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ローゼンメイデン 
I'm sorry for the late review but my internet connection was down for a couple of hours and I can't post anything that I've typed. Thankfully I did my writing on a notepad so nothing got lost during the downtime. Anyway, as I said before, I really enjoyed this episode mostly due to Renge's presence. Her Medusa-like hair is something that looks better animated. Her obsession with dating sim game Uki Doki Memorial is also very amusing since I've never played dating-sim game before. I never said this before but I like the fact that as far as main character goes, Haruhi sometimes looks ridiculous and silly. Her incredulous look everytime she finds something about the Host Club is quite amusing to see no matter how many times the animators used it. I think the series wouldn't be as good if she's not affected by the silliness around her.
Anyway, this episode begins by showing a girl playing a dating-sim game, called Uki Doki Memorial. The girl, whose name turns out to be Houshakuji Renge, seems to be obsessed with the glasses-wearing character called Ichijou Miyabi. There are loads of dolls of the characters scattered around her room. The next morning, Renge, who lives in France with her father is shown a picture of the host club and upon seeing Kyoya, she decides to fly using her private jet to Japan. Meanwhile, the Host Club is in the middle of Kimono party. The Kimonos are actually designed by the twins' mother so they're taking orders if the customers want to buy some. The girls, of course, squeal in excitement when the twins do their twincest act again and when they see Haruhi looking girlish in her Kimono. At the same time, Kyoya, being the devil that he is, tells Haruhi that she should not worry about the rental price of the Kimono since he's not going to charge her.
After seeing Hunny crying, Haruhi wonders why everyone seems to be on the verge of tears today. She eventually finds out that this is because everyone has been using eye drops to make it look like they are crying. Haruhi almost blabs it out but the twins manage to stop her by giving her a gift. Haruhi seems to like it so Tamaki proceeds to give her more of the same thing. This guy obviously doesn't know the meaning of moderation. Eventually, the group realises that a girl has been watching them from outside the room. Tamaki proceeds to unleash her charm on her but unfortunately for him, the girl is actually Renge and she only has eyes for Kyoya. She calls Tamaki a faker and an idiot. She finds it hard to believe that he's the prince of the Host Club. Renge then introduces herself and claims that she is actually Kyoya's fiancé. The guys are confused about this especially when Renge mentions the many good qualities of Kyoya (ie. cat lover) that they think do not exist in the real person.
The group eventually realises that Renge is just an Otaku who's obsessed with a character from dating sim game. Renge, however, is unstoppable and before the guys realised it, she has self-appointed herself as their manager. Tamaki thinks having a female manager may not be a bad idea since hoping that it'll help Haruhi to be a bit more feminine. Later on, Renge reappears to bring them some cookies that she has baked herself. Tamaki, however, becomes depressed again when she tells him that the cookies are not for fake prince like himself. Renge then imagines that Kyoya's reaction to the cookies will be similar to the character's reaction in the sim game. The reality, however, couldn't be further since her cookies actually taste bad. Mori tries to warn Hunny from eating it but both guys earn the wrath of Medusa-Renge as a result. Haruhi also baked some cookies so the twins decide to tease Tamaki by biting the cookie off Haruhi's lips and licking her cheek.
Not surprisingly, Tamaki goes nuts when he sees this and even more so when Haruhi seems to take it easily. After seeing the odd behaviours of this club's members, Renge decides that everyone needs personality makeover. Because of this, she tells Hunny that from now on, he's actually an evil boy with cute face, Mori gets a childhood friend background to flesh out his character a bit, and the twins are supposedly good with basketball now. Haruhi becomes a poor student who's always bullied by the others and Tamaki is a lonely prince. The only person escape from this predicament is Kyoya. Before the guys realise it, Renge starts filming their new personality on film. So the twins begin to act out their twincest in the middle of basketball game. The scene, however, suddenly turns from indoor setting to an outdoor one. Tamaki also makes his appearance playing a lonely character. Hunny is then shown bullying Haruhi but after a while can't take the pressure of being evil and ends up crying and apologising to Haruhi.
Tamaki seems to be proud of his new personality transplant but he ends up blushing when Haruhi tells him that his personality at the moment is just fine. Later on Renge forces a few guys from other class to be villains in the film but they refuses. Because of this, they push Renge away. Haruhi, who tries to protect Renge ends up being the one who gets pushed into the wall. Tamaki becomes angry when he sees Haruhi in tears and ends up punching the two guys. As it turns out the entire thing is just a misunderstanding. Haruhi's 'tear' is not even real tear. It's her contact lens came off when she got knocked off. In the meantime, Kyoya orders the filming to stop because he's not happy to see the members filmed in this manner. He also thinks that the entire thing has been a bother. Renge cries upon hearing this so Haruhi advises her to get to know these people because that's the basis of real relationship. The episode then ends with Renge returning to the Host Club only this time she's obsessed with Haruhi, much to Tamaki's dismay.
Impression:
This is such a fun episode that deals with Renge and her obsessive nature with a character from a dating sim game. Poor Tamaki gets to be the brunt of the joke again this time. Not only he's called a fake prince by Renge, she also orders him to change his personality. It'll be interesting if it turns out that Tamaki's background is really as angsty as the one that Renge suggested. But since this is not the other Haruhi show, I somehow doubt that this will ever happen. Besides, so far character development is not exactly the main concern of the series and that is fine with me as long as the humour remains funny. And it is humour that this episode provides in spades. From Renge's Medusa hair down to Hunny's evil personality, this episode really did make me laugh a lot. Since the shows almost devoid of female character, Renge's addition to the series should balance the male/female ratio a little bit. I am even interested to see what would happen if Renge is paired up with Tamaki.
Thank you for the screenshots. I'm glad that the licking Haruhi scene made it into the anime.
It's great to see Renge animated. While she's not that different from the other fawning fangirls, she's a lot more over the top and scarier about her obsessions.
Thanks so much for posting the screencaps. I can't wait to see it. It looks like an amusing episode.
Poor Tamaki. It seems no matter what he does, he can't win Haruhi's heart.
Honey acting like a jerk reminds me of that annoying brat from Fruba, his name is Hiro, I think.
Hee, come to think of it, all of the male hosts do look like those characters in dating Sim Game. Well, the one for the girls, that is.
Love Hikaru (or is that Kaoru?) licking Haruhi. It's strange that Haruhi doesn't mind though. Any normal girl will push the guy away from here if they even try to behave in a naughty manner.
Yeah.. Haruhi is pretty much void of sexuality. So I find it interesting that she accuses Tamaki of sexual harassment :P
i want to see tamaki with haruhi already! or.. will they ever be together?
the twins doing that naughty stuff is hot.
Yeah, I also want to know if Tamaki and Haruhi will get together although I kind of wish that they won't since I want Mori x Haruhi.
Ah~I'm a fan of MorixHaruhi too!!
It's Kaoru licking Haruhi.
It's not that hard to tell the twins apart. Their hairs *the pony parts* are different.
I am always confused about Kaoru and HIkaru. I know the author says that Kaoru's hair is parted to the left and Hikaru to the right. But does she meant it when you look at it from your perspective or the perspective of each twin. Because if it's from your perspective, the hair that goes to right is actually means the hair is parted to the left. Arrgh, I'm getting confused myself.
I see the problem. xD OK, then let's use the cookie scene to learn how to tell them apart.
I guess you have to see it from our perspective.
Hikaru is the one taking a bite from Haruhi *see, his hairs are parting to the right*
Kaoru is licking her *hairs are parting to the left*
And in the anime their voices are quite different, too. Hikaru has a deeper voice then Kaoru, and when they are doing their fan service Hikaru is always the leading one.
Uh sorry to nitpick but the last screenie has an error.It says "Off the the wedding"
Just pointing it out ;)
Speaking of which ... I hope the animators don't cut out Haruhi's daddy and Nekozawa senpai :D
Wow. A face licking scene on a prime time show? I never thought it'll ever happen.
Ah, I love that screenshot where Renge's snake hairs looking as evil as her own eyes. LOL
Hooray Nekozawa is coming!
Kudos to BONES for making Renge-sama's welcoming party everything I could have hoped for and more. I guess they cut out some of the antagonism between Renge and Tamaki, but they more than made up for that with the Uki Doki Memorial games sequences. Even Mori fears the otaku powers of Renge, I hope that we'll see her again though if they follow the manga a bit more closely as they have then she just make sporadic appearances which means possibly they'll do all the Renge eps and possibly a second season.
I guess Haruhi accuses Tamaki of harrassment because he really goes out of his way, not to mention he did make her lose her first kiss in Yuri fashion. I would have made more sense with the kissaholic remark though. As Nekozawa has been confirmed hopefully we'll meet Haruhi's dad. I hope this goes on for more than the standard 13 ep run.
Renge x Haruhi 4TW! failing that Mori x Haruhi.
>> Wow. A face licking scene on a prime time show? I never thought it'll ever happen
Huh? This is not a primetime show. It airs pretty late at night. Of course it can get away with something like that.
My problem with this series right from the start is that the characters remain same-y from one episode to the next. I wish they show a bit of depth or something.
I don't understand much of the dialogue from the raw but it looks a bit different from the manga. There is no scene of Haruhi in an appron, for example. I kinda like that scene.
This is one of the chapters I like most in the manga, I want to see it.
Thanks for the screencaps!
Ahhh I cant wait to see this episode!
I haven't read the manga, so this is completely new, but it looks like it will be just as funny as the others.
Where do you get your episodes Garten? Anime suki seems to only have up to episode three right now, so unless you are fluent in Japanese and are watching these directly from the DVD, what is the website that you acquire these from?
death by spoon, the sub is not available yet. Check out Tokyo Toshokan if you want to watch the series raw (Japanese only).
Tamaki does have an angsty past, if you read the manga. But I'm not going to spoil it here. He is a rather lonely character, because you later realize that nobody actually understands him.
Neko-sempai is appearing in the next episode!! Hooray!!
Garten, thanks you so much for your great summaries. I love the recap site TWoP, and always thought it would be fun to start up an "Anime Without Pity" site with friends, but you have beaten me to it and are an amazing recapper. I hope you don't mind, but I loved your site so much to it I made a link to it at my art blog. Keep up the great work, it is so appreciated!
Mori FTW!
And lunar is late at releasing their subbed version, sadly I don't speak japanese....
where are you getting the raws?
Liz, go ahead. I don't mind at all. Bakanekokun, I got the raw from Japanese p2p program called Winny.
Looks like a great episode TOO BAD I CAN'T FIND IT ANYWHERE TO WATCH IT. -_-
I hope they'll show Haruhi's interest in Mori (as in, she seems a bit fascinated/curious by him). They left out in the beginning how she was surprised that Mori actually speaks. I can't wait until haruhi distinguishes the twins and surprises them. Lol, haruhi looks like a puppy when Kaoru licked her face ^_^. Btw, wat's FTW? (sorry, not really up with that stuff)
Oh God, twincest never fails to be hot. *___*
lol, always wanted to see this episode to be animated. It was funny on Manga, and this episode is almost like it. Execpt those 2 "bad" guys near the end look differnt. XD
ahh...seeing Tama getting stabbed from Renge's comments is a must. =3
great review, i'm a great fan of this anime. The Medusa hair thing, is hilarious. I can't watch this 4th episode, my bittorrent source haven't updating... i hated it. Tomorrow's the fifth episode debut right? said so in ANIMENEWSNETWORK, namely "Twin's Quarell" wonder how it'll be. The twincest is just funny as ever! That's all, looking forward to your EP.5 review.
the subbed version is late, i wonder why.. and im all excited to watch this episode from that great review of yours! i love the twins. yeah!
It's funny how Haruhi's contacts wouldn't even cover 1/10 of her iris. :P
Ah, this was quite the episode. But some of the Japanese I didn't understand since I was watching it without subtitles, but I do like the angsty Tamaki moment. Other than that, I thought that Renge-san is really scary, especially when she had the whole Medusa-theme.
T.T
thank u so much .
i've already seen too..... this story never make me sad ^^
I am a fan of Tamaki and Haruhi!!!! I want to see how Tamaki wins Haruhi heart . (though the twins are cute with Haruhi!) I feel so sorry for the guy because he alway`s crying his heart out. Hey Bisco Hatori i got question for you( wiil Tamaki ever get smart) I mean he shouldn`t cry every single time when someone says some thing to him(though it is cute) go go go TAMAKI AND HARUHI GO!!!!.I like Tamaki character a lot!
I think the twins like Haruhi! poor Tamaki!
yap the twins are indeed devil's, poor tamaki!, Kyoya is too cool in this ep
i love this series ^_^
do you have any idea how to buy the DVD??:S
arghums, i wish i knew. i looked on amazon, and there were some raws, but they were all 'fakes' i guess you could say...some fat guy with a pvr recorded all the episodes in like, REALLY crappy definition and put them on those 2 dollar silver dvd rom things. and he had the nerve to put it up for $200. ugh.
I'd rather wait for the OFFICIAL dvd, but if you want, try amazon.
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