Return To The Music Room - Ouran High School Host Club

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What’s your favorite anime currently? Did you think about a popular show with at least three seasons? Maybe it has lots of merch or content? Did you think of something more popular with a large fan base and lots of merch? That’s where I believe most people start when discussing anime, the heavy hitters, One Piece, JJK, and Naruto just to name a few. There’s a lot to discuss there. Eventually, you switch to smaller shows, typically seen in the slice-of-life genre, maybe even some smaller action series. Something that may have fizzled out to a small fan base as the years went on with twenty-six episodes and a finale, or worse, no end. I’m looking at you Noragami. This could also be shows like Princes Jellyfish, and Horimiya -though the missing pieces did come out. These shows are loved, but the fan base in my opinion is smaller than the stories I mentioned before. They’re a well-loved series but have short or unfinished runs with so much potential.  

The anime I’ve listed I’m sure gain spikes in popularity every few years when people go oh yeah what happened to that show? However, there is one show that stands above the rest, the king unfinished and eighteen years old. It remains a staple of the community with group cosplays and pop-up cafes. It’s still recommended fondly to newer anime fans. When a rumor starts to spread of a new season finally in production people are just as excited as they would have been years ago. Until it is ultimately disproven as has been the vicious cycle for years.

Image: Crunchyroll UK/ Nippon TV

Ouran High School Host Club is a tale as old as time. A girl – who happens to kind of look like a boy - accidentally breaks a vase that belongs to six handsome boys. She can’t afford the fancy vase she broke and must pay off the debt by working for them. Her job, as she chooses to accept it is to become a new Host club member to entertain the girls who visit this school-sanctioned club. The thing is the six boys didn’t realize their new member was actually a girl. Once they do, wacky hijinks ensue.

How has a slice-of-life reverse harem stolen the hearts of so many fans that they foam at the mouth of the idea of another season? The characters.

Haruhi has a very down-to-earth personality and unlike the rest of her female classmates, she doesn’t treat the Host Club members as if they’re unattainable. She talks to them like regular people and all the club members are flustered by this at first. They’re used to special treatment and girls fawning over them. Haruhi makes each member confront their faults. She takes the time to learn about her friends like not a lot of their classmates have. She is a confidant outside of the core six.

The drama that follows of Host Club members falling in love with Haruhi is very real. None of the affection feels forced for the sake of the reverse harem storyline. There were strong cases for Haruhi to fall in love with any of the club members. She was the breath of reality they didn’t realize they craved.

If you somehow haven’t seen Ouran High School Host Club, I recommend watching it and continuing the story with the manga. The story is completed in 18 volumes. There is so much more story that they quickly give you a taste of in the show. There’s a proper love triangle, family issues, and characters finding their own identity.

It’s frustrating the show ends up setting up for a second season. After a dramatic finale, we don’t get any real closure, just a feeling that there will be more. More of these characters we’ve watched grow and become attached to. As of now, in 2024, in case this somehow changes we still don’t have a proper anime ending. The worst part might be that we don’t have a clear reason why. It was never officially given the green light, but with the popularity it still holds there are always rumors of a second season floating around.


Image: Crunchyroll UK/ Nippon TV


Ouran High School Host Club is a staple in anime. It sits among the stars as a great unfinished story unless you read the manga which I recommend. Funny, charming, and romantic- a recipe for true love. Take a chance and find yourself in the abandoned music room. 

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