{Lighty Lively}

Ouran High School Host Club Episode 23: Tamaki’s Unrealized Melancholy

September 30, 2006 on 2:40 am | In Ouran High School Host Club, Anime Review |

Another practice anime blog entry.

Summary

Kasanoda Ritsu discovers Haruhi’s true gender and the rest of the Host Club isn’t too happy about it. Tamaki falls into a state of utter shock from hearing that Kasanoda saw Haruhi changing out of her clothes. The Hitachiin brothers almost bash Ritsu’s head in before Kyoya stops them and threatens Ritsu with his family’s private police in order to silence him. Haruhi interrupts the group and tells Ritsu that she wouldn’t mind if he decided to tell other people. Meanwhile, Tamaki’s doom and gloom continues.

Tetsuya becomes worried about Ritsu when the Young Master refuses to touch his dinner and only contemplates in his darkened room about whether he truly loves Haruhi or not. The rest of the followers in the Kasanoda Group house are shocked to hear that their Young Master has fallen in love with someone at school who seems to be a guy. Ritsu finally decides to keep Haruhi’s secret for as long as he lives.

The next day, Ritsu goes to the Host Club while it is open and requests Haruhi, which triggers the female clients into a burning yaoi frenzy. Renge appears via her usual powerful motor rising stage and happily announces the newfound relationship between Haruhi and Ritsu to the room. Haruhi obliviously serves Ritsu tea while Ritsu struggles with his feelings for her.

Hikaru and Kaoru urges Kyoya to take action to stop the situation from developing, but Kyoya refuses because Ritsu has agreed to not reveal Haruhi’s true gender. The twins don’t want to interfere directly because Hikaru feels that they’ve already lost a match during the Karuizawa vacation, so they throw a still-dazed Tamaki into action. Tamaki acts like a robot and fiddles around with a toy instead, which causes Hikaru to call him via cellphone and warn him about Haruhi’s turning into a forbidding Ane-san. Tamaki promptly snaps out of his melancholy and starts screaming at Ritsu as Haruhi’s Daddy. Ritsu becomes confused about Tamaki being Haruhi’s father and Tamaki admits that he isn’t. He falls into another crisis on the ground about his relationship with Haruhi, which he doesn’t quite understand. Tamaki shatters Kaoru’s theory from the previous episode about the whole family image thing within the Host Club. Haruhi tells Ritsu that while Tamaki isn’t her father, he is like one, which revives Tamaki again.

Then the time of Ritsu’s confession approaches and the girls become abuzz with renewed excitement. Before Ritsu manages to tell Haruhi that he loves her, she ‘agrees’ with him that having a friend is nice and unknowingly rejects him. Ritsu accepts her notion and insists that he’ll be friends with her forever. The Hitachiin brothers, Honey, and all of the girls start weeping tears of sympathy for him and ask to be his friends, too. Tamaki is shocked at the sudden turnabout, but he remains confused about his feelings for Haruhi.

Ritsu makes plenty of friends and they play Kick the Can along with the Host Club. Tamaki drags Haruhi to their old hiding spot, where Kyoya, Hikaru, and Kaoru join them. In a tree overlooking the gazebo, Honey and Mori wonder how the relationships within the Host Club will progress.

I need one beautiful shot of Kyoya to round out every day

Impression
I wanna be Bosanova Casanova Kasanoda’s friend, too~ Wow, I didn’t expect him to turn out to be such an adorable and sympathizable (is that a word?) character. I swear, he bears this uncanny resemblance to Daimon Masaru from Digimon Savers…

I don’t understand how Tamaki’s melancholy became so weird, complete with cosmo collisions, robotic bearings, and a deflating shadow reminiscent of a certain painting. He’ll probably come to terms with his feelings for Haruhi by the end of the season, which would shift relationships and vibes with the Host Club since Hikaru is also competing for Haruhi’s affection. I’m hoping for an all-out caged melee among the Host Club members, though nearly half of them wouldn’t take part. Kyoya would most likely advertise the event on pay-per-view for their Host Club clients. Mori wouldn’t care while standing in the background, because he has Honey. Honey would eat his cake.

Okay, I think I’m failing at writing anything deep and/or meaningful. I’ll just end here with a few more graphics.

“I Shall Protect Fujioka’s Secret For Life”

Tamaki, inflating/deflating human extraordinaire.

The girls are moe~ for Kasanoda!