Yeah, and I was in band...

Yeah, I used to think that band camp was an exciting and goofy, non-ordinary experience. No American Pie jokes, please... That was, until I watched a few episodes of Ouran High School Host Club.

The summary from Wikipedia.com states:

Ouran High School Host Club is a story that takes place primarily at Ouran High School. The school is an exclusive institution reserved only for students from incredibly wealthy and affluent families. One exception is scholarship student Haruhi Fujioka, a young student from a lower-middle class family. Because of the superlative cost of the school uniform, Haruhi resorts to wearing long slacks, polo shirts and a vest that resembles the male student's uniform. Therefore, upon entering school, Haruhi was assumed to be, by most, a male student.

One day, searching through the vast campus for a quiet place to study since the libraries are filled with gossiping students, Haruhi finds the technically unused Third Music Room, taken over by the Host Club - a group of six attractive male students who spend their time charming and entertaining the school's girls for profit. During their first meeting, Haruhi is shocked at their behavior which causes an accidental knock over of a very expensive vase valued at ¥8,000,000 (USD $80,000 in the English manga). This causes Haruhi to contract a massive debt with the Host Club. In order to pay off the large sum, Haruhi is employed as the club's "dog" and is constantly ordered to do menial tasks for the members, such as serving food or cleaning up.

Once the club president, Tamaki Suou, sees Haruhi without glasses, Haruhi is promoted to be one of the hosts of the club as a way to pay off the huge debt. One by one, the other club members take notice, until even the club president finally discovers that Haruhi is, in fact, a female, with a self-proclaimed 'low threshold for gender identity', but since she is already accepted by the club's customers and has become one of the main attractions, Haruhi is allowed to remain as a member. She is forced to stay until she has accumulated a total of 100 (later, 1000) customers, at which time her debt would be considered paid in full.

This series is worth definitely worth watching. For me, my largest obstacle was getting around the particular art style used in the creation of the animation. Although the series was done by Bones studio, the same peeps who done Fullmetal Alchemist, it just really didn't seem up to the standards that I would have thought that a series like this deserved.

While the art left a few things to be desired, the plot was interesting, and the twists in the end left you with a feeling that you really didn't understand the characters as well as you thought you did before the last few episodes.

My viewing of this anime was like my viewing of all of my anime. I watch the anime using the original japanese voices and English subtitles. Not discrediting English anime voice actors, I simply want to experience the anime in the original form it was intended. Now that I have seen it, I cannot imagine another voice for Tamaki or the others. To me, it would just seem fake.

All in all, an enjoyable time spent watching anime. Does this anime qualify under the guidelines of "Sissy Anime"? Absolutely. Guys crying every other episode, guys hugging and such, cross dressers, etc. make this one of the strongest contenders for the "Sissy Anime of the Decade" award. So, did I like the anime as presented?

...I wouldn't change a thing...