TwiddleGeek

I was a bit iffy about starting this one, but so far so good. A hard working student gets a scholarship into a rich, pretentious high school. Said hard working student breaks $70K vase after stumbling onto a male host service club. Hard working student is forced to join club to work off debt. But the hard working student, is a girl.

It may not sound that great from the summary but it actually is pretty dang funny. There’s good visual puns, lavish visual style in general, and it doesn’t take itself various seriously at all. I was hooked from the moment Tamaki proudly announces that he will try the commoner’s “instant coffee”, which meets with shock and applause from curious onlookers. A girl in guys clothes? Making fun of rich people? Sounds like fun.

It’s time for a dance party. There may have been a reason why in there somewhere, but I can’t really think of what it was aside from the sakura trees blooming or something. Anyway, they’re all rich and have a lot of time on their hands, so dance party. It’s really somewhat of an uneventful story centered around two miscellaneous characters, but it reinforces that the club members are good guys.

Honestly much of the episode just seems to be an excuse to show off detailed sakura trees and ballroom scenes. It’s pretty, sure, but it’s a bit much at times too. I think the actual plot of the episode takes a back seat to the visuals. There’s some pretty good puns thrown in though, so it’s not all that bad.

Another paper thin plotline, but it’s enough for some silly antics from the Host Club. A physical examination is coming up, and Haruhi’s secret is about to be discovered. Haruhi herself is rather indifferent to the whole thing, but the boys have decided they want to keep her around. A plan is quickly put into action, mainly resulting in a lot of visual puns. There’s a good deal of charm in this ep, and I think that’s really what carries the show and keeps me watching.

When a rich dating-sim obsessed girl in France sees a picture of Kyoya from her father, she immediately flies out to the academy to marry the man of her dreams. Unfortunately for Kyoya, he merely resembles the girl’s favorite character who also wears glasses. Not one to be easily swayed by reality however, the girl announces herself the manager of the Host Club, and puts some drastic changes into place.

Giving each of the guys (and Haruhi) a personality makeover, she flies a Hollywood film crew to make a movie featuring each of their new personas. Tensions run high as the boys go against their natural personalities, but Tamaki is engrossed in his role as the lonely idol, so the guys bear with it. A rather random, but quite amusing episode all around.