I remember watching OHSHC back in approximately 2008. I would have been about 11 years old and my computer was still within the public domain of the home. Me and my brother would crowd around to watch Dragon Ball on Megavideo, having to stop every few episodes for an hour due to the paywall after a certain amount of watch time. But certain shows, like OHSHC were for me alone. I would pause and hide my viewing pleasure if ever a noise suggested familial presence; continuing with my heist of bishounen when the coast was clear.

Oh how exciting reverse harems were back in those days, with OHSHC being my first exposure to the genre. This during a time when anime as a medium felt super saturated with traditional harem anime, and ecchi was not considered as gauche as it is now. It just didn’t cater to my budding homosexual self. I watched enough of it to feel that starkly.

But flip the script and give me a candy coloured coterie of pretty boys all vying for the attention of some dullard and I’ll be there! Yes, I watched much of the reverse harem trash, as desperate as I was for this genre conceit. Now I can’t get bloody get away from it. Villainness reincarnation haunting me in my dreams. It is also hard to get away from pretty boys these days as well, with most anime featuring more than your fair share of potential biases. I don’t look for it and Facebook has me clocked, endlessly sharing with me fan art of Jujutsu Kaisen characters in various seductive posture.

The relatively impoverished landscape of reverse harem anime, in both quantity and quality, is what made OHSHC stick out in my mind. Returning to it nearly 2 decades later, I can see why.

A general plot summary would be that a non-binary pragmatic diva became a debt slave to a band of high twinks. She acts as their deadpan frontman, swept along into flamboyant high jinks and rivalries with sapphic Thespians. Haruhi is the apple of many eyes, her kiss to be protected or stolen away.

Ouran Academy being the setting also adds the thematic lacquer of socioeconomic class – the additional joke being just how out of touch with reality these baby aristocrats are with the average person. The commoner. Marie Antoinette and her comments about cake eating would be at home there. Tamaki and his club are the dandies of the school: refined, leisurely and always willing to entertain.

The story and setting is multifaceted and weaves light melodrama with hefty comedic flare. There are some (relative) duds in the 26 episode run time, but most are a delightful, breezy watch. I still think it looks great, and there is enough done in the translation from manga to anime to justify consumption of the story in both mediums. Jokes are snappy, not overplayed and always come with the animation to sell it.

OHSHC is a classic, and at this point a relic of early 2000s anime. The next part of this piece will be a reply, of sorts, to some criticism levelled at the show by other reviewers. This is my opinion, and the extent to which people can “get over” certain elements of a show is subjective. But I think bringing it into my review is a good vector for additional commentary from my side.

(1) Honey as male lolita

This one is interesting, purely because the character of Honey is so ridiculous on it’s face as to be obviously nothing but a joke. He’s a “weapon of mass destruction”, while also being a cake obsessed growth stunted stuffed animal carrying 3rd year who acts like a child to elicit moe in the customers of the host club. The juxtaposition between him and Takashi, both 3rd years, being an additional layer to the joke. OHSHC even comments on this in one of the final episodes; he’s the “lovely object” that softens Takashi’s appearance to others. So yea, it is weird, but then anime is quite often weird. Honey is a character that is comedic without having to do much apart from stand next to the towering behemoth of Takashi. I would consider that a successful character for a comedy anime. I am primarily responding to holdenreklaw here, who goes on to say “there is certainly an argument to be made about how it sexualises infancy, but I just don’t have the mental strength to initiate a discussion”. I would say the reason this argument would require much strength at all is because you’d have to bend the source material to excruciating angles to elicit any reading of “sexualisation” from it.

(2) Twincest

This I get a lot more, and while I don’t think it is ever truly implied that they ACTUALLY fuck, the whole sleeping in the same bed thing is… a choice. BUT, it’s anime and it’s weird. I really don’t think the defense needs to go much further than that. If incest being played as a joke is a step too far, then I wouldn’t recommend OHSHC.

(3) Haruhi Me Too’d

Yes, this is a weird moment in the show (because of the incongruence with the show’s general vibe and the nature of the characters) and I think this is one of the weaker, if not the weakest episode. The trope of the barely constrained male checking the individual of their fancy (I’ve seen this in both male/female and male/male romance), by reminding them of their sexual nature is still alive and well as a method of titillation. I personally don’t care for it, but while it is unusual in the context of the show, thematically it follows in the episode. “You’re a woman and you needed to be reminded about the big bad world out there okay?!”. It’s giving turn of the millennium hunnie, that’s so not cool anymore.

(4) Unflattering Queer Representation

I just don’t really agree with this, and especially in the context of the time when this was released. Far newer anime and manga have queer characters displayed merely as gags that hinge on their grossness being hilarious. Both trans women (this isn’t really confirmed, but it seems likely) in the show are certainly played for laughs, but not in a way in which I would consider mean spirited. Apart from maybe a throwaway comment about degeneracy from the twins lol. Both the dad and the B&B owner are a delight when they are on the screen, and the over the top presentation is in line with most of the other characters in the show. I also personally found the 4th wall break of Tamaki denoting the others boys as being the “homosexual supporting cast” and himself the male lead as funny. For 2006 in Anime, A+.

There is also what appears to be a reference to the Nazis in episode 9 which one reviewer on myanimelist found appalling. Detailed in bullet points as jokes that are “insensitive and just wrong”. Our lady loving Thespians channelling fascism in their quest to destroy the host club. It’s a funny image.

If you read the entire review, thanks. If you have thoughts and opinions please share them. Ta ta! x