Um! Well, I love it, and as a general rule I heartily recommend it. (The anime, I mean, and also the manga. There's a new jdrama, which is only a few episodes in; I find the couple of episodes I've seen ALSO UTTERLY HILARIOUS, but I have no idea how it'd work for someone who hadn't already seen the anime, because that has so utterly shaped my view. I came into the jdrama prepared to find everything endearing.)
For more details: it's basically a lampooning of all the cliches of high school shoujo, while also managing to be a really sweet and fluffy high school shoujo. The basic premise is that Fujioka Haruhi, scholarship student at the super-wealthy elite Ouran High School, is hardworking and full of common sense and does not at all care about her gender presentation. Naturally, therefore, she ends up (through complicated macguffiny circumstances) accidentally joining the high school's host club, full of completely ridiculous guys who simultaneously embody various bishounen tropes (the eyeglasses character, the sparkly prince, the vaguely incestuous brothers) and play up those characteristics to make ladies swoon. Naturally, also, she ends up cross-dressing, while the guys earnestly PROTECT HER SECRET!!! and she goes "Guys, I don't even care if people know I'm a girl...?" and facepalms a lot.
She facepalms a lot in general. It's usually justified. I don't think I'm doing justice to the RIDICULOUSNESS of this show. The Haninozuka character I mentioned, for example, is Honey(-sempai); he's 18, looks about 12, loves bunnies and sparkles and cake and bounding about, and is a secret martial arts master. And has a devoted stoic cousin/BFF/babysitter. He is NOT THE MOST RIDICULOUS CHARACTER. (There are many contenders for this title. Personally, I would opt for either the club's designated fangirl-and-manager who rises from the floor on a high-powered motor to cackle at people, or the allergic-to-light bishounen who skulks in the shadows, runs the black magic club, and always has a cat puppet on his hand.)
There's a lot of blurring of the line between reality and persona in this show; there's also a lot of stomping up and down on the fourth wall. And it's only 26 episodes!
(Fair warning: there's a scene in one episode that involves a threatened sexual assault. Nothing actually happens, and the potential victim isn't at all traumatized, but if such things make you uncomfortable, it's there.)
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Date: 2011-09-11 06:40 am (UTC)For more details: it's basically a lampooning of all the cliches of high school shoujo, while also managing to be a really sweet and fluffy high school shoujo. The basic premise is that Fujioka Haruhi, scholarship student at the super-wealthy elite Ouran High School, is hardworking and full of common sense and does not at all care about her gender presentation. Naturally, therefore, she ends up (through complicated macguffiny circumstances) accidentally joining the high school's host club, full of completely ridiculous guys who simultaneously embody various bishounen tropes (the eyeglasses character, the sparkly prince, the vaguely incestuous brothers) and play up those characteristics to make ladies swoon. Naturally, also, she ends up cross-dressing, while the guys earnestly PROTECT HER SECRET!!! and she goes "Guys, I don't even care if people know I'm a girl...?" and facepalms a lot.
She facepalms a lot in general. It's usually justified. I don't think I'm doing justice to the RIDICULOUSNESS of this show. The Haninozuka character I mentioned, for example, is Honey(-sempai); he's 18, looks about 12, loves bunnies and sparkles and cake and bounding about, and is a secret martial arts master. And has a devoted stoic cousin/BFF/babysitter. He is NOT THE MOST RIDICULOUS CHARACTER. (There are many contenders for this title. Personally, I would opt for either the club's designated fangirl-and-manager who rises from the floor on a high-powered motor to cackle at people, or the allergic-to-light bishounen who skulks in the shadows, runs the black magic club, and always has a cat puppet on his hand.)
There's a lot of blurring of the line between reality and persona in this show; there's also a lot of stomping up and down on the fourth wall. And it's only 26 episodes!
(Fair warning: there's a scene in one episode that involves a threatened sexual assault. Nothing actually happens, and the potential victim isn't at all traumatized, but if such things make you uncomfortable, it's there.)