Ouran High School Host Club ep.10

June 7, 2006 | 43 Comments

It's amazing how many chapters the writers manage to squeeze into this episode. They even manage to include the Omake about Haruhi's father. Despite this, the episode somehow manages to retain the majority of its comedic scenes. Animation-wise, this is still quite consistent with last week's quality although admittedly there are some inconsistencies here and there. I really hope that this series will be able to maintain the quality of the animation until the end of its run. I just realised, however, that there are several chapters which have been ignored by the anime writers. I really hope that they'll revisit these chapters one day.

The episode begins with the Host Club visiting Haruhi's house but much to their horror, the house looks extremely dilapidated. They are immediately greeted by a zombie-look alike Haruhi who serves them tea but since she doesn't have enough cups, she ends up putting some of them in bowls and measuring cups. Tamaki tries to reassure the twins that this is probably just the storage room. He believes behind that door is an infinite space of the cosmos. His words are proven to be true because Haruhi then opens said door, revealing infinite cosmos. Haruhi then tells the guys that she and her father starved themselves so they can offer the guys some packaged Sushi. Everyone is horrified to see the discounted Sushi and Hunny even runs to her apologising for coming to the place. Tamaki, however, encourages the other guys not to waste Haruhi's 3 days of hunger. He, however, is horrified when Haruhi picks up a normal tuna Sushi and mistaken it as Ootoro.

Much to Tamaki's relief, the entire scenario turns out to be his nightmare and he is awakened inside his luxurious bedroom. Tamaki decides to forgo breakfast despite his housekeeper's advice. He, however, stops in his track when she tells him that he is still wearing his pyjama pants and today is actually Sunday so there is no school. Tamaki tells the housekeeper that he wishes she told him that first but she tells him that she wants him to be able to realise his own mistake. Since Tamaki doesn't have to go to school, the housekeeper decides to drag him to learn some etiquette lessons from her. Tamaki, however, rebels and asks his maids to bring him the phone so he can call Kyouya to talk about something. Fast forward a few hours later, Haruhi is seen walking home with a bag of groceries. Because today is Sunday, she manages to get many discounted items from the supermarket. She, however, is surprised when her neighbours are crowding around two expensive cars.

Her surprise, however, turns into agitation when she sees the Host Club members coming out of the car. Since they are rich kids, they immediately assume that the entire apartment block actually belongs to Haruhi but Kyoya corrects them by saying that this is actually a community housing for commoners. At the same time, Tamaki is angry with Kyoya because he invites everyone. He especially objects the presence of Hikaru and Kaoru, whom he dubbed as 'doppelganger'. Kyoya claims that since Tamaki didn't have the courage to go by himself, he thought it’d be better to bring the group. But since Tamaki doesn't like it, Kyoya persuades the others to go home. Tamaki immediately changes his mind and tells Kyoya that he doesn't want to be left alone. He, however, warns the others that this is just a neighbourhood visit not a research into the Fujioka family living standard. Because of this, he prohibits the use of certain words such as "Miserable", "Small", etc.

Haruhi who overhears Tamaki is not impressed and orders everyone to go home immediately. But upon seeing her in a dress, the guys ignore her anger and decide to praise her instead. Haruhi's landlord then approaches her wondering if she's targeted by the Yakuza. But this landlord immediately forgets her point when Tamaki charms her. The guys then make their way to Haruhi's place, room 203. Haruhi agrees to show the place if they go home right away after this. She, however, changes her mind when Hunny tells her that they have brought some cakes. Upon entering the room, Tamaki is relieved to see that the reality is a lot better than his nightmare. Hikaru, however, can't stop himself from saying that the place looks cramped. After Tamaki gives him a piece of his mind, the rest of the group decides to praise the place. Hunny, however, is more interested with the fact that they have to take off their shoes because it reminds him of the dojo.

Once they guys get inside, Tamaki tells them that because their space is limited, the commoners have created a way to save space by sitting in a foetal position. Of course, Haruhi is ticked off by this ridiculous comment. Despite this, she decides to make some tea for them so Hikaru decides to offer her the red tea his father has brought back from Africa. Kaoru also tells her that it's good with milk so he wonders if she has some. Tamaki is shocked upon hearing this and immediately scolds the twins, thinking that they are trying to embarrass her by giving her the expensive tea. Because of this, Hikaru decides to get the tea back and claims that they can just drink water. Much to Tamaki and the twins' surprise, however, Haruhi already made some using proper teapot no less. Despite this, Tamaki warns the twins that their common sense is not applicable to this place. He thinks their most casual remark may hurt Haruhi's heart.

Tamaki then proclaims that in this game, the one that first embarrasses Haruhi is the loser. Haruhi, however, is too busy serving tea for her guest to notice the silliness. Much to Tamaki's relief, there is no soup bowl used to serve the tea. Hunny tells Haruhi that she can pick which cake she wants to have. Haruhi wonders if it's okay so Hikaru tells her it's fine because they've eaten this kind of cake a lot. He is immediately silenced by both Kaoru and Tamaki for being so bold. They, however, can't help themselves from admiring Haruhi's 'cuteness' when she decides that she wants Strawberry cake. Once Haruhi receives her cake, she is surprised to see Mori giving his portions of Strawberry to her. Haruhi becomes happy about this and thanks Mori. This causes Tamaki and the twins to become jealous because they can't give Strawberry to Haruhi due to their seating arrangement.

After eating the cake, the guys immediately asks Haruhi what's coming for lunch. Because of this, Kyoya offers to order Sushi for everyone but Haruhi immediately rejects the offer because she can't handle the repayment later on. Kyoya, however, tells Haruhi not to worry because the money actually comes from the auction of her notebook. Haruhi tells the guys not to worry because there's a nearby Sushi place. Tamaki, however, quickly scribbles a note warning her that even though the packaging may say its "Superior" it doesn't mean that the Sushi is good. Haruhi becomes annoyed to read this and decides to crumple the note and tells Tamaki that she already knew about it. Much to Tamaki and the twins' shock, Hunny tells Haruhi that he prefers her home cook meal. Haruhi warns him that it may take a while but since Hunny is willing to wait, she agrees to do this. Tamaki and the twins cry because they never thought that Haruhi would cook for them.

Since Haruhi needs some ingredients, she has to go back to the supermarket. The rest of the guys decide to accompany her except for Tamaki, who's taking his time to pay respect to Haruhi's deceased mother. Haruhi tells Tamaki that her mother was a lawyer. Upon hearing this Tamaki tells Haruhi that she must be a brilliant one and Haruhi agrees with this assessment. When Tamaki stands up to go to the supermarket with the others, however, he slips on a banana skin and falls on top of Haruhi. To make things worse, Haruhi's cross-dressing father then appear at the doorstep because he's just returned from his work. He immediately runs over to Haruhi and smacks Tamaki right into the wall. He wonders if Haruhi feels sad for being alone in the house. Haruhi wonders what's that loud noise she just heard but her father tells her that it's just the sound of his right arm hurting after hitting the biggest monster of the century.

When he mentions that he wants to drink tea, Tamaki goes out of his way to please the guy. But Haruhi's father simply crushes Tamaki under his leg and tells himself that it seems he's found a big disgusting bug. He then continues to digs in his heel into Tamaki while asking the boy why he is being so personal with someone else's daughter. The twins then return to the apartment, causing Tamaki to think that they will explain the misunderstanding. Much to his disappointment, they simply walk all over him while telling Haruhi's father that Tamaki is one hell of a womaniser who has played with the hearts of many girls. They nickname him a 'pheromone machine'. In his attempt to clear his name, Tamaki exclaims out loud that he's not playing around and he considers Haruhi like his own daughter. Of course, this simply gives Haruhi's father the impression that Tamaki is one big idiot. Tamaki then ends up spending the rest of his day sulking in the corner.

Haruhi's father then tells the others to call him "Ranka", which is the work name he used at the Okama bar. Ranka then reveals that he knows everyone in the Host Club because he's been in contact with Kyoya all of these times. Ranka then makes fun of Tamaki by saying that Kyoya is an impressive president...er, vice-president because the president is useless. Haruhi, however, is angry because her father never told her that he's been in contact with Kyoya. At the same time, Tamaki ends up cultivating mushroom in the closet due to his stress. Haruhi eventually decides to go to the supermarket on her own, leaving Ranka free to talk to the Host Club members about herself. Ranka informs the group that 8 years ago, Haruhi didn't tell him about parents' visiting day. The store owner where he works suggests that maybe Haruhi is ashamed of Ranka being gay. But Ranka retorts that he's actually bi and that he cross-dressed because he doesn't want to love woman other than Haruhi's mother, Kotoko.

When his employer took him home that night, however, Ranka found out from Haruhi that she didn't want him to come because she wants Ranka to rest on his day off. Back in the present day, Ranka decides to take the boys to the supermarket to follow Haruhi and becomes nostalgic when he sees Haruhi shopping on her own. She remembers how Haruhi already managed to do this even when she was a little girl. He's not sure if Haruhi is just selfless or if she doesn't know how to rely on others but she never allows a person to worry for her. Tamaki claims that she understands but this simply earns him more ire from Ranka. He calls Tamaki his enemy and kicks him away. Haruhi, who feels sorry for Tamaki decides to ask her sempai what he wants to eat so Tamaki tells her that he'd like a Nabe with lots of meats. Ranka, who watches the two from afar thinks that maybe one day there will be someone who Haruhi would like to be with. He, however, stops there because the idea ticks him off. Later on he bullies Tamaki by filling his bowl with vegies instead of meats.

Impression:

I think the first concern that I have with the episode is whether or not the anime writers will retain the Mori sharing strawberry with Haruhi. And much to my relief, they kept the scene intact. While I don't mind Tamaki x Haruhi or any other Host Club pairing, I really like Mori x Haruhi and this scene is one of those rare romantic scenes in the story. The good thing about the scene is that it's neither over the top nor melodramatic. It's just a guy giving the strawberry from his cake to a girl, something that normally happens when a couple have a cake together. It's interesting to know that the first reader poll conducted by the mangaka reveals that back then, readers like the characters in this order: Haruhi, Mori, Tamaki, Kyoya, Hunny, and the twins. This probably have changed by now so I wonder which character people like more/less now. My list actually goes like this: Haruhi, Mori, Tamaki, Kaoru, Hikaru, Hunny, Kyoya.

Haruhi and Mori are first mostly because I ship these two. Tamaki, Kaoru, and Hikaru are the characters who usually bring the most laughter to the series. Hunny and Kyoya are actually quite interchangeable since there are times when Kyoya is a lot funnier than Hunny and vice versa. Moving on to other topic, I find Tamaki's nightmare to be as entertaining as his imagination. I was especially amused to see the part where Haruhi mistook a normal tuna sushi for an Ootoro (fatty tuna) sushi because I can't tell the difference between the two either. But there is this humorous Sushi 'documentary' that explains the difference between the two. I recommend that you take a look at it if you have the chance. The conversation between Ranka and Tamaki are also comedy goldmine. I still can't believe that Tamaki actually told Ranka that he thinks of Haruhi like his own daughter. It's hard not to laugh at Tamaki after this.

I like the revelation that Ranka has been in contact with Kyoya and knows every single members of the host club. Having said that, after last week's horrifying make-up job, I was worried that BONES will make Ranka look more like Shingo Mama than the way the character looks in the manga. Thankfully that's not the case here and Ranka is used quite well to give Haruhi some important character development. This episode basically confirms that Haruhi has always been independent even when she was just a little girl. It really makes one wonder if she's really that strong or she pretends to be one. Anyway, it's unfortunate that some materials, especially the one related to Tachibana got cut out of this one. I hope they decide to include the character by the time we got to the part where the Host Clubs plays their twisted version of Alice in Wonderland.

Preview

On next week's episode: Nekozawa and his little sister!!

© memento 2003