Ouran Koukou Host Club Ep 01: Kyou kara Kimi wa Host da!

Fujioka Haruhi is trying to find a quiet place to study but finds the 4 libraries bustling with activity. As Haruhi goes in search of a suitable spot, he can't help but wonder why these rich students seem to be in school to play rather than study. Haruhi finds himself in front of the 3rd Music Room and enters gingerly to see the members of the Host Club before him...

In Ouran Gakuin, the students either come from influential or rich families. As such, a group of good-looking guys form the Host Club so as to entertain the girls who have too much time and money on their hands in a game specially for the rich.

Haruhi is startled by the sight of the Host Club members who are disappointed to see a guy instead of their female customers. Ootori Kyouya, a 2nd year student cum vice-chairman of the Host Club asks the twins Hitachiin Hikaru and Kaoru about the identity of Haruhi since they are from the same class. However, Hikaru and Kaoru claim ignorance since Haruhi doesn't mix around with the classmates. Hearing this, Kyouya realises something and has a smirk on his face.

Kyouya greets Haruhi and reveals the fact that the latter is in their school on a scholarship. Haruhi doesn't understand why Kyouya knows about this so he explains that those on scholarships are the poor who cannot afford the fees thus they are a minority in the school. Haruhi gets slightly offended when he's referred to as a thick-skinned poor student who dares to enter Ouran. At the same time, the chairman of the Host Club, Suou Tamaki, a 2nd-year student tries to be friendly towards Haruhi but ends up harping too much on Haruhi's financial status and irritating him in the process. Just before Haruhi tries to leave, a 3rd-year student Haninozuka Mitsukuni grabs hold of him and praises him for having the guts to enter their school.

Tamaki remarks that he didn't expect Haruhi to like guys and asks what type he likes. Haruhi tries to explain that he was just looking for a place to study and had no intention of patronising the Host Club. In his haste to get away from Tamaki, Haruhi bumps into a vase which breaks into pieces upon landing on the floor. Hikaru and Kaoru reveal that the vase was meant for an auction which would fetch about 8 million yen for the Club. Haruhi has no means of paying for that since he can't even buy the uniform. As such, Tamaki decides to get Haruhi to be the slave of the Host Club so that he can work to repay the debt.

This marks the start of Haruhi's life as a servant to the Host Club and the first task he has to carry out is to buy coffee. However, Tamaki is surprised at Haruhi buying instant coffee and comes to the conclusion that the poor must be too busy to grind coffee beans thus resorting to drinking this. Haruhi is irritated by this remark and says that he will go to buy the expensive coffee now. However, Tamaki gets Haruhi to make the coffee for everyone so that they can have a taste of the poor. Seeing how these rich kids behave, Haruhi is baffled as to why they are making a fuss over nothing.

Hikaru is telling his customers about how Kaoru woke up due to a nightmare and the latter starts to cry. As they deliver their standard BL performance, the girls go gaga over it. Meanwhile, Morinozuka Takashi, a 3rd-year student who's also in the kendo club i.e. Mori-senpai, carries Hani-senpai to the Host Club where the girls go wild about his child-like cuteness.

Haruhi doesn't understand why Hani-senpai is behaving this way despite being a 3rd-year student which leads Kyouya to explain the charm of Hani-senpai is in his cuteness while Mori-senpai is liked for his coolness. Hani-senpai offers cakes to Haruhi and even lends his rabbit soft toy to him. Upon seeing Haruhi's remark about the rabbit soft toy, Hani-senpai realises something and quickly returns to join his customers. Kyouya continues with his explanation and says that Tamaki is their No.1 host as he gets 70% of the customers. This makes Haruhi comment that the world must be coming to an end since those girls are crazy over him. Last but not least, Kyouya reminds Haruhi not to think of running away from the Host Club since his family has a secret police force of 100 and Haruhi will not be able to go anywhere unless the debt is repaid.

Tamaki tells Haruhi not to dress like a nerd since this will make him unpopular with girls. In response, Haruhi says that he's not interested in girls and doesn't understand why people are so obsessed with exterior appearances. As Tamaki goes on and on about his perfectness, Haruhi thinks hard of a word to describe him and finally decides on "uzai" (noisy and irritating) which causes Tamaki to feel down immediately. Haruhi feels that he might have been too harsh and tries to make Tamaki feel better.

When Hikaru remarks that Haruhi will look better without spectacles, Tamaki immediately gets the members to prepare Haruhi for a makeover. However, Hani-senpai is left out of this process and mopes over it. Meanwhile, Hikaru and Kaoru bring a set of uniform for Haruhi to change into. When Haruhi throws them out of the fitting room, the twins come to realise something immediately.

After changing into the uniform and getting a makeover, Haruhi looks like a changed person. As such, he is promoted to be a regular member of the Host Club. Tamaki even declares that his debt will be written off as long as he can get 100 customers.

Haruhi begins work as a host but doesn't know what he should do. However, the fact that he can get his debt written off as long as he has 100 customers makes Haruhi buck up and he becomes an unexpected hit among the customers.

Tamaki's customer, Ayakoji Hime remarks that he is paying too much attention on Haruhi but Tamaki explains that he is just trying to groom Haruhi into a perfect host. He then introduces Haruhi to Ayakoji. Tamaki grabs hold of Haruhi when the latter smiles at Ayakoji. When Haruhi asks Mori-senpai for help, he removes Haruhi from Tamaki's grasp and comes to realise something too. Looking at how Tamaki is paying a lot of attention to Haruhi, Ayakoji is obviously unhappy over this.

Haruhi finds his bag thrown into the fountain and rushes to retrieve his belongings. On the way, he meets Ayakoji who mocks Haruhi for not behaving in tune with his new image. This makes Haruhi realise that Ayakoji is the culprit but he doesn't want to invite more trouble. As Haruhi is fishing for his wallet in the fountain, Tamaki offers to help which makes Haruhi grateful for his assistance. Although Tamaki is certain that someone has a grudge against Haruhi, the latter insists that he accidentally dropped it from the window and landed into the fountain.

That afternoon, Haruhi is surprised to find Ayakoji asking for his services and finds out that she is angry with him because of Tamaki. This makes Ayakoji accuse Haruhi of inflicting violence on her but Hikaru and Kaoru pour water onto her instead. Tamaki chases Ayakoji out of the club after exposing what she did to Haruhi. At the same time, Tamaki punishes Haruhi for causing disturbance to the Host Club's activities by increasing the number of customers Haruhi has to get. Kyouya then passes a set of uniform to Haruhi, saying that this is the only spare set they have now.

When Tamaki brings some towels to Haruhi, he is shocked to see her in her underwear and finally realises that she is a girl. Actually, the rest of the members had known about this at different times and are quite amused by Tamaki's reaction towards this. Haruhi explains that since everyone assumed that she's a guy, she didn't bother clarifying it. Haruhi also praises Tamaki for helping her which makes him blush. Kyouya remarks to himself that this may jolly well be the start of a relationship as Haruhi decides on using "ore" (male way of saying "I") in future to continue impersonating as a guy...

On the whole, this looks like a pretty entertaining anime to watch and barring any unforseen circumstances, I will probably stick to this till the end. There aren't any complicated issues to consider and it was an enjoyable episode on the whole. This looks like something I will enjoy more for its humour and the eye candy in the form of the Host Club members rather than for the storyline itself.

At this point in time, my No.1 favourite guy would be Kyouya. He may look relatively harmless but it seems like he has a lot of funny ideas within. Besides, I have a soft spot for bespectacled characters. ^__^ Next would be Mori-senpai who looks very manly and cool but he didn't speak much in this episode so there's more to be discovered about him. Hikaru and Kaoru's association with BL is not really something I like while Hani-senpai feels more like a younger brother-type to me. As for Tamaki...he may be funny and a bit silly at times but I can't really say that he's my type.

I thought that the concept of using light bulbs to indicate the members knowing Haruhi's gender was quite ingenious. As the light bulbs slowly lit up one by one, it was rather interesting as they discovered the truth in vastly different manners. It seems like Kyouya and Hani-senpai are the most observant among the bunch of guys. I was surprised to see that Hani-senpai knew the truth just by looking at Haruhi's expression when seeing the rabbit soft-toy which suggests that his intelligence is hidden behind his childish mannerisms.