Ouran High School Host Club: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Ouran High School Host Club: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Shattered expectations await all ye who enter here...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown April 8, 2010

I already had a review of Ouran High School Host Club mapped out in my mind before I even sat down to watch a single episode. After all, I foolishly thought, how could an anime series cursed with garish, hot-pink coverart, a plot synopsis that reads like the back of an adults-only manga, a cast comprised of androgynous, milk-skinned boy toys, and an exceedingly bewildered fanbase (whose members tend to apologize every time they try to explain their love of the show) appeal to someone with my bleak Neo-Tokyo tastes and Akira-born sensibilities? The answer, as I quickly discovered, was simple: by skewering, satirizing, and eviscerating the very subgenre of which I feared I was about to partake. I can say with some confidence that Ouran High School Host Club is not what you think it is. It's smarter, funnier, shrewder, and wonderfully weirder than anything I thought it would be; more versatile and inventive than its box art might suggest; and far more accessible than I dreamed possible. Yes, it took me a good three or four episodes to let go of my preconceived notions, and yes, it took me another three or four episodes to begin admitting how much I was enjoying myself. But once I let go, once I sank in, I couldn't get enough. Before I knew what had happened, I was laughing myself silly, wiping tears out of my eyes, and struggling to explain my newfound love of the series to my reasonably skeptical friends and colleagues.

I know, I know. Shots like this aren't helping my case...

When a young girl named Haruhi Fujioka (voiced by Maaya Sakamoto and English AVR director Caitlin Glass) earns a coveted scholarship to Ouran Academy -- a prestigious prep school for the sons and daughters of Tokyo's wealthy elite -- she inadvertently becomes the newest member of the Host Club, a distinguished group of six savvy high school students who entertain their female classmates... ahem, clients by fulfilling their every shôjo manga fantasy. (For the uninitiated, shôjo is a popular manga genre aimed at teenage girls in which male protagonists are romanticized ad nauseum.) There's Tamaki (Mamoru Miyano and Vic Mignogna), resident blond prince, easily swayed club president, and bumbling buffoon; Kyoya (Masaya Matsukaze and J. Michael Tatum), the club's suave, unruffled vice president, responsible treasurer, and situational strategist; Takashi (Daisuke Kirii and Travis Willingham), a stoic loyalist who tries to keep his dashing brethren grounded; Hikaru and Kaoru (Kenichi Suzumura and Todd Haberkorn, and Yoshinori Fujita and Greg Ayres), excitable twin brothers who share a... shall we say "non-traditional" relationship; and Honey (Ayaka Saito and Luci Christian), a third-year high school student who looks and acts like a wide-eyed child. Haruhi doesn't exactly fit in, but the Host Club sees her short hair and boyish demeanor as a means to fulfill even more shôjo fantasies. Of course, the fact that Tamaki falls in love with her (in spite of her common roots) only helps. Or complicates things, as it were. Ever the level-headed overachiever, Haruhi balks at the club's activities, but soon finds herself warming up to their antics.

If Ouran High School Host Club took itself seriously, even for a second, it would be a truly awful series. However, every quippy exchange, gender-bending misdeed, hyperkinetic misadventure, ludicrous exploit, rosy romantic interlude, and Tokyo-scape getaway is brimming with sharp humor sure to induce rib-cracking laughter in anyone remotely familiar with the oddities and eccentricities that populate the many arenas of anime and manga. Popular cliches are hit with countless jabs before being finished off with devastating uppercuts. Amusing slapstick visuals target beloved genre conventions and animation styles, transforming the whole of the slick-n-sassy series into a hilarious, rapidfire dissection of everything otakus hate to love and love to hate. Ingenious storylines shatter expectations and provide biting commentary on the bizarre fantasy worlds with which anime and manga fans have become accustomed. And yet the series never strikes an unruly or mean-spirited tone, and certainly never insults anyone who braves its boundaries. Like any good parody, it successfully straddles a fine line between self-righteous and self-effacing comedy, all while effectively pandering to two entirely different audiences. While it's sure to entertain shôjo enthusiasts to no end, it'll just as easily entertain those who loathe the source of its humor (as this glowing review of the series hopefully attests). If anything, outsiders like myself will miss out on many of the more subtle gags that litter each episode. (Not that I'm about to rush out and order a stack of shôjo manga just to grasp every last joke.)

That being said, it took me quite a while to find my bearings. If I hadn't had to write a review of the entire series, if I hadn't grasped the driving force of its comedy, I don't know that I would have made it past Ouran High's second episode. Some newcomers will feel as if they've stumbled into a grotesque, ADD-addled nightmare coated in a thick coat of pink paint. Worse, those same flustered newcomers may mistake the series' scattershot pacing and seemingly erratic storylines for lazy, aimless plotting when, in fact, a relatively addictive tale eventually emerges from the flower-petal depths of the Host Club abyss. By the time I slid in the third disc, I genuinely wanted to know if Tamaki and Haruhi would live happily ever after; if the Host Club would survive the attacks of vindictive newspaper editors and the trials of spirit-sapping family drama; if the boys could stick together and prevent the club from disbanding. It isn't a flawless journey, mind you -- some tonal inconsistencies crop up along the way, a few episodes come up short ("Haruhi in Wonderland!" and "The Door the Twins Opened" made me yawn more than laugh), and the number of people who fall for Haruhi is a late-game distraction -- but it soars far more often than it levels out. In the end, I can't tell you how refreshing it was to be surprised by a release. It's rare that a series catches me off guard and even rarer that a comedy manages to leave me in stitches (even after twenty-six episodes). I know most people will hurry past Ouran High School Host Club and never give it the opportunity it deserves, but I hope my humble review can convince someone, anyone, to take a chance and give this madcap anime series a shot.

Ouran High School Host Club: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Alright, shôjo manga satirists: prepare to rub your eyes. Ouran High School Host Club prances onto Blu-ray with a particularly vibrant 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer; one dripping with Tokyo-pop primaries and bursting with bubblegum pastels. Colors are bold, intense, and stable, allowing soft red roses, alluring spring skies, and pink-spattered interior design to make quite an impression. Black levels are nice and inky, and contrast is strong and sprightly as well, regardless of whether Honey is ripping open the club curtains or Nekozawa is skulking about from shadow to shadow. Moreover, Bones' animated medley boasts plenty of satisfying detail and preserves the series' mischievous lineart and slim pen strokes with ease. So why the less than stellar score? Sadly, all is not well at Ouran High. Severe aliasing and noticeable banding often interfere with Tamaki and his cohorts' misadventures, and faint noise will give viewers with larger screens yet another issue to complaint about. Videophiles will grimace every time the boys' hair, eyes, mouths, and fingers fall victim to jagged edges and shimmering lines, and wince whenever empty walls and afternoon horizons are cursed with stair-stepped hues. None of it should dissuade fans from snatching up a copy of The Complete Series -- the Blu-ray edition still handily outclasses the standard DVD -- but it also doesn't amount to the flawless high definition eye-candy Host Club otakus are clamoring for.

Ouran High School Host Club: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Like Gunslinger Girl: Season One, Ouran High School Host Club arrives with a pair of lossless audio tracks: in this case, a capable Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 stereo mix and a comparable and capable English-language TrueHD stereo dub. Obviously, two 5.1 remixes would have been an even greater boon, but I doubt anyone will work up a sweat, especially once they consider the niche appeal of the show and the chatty nature of its episodes. Regardless of which track you choose, dialogue is perfectly clear and intelligible, the series' peppy music rarely has to compete with the actors' voices, prioritization is spot on, and Nobuta's most deranged scenes don't suffer from any serious technical issues. Admittedly, I missed the extra nudge some hearty LFE support would have lent the on-screen madness; the whirlwind directionality that would have given Ouran viewers the opportunity to sink into Tamaki's cheek-flushing misadventures; the immersion that would have enhanced the comedy even further. Still, FUNimation has definitely taken a step in the right direction, and I hope they continue to grant more and more releases dual lossless tracks. I'd much rather settle for a pair of TrueHD stereo mixes than have to choose between a lossless English dub and a lossy Japanese bore.

Ouran High School Host Club: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

FUNimation's 3-disc Blu-ray release of Ouran High School Host Club includes a generous helping of supplemental features, most of which are just as amusing as the series itself. First and foremost, AVR director/voice actress Caitlin Glass delivers six gushing, high-spirited audio commentaries that feature the participation of her co-stars and other special guests. Voice actor Vic Mignogna stops by to discuss "Starting Today You are a Host," ADR script writer/voice actress Monica Rial and J. Michael Tatum join her for "Attack of the Lady Manager," Greg Ayres and Todd Haberkorn tackle "The Twins Fight," Aaron Dismuke and Luci Christian have a blast with "Chika's Down with Honey Declaration," Christopher Sabat and Travis Willingham provide a nice one-two-punch dissection of "Mori-senpai Has an Apprentice Candidate," and Tatum and Mignogna return for "And so Kyoya Met Him." Granted, the commentators toss out countless compliments with abandon, pursue endless tangents, and generally joke their way through the proceedings, but their affection for the series (as well as each other) is so palpable and infectious that their excitable chatter is endearing rather than annoying. While diehard Ouran High fans will obviously get the most out of each one, I couldn't help but enjoy everything Glass and company had on tap.

Disc four also includes a selection of "Ouran High School Host Club Manga Pages Presented by Viz Media," a pair of entertaining voiceover "Outtakes" (HD, 34 minutes), textless versions of the opening and closing songs, "Sakura Kiss" and "Shissou" (HD, 3 minutes), and a small collection of FUNimation series trailers (HD/SD, 8 minutes).

Ouran High School Host Club: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Describing Ouran High School Host Club as "strange" or "bizarre" doesn't do the series' eccentric sensibilities justice. Come to think of it, the English language doesn't even have the sort of adjectives it would take to accurately describe a single episode. Regardless, those who give the boys of Ouran High a legitimate chance -- and hold on tight for at least five episodes before passing judgment -- will thoroughly enjoy the self-referential madness, satirical lunacy, and blazingly inventive comedy stylings of director Yuu Nobuta and his crackerjack writers. I too was skeptical when I first approached the flamboyant series, but I was converted the moment I began to understand precisely what its clever creators were aiming for. While I have no doubt its fanbase will forever remain small and apologetic (its coverart is only the first of many hurdles newcomers will encounter), FUNimation's 3-disc Blu-ray release of The Complete Series should at least give its faithful fold something to cheer about. Its video transfer is problematic but looks quite good in the grand scheme of things, its lossless English and Japanese stereo tracks are fit and faithful, and its supplemental package includes six audio commentaries and a number of additional special features.

Ultimately, there's very little I could say to convince anyone to sample Ouran High School Host Club, and that's a real shame. I understand, I do. If it weren't for this review, I would have never gone near the series. But I would have missed out on one of the funniest, weirdest, most infectious anime comedies that's ever found its way to our shores. If nothing else, take a deep breath, have some faith, and add it to your Netflix queue. I have a feeling you won't regret it.