"Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and we cannot live in." – James Baldwin

So, all good things must come to an end and this is no exception.

There are several problems in terms of reviewing the final volume of Ouran High School Host Club. Firstly there is trying to get over the fact that there will be no more of it, and secondly I have to try and talk about what is in the book without giving too much of the ending away.

Let us start from where the last volume finished (if you have not read the previous 17 volumes, you really should stop reading this column now as there are spoilers). In it, the androgynous Haruhi Fujioka, along with just about everyone else at the elite Ouran High School, helped the head of Host Club Tamaki Suou to arrive at an airport to see his estranged French mother. The book ended Haruhi comes to terms with the fact that she probably loves Tamaki.

I think I can safely say (because it is in the blurb at the back of the book) that due to these new feelings, Tamaki decides to finally ask Haruhi out on a date. This leads to the usual chaos that the impulsive and narcissistic Tamaki always ends up creating, which in turn results in his fellow club members Kyoya, Hikaru, Kaoru, Hunny and Mori trying to guide the relationship in the right direction.

I will not go into the plot too much further, but I will say there are revelations, secrets are made clear, old characters that have not been seen for a while make a return appearance, and I think the ultimate ending should please most readers. The finale contains some things you probably would expect and some you would not. What those things are I shall let you find out.

I should point out that the finale is not quite the finale, as there is an extra bonus story included which makes this particular volume the largest of the collection at well over 200 pages long. There are other extras as well, mainly drawings and descriptions of what will happen to the characters (major and minor) in the near future.

I suppose the best way to sum up this volume is that it is pretty much like all the others. There are bits that make you smile, bits that make you laugh, and bits that move your heart. The final volume, like the previous seventeen, is sublime, and in my view make Ouran High School Host Club one of the best manga around, and certainly a leader in shojo manga, in terms of romantic and comedic content.

Bisco Hatori is now in the process of making a new series Detarame Mosoryoku Opera, a comedy about a student asked to save a parallel universe. Let’s hope Hatori can keep up the excellent work.