Ouran Koukou Vol. 7 & 8

Synopsis:

The first chapter focuses on Kyouya as the hosts (minus Haruhi) decided to make a trip to the commoners department store. The entire group (unsurprisingly) lost Kyouya in the store. He was without wallet or handphone when he bumped into Haruhi who also happened to be shopping there.

The next 2 chapters was about Hunny’s relationship with his younger brother Chika, who is also good in martial arts, but could never surpass Hunny. Seems like the Haninozuka family have a tradition whereby when you meet a family member, you greet them by fighting (very funny!!!) Another new character to note is that Mori’s brother Satoshi, is also Chika’s guardian! So it’s like there’s the Honey & Mori pair (elder), & Chika & Satoshi pair. Get it? Here, the story of how Honey defected from the Karate Club to the Host Club was also revealed. It was really kind of sweet….*Grin*

The last chapter is (another wasted chapter IMO) about the Robelia Girls, trying to pull Haruhi in again. There is also an additional chapter on Hikaru & Kaoru’s childhoods, which is in its twisted but sad way, quite interesting.

For volume 8, there is a campus fright fest (a class activity held by Haruhi’s class) for the first chapter. The 2^nd chapter however is more interesting, as we get to see the relationship between Tamaki & Kyouya when they first met (completely from Kyouya’s POV).Kyouya hates Tamaki at first and is jealous of him, but as they get to know each other more and found out more about each others family situation, it was clear that Kyouya respected him. And the winter that year, Tamaki proposes to form a club with him.

The last 2 chapters introduce yet another new side character, Kasanoda, heir to the most mafia gang in the Kanto region. Born with an extremely scary face (suitable for gangster), but just want to have fun & make friends, Kasanoda wanted Mori as his master because although Mori has scary serious looks like him, the he manages to be liked by everyone. Therefore, Kasanoda wants to learn his secret!

Reviews:

I am truly a little disappointed with these 2 volumes. After much development in Vol. 6, we’re are back again to slapstick comedies and some boring acts (I always hated the Robelia girls chapters... don’t understand why they keep coming back). The only positive thing I can say here is that there are some interesting flashback to the history of the hosts – like how the club came to be, and how the members are formed. Another thing to note is that the artwork here finally looks a little cleaner compared to before. Hopefully this trend will keep up.

Labels: Ouran

Posted at 12:07 AM