Bingo Row 1 – School
Despite how much manga I read, I don’t read much set in high schools and I can only think of one I’ve read where the school setting is significant. Luckily for hitting the school bingo box, that one was read by me this calendar year.
Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori is an early 2000s manga that is probably somewhere between cult and mainstream classic. I say this based on how available the volumes were at the library.
Some might say the series is about a girl on a scholarship in a rich private school who joins the host club to pay a debt; there she crossdresses to entertain bored girls who want attention and conversation. Hijinks and hilarity ensue while the girl develops deep friendships (and more) with the other club members. I say that’s just the premise; it’s about how obscene wealth equates to severe mental illness, especially in children. But in a funny way.
Because the series is very funny.
It’s actually very everything because it doesn’t touch a topic without going 5000%. If the kids at the school are going to be rich, they’re not just private jet rich, they’re private army rich. If the love interest is going to be in denial about his feelings, he’s going to be so obtuse that people worry about him (see obscene wealth = mental illness). And when it gets sweet, it literally warms the insides like drinking cocoa.
There are a lot of series that follow the Ouran formula. Zany rich weirdos and a normal girl get into situations, but they don’t hit right or scratch the Ouran itch. Ouran works (on me) because it takes the zany rich mentally ill weirdos and their problems so seriously. It’s got a lot of heart and sincerity, which, if nothing else, makes it funnier.
I’ve read a lot of potentially embarrassing series in my quest to beat agoraphobia with library trips, and this started as one of them. But it didn’t end as one because by volume 18, I was just excited to see all these stupid kids live happily ever after.