This is my 50th review which Im getting in before the year ends Its particularly impressive for me since I started reviewing this September. I wanted to do something special for this review so I decided to do Ouran High School Host Club. This series holds a lot of significance for me since the anime is my sisters favorite and we actually watched it together. Shes honestly one of my best friends and I really enjoy watching anime with her even though we dont do it often. I think its fitting that my 50th review is in honor of someone I care about covering the source material of a series we enjoyed together. Ouran High School Host Club begins when Haruhi Fujioka a scholarship student at the elite Ouran Academy stumbles into Music Room 3 and breaks a vase. That vase costs 8million yen and it belongs to the schools Host Club. In a school for the unimaginably wealthy the Host Club are definitely at the top of the foodchain and they spend their time entertaining the ladies of the school with their charms. In order for Haruhi to pay off her debt she must work as a host which is easy since shes been mistaken for a boy. This series is not one to be taken seriously right from the beginning. The characters and the comedy are extremely exaggerated and over the top as the hosts try to play to the specific character types they embody in order to attract more customers. I personally really clicked with the sense of humor since I adore chaotic and overthetop characters and situations. Theres a lot of contrast between Haruhi and the environment she grew up in and the hosts and their wealthy upbringings. The story is initially very episodic with a heavy focus on comedy. There are a lot of character interactions and the storys primary focus is to flesh out the characters and their lives a bit. The second half of the series does introduce much more dramatic plotlines. This involves characters realizing their feelings such as three of the hosts and their feelings for Haruhi as well as Haruhi discovering who she likes. In addition Tamaki the leader of the Host Club has some heavy family drama to attend to as his grandmother wants him to be a proper family head which means giving up his mother and friends. While I found the character arcs compelling and appreciated watching Tamaki Haruhi and the twins grow up the drama could get exhausting. Sometimes there was some well done comic relief to break things up such as the Graduation Arc but it just felt like it could be a lot. I wish more time had been spent on the comedic side of things since that was what made me fall in love with Ouran in the first place. The characters are all entertaining and compelling in their own ways. Our lead Haruhi is generally unaffected and almost unflappable. Shes the most down to earth of the characters and takes things in stride though she does get annoyed by the outlandish behavior. Haruhi has simple tastes and she is highly independent due to her mothers death and her father being away working. However she is absolutely dense in regards to her own feelings and the feelings of others despite being able to touch peoples hearts with her straightforward acts of kindness. I found her to be an enjoyable character and I could understand why she was able to earn the affections of various members of the club. While she isnt as over the top as the other characters shes far from boring and has her own internal struggles to deal with. Im going to say that the amount of development the hosts get varies wildly. We have Tamaki Hikaru and Kaoru who get full fledged character arcs Kyoya who gets some subtle development and then Mori and Honey who are sort of just there and rarely have serious character moments. I honestly wish that Mori and Honey got more development especially Mori since he was my favorite. Hes also my sisters favorite since like Hikaru and Kaoru we always like the same things. Tamaki is super flamboyant and dramatic and yet hes laden with insecurities and the fear of his loved ones drifting apart. Hikaru and Kaoru are identical twins with a major penchant for mischief but they also have their own struggles with individuality. Kyoya is cold calculating and often joked about as evil but he does really care for the other club members in his own way. Honey is a small martial arts master with a love for sweets and all things cute. The final member Mori is more of a silent type who supports the others with a blank expression on his face. The characters all have their own quirks and often step outside of the persona they attempt to create. I really appreciated the way they were written though I wish they all received equal treatment. The art is really nice and it has its distinctive charm. I wouldnt compare Bisco Hatoris work to my favorite shoujo artists works but it definitely gets the job done. On top of that its super recognizable. I loved all the detail put into the costumes. This manga also includes a lot of fanart. Lots of shoujo mangaka actually had their art of the characters published which I thought was really fun. I think Ill also add a disclaimer that some elements of the series didnt age well primarily in the English translation for both the manga and anime. The most commonly cited example would be how Haruhis father who is a drag queen I believe is sometimes referred to by what is now considered a slur... I can completely understand why some people would want to avoid the series due to the occasional moment like that. Despite it having some issues I really appreciate this series. I found it to be super funny and I appreciated the character writing as well as the amount of chemistry the characters all had. I really love chaotic series and this one really did it for me. I really appreciate my sister and I enjoyed sharing this series with her. I hope to watch more anime with her in the future.