Parting is such sweet sorrow.

I'm in the middle of an "Ouran High School Host Club" withdrawal. The final episode aired Sept. 26 in Japan and I saw it the next week via a fansub. Since then, I've watched all 26 episodes three more times.

Waaaah! I can't believe it's over! My only consolation is that the manga is still ongoing.

"Ouran" deals with Haruhi Fujioka's life at the affluent high school and with the all-boys Host Club who spend their time flattering and entertaining the ladies. Haruhi is a scholarship student who broke an expensive vase the club would have auctioned off. She ended up becoming a member of the club and pretending to be a boy to pay off her debt.

The characters are a hoot from the overly dramatic club president Tamaki Suoh to the unflappable Haruhi. Yes it is shojo anime which means Haruhi gets romantic attention from the boys in the club. There's drama since some of the characters have experienced personal tragedies while others carry emotional baggages of their own.

But "Ouran" is also a hilarious show. A couple of episodes were a dud like the spoof of "Alice in Wonderland." The manga version of that was brilliant though.

Some fans also groused whenever the show veered away from the manga. Personally, it didn't bother me since the show was pretty faithful to the original source.

SPOILER ALERT. DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING. The last two episodes introduced a character who doesn't appear in the manga. Eclair Tonnere (I'm not sure how you spell her last name) becomes Tamaki's fiancee and he announces that the club will disband after the two-day school festival. Eclair's ace is that she knows where his mother is. The Tonnere company is also buying Japanese businesses so Tamaki's nasty grandmother is using him to become part of this rich French family.

Tamaki also thinks that his selfishness is causing problems for the other members. And it is up to them to convince him otherwise. The ending includes a chase, Hunny and Mori beating up the Ohtori private police force and Haruhi/Tamaki moments. However, the epilogue hints that Haruhi is still a free agent.

My personal preference is to see her paired with the club's vice president - the brilliant, manipulative and cute Kyoya Ohtori. But alas, the pairing is a long shot in the manga. In the anime though, Kyoya's father tells Tamaki's dad he wants to marry Haruhi to his son in the future. The other man wants the same thing for his son.

The show ends with a seated Haruhi surrounded by the other members extending an invitation to the viewer to visit the club.