Ouran High School Host Club ep.14

July 5, 2006 | 33 Comments

To those who emailed me if I'll blog Bokura ga ita, unfortunately the answer will have to be a "no". I'm kind of exhausted at the moment and after watching the raw last night, I decided that it's not worth blogging. I thought the animation is passable at best and definitely not up to Honey and Clover's or Ouran's quality. In addition to this, the main character annoys me a bit even in this version. If you're looking for summary, however, Muhootsaver has done one, so go check it out. Anyway, back to Ouran, this is not a stellar episode but it's not bad either. The focus this time around is on Ouran High school's Newspaper club and their machination. Unfortunately, just like other episodes which includes a client, this one ends up being not as funny as the one where all of the focus are placed on the Host Club themselves.

The newspaper club finds out that no one except their own members buy the newspaper that they produce and therefore their club is in danger of being closed down. In contrast, the Host Club's weekly magazine special Suki Suki Tamaki-kun and Renge's doujinshi, Moe Moe Ouran are very popular with the readers. Speaking of the Host Club, they are now in the middle of holding a Heian period costume party. That means Tamaki is in the middle of seducing a girl by saying that they should hide behind Ajisai (Hydrangea), while the twins are having twincest moment by telling their excited fangirls that something happened during their two person punishment game. Haruhi, on the other hand, simply enjoys the tranquil nature of the park but her peace ends immediately when a ball suddenly comes flying towards her face. Tamaki, who sees the incoming ball, manages to push Haruhi aside. In the process of doing this, however, he ends up trampling her.

Tamaki is angry with the twins for throwing the ball at Haruhi but the twins simply made fun of him for being unable to catch it. Meanwhile, the leader of the newspaper club has an idea of asking the Host Club to help them. Back to Tamaki, he tries to prove his ability by doing what he calls "Starlight Kick" and sends the ball flying into the sky. The ball, however, ends up going through the newspaper club's room and hits Komatsuzawa Akira, the President of the club. When Tamaki visits the club to apologise, the President decides to ask Tamaki for the chance to write about the Host Club. Haruhi is surprised to know that there is a newspaper club at their school but the twins tell her that it's more like tabloid filled with gossip and because of this, no one reads it anymore. The President claims that now the club is on the verge of being closed, they finally realised their mistake and therefore ask the Host Club for their help. Tamaki agrees to help them Kyouya refuses.

Upon seeing the President's over the top depression, Tamaki tells the Host Club that he orders them to comply using his Presidential power but they still refuse him. As a result, Tamaki ends up sulking in the corner while playing with a ball. Haruhi thinks they should help the Newspaper club lest Tamaki will start giving him the sad puppy eyes. True enough, Tamaki starts looking at them like a puppy who wants their approval. Eventually Kyouya relents to Tamaki's puppy eyes and agrees to help the Newspaper club on the condition that they'll plan everything, no interview, and they do not disturb the customers. Upon hearing Kyouya's words, everyone else agrees to help as well so Haruhi can't help but praising Kyouya's influence within the club. Kyouya decides to pay a visit to the Newspaper club to let them know of the decision and to give them a first aid kit as an apology for the injury that the President of the Newspaper club received yesterday.

Before Kyouya leaves, however, the President tells Kyouya that he knows Kyouya's family has affiliation with the medical community but his own father is the President of the Komatsuzawa Publications. Komatsuzawa reveals that his father is going to give the company position to his younger brother. However, he believes that if he can maintain his position as the President of the Newspaper club at Ouran, he'll have a chance to gain that position. Because of this, he can't afford to have the club being hust down. Kyouya, however, can't care less and excuses himself out of the room. After Kyouya left, the President of the club reveals that his enemy is actually Tamaki. His underlings wonder if this is because his newspaper became unpopular ever since Tamaki arrived at the school. The President becomes angry upon hearing this and tells them that he thinks Tamaki has a hidden dark side so he intends to show it to everyone.

The President and his underlings, however, are dumbfounded when they see Tamaki playing Daruma-san ga koronda game. Tamaki leading the Host Club in a game of Dahrumasan ga Koronda. Tamaki thinks that this is a game that commoners play and explains that the game will give off friendly vibes. He believes that 'friendliness' is the image that the Newspaper club's content needs in order to get rid of the club's negative image. As he said this, Tamaki imagines various headlines showing the happy nature of the Host Club which prompts the Newspaper club to wonder if Tamaki is actually an idiot. Because of this, Komatsuzawa decides to interview Haruhi to see if he can find any negative points about Tamaki. Before Haruhi can say anything else, however, the twins have grabbed her and run away from Tamaki and Kyouya. The group then plays a game where Tamaki gets to kick a can and the rest have to avoid the bouncing effect of said can.

Tamaki then grabs Haruhi's hand and they run into a Rose garden maze. While the two run together, Haruhi thinks that while Tamaki doesn't have a hidden/negative personality, she doesn't know anything about his family. Because Tamaki lost his way inside the maze, they end up stopping at a small pavillion where Haruhi wonders if it's okay for a high school students like them to play games like this. When Tamaki wonders if it's not fun, Haruhi admits that she did play this kind of game when she was in elementary school. Tamaki tells Haruhi that when he was in elementary school, he didn't have any friend. Because Tamaki's mother was sick, he ended up being worried about her and decided not to go out of the house. In order to make her mother feel better, Tamaki always play piano right by her side. As a result, he's happy to be able to play with everyone else now. Upon hearing Tamaki saying that he's having fun, Haruhi agrees to play the game again next time.

Inside the school, the President of the newspaper club is angry with the situation and thinks that they should just write a gossip about Tamaki. He, however, is shocked upon entering their club and find the twins telling them that they heard everything. They also admit that they already suspected it and the only person who's not aware of this is Tamaki. The twins warn the President that his attempt will automatically make his family the enemy of the family from the Host Club. Komatsuzawa tries to reason by saying that they are being used by Tamaki but Hunny appears behind them and tells them that Tamaki won't do such thing and besides, they love Tamaki. A flashback reveals that Tamaki was the one who first befriended Kyouya and Hunny as well as reaching out to the twins and Mori. Komatsuzawa threatens to ruin everyone but Kyouya reveals that he's taped the Newspaper's club conversation using a MD hidden inside the first aid kit.

Kyouya tells the President of the Host Club that he could use the recording to blackmail him but he and the Host Club don't behave like them. The rest of the Host Club members eventually find Tamaki and Haruhi inside the maze. Hikaru and Kaoru tell Tamaki that the Newspaper club decides to end their piece because they have other business to attend to. Haruhi asks Kyouya if Suoh family is as influential as they seem. Because of this Kyouya informs her that the Suoh family started out in the finance and banking region but now they also run properties including school. Haruhi is surprised to hear this and wonders which school Kyouya is talking about. Much to Haruhi's surprise the school Kyouya refers to is actually Ouran and Tamaki's father is actually the chairman of the board. In other words, the reason Haruhi can come to this school is because she's sponsored by Tamaki's family. Haruhi can't help but looking dumbfounded to know this.

Impression:

This episode is not as funny as usual but there are still some laugh to be found. The part where the newspaper club members were being asked by the President if they bought the newspaper that they made themselves was rather amusing. Ditto with Suki Suki Tamaki-kun Special magazine and Renge's Moe Moe Ouran doujinshi. However, the episode is mostly concerned with character development for Tamaki. It appears that the reason for Tamaki's childish behaviour is because he's trying to make up for lost time that he spent staying by his mother's beside when she was sick. I have to admit that this character makes me like the character a bit more. I also like how Tamaki genuinely enjoys the time he spends with the other members and how the other members really appreciate his friendship. The part where they go up against the newspaper club to defend Tamaki shows that Tamaki is the glue that keeps the Host Club together.

That scene also shows how terrifying Kyouya can be at times. He is undeniably smart and not the kind of person one wants to go against. It's kind of scary to know that he's actually in the Host Club but he is the kind of person that one needs to move 'the wheel' from behind the scenes. There is only one thing that bothers me about this episode and that is the portrayal of the supposed antagonist, who always depicted as either ugly or not as attractive as the protagonist. I realise that this flaw is not specific to Ouran but also extends to other form of entertainment. Nevertheless, this is quite a disturbing thing to see because the association that bad-looking characters equal villains seems to become a norm these days. In exchange, it's not rare to see a villain being given a free pass by the viewers just because that villain is good-looking. I think of all the series that I've read/watch, only Death Note has a good-looking villain that fans actually loathe.

Preview

Next week episode seems to be when everyone goes to the farmhouse. That should be a fun one to watch.

© memento 2003