Haruhi's dream about the day of her admission into Ouran High School becomes an illusionary Alice in Wonderland fantasy. She meets Shiro Takaoji as a mouse, Kyoya Ootori as the Caterpillar, and Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin as twin Cheshire Cats. She seems to recognize something about all of them in her dream like the fact that the "one" Chesire cat is actually the twins or that Kyoya always writes in a black notebook. She also runs into a Mad Hatter that resembles Tamaki, a March Hare that resembles Honey and a Dormouse that resembles Mori, as well as a Duchess that resembles Renge, a Dodo that resembles Kanako and a Cook that resembles Ayanokoji. Throughout the dream, they all try to give Haruhi advice, but she only realizes it when she stands before the royal court in defense of the Duchess. The king turns out to be Ryouji and the queen, Kotoko (her late mother), who tells Haruhi to enjoy her life as it occurs instead of just focusing on the future. Haruhi wakes up with tears in her eyes and sees the Host Club dressed up in costumes similar to the ones they wore in her dream. She ends the episode by commenting on how the Host Club has too much fun, but her smile declares that she's glad that it does.
This episode provides examples of:
- All Just a Dream: Haruhi wakes up at the end of the episode to see the host club in the same Wonderland outfits from her dream.
- Banana Peel: Thrice in the episode, Haruhi slips on random banana peels. The first one causes her to fall down the hole in the club room. The second one leads her to the Pool of Tears. The third time is just because the cook left several peels around the Duchess’s house.
- Follow the White Rabbit: Haruhi’s adventure starts when she follows a sentient Usa-chan into the club room.
- Insane Troll Logic: The Duchess is brought to court for attending a music festival that she was invited to and leaving her child behind. Whether she could bring her infant with her or if she left someone to watch her child is never brought up.
- Only Sane Man: Haruhi is the only one who’s aware of how odd Ouran Academy is. It being a dream helps explain the oddity.
- Plot-Relevant Age-Up: While Haruhi is talking to Kyouya, the Nekozawa siblings each pick and eat one of the mushrooms under Kyouya. Kirimi ages up from an elementary schooler into a teenager, while Umehito de-ages into a baby.
- Recap Episode: While it’s not a full recap of the first half of the series, there are several references to events that happened in the last twelve episodes. Honey’s cavity, the Zuka Club, Haruhi identifying the twins, Shiro, etc.
- Truer to the Text: This is one of the few adaptations to include the Duchess and her infant son and her cook whose obsession with pepper is replaced with bananas. It also includes the Cheshire Cat as her pet, which is true to original “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” story.
