History Fridge / OuranHighSchoolHostClub

* Tamaki is evidently a Christian: he references God several times throughout the show (as well as in his character song "Guilty Beauty Love"), as well as Adam and Eve in the first episode with the Zuka Club. This would be rare in Japan — but, of course, it's later revealed that Tamaki is actually from France.

* Tamaki's evidently a Christian. He often refers to God and at some parts in the manga can be seen wearing a pendant with a cross. While Christianity is not very common in Japan, it certainly is in Europe where he grew up, and is likely where he got his belief from.

* JapaneseHonorifics explain why her teachers never gave away her true gender either: in a formal school environment all of the students would be addressed with the -kun honorific, which is most often used for boys and young men but is actually genderless (see the trope page for a fuller explanation). Note that we never once see the students in class or interacting with a teacher.

* Pay close attention, and one might notice how most of Tamaki's sappy inner fantasies with him and Haruhi to some degree eventually comes true; [[spoiler:his first fantasy has him hugging Haruhi and telling her he'll protect her, to which we get a shot of her hand clenching him. Then in episode 8, he hugs Haruhi during a thunderstorm and says almost the exact same line, and we get a similar shirt-clenching shot of her hand. Another fantasy is of the two walking along the beach during sunset, and later that episode we get a scene of him carrying Haruhi out of the ocean while it's sunset. He also has several brief fantasies of her serving him home-made food, and in the beginning of chapter 75 we have Haruhi making everything she knows it's his favorite food, and blushing when he thanks her. His final fantasy is of her finding him in the music room alone, playing the piano for her, and a subtle romantic moment follows with her leaning against his back in a fond manner. One chapter later Haruhi finds him alone in the music room, where he's fallen asleep on a window shelf, and a BeautifulDreamer moment ensues.]]
* At the dance [[spoiler:at the last episode of the anime, the manner in which Haruhi dances with all the members seems to symbolize her relationship with them, either currently or as foreshadowing. With Honey, it's a purely playful and silly dance, no romantic subtext of any kind. Same with Mori, who also keeps his stoic face throughout the dance. With Kaoru she dances a bit more fondly, but he then "gives" her to Hikaru. With Hikaru she accidentally grabs his wounded arm which causes him pain, like his unrequited love for her eventually does (her frantic apology to him is even similar to her apology after turning him down in the manga). Her dance with Kyouya is more of a tease as Kyouya at no point tries to "steal" her from Tamaki, although in the anime it could be symbolizing of how his father wants Haruhi to become his fiancee. And/or in the manga, Kyouya in the end states he had no romantic feelings for Haruhi, but even if he did, the Host Club is far more precious to him; he gives her to Tamaki. With Tamaki she has more obvious romantic dance, to which two large hearts by the fangirling customers is even placed not so subtly behind them, making it rather obvious they're bound to happen.]]

* When watching the episode ''{{And So Kyoya Met Him}}'', I was really confused by the scenes with Kyoya in his room and the disarray of his clothes. I only realized, watching the episode again, that the increasing messiness [[spoiler: correlates with Kyoya's mental state. When he's thinking clinically and following his father's orders in the beginning, his clothes are neatly in the drawers, but his sister is trying to move things around (trying to make him relax and be happier). Once he meets Tamaki, the room gradually gets messier until, when Kyoya is furious with Tamaki, his clothes are everywhere.]]

* This might just be a coincidence, but despite how cheesy the opening song is, this troper realized that perhaps the main line "Kiss kiss, fall in love" acted as foreshadowing for certain developments later in the story (only present in the manga perhaps, but still). [[spoiler:Both Haruhi and Tamaki becomes aware/realizes their feelings from a kiss; the first time Tamaki feels like kissing Haruhi, he goes to bed in shock for "wanting to do that to my daughter" (still stuck in that stage at the time). Later when his father's informed him that it's nothing wrong for a parent to want to kiss their child, Haruhi walks in the next moment and promptly recieves a forehead kiss from Tamaki who then falls straight back to sleep (and apparently forgets all about it afterwards). Judging by Haruhi's reaction however, she starts to notice brewing feelings there but quickly shrugs it off. When Tamaki kisses her forehead again about 15 chapters later however, a big blush spreads across her face this time to show for real that she's fallen for him. Skip ahead another 10 chapters or so, Tamaki has a second moment of unintentionally wanting to kiss Haruhi, and behold, one chapter later he finally realizes his feelings for her (although that didn't directly link to the kiss, it still served as trigger).]]

* Despite the fact that Haruhi's father is loving and protective of her, flashbacks to her childhood have a definite Fridge Horror element to them. Not only did her mother die when she was young, but her dad was so busy and irresponsible that she basically raised herself and took care of him at the same time. The flashback of her father returning home from a night of heavy drinking may be played for laughs, but think a little harder about it: A young girl is home alone for hours on end and isn't surprised when her father is dropped off too drunk to walk properly. How many times had this happened before? Answer: Enough so that Haruhi is ''used to it''.

* Despite the fact that Haruhi's father is loving and protective of her, flashbacks to her childhood have a definite Fridge Horror element to them. Not only did her mother die when she was young, but her dad was so busy and irresponsible that the child basically raised herself and took care of him at the same time. The flashback of her father returning home from a night of heavy drinking may be played for laughs, but think a little harder about it: A young girl is home alone for hours on end and isn't surprised when her father is dropped off too drunk to walk properly. How many times had this happened before? Answer: Enough so that Haruhi is ''used to it''.

** Don't forget that [[spoiler: Tamaki really is a lonely prince, having a deep attachment to his Mother and suddenly being torn away from her. The twins were spot on too. They freak out when their twin is hurt because they feel completed together and lost when separated.]] Jeez... In retrospect, it's strangely accurate. Foreshadowing much?
*** With the one exception of the basketball, that was just random.
*** Probably a ShoutOut by the author who's a fan of basketball/mangas about basketball.

* Even though it's perfectly clear rather quickly it's just a set up, Kyouya faking an AttemptedRape on Haruhi is very unsettling and at least one fanfic writer chose [[NightmareFuel to delve into what might have happened if he HADN'T been faking]]...

* In ''{{Ouran High School Host Club}}'', I never realized the symbolism present in the last episode until my second viewing. Kaoru had been calling their relationship to a make-believe family that would one day have to be broken, comparing it to Cinderella's coach, that was only a pumpkin temporarily turned into one and would have to return to being a pumpkin once the clock struck midnight. In the last episode, Hikaru falls off the carriage and into a pumpkin field (not very discreet, but I am slow), showing how the 'clock has finally struck midnight.' But then later, when Haruhi has taken off her wig (she was pretending to be a guy pretending to be a girl, possibly how she actually felt) and is just herself, and [[spoiler:she too falls off the carriage (their make-believe relationship) but Tamaki hugs her anyway.]]

* JapaneseHonorifics explain why her teachers never gave away her true gender either: in a formal school environment all of the students would be addressed with the -kun honorific, which is most often used for boys and young men but is actually genderless (see the trope page for a fuller explanation). Note that we never once see the students in class or interacting with a teacher.

* Why is Hikaru more volatile and Kaoru more understanding? It goes all the way back to the first game of "Which one is Hikaru?" From Kaoru's perspective, being chosen as Hikaru is disappointing, but not much more than that (at least on its own). For Hikaru, it's him being rejected in favor of someone else--someone he cares for, yes, but is still not him--and that kicks him right where it hurts most. Kaoru, as the only person who comes close to understanding his twin, therefore takes a more grounding role to ensure Hikaru's happiness, lest he fall into despair. When around other people, Kaoru goes to a lot of effort to be just like the increasingly mean Hikaru in order to reinforce that he will always be there for him, but this also serves to poison any new relationships. Once Tamaki and Haruhi come into their lives, however, Kaoru steers the twins' act to something more friendly and Hikaru starts to heal from his years of isolative resentment. Kaoru, who was never as scarred as deeply and had the whole time been exercising his empathy more than Hikaru had, is able to focus on making both of their lives independent and worthwhile in their own right.

* At the dance [[spoiler:at the last episode of the anime, the manner in which Haruhi dances with all the members seems to symbolize her relationship with them, either currently or as foreshadowing. With Honey, it's a purely playful and silly dance, no romantic subtext of any kind. Same with Mori, who also keeps his stoic face throughout the dance. With Kaoru she dances a bit more fondly, but he then "gives" her to Hikaru. With Hikaru she accidentally grabs his wounded arm which causes him pain, like his unrequited love for her eventually does. Her frantic apology to him is similar to her apology after turning him down in the manga too. Her dance with Kyouya is more of a tease as Kyouya at no point tries to "steal" her from Tamaki, although in the anime it could be symbolizing of how his father wants Haruhi to become his fiancee. And/or in the manga, Kyouya in the end states he had no romantic feelings for Haruhi, but even if he did, the Host Club is far more precious to him; he gives her to Tamaki. With Tamaki she has more obvious romantic dance, to which two large hearts by the fangirling customers is even placed not so subtly behind them, making it rather obvious they're bound to happen.]]

* Pay close attention, and one might notice how most of Tamaki's sappy inner fantasies with him and Haruhi to some degree eventually comes true; [[spoiler:his first fantasy has him hugging Haruhi and telling her he'll protect her, to which we get a shot of her hand clenching him. Then in episode 8, he hugs Haruhi during a thunderstorm and says almost the exact same line, and we get a similar shirt-clenching shot of her hand. Another fantasy is of the two walking along the beach during sunset, and later that episode we get a scene of him carrying Haruhi out of the ocean while it's sunset. He also has several brief fantasies of her serving him home-made food, and in the beginning of chapter 75 we have Haruhi making everything she knows it's his favorite food, and blushing when he thanks her. His final fantasy is of her finding him in the music room alone, playing the piano for her, and a subtle romantic moment follows with her leaning against his back in a fond manner. One chapter later Haruhi finds him alone in the music room, where he's fallen asleep on a window shelf, and a BeautifulDreamer moment ensues. Not that Tamaki notices any of these though.]]

* Pay close attention, and one might notice how most of Tamaki's sappy inner fantasies with him and Haruhi to some degree eventually comes true; [[spoiler:his first fantasy has him hugging Haruhi and telling her he'll protect her, to which we get a shot of her hand clenching him. Then in episode 8, he hugs Haruhi during a thunderstorm and says almost the exact same line, and we get a similar shirt-clenching shot of her hand. Another fantasy is of the two walking along the beach during sunset, and later that episode we get a scene of him carrying Haruhi out of the ocean while it's sunset. He also has several brief fantasies of her serving him home-made food, and in the beginning of chapter 75 we have Haruhi making everything she knows it's his favorite food, and blushing when he thanks her. His final fantasy is of her finding him in the music room alone, playing the piano for her, and a subtle romantic moment follows with her leaning against his back in a fond manner. One chapter later Haruhi finds him alone in the music room, where he's fallen asleep on a window shelf, and a BeautifulDreamer moment ensues. Not that Tamaki notices any of these.]]