Ouran High School Host Club

This show is one of my favourite anime. And I almost never watched it. I was browsing the anime available on streaming Netflix and nearly passed over the show, thinking it would be a played straight harem anime. Ouran High School Host Club is about how honors student Haruhi Fujioka accidentally becomes in debt to the school's host club and must work as a host to repay the debt. Unbeknownst to everyone at the start is the fact that Haruhi is really a girl. Wacky hijinks ensue.

The thing about Ouran is that it knows what it is and makes fun of the genre. The character Renge even comes in to be the otaku dating sim nerd fangirl of the group to call out all the tropes as they appear. Even Kirimi, a 5 year old girl who had been read shoujo romance stories calls out the "twincest" and "debauchery."

Despite all that, Ouran is not merely a parody. It has really interesting characters with fleshed out backgrounds. You even begin to feel differently about some of the characters as the story progresses.

I've currently been seeking out the manga for the series, but only have volumes 1 and 6 so far. The art is really beautiful and intricate.

If you haven't already, please check out the show! As I mentioned earlier, it's available on Netflix as well as Hulu and Funimation's Youtube Channel.