Ouran High School Host Club

This 26-episode series follows the life of Haruhi Fujioka with the Host Club and its six members.

Most of Ouran Academy's students come from wealthy families but Haruhi managed to get in the school as a scholar. She accidentally stumbled upon the Host Club in the first episode and broke a vase. The Host then asked her to pay for the broken item but since she could not afford it, she had to take on the job as a host. 

Because of Haruhi's appearance, the members thought that she was a guy. Eventually, they found out that she is a girl through subtle clues when they interacted with her. The last one to notice this was Tamaki Suou, the leader of the Host Club.

They all agreed to keep it a secret to maintain her image but there are noticeable differences in the way they are treating her since then.

 The rest of the Host Club members are as follows:
1. Suou Tamaki - referred to as the "King" of the Host Club. He is cheerful, a bit narcissistic and sometimes dense but his friends trust and respect him nonetheless. He treats the other hosts as his family.
 2. Ootori Kyouya - co-founder of the Club and is in-charge of the records and finances of the group. Sometimes portrayed as cruel and aggressive. Even though he appears cool most of the time, he is very passionate about his work and studies.
 3. The Hitachiin twins Kaoru and Hikaru - they have more episodes dedicated to their story than all the other hosts. Before they became friends with Tamaki, people stayed away from them. They built a barrier to prevent other people from trying to make friends with them. Those people who want to get close to them tend to fall victim in the little game they invented where they are forced to tell the twins apart from each other. Haruhi was the first person to notice the differences between Kaoru and Hikaru.
4. Haninozuka Mitsukuni - the Host who looks like a kid and is considered a Shota type. He likes sweet food and stuffed toys and is known to everyone as Honey. But don't let those looks deceive you. He is good in martial arts and is also known to possess a bad temper.
5. Morinozuka Takashi - he's a close friend and protector of Honey. He doesn't talk very much but despite his intimidating appearance, when he's paired with Honey, girls would go crazy over them.

 This series is a mix of comedy and romance, with the former more obvious than the latter. Most of the episodes are about the members' past and their relationship with the other hosts. There is little progress in the romance between Haruhi and Tamaki (and even between Haruhi and Hikaru) so viewers who want to see a little more romance might be a bit disappointed. One of the best things about this series though is the female lead, Haruhi.

Haruhi and Tamaki

She is different from most heroines in any series of this type. She does not have any rigid rules about gender and dressing up. She's a bit dense, yes, but she's like a breath of fresh air when compared to most girls in anime. Her voice is not high-pitched and she is neither a cutie pie or a violent tsundere.

I recommend this to anyone who likes both comedy and romance and who wants to see a different type of female lead. There's also a bit of boys' love in this series that some viewers may like. It's very entertaining. I don't often find myself laughing when I watch a series but this made me laugh more than I expected. I even enjoyed the antics of the fangirls. I admit I wanted to see more progress in the romance part but I was disappointed. That part was frustrating for me.

I'm giving this series a 9.5 out of 10 rating.

Dark Rivers of the Heart by Dean Koontz

This is another tale of the possibilites that one's heart is willing to take.

Spencer Grant is haunted by his past. He despises it yet he stubbornly clings to it, waiting for an opportunity to understand a part of himself that he's afraid to explore. When he met valerie Keene, everything changed for him. He could not explain why he was drawn to that woman but he just knew that if he could just talk to her, he'll know the answers. But Valerie's gone and now he's being pursued by an unknown group of people. People with power and influence. And they won't stop.

Dark Rivers of the Heart is divided into two parts: On a Strange Sea and To the Source of the Flow. Like most of Dean Koontz's books, the characters have dark pasts that they somehow had to accept and overcome. But unlike the usual Koontz protagonists, Roy Miro isn't well-educated, smart and wealthy. But he's overly confident and merciless. Although he himself was not blessed with good looks or a high I.Q., he believes he's entitled to the the privileges he's getting. Coupled with Eve Jammer, they make an annoying and formidable opposition.

For the first time, I hated one of Koontz's protagonists. Waiting for Miro's punishment kept me going. I didn't like what he did to Harris Descoteaux.

The ending was a bit disappointing to me. I was expecting Miro to die a painful death, but I guess bringing down the secret government agency in which he belongs is just too complex. Besides, the ending showed that Grant and the others were willing to fight and to save victims like themselves.

I liked the tension between Spencer and his father near the end of the book. I also did not anticipate Spencer's father, Steven Ackblom, to turn things around. Readers will also get to compare which character is crazier: Miro or Ackblom?

I recommend this to any Koontz fan who wants to see some slight changes in the type of characters. Miro is an effective nemesis. You'd love to hate him.

The Prince of Tennis (live-action movie)

The Prince of Tennis live-action film is a shorter version of the anime, which combines some of Ryoma Echizen's rivals into one character, Egate Mcleod Higaki. He also replaced a member of Hyotei, Hiyoshi Wakashi.

The first part of the film shows his introduction to the Seigaku tennis club regulars. Ryoma here is undecisive and he doesn't seem happy to be playing tennis with his seniors.

If there was a hint of this in the anime, it's more obvious here. He seems to have little motivation in playing against other schools. His match with Tezuka Kunimitsu however somewhat changed his perception of the junior high school players. But that alone wasn't enough to convince him to stay and help Seigaku get to the Nationals.

From left: Kaidoh, Momo, Eiji, Tezuka, Ryoma, Oishi, Fuji, Taka-san and Inui

But when Higaki visited the tennis club to taunt Tezuka and the other members, Ryoma changed his mind.

The match against Hyotei followed the same events in the series except for Ryoma and Higaki's match. Halfway through their match, Higaki's relationship to the girl whom Ryoma met earlier was explained. It also provided a bit of an explanation for his attitude. The girl, Shioin Higaki, replaced Ryuzaki Sakuno's character from the series and is Egate's sister.

The last part of the match was a test of endurance instead of skills. It was a bit anti-climactic for me.

Fans of the Ryoma-Sakuno pairing might be a bit disappointed but overall it's a good movie. I'm glad that they didn't alter some of the characters' personalities.

Coach Ryuzaki Sumire didn't play a big role here and she wasn't even around during the matches.

Fans who have seen some of the musicals will be familiar with the Seigaku cast. Prince of Tennis fans will enjoy this.

***
Directed by: Yuichi Abe
Cast:
Kanata Hongo - Ryoma Echizen
Yuu Shirota - Tezuka Kunimitsu
Hiroki Suzuki - Oishi Shuichiroh
Hiroki Aiba - Fuji Shusuke
OSamu Adachi - Kikumaru Eiji
Hirofumi Araki - Inui Sadaharu
Yoshikatsu Kotani - Kawamura Takashi
Masaki Kaji - Takeshi Momoshiro
Kousuke Kujirai -Kaidoh Kaoru
Egate Mcleod Higaki - RIKIYA
Nanjiroh Echizen - Goro Kishitani
Shioin Higaki - Sayuri Iwata