Talking about feasts of men, there is no way we will leave out the oldie but goodie, Fruits Basket. Tohru, our main protagonist, is a high school girl who finds herself homeless after her mother passed away in a car accident. She then camps outside in the woods, which turns out to be the Sohma family's private property. The Sohma family takes her in and Tohru's magical life and adventure with more than a dozen men (of different shapes, color, characters, personal features, and special skills, of course) begin.

Twelve members of the Sohma family lives with a curse where they will turn into animals of the Chinese zodiac when stressed, depressed, or hugged by the opposite gender (wow). Similar to Ouran High School, one of the main themes of this story is to see how Tohru's presence in the family gradually changes them and breaks the curse. While Haruhi is able to resolve traumatic experiences members in the Host Club went through in the past, Tohru is the crucial force in restoring faith, love, and warmth in the hearts of the cursed.

So, instead of a basket of fruits, I present to you a basket of tantalizing male pheromone.

Adapted from manga, Uta no Prince-Sama ("Prince of Song") is bound to be mouth watering (this is the only adjective I could think of). Our main protagonist, Haruka Nanami, is a student at the Saotome Academy, a prestigious school of performing arts. She comes to apply for the school in hope of becoming a song writer for her favorite singer, Hayato.

For some reason, she starts to hang out regularly with six (seven, if you count in the cursed prince, Cecil, who appears as a black cat in the first season and becomes human after Haruka breaks the spell) handsome, talented, prestigious, and occasionally wealthy men on campus (which is where the name "Prince" comes from).

We have most of our standard male characters in this show--prince Ren Jinguji, tender and sweet Natsuki Shinomiya, optimistic sunshine Otoya Ittoki, stern and serious Tokiya Ichinose, reticent and traditional Masato Hijirikawa, the foreign and exotic Cecil Aijima, and shyouta Syo Kurusu.

In addition to all these, we also have the alarmingly beautiful Otokonoko (male girl), Ringo Tsukimiya. Cross-dressing always has its appeal. While Haruhi crosses as male in Ouran High School, Ringo is the creme de la creme with his unquestionable femininity in Uta no Prince-Sama. This is more than we could ask for!

Similar to Haruhi, our main character in The Wallflower is also an atypical female protagonist. Sunako has interests and hobbies that are rarely seen in most Shoujo manga protagonists (Japanese YA manga targeting at teen girls). She has a morbid fascination with horror movies, blood, dark and scary themes, dresses in all black, and is obsessed with skeletons (her best friends are a skeleton skull named "John," and a human anatomy model named "Hiroshi").

The story begins with Sunako moving into her aunt's house, forcing her to live with four beautiful, smart, talented, attractive, and popular high school boys her age. Her aunt, Mine Nakahara, is determined to transform the dark and Gothic girl into a presentable and sociable "Lady," and decides to burden her four beautiful tenants--Kyohei Takano, Takenaga Oda, Yukinojo Toyama (Yuki), and Ranmaru Moriithis (Mori)--with this impossible task in exchange for rent (which is now a dilemma).

Besides of being surrounded by beautiful men, Sunako and Haruhi share many characteristics. For example, both girls are independent and smart, both are good at sports, both are skilled in handling house chores, and both are highly insensitive and oblivious of others' fondness towards them and their own romantic feelings, thus making the development of love relationships in both stories extremely slow (but fun).

Like Ouran High School, Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge is also pleasantly entertaining. The author adds in tons of whimsical jokes with unrealistic settings, plots, and developments, making the story even more comical.

Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun has most of the typical elements of what are expected of Shoujo mangas. An innocent and clumsy female protagonist, Chiyo Sakura, who has a crush on our main male character and tries everything to be closer to him. A main male character, Umetarou Nozaki, who is kind of lukewarm to everything around him instead of Shoujo mangas, which he does for a living. A bunch of friends involved, or not, with the couple's extremely slow developing relationship.

What is unique about this piece is that it plays heavily with gender stereotypes and expectations. While Ouran High School has Haruhi cross-dressing as a male host through out the whole story, most of the characters in Monthly Girl's have a certain gender-bend to them. Besides of Umetarou's passion for mangas targeted at a female teen audience, the personality of the main female protagonist in Umetarou's manga series is based on a male friend (Mikoto Mikoshiba).

We also have the star of the drama club, Yuu Kashima--a handsome, charming, and charismatic prince figure who is the most popular among the girls in the school, and who is actually female (butchy girls are always the best!!).

Another resemblance between Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun and Ouran High School is the absurdity and laughter. The story cracks you up with caricatures and jokes of both the depiction of teenage romantic relationships in manga/anime, and of the lives and perceptions of manga artists. The feast of men might not be as essential in this series, however, the variety of guys and their somehow unintentionally hilarious interactions can definitely make up for the lost!

This piece creates an atmosphere different from the other pieces we've introduced. It is more relaxing and free-spirited. There is no real story plot (well, if hanging out with a group of friends and talking non-sense all day counts as plot), but the story revolves around a bunch of guy friends where there's no real space for a serious female protagonist.

However, for those who grasp the true purpose of this recommendation, this piece resembles Ouran High School in one quintessential element: twins. When we have Hikaru and Kaoru in Ouran High School, there are Yuuta and Yuuki Asaba in Kimi to Boku. Both twin couples are inseparable. Both are highly dependent on each other. Both have their own secret language and know each other so well that you may think they could communicate telepathically.

And yet the twins are distinct in certain ways. Yuuta is more mature and responsible, while Yuuki is more free-spirited which could sometimes become inconsiderate.

Festive in the representation of male characters as it is, the piece is also rich in depicting the trivial yet weighty troubles that are particular to adolescence. The issues they are dealing with might not be as dramatic as those in Ouran High School, however, the male-bonding that entails is what we are aiming at.

What can be more festive than a gang of teenage young men dipping their muscular bodies in fresh clear water, stretching and bending their muscles, and resurfacing with droplets of water dripping from their hair, arms, and thighs? That festival is called "Free!."

Since we have ventured into a realm where female protagonists are fading out, we might as well just follow it through. Free! is a story about five high school boys and their love for swimming (and for one another). The plot is mostly about their relationships with swimming and relay race, the meanings they give to swimming, and the significance of swimming as a team. But these have nothing to do with their resemblance to Ouran High School. As a main theme of this recommendation article, the resemblance lies in the men.

Haruka Nanase, the main character, represents the laconic and impenetrable. Makoto Tachibana is the tender, patient, mature, and sweet figure. Rei Ryugazaki is the calculative follower of theory (with glasses of course). Rin Matsuoka is the instinctive and reckless animal. And Nagisa Hazuki is the cute, perky, optimistic shyouta.

As in Ouran High School, all characters have their troubles and trials to face, and the beauty of following through the series (besides of the bodies and the muscles) is to travel with the characters and walk the journey of internal growth with them (while frantically devouring the feast of men).