I think out of the recent batch of freshly fansubbed anime, Ouran is the best. The animation is absolutely stellar, and the soundtrack and sfx are perfectly on-par. There were so many opportunities for the first episode to turn into a stereotypically mediocre show of it's genre.
Spoiler:
I was enjoying the first half of the episode when the main character was bullied, and was thinking, "Oh. The rest of the series will be about how the poor student is bullied and slowly finds the courage through his newly found friends to confront this struggle." Then to my suprise, he came outright and showed her up! It was even greater when the rest of the host club came to his rescue. Even funnier was the last 180 at the very end of the episode. That little smirk at the end was the icing on the cake.
"
Wins for being 100% entertaining and 0% boring. Only cons are a bit stereotypical character types. But that's only a few of the host club members. I find the main character quite original in his own way.
I hope this anime gets some more attention and doesn't end up swept under the carpet as a silly slapstick school-life anime.
