Ouran High School Host Club: Difference between revisions

Ouran Academy is an [[Elaborate University High]] catering to the ultra, ultra-rich. Haruhi Fujioka is a frumpy working class scholarship student, a rarity at the school. While searching for a quiet place to study, Haruhi stumbles on an unused music room which turns out to be the club room for the school "Host Club" -- [[Better Than It Sounds|a group of idle rich boys who entertain female clients]] in a sort of [[Bleached Underpants]] version of actual [[Host Club|host clubs]].

 

 

''Ouran High School Host Club'' emphatically plays with the cliches and character types inherent in the medium. It hardly ever takes itself seriously, but at times emotions can run quite high, making for [[Mood Whiplash|some touching moments among all the silliness]]. The manga version ended in September 2010. The anime was licensed as part of Viz Media's "Shojo Beat" collection, and the anime was made available in North America by FUNimation in October of 2008 (you can watch it for free [http://www.funimation.com/video/?page=show&b=67 on the video section of their website], as well as [http://www.youtube.com/show?p=IQ_voZPsL8k&feature=sh_ac_show_1_10 on their YouTube channel]). Both are well worth your attention, even if you're not part of the series' [[Periphery Demographic|normal demographic]].

* [[Animal Motifs]]: Tamaki shares alot of the attitrubes of a dog, (plus that he also ''is'' a dog lover), Haruhi is often made fun of by the other members for her apparent resemblance to a "tanuki" (raccoon dog), and the twins again are sometimes portrayed as sneaky and "devilish" as cats (which just adds to the humor to their [[Vitriolic Best Buds|relationship to Tamaki]].) And is it even necessary to say what animal Honey is associated with?

* [[Anime Accent Absence]]: Eclair and Renge can speak fluent Japanese, despite there being little to no indication that they had been required to learn it. Same goes for Tamaki, as he moved to Japan when he was fourteen, but he at least [[But Not Too Foreign|has a bit of an excuse...]]

* [[Anti-Villain]]: Eclair - while she had attempted to take Tamaki away from the Host Club, she did so out of the feeling of love, and had reasonable reasons for attempting so. And in the end, she did let him go save Haruhi.

* [[Art Evolution]]

* [[Black Cloak]]: Nekozawa, with [[Speech Bubbles]] to match in the manga.

* [[Bland-Name Product]]:

** However when we get a glimpse of Kyouya's desktop he is not only using an undisguised Mac OS, we can also clearly see icons for Skype, Mozilla Thunderbird, etc.

* [[Blank White Eyes]]

* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: Occurs quite a bit. In the manga, you can see Kyouya say "I thought I wasn't going to appear in this chapter" and others pointing out that they're well aware that they're in a manga. Haruhi also seems to talk to the audience, and the twins refer to "the readers" frequently.

* [[Bros Before Hoes]]: Kaoru gives up on his romantic feelings for Haruhi so that his brother, Hikaru, can realise his feelings for her so that he might learn to grow to be a little more independent.

* [[Call Back]]: During the final chapter, there's one to chapter 2 -- Haruhi dances with Kanako, and does much better. There's also a couple in the final two episodes of the anime.

* [[Calling Your Attacks]]:

** "Summon gryphon!"

* [[Cast Full of Pretty Boys]]

* [[Cerebus Syndrome]]: The manga starts to delve into dramatic territory around the fifth or sixth volume, but tries not to sacrifice the funny. This was probably (more or less) of the intended variety.

* [[Character Development]]: Tamaki, Haruhi and the twins especially. More visible in the manga.

* [[Charm Point]]: Mori is an odd case since his [[Charm Point]] is another ''[[Moe Couplet|character]]''. When the club tries to instruct a delinquent that a [[Charm Point]] can work wonders for one's image, they bluntly point out without Hani around people would see Mori as just a huge scary thug who barely talks, much to the latter's distress.

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Parodied. A large, blinking arrow highlights plot devices until they see action.

{{quote|Sempai, would you please stop growing mushrooms in other people's closets?!}}

** "I'm making a hamster home..."

* [[Cosplay]]: As a part of their "job", the Host Club regularly changes their outfits and music room's decorations into various themes (ancient Japan, tropical island, etc), maintaining appropriate temperature by air conditioning - which was, loosely citing Tamaki, "invented specially for those kinds of things".

* [[Costume Porn]]: Said cosplay outfits are, as can be expected, very fancy and/or stylish.

* [[Creepy Twins]]: Hikaru and Kaoru. Often eerily reminiscent of (siamese cat pair) Si and Am from ''[[Lady and the Tramp]]''. Also more reminiscent of the twins from The Shining... just watch their childhood/coming-of-age episode! Less so in the manga.

* [[Cross Dresser]]: Played with until its stitching ruptured. It's played straight with Ranka and Haruhi, subverted with Benibara, parodied/played for laughs with the host boys (consider that they are thoroughly bishounen and would have no trouble looking like girls in the average anime) and Kasanoda, and (shockingly) played somewhat ''seriously'' when Ranka appears without having shaved or made himself up. Oh, and lampshaded when the girls of Ouran talk about how much they'd love to see [[Recursive Crossdressing|"Haruhi-kun" in girls' clothing]]. Way too much fun.

* [[Cute Bruiser]]: Honey [[I Know Karate|knows kung fu]], and as mentioned earlier will kick your ass if you mess with him, Mori, or Haruhi.

* [[Dances and Balls]]

* [[Discriminate and Switch]]: When Haruhi didn't take her dad to Take Your Parent To School Day, her dad and his co-worker assumed it was because he's a transvestite. Later, the co-worker brought her dad home piss-drunk due to how upset he was about not being told about the school event, which causes Haruhi to reveal that she didn't say a thing because she felt he was overworked and wanted him to use the opportunity to rest.

* [[Down the Rabbit Hole]]: Not only does Haruhi compare the experience of being in the Host Club to being in another world, but the door to the music room heavily symbolizes this in several episodes. There is also an episode that directly parodies ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]''. By the end, she says that around here, it's hard to tell when she's asleep or awake.

* [[Dropped a Bridget On Him]]: Haruhi does this to Tamaki, Kasanoda, and in the final chapter, {{spoiler|the club customers}}.

* [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]: For {{spoiler|Tamaki and Kyouya in the last two episodes of the series.}}

* [[Episode Title Card]]: Every episode of the anime opens with one of these and Haruhi's voice reading it out loud.

* [[Estrogen Brigade Bait]]: Goes without saying.

* [[Everyone Can See It]]: Subtly in the anime, but much more obvious in the manga. After Haruhi realizes her feelings for {{spoiler|Tamaki}} it's unbelivably obvious to everyone EXCEPT him. Honey and Mori seemed to be the first to notice {{spoiler|Hikaru's and Kaoru's}} budding feelings for Haruhi, as well. Kyouya may have seen it, too.

** amaki, somewhat. For the guy he is, he doesn't really emphasize it much.

* [[Expository Hairstyle Change]]: Initially parodied by Hikaru and Kaoru when they dye their hair pink and blue after a staged fight because they were bored. Played straight later in the manga when Hikaru dyes his hair darker after he and Kaoru have a ''real'' fight. This is a big turning point for them and shows that they permanently want to be seen as separate people. They even move into separate bedrooms.

* [[Fiction 500]]: Most of the cast. The Host Club is filthy rich, meaning that if [[Rule of Cool]] allows something, they will simply pay reason to take a hike. One character owns a beach, for example. An indoor beach.

* [[Finishing Each Other's Sentences]]: Hikaru and Kaoru

* [[First Episode Spoiler]]: Just try describing the series to someone without giving away the fact that Haruhi is a girl. While it's certainly possible in many languages (including Japanese) the plot makes little sense if Haruhi's true gender isn't known.

* [[Fish Out of Water]]: Haruhi, every time she's confronted with one of the more outrageous aspects of the clubs ultra-rich lifestyle. Conversely, the boys often show fish out of water tendencies when they step out of their world to visit Haruhi in hers. Even uber-cool Kyouya is ultimately perplexed by some of the commoner things at the trade exhibition.

** [[The Lancer]]: Hikaru and Kaoru

** [[The Smart Guy]]/[[The Hero]]: Kyouya

** [[Team Pet]]: Honey

** [[The Chick]]/[[The Sixth Ranger]]: Haruhi

* [[Free Fall Romance]] In the final episode when {{spoiler|Haruhi falls off of a bridge while trying to convince Tamaki not to leave for France and he jumps off after her}}. It's a slow-motion fall that's quite romantic until the splash.

* [[Friend to All Children]]: Tamaki (not surprisingly) is this.

* [[Friend to Bugs]]: Haruhi, as implied in episode 8 when she finds a centipete on a crab and, instead of killing it, she simply picks it up and throws it aside. When asked if she could have been easier on it, she said "''it takes a lot more than that to kill a bug.''"

* [[From the Mouths of Babes]]: "Debauchery! There's debauchery here! Yay!" From a tiny ''three year old girl''. Who looks ridiculously [[Moe]] and took ...three seconds?... to realize exactly what the [[Reverse Harem|Host Club]] is.

* [[Funny Background Event]]: Mori and Honey in various episodes of the anime.

* [[The Gadfly]]: The twins towards Tamaki and Haruhi. They don't really feel close enough to most others to do this with them.

* [[Genre Savvy]]: All of the main characters.

** Special mention to Tamaki for being [[Genre Savvy]] in a similar manner to [[The Order of the Stick|Elan]].

** The original Japanese actually used the words ''seme'' and ''uke''.

** [[Bonus Points]] to the fact that Kaoru seemingly admits to prefer [[Unusual Euphemism|playing catcher.]]

{{quote|Tamaki: Can You guess which part of me [[Freud Was Right|springish?]]<br />

... <br />

* [[Harem Genre]]: A rare variation where the protagonist is female and the harem is male.

* [[Harem Nanny]]: Kyouya

** The last episode of the anime counts too considering Tamaki. If you've read the manga to beyond chapter 80, the similarities between the chapters beforehand and the anime's end is quite striking.

** For that matter, Kyouya and Tamaki

* [[Hexagonal Speech Balloon]]

** In the drama CDs, [[Sailor Moon|Sailor Mercury]] was Haruhi. There's also a sly [[Take That]] to Gundam pilots being Bishounen. [[Gundam Wing|Heero Yuy is Tamaki]], [[Gundam Seed|Kira Yamato is Hikaru]], [[Gundam Seed Destiny|Shinn Asuka is Kaoru, and Sting Oakley is Kyouya.]]. Oh, and Pikachu is Honey.

** In the Japanese anime, Tamaki is [[Death Note|Light Yagami]]. What's also funny is that Haruhi is also Kiyomi Takada...

** And Nekozawa is [[Rurouni Kenshin|Sanosuke]].

** Due to the dub being Funimation, some of the voice actors are the same as in their previous dubs. For instance, Kasanoda and Tetsuya are Ayame and Shigure from ''[[Fruits Basket]]''. Haruhi's father is Ritsu (also a cross dresser, interestingly).

* [[Hot Dad]]: Haruhi's father, and even more so, Tamaki's father.

* [[Hot Mom]]: Hikaru's and Kaoru's mother falls into this category, as did Haruhi's. In the manga, {{spoiler|Tamaki's mother...}} just, ''wow''. No wonder {{spoiler|Tamaki's dad went after her.}}

* [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]]: Kyoya, again to Tamaki.

* [[Identical Twin ID Tag]]

* [[Legal Jailbait]]: Honey... Enough said

* [[Like Brother and Sister]]... or father and daughter.

* [[Loving a Shadow]]: Renge initially has a crush on Kyoya because he resembles her favorite guy from her favorite [[Dating Sim]].

** {{spoiler|Eclair seems to have legitimate feelings for Tamaki based almost entirely on the stories that her housekeeper (Tamaki's mother) told her about him.}}

* [[Love Chart]]: Hikaru makes one in the manga with him, Kaoru, Tamaki, and Haruhi. Renge makes one later on, too (although Kaoru's not included on that one).

* [[Love Epiphany]]: Quite a few of these in the manga. Haruhi's is rather funny and adorable because until then she was completely [[Oblivious to Love]] and at first thought her sudden blushing and flustering around her [[Love Interest]] were due to a cold or her heart rejecting her.

** Haruhi quite adorably has alot of them too upon realizing {{spoiler|she's in love with Tamaki.}}

* [[Maybe Ever After]]: The anime doesn't doesn't definitively state whether Haruhi will end up with Tamaki or Hikaru, though it does give some pretty strong hints.

* [[Measuring Day]]

* [[Meganekko]]: Haruhi, though she's only seen wearing glasses for the first half of chapter 1, and even then she looked uncannily like a boy.

* [[Micro Monarchy]]: Tamaki and pals meet a princess from a tiny imaginary European country.

* [[Missing Mom]]: Haruhi's (dead) and Tamaki's (in France and his [[Evil Matriarch]] grandmother doesn't let him contact her)

* [[Moe Couplet]]: Honey and Mori. Even discussed in episode 22, though [[It Makes Sense in Context|neither of them take it as a compliment]].

* [[Mouthy Kid]]: Takaouji Shiro. Chika could fit this too.

* [[My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad]]: Done with money, of course, since they are ultra-rich. More like My Dad Can Buy Out Your Dad's Company.

* [[My Name Is Not Durwood]]: Kasanoda is neither Casanova nor Bossa Nova.

* [[Mythology Gag]]: The narration in the live action drama is done by [[Maaya Sakamoto]], who voiced Haruhi in the anime.

* [[Nakama]]: Tamaki sees the Host Club as a family, to the point of assigning everyone roles within it...with Haruhi as his ''daughter''.

** Subverted with Honey. The rumor goes that his family was once in a military complex, and a soldier carelessly woke Honey up, and he BLEW THE PLACE UP, leaving only a bunny-shaped mushroom cloud, killing two entire Green Beret battalions. Of course, this is Tamaki's version of the story. The subversion? Honey was taking a nap during the DAY.

* [[Oblivious to Love]]:

** Hikaru as well. It takes him a ''damn'' long time to figure out.

** Tamaki is probably the worst offender, going so far as to think his constant fawning for Haruhi could only mean that he sees her as his daughter.

* [[One-Gender School]]: Lobelia

* [[One Head Taller]]:

** All the host club members (save [[Older Than They Look|Honey]], of course) are taller than Haruhi by a few heads. Visually, Hikaru and Kaoru look closest to one head taller, though they're only supposedly six inches taller.

* [[Only Sane Man]]:

* [[Papa Wolf]]: Tamaki, towards Haruhi.

* [[Perky Goth]]: Nekozawa and, in the manga, the rest of the Black Magic Club.

* [[Personality Blood Types]]: Brought up a few times.

* [[Pettanko]]: Haruhi, again. Of course, it certainly helps her masquerade.

* [[Rich Bitch]]: Ayanakouji and Eclair, but none of the other rich girls suprisingly enough.

* [[Rival]]:

** The Host Club has their share of actual rivals, such as the school newspaper club and the Zuka Club.

** The new transfer student that Tamaki saves from getting kicked by a horse is this.

** In the anime, this role was given to Lady Eclair.

* [[Shipper on Deck]]: At the end of the anime, Tamaki's father and Kyouya's father state that it would be nice if they could become friends as their sons are... but they amiably state that perhaps it isn't possible because they each want Haruhi to marry their own son in the future. This doesn't take place in the manga.

* [[Ship Tease]]:

* [[Shirtless Scene]]: Played straight most of the time, but played with when the twins gave out a picture of a topless Haruhi for money -- it turns out, her head was Photoshopped on ''Tamaki's'' body.

* [[Shojo]]: [[Affectionate Parody|Affectionately parodied]] and deliberately invoked. The Hosts [[Genre Savvy|consciously and intentionally]] play to Shojo sterotypes.

* [[Tall, Dark and Snarky]]: Kyoya, to an extent, since it's shown he really does care about people.

* [[Tantrum Throwing]]: There's one episode in which this happens at least three times.

* [[Team Dad]]: Tamaki (self-proclaimed).

* [[Team Mom]]: Kyouya (dubbed so by Tamaki).

** There's also a slow, waltz version of it used during the closing credits scenes in the final episode.

* [[The Not-Secret]]: Subverted in <s>the final chapter</s> Chapter 83, where not a single person is surprised when they see Haruhi in a party dress... {{spoiler|and are then dumbfounded when they learn that she really '''is''' a girl and not [[Wholesome Crossdresser|a crossdressing boy]] [[Ho Yay|in love with Tamaki]].}}

* [[The Three Faces of Eve]]: The Zuka club.

* [[Thunder Shock]]: Occurs [[Running Gag|quite often]], mostly [[Played for Laughs]].

* [[Twincest]]: Hikaru and Kaoru's schtick.

* [[Twin Telepathy]]: During the Test of Courage chapter. After Hikaru and Kaoru are separated, Hikaru somehow manages to find Kaoru and explains that he had heard his twin's voice telling him where he was, even though Kaoru had no way of telling Hikaru his whereabouts and the latter could not have found out through someone else.

* [[Twin Switch]]: And the "Which one is Hikaru-kun Gaaame!!" Haruhi, who has known the twins for the least amount of time, seems to be the only one able to tell the difference.

* [[One Mario Limit|Two Haruhi Limit]]: Fujioka won the competition to be The Other Haruhi, beating out [[Happiness|Kamisaka]].

* [[Unwanted Harem]]: And Haruhi's at the center of it. Tamaki, predictably, reframes it as a heartful love comedy with himself as [[First Girl Wins|the actual lead]] along with a bunch of "[[Pretty Freeloaders|homosexual side characters]]".

* [[Watching the Sunset]]: Tamaki envisions him and Haruhi doing this while walking along the beach together in one of his many [[Imagine Spot|Imagine Spots]].

* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?]]:

** Used for laughs a number of times, such as Tamaki's dramatic declaration that he's going to try instant coffee in the first episode.

* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: In the anime at least, Tamaki gives up a chance to {{spoiler|see his mother}}, and it's not clear whether he ever does again.

* [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue]]: An extra in the final volume.