{Lighty Lively}

Ouran High School Host Club Episode 25: The Host Club’s Declaration of Dissolution

September 30, 2006 on 2:59 am | In Ouran High School Host Club, Anime Review |

Summary
This has to be one of the prettiest episodes of Ouran.
Click for bigger pictures~

The Ouran Academy is set to welcome its 43rd annual School Festival. The festival runs for two days with the first day being final preparations and the opening ceremony. Haruhi gazes in awe and exasperation at the people milling about and constructing massive projects. The Host Club manages to secure a real carriage complete with horses and rides around in front of fawning girls while rose petals fly throughout the school. Tamaki tells Haruhi that they’re to dress up medieval French-style during the real parade on the next day.

The opening ceremony starts the festival off with a classical dance orchestra. The Host Club has opened shop in the main school building and converted it into a salon, with all members dressed in identical attire and entertaining their clients as well as the clients’ parents. Tamaki proves once again that his charm works on women of all ages.
When Haruhi, Tamaki, and Kyoya have a moment to themselves, Kyoya informs Tamaki that they’ve gone over budget due to the resplendent event, including airlifting that carriage directly from France and preparing to dress up in medieval garbs. In short, they’re getting some troubles because of Tamaki’s selfishness. Haruhi agrees and walks away, leaving Tamaki in a melodramatic fit.
A young lady observes their actions through opera glasses. Haruhi welcomes the girl, who immediately sees something odd with Haruhi but can’t quite guess what.

Tamaki’s father and the superintendent of the school, Suoh Yuzuru, makes his entrance. When Tamaki greets him with ‘Dad’, he tells his son to not call him that but ‘Superintendent’. In the brief moment when Haruhi is distracted by the Yuzuru, the young lady gazes at Haruhi through her opera glasses again. Haruhi gets the creepy feeling that she’s being watched and turns around, but not before the woman looking away.
While Tamaki spies from a ceiling chandelier, Yuzuru whispers some instructions to Kyoya. Kyoya then asks for Haruhi to come over, prompting Tamaki to fall from his lookout place.
Haruhi fails to catch the young lady secretly staring her again.

Yuzuru turns out to be exactly like Tamaki in his overt behavior toward women, even offering Haruhi a rose and asking her to come and talk to him whenever she feels troubled. Tamaki falls from a statue into the fountain behind Haruhi and Yuzuru and starts yelling at his father for trying to charm Haruhi.
The sound of a slap suddenly resonates across the room…

Kyoya’s father, Otori Yoshio, announces that he is displeased with his son’s joke of a club activity before walking away.
The other Host Club members ask Kyoya if he is all right, but Kyoya shrugs it off. Haruhi wonders if Kyoya got slapped just because of his being in the Host Club, which shakes Tamaki’s heart for a moment as he thinks over that possibility.
Yuzuru asks Tamaki if Tamaki knows what he wants the most in the world and whether he’ll will inherit the Suoh position one day. Then Tamaki’s grandmother enters the room and Tamaki goes to greet her happily, but she coldly avoids him and even goes as far as calling him ’soiled’, proving Honey’s reason for hating that woman.
Tamaki’s grandmother calls over the young lady with the opera glasses, Éclair Tonnerre. She requests Tamaki to accompany Éclair for the rest of the day and the next day as well, to which Tamaki readily agrees.

Tamaki leaves behind the other Host Club members to escort Éclair around the campus. Hikaru and Kaoru wonder who she really is, and Renge appears to explain Éclair’s background, that she is the third daughter of a rich and noble family in France. Kyoya mentions that he doesn’t know the reason why she is here, though.

Meanwhile, Tamaki and Éclair are sailing on a gondola in a replica of Venice put on by the Art Club. Éclair becomes bored by the ride and asks to listen to Tamaki playing the piano. Tamaki takes her to the 3rd Music Room, where Haruhi is changing into another costume in the adjacent preparation room. Haruhi notices their voices and starts eavesdropping on them.
Tamaki’s piano playing causes Éclair recall her meeting with Tamaki’s mother for a brief moment.

In progress…

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Impressions
I bet if anything, the whole Éclair thing will turn out to be something that tests Tamaki’s ability to hold a club (a mini-business) together and by extension, an actual company and/or family in the future. Ouran is a romantic comedy and it mostly likely won’t end on the note that everyone goes their separate ways. If that was to happen, then the director simply could’ve used the impending graduation of Honey & Mori.

- What were Kyoya and Tamaki’s father whispering about? It sounded like Tamaki’s father requested Kyoya to do something.

- I feel that Kyoya’s slap is staged. Why would his father just suddenly slap him publicly? Kyoya’s been involved in the club long enough that his family should know something about his after school activities and whereabouts. Moreover, would Kyoya participate in the Host Club only for fun? Kyoya didn’t seem too perturbed afterwards; he went back to typing on his Pineapple laptop and even changed into a new costume. I get the feeling that he knows something the rest of the club doesn’t…♥♥♥

- Éclair also has a brief flashback of her with Tamaki’s mother when Tamaki plays the piano, which hints that Tamaki’s mother possibly has a hand in Éclair’s appearance at Ouran.

Winner of this Episode: Éclair Tonnerre: I dare someone to cosplay her without looking ugly