[FILM REVIEW] Ouran High School Host Club (Movie) (2012)

The film ‘Ouran High School Host Club’ is a feature directed by Satoshi Kan released in March 2012. It is set as a direct continuation of the live-action series aired back in 2011.


For anyone unfamiliar with the franchise, ‘Ouran High School Host Club’ is a manga series by Bicso Hatori.

It is the story of a young and clever girl called Haruhi Fujioka (played in the live action series and film by Haruna Kawaguchi) – a poor student on a scholarship at the rich and extravagant Ouran Academy. The students of this school are all from extremely wealthy backgrounds and spend most of their time having fun rather than studying like Fujioka always tries to.

One day, when trying to find a quiet place to do her work, Haruhi stumbles across a group of handsome males that call themselves the school’s ‘Host Club’. Haruhi is so taken aback by their forward behaviour that she accidentally pushes over an expensive vase in her haste to escape. The vase breaks and Haruhi is forced to work off her debt that she would never be able to afford in actual money by working as a host with the group.

All the boys are initially under the impression that Haruhi is a male due to her boyish and dishevelled appearance that the Ouran females would never be caught dead sporting. The members find out the truth eventually, but Haruhi nobly continues her duty to repay her debt, secretly working in the school as a male host.

It transpires that everyone in the club brings a different style of hosting and appeal to the table and that the way the other half live is often ridiculous in its levels of grandeur. As a poor and humble girl, Haruhi finds it a completely different world to adjust to, but soon sees the members’ individual personalities and quirks shine which leads to her gaining some great friends that help her along in the many adventures and problems that come their way.

The manga series enjoyed much success and popularity, being made into and anime series, live-action drama and now a feature-length piece.
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The film itself takes places only a few months after the time the last episode of the drama series was set. Haruhi is gradually getting more and more used to the strange ways of her new friends and is enjoying herself quite a lot despite the difficulties she experiences adjusting to the host life.
One of the only things that is unsettling her is the unusual feelings she is experiencing towards the host club leader, and most crazy of all members Tamaki Suou (Yusuke Yamamoto).
However, before she can even consider that, she is thrown into working towards the competition that takes place between the Ouran clubs every year. This is not to mention accommodating a new female student (played by Mariko Shinoda of AKB48) who seems to be showing a high level of unexplained interest in the Host Club.
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GOOD POINTS

• I said in my last review that I thought the cast did a very good job of playing the characters. This still stands when regarding this film. You can tell that every actor knows their character well and puts a lot of effort into communicating their vibrant personalities on-screen. I think that Yamamoto plays Tamaki especially well (still!) as any fan on the manga or anime will realise how difficult a character he is to play.
  
• The general way that the film keeps that sort of anime-humour alive – as they did in the live-action series – is absolutely perfect. It is quite rare to find a live-action series so able to imitate anime mannerisms so well. From the way that Tamaki is sent flying across the sky whenever Haruhi insults him to how the members are able to change clothes in the blink of an eye is just so seamless. There is always a danger of this type of humour completely falling flat or becoming over the top when translated into the real world, but that is really not the case here.
  
• The plot itself was far-fetched, but not so much so that is alienates its viewers and makes them lose interest. Of course, the foundation of the original story alone is ridiculously unreal, but I think it is important for writers to draw a solid line when in comes to engaging with fantasy elements in order to keep it as something viewers (who are very much in reality) can relate to.
  

BAD POINTS

• I feel that these vibrant characters are so difficult to limit to a 105 minute time span. I found myself wishing that they could include a few more funny parts and silly moments, but it would have obviously been impossible when you consider that they do have a story to cover. This is not to say that there were not any funny parts, but perhaps I am just greedy when it comes to Japanese humour.
  
• One of my favourite characters is Haruhi’s Drag Queen father Ranka (Shigeyuki Totsugi). He was featured in a few brief moments during the film, but I was actually hoping to see more of his harsh humour and difficult attitude towards Tamaki.

OVERALL.

As the credits rolled for this film, my sister turned to me and said: “Well, that didn’t really go anywhere did it?” but, personally, I was not expecting it to.
The whole franchise is silly and ridiculous, so one can only expect the film adaptation to be the same. Personally, I absolutely adore this, but can definitely understand that it will not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Things do indeed happen in this film and I would say it is worth a watch for any Ouran fans out there. I would also recommend this film and as well as manga, anime or live-action drama series to anyone who loves silly Japanese humour and a lot of fun and energy in the things they watch.
I personally think that the drama series trumps the film, but that is only because of the limited time-length the film framework provides its content as opposed to a drama series. The drama offered a lot more space for comedy and that is the sole reason for my preference.
In any case this film is quite good and I would seriously encourage anyone in the mood for light-hearted and fluffy storylines paired with some great laughs to give ‘Ouran High School Host Club’ a go!

[Image Source: Google Images].