Ouran High School Host Club 🌸 Book Club // Starting Volume 4 on Feb 3rd, 2024 (桜蘭高校ホスト部)

Japanese Language Book Clubs
1

Welcome to 桜蘭高校ホスト部クラブ:cherry_blossom: Book Club! (Ouran High School Host Club)

Let’s start recognizing the appearance of the Japanese title together! :smiley:

Currently on a break until Volume 4 which starts Feb 3rd, 2024

The very popular anime only covers until the end of volume 8 of this 18-volume-long manga series. This is your chance to get the full story!

Haruhi is a scholarship student at the expensive Ouran High School. Soon after starting there, Haruhi stumbles on the school’s host club, and life was never quite the same again. (I made up this description, so it’s probably bad. :joy:)

Do note that I feel like the art is a bit rough around the edges early on, but I remember it getting better later on when I flipped through a few volumes.

There are also two official light novels with “episodes” written by others.

ohshcCover

Where to purchase

Digital: Amazon (vol 1-3 in Kindle Unlimited), Bookwalker, Kobo.
If you are in Japan, Line Manga (the app, a companion app to the Line chat app) have volumes 1-17 (aka all but the last) available to read for free, the Line manga website might have some of it too, but probably not all, also locked to Japan.
Physical: Amazon, CDJapan.

Schedule

Volume 1
Week Start Date Chapter Page Numbers Page Count
Week 1 May 20th Chapter 1 - Part 1 3 - 26 24
Week 2 May 27th Chapter 1 - Part 2 27 - 40 14
Week 3 Jun 3rd Chapter 1 - Part 3 41 - 54 14
Week 4 Jun 10th Chapter 2 - Part 1 55 - 66 12
Week 5 Jun 17th Chapter 2 - Part 2 67 - 82 16
Week 6 Jun 24th Chapter 2 - Part 3 83 - 106 24
Week 7 Jul 1st Chapter 3 - Part 1 107 - 137 31
Week 8 Jul 8th Chapter 3 - Part 2 138 - 158 21
Week 9 Jul 15th 番外編〜ハニー先輩[…]〜 + Egoistic Club 159 - 177 19

Volume 2

Thread for volume 2. Below are links to where each specific week’s start in the volume thread.

Start Date Chapter Page Numbers Page Count
Jul 29th Chapter 4 - Part 1 4 - 24 21
Aug 5th Chapter 4 - Part 2 25 - 46 22
Aug 12th Chapter 5 47 - 77 31
Aug 19th Chapter 6 79 - 108 30
Aug 26th Chapter 7 110 - 143 34
Sep 2nd ロマンティック・エゴイスト - Part 1 145 - 166 22
Sep 9th ロマンティック・エゴイスト - Part 2 + Egoistic Club 167 - 188 22

Volume 3

Thread for volume 3. Below are links to where each specific week’s start in the volume thread.

Start Date Chapter Page Numbers Page Count
Sep 23rd Chapter 8 5 - 34 30
Sep 30th Chapter 9 35 - 64 30
Oct 7th Chapter 10 66 - 98 33
Oct 14th Chapter 11 99 - 129 31
Oct 21st Chapter 12 131 - 160 30
Oct 28th 番外編 藤岡家の日常 + はみだし劇場 + Egoistic Club 163 - 183 21

Volume 4 - Starting Feb 3rd, 2024
Thread for volume 4 (TBA). Below are links to where each specific week’s start in the volume thread.

Start Date Chapter Page Numbers Page Count
Feb 3rd Chapter 13 3 - 34 32
Feb 10th Chapter 14 35 - 65 31
Feb 17th Chapter 15 68 - 101 34
Feb 24th Chapter 16 103 - 133 31
Mar 2nd ラブ・エゴイスト Part 1 135 - 158 24
Mar 9th ラブ[…]* Part 2 + はみだしマンが […]** + エゴ[…]*** 159 - 186 28

*ラブ・エゴイスト
**はみだしマンが 桜蘭サスペンス劇場
***エゴイスティック・クラブ

Bottom of page 158 (since page numbers are non-existent in the middle of chapters — this is so I'll have it for the volume thread later

ouranv4-bottomofpage158
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Vocabulary

Please read the guidelines on the first page before adding any words.

Discussion Guidelines

Spoiler Courtesy

Please follow these rules to avoid inadvertent ネタバレ. If you’re unsure whether something should have a spoiler tag, err on the side of using one.

  1. Any potential spoiler for the current week’s reading need only be covered by a spoiler tag. Predictions and conjecture made by somebody who has not read ahead still falls into this category.
  2. Any potential spoilers for external sources need to be covered by a spoiler tag and include a label (outside of the spoiler tag) of what might be spoiled. These include but are not limited to: other book club picks, other books, games, movies, anime, etc. I recommend also tagging the severity of the spoiler (for example, I may still look at minor spoilers for something that I don’t intend to read soon).
  3. Any information from later in the book than the current week’s reading (including trigger warnings that haven’t yet manifested) needs to be hidden by spoiler tags and labeled as coming from later sections.
Instructions for Spoiler Tags

Click the cog above the text box and use either the “Hide Details” or “Blur Spoiler” options. The text which says “This text will be hidden” should be replaced with what you are wishing to write. In the case of “Hide Details”, the section in the brackets that is labelled “Summary” can be replaced with whatever you like also (i.e, [details=”Chapter 1, Pg. 1”]).

Hide Details results in the dropdown box like below:

Example

This is an example of the “Hide Details” option.

The “Blur Spoiler” option will simply blur the text it surrounds.

This is an example of the “Blur Spoiler” option.

Posting Advice

Obs! Do note that the physical version seems to come with zero page numbers (yes, zero, I saw none while flipping through a good portion of the first volume). So alternative means of identifying page might be needed.

  • When asking for help, please mention the page number, and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked. As the threads get longer, it becomes more convenient to use the Search function, which is located in the upper right corner of the forum. It is the magnifying glass which is near your profile picture! The best way to search is usually to type part of the sentence you are confused about, and select “in this topic”. This will show you all posts within the current thread which has that string of text.

  • Be sure to join the conversation! It’s fun, and it’s what keeps these book clubs lively! There’s no such thing as a stupid question! We are all learning here, and if the question has crossed your mind, there’s a very good chance it has crossed somebody else’s also! Asking and answering questions is a great learning opportunity for everyone involved, so never hesitate to do so!

Membership

Will you be reading with us?
  • Yes
  • Yes, but I might start late
  • Maybe
  • No
0 voters
Which version will you be reading?
  • eBook
  • Paperback
0 voters

Don’t forget to set this thread to Watching in order to be notified when weekly threads get posted!

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If you have a better idea for an emoji, please suggest! I couldn’t find one I actually liked so went with :cake: because Yoru cafe uses :coffee:. And used :clubs: because it is called clubs, xD.

EDIT: I changed it to :cherry_blossom: because Ouran is spelled with its kanji. Although :amphora: would be funnier (spoiler for chapter 1).

So two relevant polls needed: when to start and reading speed for the first volume.

When can you start reading Ouran?
  • May 6th
  • May 20th
  • June 3rd
  • June 17th

0 voters

The first option is in May because I want to make sure people have time to buy physical copies if they want them. And it helps me not having multiple clubs potentially starting at the same time. I seem to have become a book club organizer junkie…

As for schedule, this is the ToC for volume 1:

  • Chapter 1: page 3
  • Chapter 2: page 55
  • Chapter 3: page 107
  • Side-story: page 159
  • Egoistic Club*: page 169

*misspelled as Cluv in the manga… xD

I only have page numbers thanks to @ChristopherFritz because the paper copy seems to come with zero. Yes, I flipped through many pages looking for page numbers… And the ToC just calls the three chapters Ouran High School Host Club, meaning at first glance it looks like the first chapter is 150+ pages long. xD

I don’t know how relevant Egoistic Club is to the story, but I figure for this first volume we can read it, and if it turns out to be irrelevant, we can drop it for future volumes. The side story is definitely part of it.

So the main chapters are about 50 pages each. Side story is 11 and Egoistic Club is 9 pages, so they’d probably be lumped together.

Plan A: Divide the first chapter in three parts (no idea if there are good splits, but can probably find something), and then half a chapter per week. So 17 pages per week for the first three weeks, then 25 pages per week. Side story and Egoistic club would be together as the last week.

Plan B: Half a chapter per week, ca 25 pages per week. Side story and Egoistic club would be together as the last week.

Plan C: One chapter per week, ca 50 pages per week. Side story and Egoistic club would be together as the last week.

Which reading schedules do you want?
  • A
  • B
  • C
  • Other, please comment below

0 voters

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Not a real suggestion here, but I imagine Haruhi wouldn’t like it if we went with :amphora:.

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I was looking for one like that! Muahahahahaha!

(I apparently can’t spell that word so my search for it failed.)

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To be fair, I’m not sure it should be the one, but better than a boring :cake: emoji. xD

Edit: Actually just remembered that 桜蘭 is spelled with 桜 so I guess that one works and is pretty. And :amphora: is the wrong color (spoiler for chapter 1 kinda).

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Don't tell the copyright police. (It's just two pages, so...)

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Physical manga + colored pencils = you decide the color =D

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The character pages that comes after those two pages are technically included in the Egoistic Club, at least if I go by the last speech bubble from Haruhi.

And also: I can never unsee the anime, but true. xD

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This is probably a bit above my reading ability… but I really want to read it so I might try to join you if I’m not already in too many bookclubs by the time you start. :slight_smile:

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Oh man Ouran was one of the first manga I read a few years back. Not really into shoujo (like at all, actually) but this is the exception. I’d be down to join in.

Do note that I feel like the art is a bit rough around the edges early on, but I remember it getting better later on when I flipped through a few volumes.

I feel this. Difference between the first and last volume is night and day, it got so much better

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I happened to look it up on Line Manga, and it turns out you can read the full series for free save for the last volume…so I’m in!

Plus I remember the anime from a billion years ago, and I’m interested to see how the manga compares.

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That is amazing to hear! I might switch to digital reading then. Historically I haven’t been great about actually reading digitally, but maybe I can stick with this club.

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I just want to point out that May 6th is in the middle of Golden Week, so many people may be traveling.

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oh, what website?

Just “line manga”?

sorry, i’ve never heard of it before, is that its name?

Edit: ok, i looked it up, seems I’ll be needing a VPN since it says it only works in Japan

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haha, for me this was possibly the first or second anime (never read the manga) that I watched fully apart from the popular ones that aired on tv in my country.

I had a female friend, so obsessed with the story, she made me watch and at first I was like, nah I don’t like shoujos… pfff as you say, this is a beautiful exception, how much I enjoyed it back in the day.

Not sure if I’ll be reading along, but I’ll come from time to time to read this thread out of pure joy

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Yeah, sorry I should’ve clarified. It’s an app that connects with the Line app. But even if you have a Line account outside of Japan, the Manga Line app apparently blocks those outside of Japan from using it.

There’s a website as well, but I think it also has a region block. They want you to use the app so they also have a very limited amount of chapters and manga selections that you can read via the website.

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@Hantsuki Added the info on Line Manga to the OP, thanks for the scoop!

@DIO-Berry May 6th should be the tail end of Golden week, right? So would only affect the first two days of reading. And Golden Week is only in Japan, if I’m not wrong (or mostly there)? I guess I’m glad I didn’t pick April 29th instead because that is the very start of Golden Week.

Anyway, everyone is free to vote for whatever options works for them, and the majority will decide.

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It’s the Saturday and the last day for most people is Sunday. While Golden Week is just in Japan, a lot of WK live in Japan or want to visit no? And GW gets recommended for visiting because of special events.

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True. Which probably means May 6th won’t win, meaning I’ll have to wait longer to start reading. D’awww. xD

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Interesting, I’ve always thought of it as a week to avoid visiting because everywhere would be super-crowded with domestic tourists…

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I’ve never read this manga it looks really good!

After a little of searching I’m afraid I’ll end up dead on the starting line, so I think I’ll be skipping this one.
I may lurk a little bit and cheer you all from a distance.

Natively graded it for Upper intermediates ~Jplt N2 Here

1 Like