Review: Ouran Koukou Host Club (TV)

Running time: 24 minutes
Number of episodes: 26
Vintage: 2006-04-04 to 2006-09-26
Age rating: Teenagers (May contain bloody violence, bad language, nudity)
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Shoujo, Slice of Life
Animation Production: BONES

Source: Anime News Network

Ouran Koukou Host Club is one peculiar shoujo to say the least. A fair warning should be said about this show though, which is, it’s a real shoujo. Hardly any aspect of this show can overlap with any other tastes, so unless you’re prepared to be wrapped in male eye candy with some comedy romance drama, you should rethink your decision to watch this show.

Now with that out of the way, Ouran Koukou Host Club tells the story of a first year student named Fujioka Haruhi at the Ouran Academy for the rich and the elite. This student is quiet and very reserved, in part because this person does not have any affluent characteristics at all. As such, this student is known as the special scholarship student that got into this super-rich school entirely on academic strengths and no other merits.

On a regular day in high school, the student in question tries to find a quiet place to study and strolls into a music room that doesn’t seem to be in use. Much to this student’s surprise, the music room hides the presence of a peculiar group of people — the Ouran Koukou Host Club. These people did not quite expect to see Haruhi walk into their lair so nonchalantly. Just like every good story, Haruhi ends up in a bind and is “trapped” (yes, I meant it) in the world of the Ouran Koukou Host Club to pay off a debt of several million yen for a tiny accident in the music room.

Because Haruhi can’t even afford the school uniform’s exuberant price, the little accident in the music room is no joke. The payment for the trouble caused ends up being Haruhi’s torment of having to form part of the Ouran Koukou Host Club. Haruhi’s duties start out as lowly errands, but soon “he”… or should I say “she”… becomes a real host. I’ll let you find out about this legendary trap’s real story on your own.

The Host Club is simply a group of guys that for an hour or two a day, dedicate their after school time to entertaining women with their innermost desires. They’re also some of the most powerful sons of the super rich socioeconomic world, and as such they are both rich and handsome. They speak directly to the hearts of women with soft and enchanting words. They whisper delicately into their ears and wash away their qualms and take them away to their dreamlands. In other words, the Host Club is a club these guys made for women to come by, drink tea, and marvel at them. Add a ton of “moe” fetishes that they play out to further reach these young maiden’s hearts -and- pockets, and you have the Host Club. Give or take a few details of course, that you’ll have to find out on your own if you’re interested.

The Host Club itself is fairly complete, although, once again, it’s not necessary to “get” all the little details. What I’m referring to is the nuances of shoujo and female oriented manga that tends to go to “other” extremes you wouldn’t understand if you’re used to shounen stuff. I’m not going to try to sound like an expert, because I’m far from one, but if you know the difference between an uke and a seme, you’ll probably find this show more refreshing than most from your “usual” material.

Even if you’re not into the homoerotic gags early on, the show will stem away from most of that later and can be tolerable for those of us that don’t really like that kind of stuff. In the end, I stuck with the show because it was incredibly funny almost consistently. There’s tons of comedy acts and the mix of characters seem to pull it off well. They break the 4th wall from time to time by making fun of us commoners a lot. Rich school anime is never complete without pauper life being subject to ridicule for the littlest of things, and it’s pretty good throughout. There’s also some banana slips… maybe a little too many banana slips!

The show makes fun of, but also makes use of a lot of moe fetishes too. It’s good that you don’t have to be into the moe to enjoy the scenes, since after some long winded explanation, some other character will break the ice and bring the show back to its goofy self.

The ending is quite nice, although it’s of the fairly generic -yet- expected happy kind. If you’re feeling experimental, or just want to get to know the cutest reverse trap in the history of anime, I wholeheartedly recommend Ouran Koukou Host Club. It can’t get much more shoujo and funny than this. The few heartwarming scenes can’t be ignored either, especially in the presence of one fine trap!

Review: Nodame Cantabile (TV)

Running time: 25 minutes
Number of episodes: 23
Vintage: 2007-01-11 to 2007-06-28
Age rating: ???
Genres: Comedy, Romance, Shoujo, Slice of Life
Animation Production: J.C. Staff
Music: Nodame Orchestra
Music Collaboration: EPIC Record Japan
Music Production: Fuji Pacific Music Publishing, Sony Music Entertainment

Source: Anime News Network

Close your eyes for a moment. Picture yourself in an auditorim. Listen to the void of the hall as it prepares to engulf you with the waves of aural enchantment. As it begins, you are instantly drawn in. The first note is enough, as you resonate strongly with the bold introduction. The intensity binds you with a chord and hits you repeatedly. Then it continues on to a strong -yet- delicate heart-piercing arpeggio. The force is enveloped by the emerging sound of the orchestra. How strangely, through the hollows, glows this piano introduction like a dull red morning light! Into the deepest gorge it flows, scenting abysses in their night. There vapor rises: here the orchestra sweeps, now like a fragile thread it creeps, now like a colored fountain it plays. Here the vast length of a piano passage winds its way, in a hundred veins, down the vales, and all at once, it swept you away to a golden world!

Nodame Cantabile is just like the first paragraph of this review, hard to picture but a beautiful experience. There’s many layers of intriguing things to find in this unconventional yet amazing shoujo. Nodame Cantabile is strictly a show about classical music and how a very special group of people end up living and experiencing it in ways that many of us may never have the opportunity to do so. If you’re put off by classical music, don’t worry. I was put off at the beginning and now I’m a fan of Rachmaninov!

Nodame Cantabile is a true shoujo at heart, and the main female character is named Noda Megumi. Noda Megumi likes to be called Nodame for short for some reason, hence the name of the show. She’s a piano major at a conservatory in Tokyo called Momogaoka College of Music. Together in the lime light with Nodame is Chiaki Shinichi. He’s the perfectionist number one piano major at the same conservatory where Nodame studies. He is not only gifted with musical talent, he is also gifted (or cursed, however you look at it) with looks that make all the ladies fall for him.

Although the show is called Nodame Cantabile, much of the focus is on Chiaki and his turmoils towards success. This makes sense in a shoujo, since his appearance, skills, and personality is the eye candy. Nodame does get developed a bit later on, but it was a little surprising how quickly Nodame’s spotlight disappeared in the beginning. She’s always a part of the show in some form or another, so my comments about her participation might be a bit moot.

As for the premise, it’s fairly simple. Chiaki, being a son of a famous pianist, was able to travel to Europe as a child and experience some of the world’s greatest musical performers on stage. He was smitten since then and he vowed to return to Europe one day to become Vierra-sensei’s student and become a conductor like him. He played the piano and violin early on as a child, and wished to hone his skills and become a conductor proficient in piano, that can also play the violin! The problem is that Chiaki soon developed a fear of flying -and- a fear of sailing ever since two seemingly cursed events formed his paranoias. He’s now a grown man, yet he’s emotionally trapped in Japan and cannot reach the outside world to fulfill his childhood dream.

As his world continues to fall apart to the point where he even considers quitting music and just getting a typical salaryman job, he meets up with the strangest girl on the planet — Noda Megumi. Noda Megumi, Nodame for short, is just weird. I won’t list her peculiarities, since it’s part of her charm, but for now just picture the the weirdest girl you know. Now take that image and multiply it by 100, that’s Nodame.

As strange as she is, Nodame was able to get Chiaki back into caring about music and working towards his goals without depending on studying overseas. A bit of luck and help from the outside brings Nodame, Chiaki, and a ton of hard-working students at the Momogaoka College of Music in contact with a very special foreigner. As you can expect, it boils down to Chiaki not being able to go see the world, so with the help of Nodame and a little luck, he brought the world to him. There’s plenty more to discover in Nodame Cantabile, especially since the story takes on a new direction after one of the best high points in the story. Chiaki’s goals take on a new direction, and Nodame takes the talent that Chiaki saw in her and puts them to the test. All of this unfolds in interesting ways all the way till the end.

Nodame Cantabile is exceptionally funny along the way, yet it takes pauses to exemplify the rich serious tone when it needs to. There are a few high points in this show that are just beautiful, and although it’s always a known classical piece, for me it was always a scene of musical discovery and appreciation for yet another work of art so pure that I never took the time to appreciate. You will be tempted to watch the high points of the show at least more than once, given how much of an impact they create. Very few shows can make me want to watch them over and over, but this one did.

The end of Nodame Cantabile is an open ending that won’t exactly compare to the shows other high points, but it does deliver a solid reaffirmation of closure and new beginnings for all of the characters. The unsolved mysteries are pointed out in manga-style shorts that are both informational, witty, and out-right funny. This show won’t make you do anything drastic like get your friends to play instruments so you can conduct an orchestra, or make you change your major to piano, but it will open your eyes to some really beautiful music if you make the effort to appreciate it.

Hidden within the magic of music is a very comical romance story that will definitely hold your interest. It’s amazing how well things are so obvious to some characters, while others remain completely oblivious — or at least want to be. The way things unfold bit by bit until the end will at least give you a few laughs in between the music and the rest of the insanely good gags.

If you need any more convincing, piano, violin, oboe, cello, -heck- an entire orchestra is to Nodame Cantabile as guitar is to BECK. Maybe rock music as a whole to NANA. You can even throw in Hirano Aya’s performance in Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu if you want to stretch it a bit. If you were swayed by fictional character performances in these anime shows, Nodame Cantabile is yet another experience you shouldn’t miss. The bond between the viewer, the characters as performers, and the music has only been achieved at this level in very few instances like these.

Review: Bokura ga Ita (TV)

Running time: 26 minutes
Number of episodes: 26
Vintage: 2006-07-03
Age rating: ???
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Shoujo, Slice of Life
Animation Production: Artland
Production: Marvelous Entertainment, Pony Canyon, Shogakukan Productions Co., Ltd.

Source: Anime News Network

For those of us that don’t really care we’ll get swept into the pace of any particularly good anime regardless of what type of audience it’s intended for. Bokura ga Ita, being an excellent shoujo anime, is a good example of this. The heartwarming love between a regular girl and a regular guy in high school can be as effective on guys as it is on girls. For this reason Bokura ga Ita becomes one of the better shoujo anime I’ve been able to like from start to finish.

One of the first things I need to mention about Bokura ga Ita is its animation, which frankly, is a disaster. The reason is simply because it hardly animates. In addition to that the art has a striking style that has that “love it or hate it” vibe. As the scenes unfold in video form, much of the intentions of the pages in the manga are retained. In other words, when you’re watching Bokura ga Ita it’s almost like flipping through volumes of manga with voice-overs, sound effects, and music instead of reading. To be honest I don’t have a problem with this because it’s still effective at what it wants to do most, but many people take lack of animation seriously. It can be a barrier when trying to get sucked in the show, but if you can look past it there’s lots to be enjoyed.

The story starts off with Nanami Takahashi who one day begins her first year of high school. She’s hopeful of a good thorough experience even though she’s completely new and has no friends yet. She successfully mingles with a few people and learns that a really popular guy is in her class. The guy is Yano Motoharu, known for his striking personality and his handsome features which turn him into a chick magnet. Little did Takahashi know that she would meet Motoharu for the first time in the hallway and know exactly who he was without him ever telling her his name.

Typical as it may be, as time goes by Takahashi is involved in things that put her in direct proximity to Motoharu constantly. Her strange ways of thinking and pursuing things has her thinking and obsessing over Motoharu until there’s finally a path paved for them to walk across together. Rather than cling to each other like everyday companions, Motoharu and Takashi take things a little more seriously and truly devote themselves in heart and soul to reach happiness together. However, as in most shoujo anime, there’s lots of cracks on their path they’ll constantly trip over. Motoharu himself carries with him a burden of overwhelming proportions that completely changed his life. Although he’s perceived as calm, cool, and collected in most other peoples’ eyes, he’s actually surrounded by guilt and sorrow of an event long ago. This eventually reaches Takahashi who, being the way she is, ends up creating a turmoil of mixed feelings that hinder progress of a beautiful relationship. It’s one of those “love hurts” situations caused by uncontrollable circumstances that become like unbreakable thorns in their feelings. As much as you’ll agree with one side, the other side has an equally compelling argument that throws you off balance. I certainly applaud the story because sometimes you can’t help but feel torn between what’s right and what’s wrong.

Although the story revolves around Takahashi and Motoharu, there’s plenty to go around. There’s also Yamamoto Yuri, an old acquaintance from Motoharu’s middle school who is in Takahashi and Motoharu’s class. Then there’s Motoharu’s best friend since 6th grade, Masafumi Takeuchi, whom also takes part in the story. Typical things will happen with this mix of characters if you want to take a few guesses, but as a shoujo drama it is to be expected. However, it’s the way things unfold that counts and I have no complaints as far as originality and execution are concerned. The love between the characters is genuine, an attribute I consider very important. There’s no doubt that these characters are in love and their feelings are communicated in happiness and in suffering.

The end of Bokura ga Ita is satisfactory in my view, but there’s no doubt that there could have been much much more. The good news is that the manga ends almost exactly the same as the anime, and there’s more story coming since the manga is still being serialized. If the manga continues to be as engrossing as it has been continuing 3 years after the end of Bokura ga Ita, I’d love a new anime season with a more fleshed out end. Since Bokura ga Ita is such a popular shoujo manga among girls in japan, I’d be willing to bet on the certainty that there is demand and interest to continue the TV series in the future. For those of you on the fence still, it’s great! Go watch it!

Opening:

Ending:

Review: Hana Yori Dango (TV)

Running time: 24 minutes
Number of episodes: 51
Vintage: 1996-09-08 to 1997-08-31
Age rating: Older Children (May contain mild bad language, bloodless violence)
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Shoujo, Slice of Life
Production: Toei Animation
Broadcaster: Asahi Broadcasting (ABC)

Source: Anime News Network

Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers) is a fairly old but solid romance story. The first thing that I noticed when I started watching it was how similar it looked to Marmalade Boy, a series that I dropped months ago. I did a little research and I finally got the answer when I found out Yoshihiko Umakoshi was the character designer and animation director for both Marmalade Boy and Hana Yori Dango. They are both shoujo series that deal with female leads fighting the turmoils of love with other male characters. I dropped Marmalade Boy because it dragged on and on about little things, so the show became too long to enjoy. There were too many love interests and crushes that it didn’t move me at all, plus the filling content was redundant and off course. Hana Yori Dango fixes a lot of the problems I had with Marmalade Boy by being shorter and more focused on true and meaningful love and romance. It’s also a fairly original school anime romance story, unlike Marmalade Boy that didn’t do anything special beyond the school yard setting.

The story begins with Makino Tsukushi, a regular girl going to school at Eitoku Gakuen, a super rich school where high class students attend. She miraculously got accepted, so her parents, as poor as they are, work hard to send her to such a extravagant school for her to have a better future. While at Eitoku she has lived in the shadows by not generating any attention to herself, a striking difference from her lively middle school school days. At Eitoku there is a group of 4 male students known as the F4, short for Flower 4. They are the richest and most powerful heirs to giant corporations who use their power and influence to reign havoc upon their school. Even the teachers are afraid of them because of what they can do. They cut class repeatedly and are not even forced to wear the school uniform because they do as they please.

One day Tsukushi finds her way in their path when she tries to help her only friend being bullied by the F4. She unwillingly breaks her silence and is immediately noticed by the F4, so now they turn their sights to Tsukushi. They force a group of guys to go after Tsukushi and she is cornered. One of the members of the F4, Hanazawa Rui, is different from the rest, and Tsukushi finds comfort in being at Eitoku when for some reason Rui saves her from being bullied. Tsukushi gains confidence and fends off the F4 with her wild and violent personality, something unheard of at Eitoku. Even though they fight and growl at each other, Tsukushi eventually ends up getting closer and closer to the F4 because she is different from all of the cookie-cutter gold-digging girls at Eitoku. They take notice of her unique view of life and this gives fruit to the overall romance story. It’s a bumpy road with lots of triumphs and defeats, but in the end the path leads to a better place.

The conclusion to this anime lacked enough power to fully satisfy me, but nonetheless it ends well. I was rooting for the pair that got together all along so I’m glad it ended the way I wanted it to end. If you’re into shoujo this is a pretty good one that’s serious and takes you deep into the minds of the characters. It doesn’t fall flat on its face by trying to appease to childish crushes and instead goes right into more deep passionate feelings. For such an old show it does a good job of providing a solid romance story with a concentrated group of meaningful characters with real feelings and thoughts. Not bad at all. It has its faults but it’s worth a watch if you need some old but enjoyable shoujo.

Opening:

Italian opening ~spoilers~ (contains many scenes from the anime):