Unveiling an Unforgettable Twist: The Ultimate Spring Anime that Transcends Ouran Host Club's Charm

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Warning: Spoilers for Yuri Is My Job! episode 1

Crunchyroll's new anime series, Yuri Is My Job!, puts a yuri twist on the yaoi theme of the beloved anime Ouran High School Host Club. The similarities between the two series are striking, with the main character being reluctantly pulled into an unexpected role due to an accident. However, Yuri Is My Job! takes things to a higher level of intensity.

Set to air as part of Crunchyroll's Spring 2023 lineup, Yuri Is My Job! follows a girl named Hime who finds herself guilt-tripped into covering shifts at a café after accidentally breaking the manager's arm. A key element of the café is that the waitresses pretend to be more than just friends.

Miman, the original mangaka, has crafted a storyline that closely resembles Ouran High School Host Club. In that famous series, Haruhi Fujioka, a scholarship student, breaks an expensive vase and is then forced to work for the host club to pay off her debt. Her role involves entertaining the female customers who come to witness acts of forbidden love performed by the male host club members.

Beyond the surface similarities, both the café girls in Yuri Is My Job! and the boys in Ouran High School Host Club have secrets and truths about their new recruits that they need to hide from their customers. This secrecy is crucial to maintaining the image and services of their respective establishments.

Yuri is My Job! Gives a Lesbian Twist to Ouran High School Host Club

In Yuri Is My Job!, the shift from yaoi to yuri brings forth the notion that not all the acting is mere pretense, setting it apart from Ouran. Hime finds herself infatuated with the elegant Mitsuki, prompting her to authentically channel her true emotions during her debut. This forces Mitsuki to engage in roleplay that is more intimate with Hime compared to the other waitresses in order to preserve the café's image. However, the predicament lies in the fact that Mitsuki clearly dislikes Hime, to the extent that her disdain for Hime is so strong that she almost sabotages a scene where they are meant to portray special sisters, despite taking her job seriously.

Similar tensions can be found in Ouran High School Host Club, with club president Tamaki falling in love with the oblivious Haruhi. While being rejected would be devastating for Tamaki, there is a distinction between unrequited love from someone who genuinely appreciates you as a person and being the target of intense animosity from someone who simply cannot tolerate your presence. Furthermore, the fact that Hime's carefully cultivated image relies on her employment at the café adds an extra layer of tension to the overall dynamic.

Acting within acting within acting

Hime's image in the story adds a layer of psychological complexity. From the start, Hime has been pretending to be someone she's not in order to attract a wealthy partner. Behind her cute facade lies a completely different personality - cold, calculating, and incredibly shallow. Despite this, Hime has to put on yet another performance at the café where she works, which is partly why she excels there.

All of these elements create the perfect setup for a romantic comedy. Similar to the trope of discovering that love was present all along, Hime is now finding genuine love through her acting, after initially faking it for materialistic reasons. This true love might even lead her to pursue a wife, contrasting her original pursuit of a husband. Ouran High School Host Club doesn't delve into these themes and goes beyond the boundaries of a yaoi anime series. Crunchyroll's Yuri is My Job! takes the established formula of Ouran High School Host Club and tweaks it enough to make it a worthwhile and engaging series.

Yuri Is My Job is streaming on Crunchyroll.