Everything in this post is based on my personal opinion

#RomanticSenpai

#Romance2025Catalog

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Over the past few years I haven’t been watching anime as much as I used to, however, back when I binged it daily the genre I gravitated towards the most was romance. Now that I look back at it though, most of them have escaped my memory and turned into one big blur. I am in no way saying that they are not good or not enjoyable, only that they have a lot in common and share very similar storylines – what I mean by that is, if you asked me now, a few years after watching them, to briefly summarise the story, not ing all of the details, I would probably tell you the exact same thing for all of them.

But when thinking of which ones stood out to me, the first that came to mind, that I’ve also rewatched recently, was Ouran High School Host Club. An odd choice for sure, may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is an anime that has a very special place in my heart, not only because it was one of the first ones I’ve ever seen but there’s also something about it that makes me quite literally laugh out laud no matter now many times I watch it or how cringey some moments are. Some jokes are outdated and rightfully deserving of its criticisms, nevertheless, I think we can agree that it is a classic that surely deserves to be mentioned in this romance themed catalog event. In addition, beside all of the funny and light hearted parts of the show, I believe there are some really important messages hidden in it that you can easily miss.

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!SPOILER ALERT!

I will only be covering the anime portion of this story. I don’t think there are many things to spoil about it but if you have not watched it and don’t want to know what happens, tread carefully.

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“Only those with excellent social standing and those from filthy rich families are lucky enough to spend their time at the elite private school, Ouran Academy. The Ouran Host Club is where the school’s handsomest boys, with too much time on their hands, entertain young ladies who also have too much time on their hands. Just think of it as Ourans Academy’s elegant playground for the super-rich and beautiful.” – Tamaki Suoh

This quote itself explains enough about what kind of place Ouran Academy is and what kind of students attend it, to be fair I’d say that just them having a host club says enough about it. However, Haruhi Fujioka is not one of the filthy rich but, as they refer to her, a commoner. The story revolves around our studious protagonist who enrolled into the school via scholarship, hence her main goal being to keep up her grades. One day, while looking for a quiet place to study, she stumbles across, what she is assuming is, an empty music room. Much to her surprise, she is greeted by a group of six male students that are calling themselves a host club?!

Obviously freaked out, she accidentally knocks over and destroys a very expensive vase, which she cannot repay. Mistaking her for a boy, the Host Club – Tamaki Suoh, Kyoya Ootori, Kaoru and Hikaru Hitachiin, Mitsukuni Haninozuka and Takashi Morinozuka – come up with the perfect solution: working off her debt as the club’s “dog”! or better said errand boy. They eventually realize that she is in fact not a boy, but being such a natural at the job, the club’s clients don’t, so she becomes a permanent host, ing in on their countless extravagant adventures and themes.

Even though this anime is represented as a reverse harem, I don’t necessarily see a romantic bond or attraction between Haruhi and every member. Regardless there is no denying that while being in the host club she does develop a relationship with each.

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KISS KISS, FALL IN LOVE!

Of course I cannot start this blog off without mentioning the opening song - Sakura kiss by Chieko Kawabe ]. If there’s one opinion I will defend to no end is that this is arguably one of the cutest, catchiest and most iconic opening songs of all time. Even if you had not seen the anime itself, I’m sure you must have heard this one. I personally would argue that when it comes to Ouran’s opening and ending song, the English versions are even better than the originals, I just personally find them catchier. But despite of that when it comes to the meaning behind it (purely on my interpretation of the songs), I would have to give the win to the shows ending song. While the opening is catchy it only addresses the reverse harem portion of the story, as we hear, presumably Haruhi, say that someone’s making her crazy, which I would guess falls on the boys of the Host Club, when she then proceeds to wonder if maybe this is her romance and if she would end up falling in love with one of them and at the end deciding to focus on the present instead of worrying about the future.

Meanwhile I believe that the ending song - Shissou by Last Alliance ], reflects much more on the journeys that each of the have taken while becoming a part of the host club (that I will also explain later on). It talks about an individual struggling through the pain and hardships in life wondering if there is a goal to reach, fallowed by them realizing that despite the ever lasting weakness, it is time to leave it behind and fallow their dreams by embracing themselves and believing in who they are right here and now together instead of alone. All of that, combined with the nostalgic sounding melody honestly makes me almost tear up listening to it.

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The Usa-chan Conundrum

In todays world of judgement and expectations on who you should be or how you should act, it’s really hard to stay true to yourself. Have you ever caught yourself doing something you didn’t want to, just because someone else wanted you to? Or acted a certain way to be accepted by other people and not stand out? I don’t think there’s anyone out there who hasn’t. Mitsukuni is no exception to that, as the next head of his family, which prides itself with their fighting and strength, he was expected to be strong and manly. Even more so since his outer appearance was quite the opposite: tiny and adorable. That’s why he spent years training and working hard to suppress his love for cute things and sweets, things that would make him seem weak. Yet once he met Tamaki, he was surprised to find out that he did not believe that hiding your true self was the solution. Quite the opposite actually, he encouraged him to the Host Club and use the things that make him who he is.

“To just be yourself, I believe that’s what true strength really is.” – Tamaki Suoh

Confused by his words Mitsukuni turned to his father for advice, which only made him realize that Tamakis words really were true. As he embraced who he really is, his cute and cake loving nature made him even more popular. Keeping true to himself made him happy, which is what is really important because being yourself means liking who you are and living life the way you want to live it.

We can also see his love of cute things reflects on his feelings towards Haruhi, since it’s almost as if he finds her to be another cute thing. Even so I don’t believe he ever displays any romantic feeling towards her. I’d say it is more so a big brotherly love, but there is no doubt that she is very dear to him, and she herself also loves and appreciates him for being the sweet person he is.

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The Silent Effect

Of course it wouldn’t be a reverse harem anime without that one “strong-silent” type character. In this case that would be Takashi. Honestly I was a bit disappointed when they didn’t give him any deep background story like they did for the others (maybe there’s something more in the manga, but not that I know of), in fact they gave him none at all. I guess it really pushes on that strong and SILENT. He is rarely seen without his cousin and friend Mitsukuni which also seems to be a big part in his popularity and the reason he ed the club. Even in the show they refer to Mitsukuni as “the lovely item” that gives him his charm, which is true since his sweet nature makes him look tought yet gentle and in fact, I don’t recall him ever interacting with a girl in the host club without his friend at his side.

However, I do believe he is popular with his friends for being kind and caring, which we can see in quite a few occasions, such as taking care of Mitsukuni when he got a cavity (and all the time to be honest) or helping out a guy who asked him for advice on how to be as popular as him.

Even thought it’s not made clear, I also do believe that he might have a soft spot for Haruhi, as we see him smile at her and come to her aid a few times in the show, which for him is quite unusual. In spite of that, he remains a mystery but maybe that is the message his character was suppose to share, that you don’t have to be the most talkative and outgoing person for people to except you for who you are, which again ties him to Mitsukuni, who’s story has quite a similar essence.

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The Twin Bifurcation

I’m sure everyone has sometimes felt misunderstood and isolated, like they don’t belong or don’t fit in with their peers. Perhaps like you can’t fully trust the people around you. Such were the feelings of the Hitachiin twins. Being completely identical, as children their family maid, the only person they liked and trusted, told them no one will ever be able to tell them apart as she broke their promise, which I think Hikaru and Kaoru took upon as a mantra for the future, believing that the people who can’t tell them apart can’t be trusted, which was basically everyone.

The pain of that realization kept them isolated, as they refused to hang with anyone and honestly I don’t blame them. If I was in their shoes, I wouldn’t want to hang out with someone who claims to care about me, yet doesn’t even try to learn what makes me different from my identical twin. As the others mentioned before, they too were rightfully shocked when Tamaki approached them and asked them to his Host Club, agreeing they would if he could win the “guess which one is Hikaru game” in a month. After persistent trying and being ridiculed by them, Tamaki got only a lucky guess once, however, to their surprise he was the only one who saw the sadness of constant disappointment behind their eyes from no one ever winning the game. I feel that was ultimately why they decided to give the Host Club a try, not knowing it would open a whole new world to them.

“If it wasn’t for Tamaki, then the two of us would still only be lost souls” – Hikaru Hitachiin

It just goes to show that no matter how many times we may get hurt, you should not cut yourself off from everyone. Perhaps the right people are still waiting for you and by not giving them a chance you might just miss them. As it turns out, not only had the Host Club introduced them to a bunch of girls who were obsessed with their “brotherly love act”, which quite frankly I think is a bit disturbing, it was also the first time they made real friends with the rest of the guys and especially Haruhi who turned out to be the first person who could finally tell them apart with ease.

It is pretty clearly shown that behind all of the teasing, by spending a lot of time with her as her classmates they both developed romantic feelings for her as well. We can see as time es that Kaour, the younger of the two, yet seemingly more level headed, even starts realizing that their co-dependency will eventually have to come to an end someday, which I believe must be a hard pill to swallow, especially with them both liking the same girl. Nonetheless I do think that at some instances, like the time when Hikaru and Haruhi go on a date arranged by Kaoru, we can see him slightly stepping away from his own feelings for the happiness of his brother, setting Hikaru up to be one of Haruhi’s main romance interests.

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The Patriarch Alternative

Pressure. A hard burden for anyone facing it, especially if it’s coming from someone close to you like your own family. Pressure of ri to their expectations and not disappointing them. Can’t even imagine how much harder it must be for someone like Kyoya, who used to work extremely hard to meet his fathers and everyone else’s high standards in order to be considered as the next family patriarch, but at the same time also knowing that goal is practically unachievable as he was only the third son of the family, feeling like he was stuck inside a picture, not being able to go outside it's frame. Even so he was determined to exceed his father’s expectations, without stepping on the toes of his brothers.

He was confident that he had the ability to see through other people’s facades, but that they could never see through his, little did he know that, the new transfer student at the time, Tamaki, would prove him wrong. With his whimsically crazy yet slightly dumb nature, no matter how hard he tried he could not wrap his head around him or what he’s thinking and for that he hated him. He hated him for being his family’s successor, yet acting so casual and nonchalantly about it, claiming he didn’t care about it, while Kyoya himself had been working his whole life for it and never been enough. But it ultimately turned out that Tamaki’s cluelessness was the thing that set him straight, by pointing out the very obvious:

“If you really want to sur your brothers then you can do it. But I think the one who’s given up here, is you Kyoya” –Tamaki Suoh

We are our biggest obstacles and toughest judges and by giving up, the ones that we are truly disappointing, is ourselves and that’s who we should be trying our best for. That’s how Tamaki and Kyoya became genuine friends as he finds merit in Tamaki’s openness, vulnerability and lust for life. Eventually forming the host club together which leads to him becoming more rational as he handles the clubs financial and planning aspects, later even preventing a hostile take-over of his father’s company by buying it himself and anonymously throwing it back at his face, proving that he can make it himself, releasing him from his wish for father’s approval - finally stepling outside the frame

Kyoya was also the first one to figure out that Haruhi was not a boy as they thought, and with time they can often be seen standing on the sidelines observing or commenting on the rest of the crazy group, as they are arguably the intellectuals of the bunch. And while I do see a potential romantic relationship between them, due to them being quite similar in character (and I would personally love to see it), that is never disclosed and I doubt it ever would be due to his best friend having obvious feelings for her.

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The Love Turbulence

To look at the world through rose colored glasses may seem tougher than it is, since it’s easier to focus on the bad things rather than to look for the good in them. That is something that Tamaki has no problem with, which in my opinion makes him the most important character in the story. Not only do I think he’s the funniest and cutest, he is also clearly a glue that brought this group of such different people together as a Host Club, showing them all a new way of life. With his obvious enormous crush on Haruhi, which he does not realize himself, he turns the club into a kind of family.

However, his perfect house is destroyed as an offer by Éclair Tonnerre, a French girl that is an heir of a very important group, is made for him to marry her and in return getting to see his mother than he had to abandon when he came to Japan. With his strict grandmother persisting on this (his absolute mop of a father not doing anything) and thinking that all of his friends are annoyed by the club he disbands the Host Club and leaves with her for

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The act of depending purely on oneself and no one else can be a hard thing, that requires a lot of strength. At the same time focussing only on yourself can be quite tedious too, you’ve got to have a little fun and do something crazy once in a while. I think that is the main thing Haruhi learned while being a part of the Host Club. With her mom dying while she was still very little, which is probably a big reason on why she is not as financially well off, Haruhi had to work very hard to achieve her goals. In this case that being studying really hard and getting a scholarship to Ouran High School. That would explain why as she initially s the host club she sees it as a bother, a waste of her time, that could be used studying to keep her grades up, and the other of the club annoying as they do not have to try hard to achieve anything.

But we can see as the story progresses her bonding and growing fond of her new found friends: Tamaki’s extravagant ideas and over the top personality, Kyoya’s intelligent observations, Hikaru’s and Kaoru’s teasing, Mitsukuni’s love for cake and Takashi’s silent presence. We can see her realizes that she does not have to do everything on her own and can also spend time having fun and by the time of the last episode, she is shocked to find out that her debt to the club, had been officially paid off.

"What good are dreams, if all you do is work? There's more to life than hitting the books, I hope you know." - Tamaki Suoh

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As the of the Host club go after Tamaki, after a few obstacles Haruhi finds herself standing alone, her dads words echoing in her head telling her to be brave, as she gets onto a carriage by herself determined to bring him back. Catching up to him she finally realizes how she feels:

they all love being a part of the host club, they really do. Even her, she loves being a part of the Host club too.

And that is all Tamaki needs to hear to know that is where he belongs. He jumps after her and together they fall into the river under the bridge.

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