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So, lets get one thing straight. You don't watch Ouran High school host club because you want to learn interesting things, feel great passion, think a whole lot about life, see beautiful art, hear beautiful music, follow a moving and morally sound story or to see deep and realistic characters that you can identify with... No, you watch it cause it's fun, and isn't that kind of what it's all about, anyway?

NO SPOILERS

Ouran high school host club is unapologetically extravagant, intensely cliche, overly dramatic, a teensy bit ridiculous *cough* and all of it's characters are freaking stereotypes, but it's like: "Yeah, so? Who cares?" ... It's quite clean cut. It's an anime you don't have to think about, everything is basically exactly as it seems. If you don't like that, don't watch it. I personally found myself enjoying it a lot.

The characters do not have that much depth, they are given some backstory after you've gotten used to them. It was cute, it was corny, it was nothing you haven't seen before. That's the charm of the thing, though. So many anime try to be interesting, just by having an sad backstory, a dark plot or complicated characters, but they completely miss something that I really need in an anime. Comfort. FUN. Ouran high school host club just makes me happy, it makes me laugh. I won't feel guilty if I forget the entire plot in a month. And if I don't even remember watching it a year from now, all the better, I can go watch it again.

I'm not going to sit here picking it apart any further because it's just not that kind of anime. Something doesn't have to have a lasting impact to be great. So if you're looking for a nice, happy, funny, cute filler anime, please just go watch it. It won't be your all time favorite, but you'll probably have a good time.

I know the opinions differ but I still think this is a great anime coming out of my re-watch. In it's 12 episodes it manage to make me care for it's characters, cry for it's characters and it also makes my heart race. It had a very small amount of problems for me, one of them being that it's too short, which is, of course not something that you can call criticism, just greediness on my part.

NO SPOILERS AHEAD

Now, I know it's not really a very original story. It shows things that you find in a loooot of shoujo anime, but to me it shows ... exactly those things that I like about shoujo anime compared to other kinds of fiction. It is character driven, sweet and thinks it's choices and moralities through. It's not just a big ball of hormones like a lot of American entertainment is.
Personally I started watching this in an attempt to fill the void that kimi ni todoke left. I found another sweet story in this anime. I love it's philosophy, and even though I can see the cliche's, they don't bother me that much. It shows me things that I wish I'd have the power to do: drawing people out and drawing people in, with trying, caring and a little guts.

CHARACTERS
So we have a good female MC, Futuba I like how she feels like a teenager, caving into the temptation and pretending to be who her friends think she is. I also like that she has courage. She has some great character development and is overall fun to watch while she balances her behavior between what her habits tell her to do versus what she wants to do. The male MC is lovable, he pretends not to care but obviously does, well, you know the type, imagine that stereotypical male MC with a great dry voice actor, actual backstory and then ten times better and you have our Kou. There are some other characters that don't get a lot of development but what do you want in 12 episodes?

PHILOSOPHY
Now I realize this is shoujo anime and that philosophy is barely relevant, but to me it matters a great deal if a story has something to teach me or something for me to wonder about. In the anime we see a couple of flashbacks to the Kou and Futaba in middle school, when they started to like each other. In those flashbacks they are both very different from the way they are when we get to know them. This is something I find very interesting personally, whether the fact that people change matters to the ones who really love them. Isn't unconditional love very illogical? If characteristics don't matter anymore what is it that we love? When you love someone who's changed, does that mean that you love them as someone new entirely? Or is there something in people that is always there, no matter how much they change? Or does loving them mean that you're just waiting for the person they were to come out again? Ao Haru Ride doesn't give you any answers but it does have a nice story about two characters who experience real change but either still love each other and/or learn to love each other the way they are now.

ART AND SOUND
The art is really great, it's just really pretty. It has nice body proportions, backgrounds, there are no animation issues that sprung out at me, it also has fantastic facial expressions.
I really love the music, too, I like the theme song and the song they end with, but it also has a beautiful soundtrack that is alternated with the amazing song "I will". The voice actors were also very good.

So I think you get that I liked it a lot. Don't watch this if you're looking for something different and original. But if you're looking for a short, sweet and well-executed love story you should watch this :) It won't take long so enjoy it while it lasts. Oh and watch the extra "unwritten" episodes, it might give you a little more closure.

I finished paradise kiss in one day, which is quick for me even though there are only 12 episodes, but I can't say I liked watching it. It was inspiring, sure, and the art was great, but from the beginning to the end I felt an underlying bitterness that I couldn't get out of.

NO SPOILERS AHEAD

THE CHARACTERS
So, even though some of the interaction in paradise kiss was more realistic than in other shoujo anime, I never got to liking the characters. The main girl didn't really have anything going for her and her love interest was extremely selfish. The fact that they fell ... in love felt unrealistic to me, the love itself felt more like lust and infatuation, too insecure and I personally just didn't see the point. Even though the other characters were reasonably interesting, I found that the little backstory they got was rushed, and I never got to liking them either. No-one made me smile and I wasn't particularly rooting for anyone. I think the makers were going for a realistic vibe, but part of life is the fun and I didn't have it, and I never really saw the characters have it. So why did I keep watching?

FASCINATION
Most stories I love are the ones that have great characters, reasonably realistic and lovable. And though I think these were meant to be lovable or at least have some appeal they all seemed desperate to me. It missed one of the essential parts that I look for: Comfort. I need a bit of hope and comfort, a great friendship or deep trust or a love story that isn't just driven by passion. When none of that is there it just sort of drags on for me. I did keep watching, not really because I wanted to know about the characters but because I got fascinated by the feeling that it gave me. Somehow I just got an incredible feeling of growing bitterness and despair from every episode. I didn't really care about the story but it did teach me things about what I absolutely don't want from life. I'm a songwriter and I paused several times to write songs because it gave me that feeling of at least knowing my own priorities and goals. They were all pretty dark songs. I certainly found it interesting to watch but I'm never going to watch it again. It's just something I wanted finished, but the fact that I didn't stop proved that I was fascinated, which is why the score isn't dramatic.

BE WARNED
Don't go in expecting a happy go lucky anime, I know, I probably already made that pretty clear. I don't think everyone finds it depressing, but I do, and it kept eating away at me. I get that some people love this anime, and some who crave realism might find what they are looking for. But personally I didn't find the story all that realistic and it just mostly made me feel kind of empty. To me the world doesn't look anything like it was portrayed (figuratively, not literally of course) I hadn't meant to give it a five but I writing this I just couldn't feel good about these aspects of the anime.

SO ENOUGH DEPRESSING STUFF
The art was, well, ART, it was beautiful, a bit more realistic than most anime and really artistically done. The colors were great, I never once skipped the theme-song-video and it was overall pretty awesome. Some of the same shots were used a few times randomly, which bothered me a bit but I liked it a lot overall. It really fit the story and the vibe too. The music didn't stand out for me but never really bothered me either.

YOU MIGHT LOVE IT
I do think that some people will love it, it might really just be personal perspective or priorities, it was interesting, beautiful and flamboyant, and I do think the dialogue was well done and more like the actual confused human beings we all are than a lot of other shoujo anime. I just couldn't see the point in the choices the characters made and I didn't believe them to be real, so the dialogue sort of drowned in that frustration. The anime left me feeling a little hollow which could be either a good sign or a bad sign, I'm not sure yet.

I hope this helped in making your choice, I can't really recommend it but I can't say you won't love it either so good luck!

So, this is my fourth review of an anime ever and I've just finished the anime a few hours ago so bear with me as I sort out my thoughts a bit.

I liked Cross Game, I'm not completely sure why. It has a lot of things that I normally like in anime but most of them didn't grasp me as much as they could have. Maybe it's because it was about baseball, which I know nothing about. Or maybe the emotions didn't hit me as hard expressed in it's back to basic art. I still liked it a lot, though, I got through it's ... 50 episodes in no time and if you know my habits you know that I really do just drop the ones I don't like as soon as I've had enough of them, which is often two episodes in.

NOT REALLY ANY SPOILERS!!

YES, I DID LIKE THIS ANIME
I do like my love stories slow and realistic, that's what probably struck a chord with me. I like a love between two people who actually know each other deeply, and trust each other on a very instinctive level. Passion is good, but not as good as that feeling of having a rock in the crazy storm of life, and just being willing to work for a relationship can make it so much more real.

Just like the art the anime is simple, back to basic, nice to watch, cute and funny, but simple. I'm sure other people found more meaning in this anime than I did and there is that layer that kept me watching, but I can't figure out what it is exactly. Maybe because it's very basic it feels honest, without a lot of decoration, both visually and emotionally. Even though I guess it deals with a story that could have been a lot more complicated it all happens very naturally, slowly but steadily.
I liked the story, I like that the drama isn't painted so dramatically and I like the way the story works and develops the main characters.

It has a lot of nice characters, I mean nice in the actual sense. I don't like it when anime's put in mean people for no reason other than trying to make you root for the main character more, like with rivals in love or in a game. They really have no function being mean if the couple you are rooting for is actually in love, or if the person you are rooting for to win is actually the best. They will figure that out even if their rivals are the nicest people in the world. I like that Cross Game avoided a lot of people being mean just for the hell of it.

WHAT I NEVER REALLY GOT
What I didn't like about this anime. Well, I think the art was a little too simple, simple is good but when you find yourself wondering what the expressions on peoples faces are supposed to be, it's a little too simple for me. I didn't have that a lot but the points where facial expressions are supposed to present words unsaid are often the most important parts, and also the parts that sometimes left me a little confused.

I had a few character issues, too. The male lead, though showing some character development, seems very unchanged to me, while a lot happens that could have given him more depth. He always seems to have some sort of control over his emotions, giving us little insight into him and, me personally, not a lot of reasons to love him. I did love the female lead who makes up for that lack of emotional connection easily. There's also a little to many comic relief characters for my taste, and some characters just sticking around after sort of being done playing their part. A lot of screen time seems to be lost that could have been spend on me getting to know the important characters a little better.

The baseball thing. I think this might be a personal issue seeing as I've never really been into sports but I just didn't really get it, I cared because my characters cared, but I didn't actually care myself. I have watched a few other shows and anime about ambition, passion and a business wouldn't really have cared about going into it, but a lot of those have a way of getting me to love what they do, making me curious about it. Cross Game didn't really explain to me in it's own way why people love baseball, it just gave me characters to love that loved it, and that's not enough for me, once I spend that much time with it I want to understand why.

Also, I found the ending a little bit confusing, but that's probably because I like my endings to tie up all loose ends and I know that's not very realistic but it made me feel a bit unfinished. It wasn't as though there's this great plot hole that needed addressing or something just a slight bit of insecurity about the ending.

OVERALL
Overall I found it very enjoyable (I know that sounds condescending, it's not meant to be) and I would recommend it to basically anyone because I think a lot of people can find stuff in it they like. This is not one of my favorite anime's, though, because I like my characters to dig a little deeper, and because I there's a lot of things that I can't get myself to care about. But it's a good story with nice characters and I had fun watching it :)

I've seen both the first and the second season of Chihayafuru and because I couldn't get enough I've also read all the manga I could find. I gotta tell you, it's amazing. My heart starts pounding just thinking about it. I really think you should watch this.

DON'T WORRY, NO SPOILERS (unless you think game rules are spoilers then just skip that)

Chihayafuru is about people playing a card game. As many others I thought, well that can't be all that interesting I'm not really into sports or games of any kind, so that aspect didn't really appeal to me. I do like my anime characters ... to have spirit, ambition and passion, though and the anime seemed to have those, so I thought I'd give it a try.

THE CHARACTERS
I was right that the characters have passion but they have so much more! Chihaya is a good main character, she's impulsive, enthusiastic and passionate but she would be nothing without the rest of them. Every single one of the characters has a different view of Karuta (the card game) and life and a separate role in the anime. Everything feels incredibly balanced and some characters have amazing development. Chihaya more than anyone learns new ways to look at Karuta, her passion every episode. The game itself mesmerizing to watch.

THE GAME
The anime is about the card game Karuta, the basic rules of Karuta are that there are a hundred cards, on every card is a traditional poem that was written in Japan over a span of hundreds of years. 50 of those cards are laid out on a playing field, beween two players. All the hundred cards are read in a random order. The person who touches the right card on the field first gets the card, when you take a card from the opponents side you can give them one of yours, when your half of the playing field is empty you win.
It sounds simple and quite boring but it's NOT. In order to touch the right card quickly, cards get flung of the playing field, people are sweating, thinking and reacting at full speed and crazy-eating chocolate in between these intense games. To really play Karuta at top level you need memorization skills, good hearing and senses, good posture, analytic and strategic skills, precision, strength, speed, perseverance, an emotional connection to the cards and so much more that I'm starting to think it's the most amazing thing in the world, and I've never even played the freaking game.

THE STORY
I'm thinking this is shoujo, but it's not at all your typical romance. The tiny bits of romance that are in the anime made my heart pound like crazy but it is nowhere near the main focus. The story, though centered around Karuta (which you will come to love, I promise) is also about life. There's great emotional dept that I would never have looked for going into this, but that is just there. It's about team work, perseverance, friendship, support, poetry, ambition, sportsmanship, drive, intelligence, happiness and love. Some serious questions are raised about talent vs. hard work that apply to anything, and the characters are just so real that I felt every win and loss. It's also just very fun to watch, I loved everything.

ART & MUSIC
So this always becomes sort of an afterthought in my reviews because the story and characters are so important to me. I thought everything was perfectly fitting, it's also great to see the anime compared to the manga because it's in color you can see the movements and the amazing colors. The voice actors were great and the theme song drags you into the story immediately. You will come to love the soundtrack as with (almost) every anime you've ever loved :)

TASTE MATTERS
Soo I'm afraid that I've been raving so for the sake of being objective I'm going to tell you some things about the anime that you might not love even if I did:
- If you're watching this solely for the romance it's gonna be a long and frustrating ride.
- It is, ultimately about a game and people who love that game. I think I've made a compelling argument about why you should watch it anyway, but they are doing that a lot so if it's not for you or if you think playing a game is an incredible waste of time you might not get their passion.
- Though it is very different from most shoujo I've watched it is set up as one: the flashbacks, the art and the high school club theme are not very new and original, they don't need to be, but if you hate the set up you might not like the anime.
- The characters, though realistically portrayed, are very well balanced for the story. Everyone has a specific role in the group and the story. It is part of what makes the story great but it may feel too convenient and manufactured for some.

Don't judge too quickly though, you might miss something you could have loved!
Even if one of the points mentioned above screams no at you, I'd recommend you try it, because it might have been a no for me and I loved it anyway. So have fun, I hope this was helpful, and thanks for reading the entire thing, haha

I love this manga, this is the kind of manga you just love more every time you read it. It's got a lot of chapters so that's good.

At this moment I've read the chapters until (and including) 248. I am going to keep editing this as I read so I'll be caught up and you'll have a better idea of the entire thing.

NO SPOILERS

So I'll start with this: Kyoko is a great main character!!!
Skip beat! is one of those rare stories where the main character is what pulls me into the story. Often main characters are vaguely heroic but deeply self-centered in a hypocritical ... way and their motives can be so boring and unrealistic. But Kyoko is what always makes Skip Beat! fun to read. She's eager, sweet, but has a creepy voodoo obsession and a temper you do not want to mess with. You always understand what she's feeling yet she keeps surprising you. She's funny, crazy, obsessive, bitter, paranoid AND naive, determined, honest (well, most of the time), enthusiastic and an unapologetic dreamer. She also portrays fear of love perfectly and with both humor and that touch of realism. She's what we all dream of being: completely herself.

I like the story a lot, it's shoujo and has the shoujo quirks of (seriously) dragging out romance and the revenge thing is not exactly new I guess... But it has no black and white characters. It has thoughtful character development. Also there's great friendships, weird characters, weird situations (seriously edging on wacky sometimes), there's some real emotional depth to the story but it's kept light hearted for the most part, and doesn't have the lock-yourself-up-in-your-room-and-cry-for-three-days-straight-thing that some anime and manga tend to go for. You find new insights into the characters every single chapter.

Another big part of what I loved about Skip Beat is that the showbizz part is viewed as an actual profession. It shows the hard work, the creativity, the guts, the perseverance and the passion needed to actually make it as well as the help of others. Not only that, you can also feel the FUN radiating off the page, the pride and the joy in it. I'm always looking forward to every new part of it.

I think the art is better in the later chapters than it was in the beginning and certainly better than what is portrayed in the anime, and it has changed a lot (slowly but steadily) so it is a little inconsistent but beautiful and great at showing emotions and that's what counts.

As you have probably realized, I enjoyed this manga immensely, and am still really looking forward to new chapters coming out. I hope this review was helpful, and at least made you a bit curious :D

This is my favorite anime. Ever. It was also my first ever anime so I might be biased but I really think it is incredible. I WON'T HAVE ANY SPOILERS in this review so you can read on safely, I'll skip the synopsis seeing as you can find many, and get right to what I love about this anime:

What I loved about it most is that it taught me things about life.
In this anime we look at the tough world of high school through the ultimately innocent eyes of Sawako. Though she doesn't really have any friends she is eternally optimistic, honest and.... extremely dense. ... The fact that she is dense, though, is actually what makes her so great at figuring out complicated issues of friendship, popularity and love. When you know nothing about life and making friends you have to start from zero and learn the basics first. We sometimes forget the basics getting too caught up in unwritten social rules and insecurities. Her solution to a lot of things that bother everyone is being honest, believing in people and not giving up. Everyone can clear up a misunderstanding. It gives you courage to see her go through life, it makes you want to be a good person.

The best stories are the ones that make you want to be better yourself, that help you deal with everyday life and that help you become who you are or want to be, this is one of those stories. Why are you still reading this, go watch it!!

I see you're still reading this so I'll get into the other aspects of the anime.
The anime is very slow paced with relatively little emotional pay offs and big moments. Personally it never bothered me for a minute, though, it made it more realistic and made the character development more meaningful. I think the way the anime works is very character driven, the story never seems to just serve the plot and choices and realizations are given enough time not to feel rushed. The story is actually quite typical shoujo but it still feels very different from a lot of other shoujo I've watched now and it is perfect in it's execution. The lack of regular emotional pay offs and big drama might bother you if you are already used to the shoujo genre (I wasn't) but I'd say give it a few episodes if you still think it's too uneventful then this might not be the anime for you.

I really liked the art, has a bit of a pastel watercolory vibe, perfectly capturing the innocence and it's got the funny chibi versions of characters to show the extra emotions (and just to be funny). I also like the way the people are drawn not too unrealistically and that there's no trace of the weird obsession with boobs you seem to find in other animes. The backgrounds were also beautiful.
The music is not incredibly complicated, mostly simple piano, but perfect for the atmosphere. Both season one and season two have got great theme songs, too! The voice actors seemed perfect for their characters to me, but I did watch the anime first and I guess that can make a difference.

I think a lot of people will enjoy this anime, I got the recommendation from people whom I didn't think liked this kind of story. I never watched any anime before this one, foolishly thinking it wouldn't be for me, and this is what got me watching, so thinking like that is no excuse either! I've watched it multiple times, so even if you've already seen it and are just scrolling through wondering what you liked about it again, just go watch it, I'll shut up now.