Host Club . I have watched the anime before I read the manga, so this review might be biased. I loved LOVED the anime and found it to be so cute and would just make me smile every time I would put it on. I loved all the characters and their different personalities - that being said I wanted to give the manga a go as well. The main thing that brought the rating down for me, from a 4-5 star, was two things. The first was that there was so much information, speech bubbles, and random tidbits in each of the tiny boxes. Now, because this is the first volume, I sort of understand. However, as a reader, it was very overwhelming and half the time I did not know where to look. It also felt like the illustrations did not flow properly - thus it felt like we were missing scenes. The second issue I found was that, for half of the manga, the character illustrations were inconsistent. As if the manga artist was still trying to get her foot leveled with how she wanted each of the characters to look and act. There also was not much diversity in personality between the Ouran Host Clubs members - besides Haruhi (who was a girl and had a very nonchalant attitude). However, there was a start of illustration consistency in the second half of the manga. Moving on to what I absolutely love. Tamaki - oh god how I love Tamaki (the president of the host club). He honestly was the main reason why I wanted to pick up the manga. I absolutely loved his reactions to Haruhi being a girl - even though she never said she wasn't a girl - and his need to protect her "innocence". He is almost like a jealous lover but also a weird father figure to her. I am excited to see where the next volumes go and hope that there will be more diversity in male characters, as well as a distinction in their physical features! XOXO Kat (ACOURTOFBOOKSANDCOFFEE)