Follow TV Tropes

Following

Manga / Ouran High School Host Club

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_20081169_so.png
KISS KISS FALL IN LOVE!
"The Ouran Host Club will be waiting for you."
Tamaki Suoh

Ouran High School Host Club is a shoujo manga created by Bisco Hatori, which was originally serialized in LaLa from 2002 to 2010. It has a 26-episode anime adaptation by Studio Bones, which first aired in 2006.

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's "Host Club", a group of Idle Rich boys who entertain female clients in a sort of clean version of actual host clubs.

After accidentally breaking a Renaissance-era vase that's worth 8,000,000,000¥ — far more than a working class student could possibly repay — Haruhi is forced to join the Host Club as an assistant to work off the debt. But after Haruhi proves to be a natural Host and is promoted to full member of the Host Club it becomes clear something isn't quite as it seems...

The series is an Affectionate Parody of romantic shoujo series and Reverse Harems, emphatically playing with the cliches and character types inherent in both. It hardly ever takes itself seriously, but at times emotions can run quite high, making for some touching moments amid all the silliness. The manga, however, became more serious and deeper the longer it went on, though it never lost track of the comedy. The manga 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. In Australia, ABC3 has aired the anime many times. Both the manga and anime version of this series are well worth your attention, even if you're not part of the series' normal demographic.

A Live-Action Adaptation began airing in Japan in July 2011, and a live-action movie was released in 2012. 2021 saw them to the stage with a 2.5D musical adaptation. There is also a Visual Novel for the PlayStation 2, which was later ported to the Nintendo DS with voices and new scenarios. Unfortunately, none of these have left Japan.


Tropes Club:

    open/close all folders 

    A-B 
  • Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Mori-senpai manages to turn his neck a full 180 degrees in "Mori-senpai Has An Apprentice Candidate!" upon finally realizing that his character, up to that point, has had no major impact on the main plot.
  • Accidental Kiss:
    • Set up deliberately by Kyoya in the first volume of the manga, as well as the second episode of the anime. With the help of a banana peel, he sets up Haruhi to kiss Kanako on the lips instead of the cheek as planned—revenge on Tamaki for calling him the "homosexual supporting cast."
    • In Chapter 72 between Haruhi and Tamaki. They play it cool after it happens at first, and it isn't until out of each other's sight that they simultaneously freak out.
  • Accidental Misnaming:
    • Kasanoda is neither Casanova nor Bossa Nova.
    • Kirimi also gets this treatment in the manga, where her name is misspoken as "Creamy" and "Sashimi" and "Kill Me".
  • Accidental Truth:
    • The personas Renge invents for the boys in Episode 4 of the anime are all spot-on except for Haruhi and Mori (who is only nominally a main character), just not for the reasons she dreams up. Doubles as Foreshadowing. Examples:
    • The twins did and still do live in their own world, not because they're obsessed with each other, but because everybody around them treats them as interchangeable or a single unit.
    • Honey is much more dangerous than he looks, but he's childish almost through and through. That selfishness and impulsiveness actually makes him more dangerous.
    • Tamaki is very lonely, but it's family he's longing for, not friends. Rather than moping about it, he tries to make everybody else as happy as possible to compensate.
    • Even Renge's conclusion about Kyoya was shown to be right after a fashion. He's quite sweet and considerate in his own way, he's just a bit dismissive and manipulative about it.
  • Adaptation Expansion:
    • A minor example. In both anime and manga, Ayanokoji, the girl who bullies Haruhi early on out of jealousy, is called out on by the Host Club and runs away with crocodile tears, never to be seen again (apart from a cameo in the Alice in Wonderland episode). In the live-action, Haruhi follows Ayanokoji, explaining to her that she's not mad and she wants to make up. Ayanokoji regrets her behaviour and complies.
    • In the finale of the anime, Eclair questions Tamaki if the Host Club doesn't cause its members to sacrifice something precious such as making Kyoya's father ashamed of him and Haruhi getting less time to study for being a lawyer, next to an earlier call out by Kyoya in how Tamaki doesn't consider the expense or extensive shipping it takes to bring some of their theme costumes or accessories from other countries to their school. In the manga, none of this is ever addressed, and Kyoya's father is shown to be aware and accepting of Kyoya being in the Host Club. Also, he never makes a comment on wanting Haruhi to become Kyoya's fiancee.
  • Adaptation Distillation:
    • The anime is generally quite loyal to the manga, though things are blown even further out of the water, and a couple of subtle character alterations do stand out — for example, making the twins and Kyoya more sympathetic earlier on and, strangely enough, making Honey less so, as the end of the episode "Chika's Down with Honey Declaration" deliberately inverts the manga chapter's denouement.
    • Also, bananas and strawberries.
    • In the anime, only Hikaru falls for Haruhi; in the manga, Kaoru falls for her as well.
    • The live action drama has some of this too. Renge is only seen in one episode, and the Halloween contest, the Refreshing Point competition at the hostel, The Zuka Club, and Kasanoda are nowhere to be seen.
    • In the manga, when Tamaki first comes to Japan he's given a puppy as a welcome gift by his new staff, a Golden Retriever which he names Antoinette. In the anime, she's a dog he randomly buys at a pet store in Episode 17.
    • In the anime, Haruhi is told as early as Episode 25 (which is the equivalent of Chapter 25-26 of the manga) that her debt has been paid. In the manga, the last time her debt is brought up is in Chapter 75, to which it still isn't paid, and Tamaki offers to pay the remaining sum for her.
    • The live-action also skips some of the story to include the part where Haruhi realizes she's in love with Tamaki, which doesn't happen until Chapter 57 in the manga.
    • The "Alice in Wonderland" episode is incredibly toned down and shortered in the anime, having been longer and even wackier in the manga. For one, the story alternates between the twins and Tamaki also serving as Alice, not just Haruhi. As the twins explain, "Haruhi isn't curious enough to be Alice, she would never have followed the rabbit."
    • In the beach episode in the manga, Nekozawa frequently shows up, and it's even his family's hotel that the Host Club spends the night in. The anime completely omits Nekozawa from the episode.
  • Adaptation Dye-Job:
    • Tamaki has dark hair in the live-action, as does Honey and the twins. It's understandable as natural blond Asian people are scarce.
    • Tamaki has dirty blond hair in the manga, but was given pale blond hair in the anime.
  • Adapted Out:
    • Satoshi, Mori's little brother, never appears in the anime while he appeared together with Honey's little brother Chika in the manga.
    • The 25th episode of the anime also adapted out Hikaru and Kaoru's parents who showed up at this part in the manga.
  • Affectionate Parody:
    • Chiefly of romance, high school and other clichés and conventions found in the typical shoujo. The Hosts all intentionally play "types" of love interests common in shoujo series (from Tamaki's poetry-waxing princely charm to Kyoya's standoffish mysteriousness), and Haruhi often plays as the Audience Surrogate highlighting just how larger-than-life the club's zaniness gets.
    • Of the fangirls as gloriously portrayed in the anime. Funny and accurate, but for the most part harmless.
    • Benibara and the Zuka Club are parodies of the Takarazuka Revue and their own enthusiastic fanbase. Their school, St. Lobelia, is also a gentle riff on the typical all-girls school that serves as the backdrop for most Yuri Genre works.
  • Against the Setting Sun: Tamaki carrying Haruhi out of the ocean.
  • Age-Gap Romance: Haruhi's parents had a minor one where Kotoko was 25 and Ryoji (Ranka) was 19 when they met and fell in love.
  • Allergic to Love: Tamaki and ironically Haruhi later on have the same reaction of going to bed sick with a cold when becoming conscious of their feelings for the other.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys:
    • Parodied in the episode introducing Renge, who thinks that the club members need more angst. She tries to recast Hikaru and Kaoru as basketball players torn between brotherly love and the love of the game, Honey as an Enfante Terrible with Mori as his right-hand man, and Tamaki as a lonesome, stoic Sheltered Aristocrat.
    • A similar case happens later again with Shiro. Renge is intent to play on his rude and blunt personality for the "bad boy" appeal, but it's Tamaki's advice to be himself that helps Shiro with his classmate.
  • All Just a Dream:
    • The anime episode "Haruhi in Wonderland". After the Queen is revealed to be Haruhi's mother, she awakens to see she's dozed off during a club meeting.
    • The short bonus story where we're introduced to a Honey grown up to the size of the twins in only two months. The Host Club are shocked to find out he stayed as short as he was because Kyoya had been feeding him anti-growth pills, because if he'd been tall he'd just overlap as the Dumb Blonde with Tamaki. It then cuts to Haruhi telling them all it's what she dreamt last night, to which the guys, especially Tamaki and Kyoya, aren't very pleased. It ends with Kyoya asking a frightened Haruhi if they can have a serious talk about how she perceives his character.
  • All-Loving Hero: Tamaki wants to help everyone, including rivals clubs that hate him and even his Evil Matriarch grandmother.
  • All Work vs. All Play: Haruhi vs. Tamaki, a hardworking scholarship student vs a fobbish Dandy. Then again, Haruhi vs. the entire Host Club except Kyoya qualifies as he does the club's finances and remains the most 'sane'.
  • Almost Kiss: Tamaki and Haruhi have one in a post-ending bonus chapter before they're interrupted by a loud rumble from Haruhi's stomach, much to her embarrassment.
  • Always Identical Twins:
    • Hikaru and Kaoru are physically identical. They start out being seemingly identical in personalities too, but eventually shows their own unique traits (that they weren't even aware of themselves).
    • As are their maids, in the anime. Much like the boys, they speak in unison and work together as one.
  • Always in Class One: All members in the Host Club are students in Class A, albeit divided by their respective years (1-A, 2-A, etc).
  • Amazing Freaking Grace: Tamaki plays this in his first instance on the piano in the live action version.
  • Anger Born of Worry: Tamaki gets angry at Haruhi during the Beach episode because she confronted two bullies by herself without even trying to call any of the guys for help, even though they were nearby.
  • Animal-Eared Headband: Ritsu Kasanoda is briefly shown wearing cat ears as part of his attempt to be less scary. It doesn't work.
  • Animal Motifs:
    • Tamaki shares a lot of the attributes of a dog (he also is a dog lover). At one point, he's animated with a wagging tail while talking to Haruhi.
    • Haruhi is often made fun of by the other members for her apparent resemblance to a "tanuki" (raccoon dog).
    • The twins again are sometimes portrayed as being as sneaky and "devilish" as cats (which just adds to the humor to their relationship to Tamaki).
    • Is it even necessary to say what animal Honey is associated with?
  • And the Adventure Continues: The ending of both the Manga and the Anime give the impression of this; with the host club continuing in some fashion (albeit in Boston, apparently).
  • Animation Bump: In Episode 13, Haruhi goes to Wonderland, and there are moments where the animation, which was hardly ever poor quality, suddenly became gorgeous.
  • 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. The same goes for Tamaki, as he moved to Japan when he was fourteen, but he has an explanation in his father being of Japanese descent.
  • Anti-Hero: Renge tried to turn the "characters" of the Host Club into these in "Attack of the Lady Manager!" to attract more customers. She insists that "shadowy sides" will be a big hit.
  • Anti-Villain: Eclair — while she had attempted to take Tamaki away from the Host Club, she did so out of love, and had decent reasons for attempting so: reunite him with his mom, her caretaker, Sophie. In the end, she let him go save Haruhi.
  • Arc Words:
    • "When I opened the door..."
    • In "And So Kyoya Met Him", the words "third son" are mentioned quite a few times.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Episode 5 had the twins list off complaints against one another. In something of a blink-and-you miss it overlap with Self-Deprecation, their last complaint, spoken in unison: "Your mother wears too much make-up."
  • Art Evolution: Just compare first chapter Haruhi [1] to a later flashback of that same scene [2]!
  • Art Reflects Personality: In a Kyouya-focused episode, we see pieces of a flashback of him creating a painting within a frame that is already handing on the wall, symbolizing how his personal growth is always confined by the framework of his family's wealth and tradition. Towards the end of the episode, when it is revealed that Kyouya pulled off a scheme to essentially take over his entire family's estate (over the heads of his father and several older brothers), we also see how that painting ended up: at some point, he went over the frame and started painting on the blank white wall behind it, creating a massive artwork of which the frame was only a small part.
  • Art Shift: The anime's opening (for the most part) has slightly more stylized animation than in the show proper. Also done hilariously with Tamaki in Episode 19 for two brief moments.
  • Ascended Extra:
    • Renge's appearances as an As You Know Meta Guy fangirl are much more frequent in the show.
    • Nekozawa is more prominent in the live action drama.
  • Attempted Rape: Kyoya's way of getting through to Haruhi following her encounter with the thugs is to pretend that he's about to force himself on her.
  • Attractive Bent-Gender: Haruhi is quite a popular host when she's crossdressing.
  • Babies Ever After: Not shown in either anime or manga, but the author hints in the final volume that Tamaki and Haruhi are the first out of the Host Club members to have children. Mori apparently got married and had kids too (and he'd be the first to congratulate Tamaki and Haruhi when they became parents).
  • Back for the Finale:
    • Some characters from past episodes reappeared in the final anime episode.
    • In the last chapters of the manga as well. Even the Zuka Club makes a brief appearance in the penultimate chapter just to accidentally intrude on Haruhi and Tamaki's date.
  • Badass Adorable: Honey is a small and cute creature of destruction! He has to hold back or he'll seriously hurt professional soldiers.
  • Bad "Bad Acting": Haruhi really cannot act, as seen in her part of the play the Lobelia girls guilt her into. The Hosts themselves note that she sounds like a robot.
  • Banana Peel:
    • Littered all over in the anime (never in the manga) for comedic purpose. Early episodes showed characters eating bananas but in later episodes peels appeared out of nowhere.
    • Tamaki slipped on one in a flasback in the Halloween chapters in the manga.
    • Tamaki slipped on one while standing still in the 'Zuka Club' episode.
    • The “Haruhi In Wonderland” episode was positively littered with these. There was much slippage.
  • Bare Midriffs Are Feminine:
    • There are a couple of instances where the guys in the Host Club have Imagine Spots where Haruhi is in a frilly bikini, which is far more blatantly feminine than how she normally dresses and something she wouldn't be caught dead wearing to begin with.
    • "Jungle Pool SOS" is set in a tropical environment, but Haruhi is wearing shorts and a hooded shirt. In sharp contrast, when Renge shows up, rather than the long flowing dress she normally wears, she's wearing a bikini. She also has strange markings on her belly; when Hikaru and Kaoru ask about them, she comments that she's cosplaying as Quon Kisaragi.
    • In "Haruhi in Wonderland", part of the Alice in Wonderland homage includes the Nekozawa siblings picking and eating mushrooms growing under Kyouya, who is the caterpillar. The mushroom Kirimi eats causes her to age up from elementary school-age into a teenager; her shirt doesn't grow with her, so it goes from completely covering her to fully exposing her midriff.
  • Bastard Angst: Tamaki is the illegitimate son of a Japanese man and a French woman. His Evil Matriarch grandmother brought him to France in exchange for paying for his mother's medical care and forbade him from ever having contact with her again. Despite this, his grandmother still treats Tamaki like crap, always reminding him that he's "filthy."
  • Beach Episode:
    • One that happens in an indoor beach, no less, complete with dangerous wildlife and a full jungle. Ultra rich.
    • The following episode has them going to a real beach, per Haruhi's disinterest in indoor beaches. Of course it's a private beach, on Okinawa, and only because Haruhi doesn't have a passport so they can't go to Bali.
  • Beautiful Dreamer: Between Haruhi and a sleeping Tamaki in Chapter 71.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Both in and out of universe: everyone thought/expected that whenever Tamaki'd get around to realize his true feelings for Haruhi, he'd get a grip on himself and become more mature towards her, which he does... at first. A flashback shows him hilariously freaking out recalling how many times he called himself her father, thinking how much of an idiot he had been because of it. Afterwards he appears to have grown out of his said idiocy, only it turns out to have been a Heroic BSoD instead. After coming out of that however, he turns into a bigger idiot than he was before (again, surprising people both in and out of universe), as a result of celebrating his "new self" who "knows the meaning of love", bragging about how Haruhi most likely returns his feelings, or even if she doesn't, it's just a "love test made for him by God", which he rubs in all of the guys' faces, especially Hikaru's. Then again (and thankfully), it only lasts for two chapters before he calms down.
  • Behind the Black: In one episode, Haruhi tries to make sense of the mysterious, sudden appearance of a grand piano. Honey replies that "It was there before, it was just where you couldn't see it." (They are, after all, in what is ostensibly a music room.)
  • Beta Couple:
    • Honey and Reiko eventually get a Relationship Upgrade once the two actually start talking, and he realizes they have more in common than he thought. According to the notes of the Time Skip, they are the first of the Host Club to get married.
    • Mei and Kasanoda are teased together in a post-ending bonus chapter, with Haruhi herself being a Shipper on Deck for them.
  • Betty and Veronica: Though very much in the anime only, with all the boys still having their days in the limelight within it, it ups the Ship Tease between Kyouya and Haruhi just a bit, and Tamaki and Kyouya's fathers imply the possibility that Tamaki is Betty and Kyouya is Veronica in the last episode.
  • Beware the Cute Ones: Don't make Honey mad. No, seriously, don't.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Surprisingly, Haruhi, as seen in chapter 27.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: Tamaki's about as hammy as they can get, but make him worried about someone he cares about? He'll make you sorely regret it, and not always in a comedy style. In the manga, he actually punches one of the guys he believes to have harassed Haruhi early on, to the point blood is shown. In the anime this was toned down to pinning him against the wall.
  • Bifauxnen:
    • Haruhi was a mild enough take to be unironically the most popular of the characters amongst the fandom.
    • Benibara of Lobelia's Zuka club is a straighter (cough) and over-the-top parody, to the point where the author jokingly apologized to fans who liked her.
  • Big Bad: In both the anime and the manga, Tamaki's grandmother is the villain posing the greatest threat to the host club.
  • Big Brother Worship: Played straight in the manga with Satoshi Morinozuka's adoration of his brother Takashi.
  • Big Damn Heroes:
    • In the anime, Kyoya manages to buy his father's own company before a rival competitor can, after a series of convoluted machinations. Needless to say, the old man is impressed.
    • Almost the entire cast of recurring side characters in Chapter 80. The Host Club members, too, but that's a given.
  • The Big Damn Kiss: Tamaki and Haruhi share one twice: in Chapter 81 and then 83.
  • Big Damn Reunion: Towards the end of the manga, the Host Club and everyone's Tamaki's helped throughout the series helps him get to the airport in time so he can see his mother for the first time in three years.
  • Big Eater: Honey eats several cakes in one sitting.
  • Big Little Brother: Honey's "little" brother Yasuchika, who towers over him by something like two feet.
  • Big "NO!": Almost a Running Gag. Haruhi usually have these whenever the Host Club intrudes on her plans. In the final chapter, this is her last line as a reaction to the rest of the Host Club following her and Tamaki to America. She even says it in English.
  • Bishie Sparkle: Used liberally in the manga and occasionally in the anime, too. The TV series provides a rare live-action example.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: "Princess" Ayanakouji, a regular guest of Tamaki's who pretends to be a calm, elegant girl when she's really a Green-Eyed Monster unwilling to share Tamaki's attention.
  • Black Cloak: Nekozawa, with Speech Bubbles to match in the manga.
  • Bland-Name Product:
    • Hescafé instant coffee, Mational light bulbs, Pineapple computers...
    • When we get a glimpse of Kyoya'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: Used quite often for comedic effect, especially with Tamaki.
  • Bodyguard Legacy: The Morinozuka family is sworn to protect the Haninozuka family (whether it's necessary). As such, host Takashi Morinozuka acts as Mitsukuni "Hani" Haninozuka's bodyguard and overall big brother figure (even though Hani is older than anyone else in the club as well as probably the strongest fighter in the setting).
  • Book Ends: The manga begins and ends with Haruhi opening a door with the rest of the club greeting her on the other side, although Haruhi is standing in a hallway at the beginning and is in a room at the end.
  • Bowdlerise:
    • The manga has a lot more perverted jokes than the anime.
    • There's the incident mentioned above where Tamaki punches a guy in the manga, making said guy bleed, while he simply holds him up against a wall in the anime.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall:
    • In the manga, you can see Kyoya 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.
    • In the third episode of the anime, Tamaki states outright that "this anime is a clearly a romantic comedy" and that therefore "Haruhi and I must be love interests!"
    • In Kasanoda's episode, Tamaki apologizes to Mori for not having enough focus episodes but just simple one-liners now and then.
  • Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Happens more than once, but the most tear jerk-worthy incident is probably the one with Hikaru and Kaoru in the manga. They both realize their feelings for Haruhi and, because of their different attitudes regarding it, ends up temporarily separating from each other by Kaoru moving into Honey's house and Hikaru into Mori's, along with hardly speaking to each other at school. Eventually however, Kaoru tells Hikaru that he believes his feelings for Haruhi turned out to be more platonic, and he'll be cheering Hikaru on from that point. He then proceeds to tell Hikaru they should start separating more such as get different bedrooms and quit their "twincest" act at the club, mainly because he secretly feels he's "in the way" for Hikaru and only by separating from him, "Hikaru can be free". In the morning, Kaoru finds Hikaru having dyed his hair dark, explaining to Kaoru that they're still twins which is a gift, and forcing separation upon themselves isn't a solution, rather, if they continue to grow together while also embracing their differences more then "a future twice as fun as other people's awaits us! Didn't you know... that's why twins are born?" complete with a bromantic Headbutt of Love to mark the end of the scene, and their dilemma.
  • Brick Joke: During Kasanoda's flashback in "Mori-Sempai Has An Apprentice!", one of the words that Kasanoda's father is teaching his son to speak to sound more "gangster-like" is "Ma". Confused and furious, Kasanoda gives up in rage, questioning when in the world he would ever need a word like "Ma". Cue the end of the episode, Kasanoda stumbles upon Haruhi (who, for the longest time, he thought was a guy), who's changing in the music room. It turns out she isn't a guy. (See First-Episode Twist below.) Guess what's the only word that he can say to this discovery?
  • Bros Before Hoes: Kaoru stepped down from pursuing Haruhi romantically in favor for letting Hikaru pursue her instead, so that Hikaru could grow to become more mature and independent. Kaoru had also realized his feelings for Haruhi weren't as strong as he had thought, at least, not as strong as Hikaru's.
  • Bubble Pipe: Kyoya does this as the caterpillar in the Alice in Wonderland parody episode.
  • But Not Too Foreign: Tamaki is half-Japanese and half-French; Perhaps to make this more obvious, the anime changes his hair from dirty blond to blond.
  • Butt-Monkey:
    • Tamaki is the source of much humor because of his buffonry and the disrepect from the other hosts.
    • In a meta example, Kyoya. The production staff love the "How Embarrassed Would Kyoya Be?" game.

    C-E 
  • Call-Back:
    • In the first episode of the anime, Tamaki tells Haruhi that people always say that he's "dripping with good looks". She repeats this back to him in the last episode.
    • 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.
    • Chapter 81: Tamaki jumps into a fountain to retrieve tickets to an amusement park, and accidentally ends up pulling Haruhi in as well. Haruhi then lampshades it by pointing out how the first time they were alone together was in a fountain, when she had lost her purse and he helped her look for it. The scene ends with Tamaki telling her he loves her, while they're still in the fountain. D'awww.
    • The first episode of the anime has the members of the Host Club steadily realising Haruhi is a girl, visually represented by light bulbs turning on. The same thing happens in the finale when Eclair discovers the secret.
    • In Chapter 75, it begins to thunder at the end and Haruhi thinks back to the time Tamaki comforted her, apparently still having the ear plugs he gave her that time.
  • Calling Your Attacks:
    • "Evil BEAM!!!!!!"
    • Tamaki: "Star Light Kick!"
    • "Summon gryphon!"
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Kasanoda to Haruhi. Poor guy, he never stood a chance...
    • Paired with Everyone Can See It when he actually tries to confess his feelings. Every single girl in the Host Club at the time watches with bated breath, only for the disappointment when it all goes south.
  • Cast Full of Pretty Boys: The Host Club are all attractive young men and a girl who can pass for one.
  • Cast Full of Rich People: Everyone at Ouran (except for Scholarship Student Haruhi) is mind-bogglingly rich.
  • Catapult Nightmare: The first few pages of Chapter 79 involve Haruhi standing in front of Tamaki blushing, and looking at the ground. She then says "Tamaki-senpai... I'm in love with you." (The Squee of many a fangirl was heard.) Tamaki looks stunned, but then goes off saying that he's so happy because he's in love with himself, too! He takes this and runs with it. Haruhi looks mortified, but then she sits up and we find out it was All Just a Dream, much to her relief.
  • Caught in a Snare: The "net" version of this trope happens in the episode with the test of courage.
  • Caught the Heart on His Sleeve: During the Beach Episode Haruhi grabs the bottom of Tamaki's shirt when he turns to leave the room after hearing a crash of thunder.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: The manga starts to delve into dramatic territory around the fifth or sixth volume, but tries not to sacrifice the funny. Around volume eleven or twelve, things get even more serious, though the jokes aren't completely gone. This was probably (more or less) of the intended variety.
  • Character Development: Tamaki, Haruhi and the twins especially grow as the story develops. It's more visible in the manga because it's longer than the anime.
  • Characterization Marches On: Early on in the manga, the author said in a sidenote that she couldn't see Haruhi being together with Tamaki at all. Guess how that went.
  • Charm Point: Mori is an odd case since his Charm Point is another character. When the club tries to instruct a delinquent that a Charm Point can work wonders for one's image, they bluntly point out that without Honey around people would see Mori as just a huge scary thug who barely talks, much to the latter's distress. Because Honey is there, Mori is instead seen as a Gentle Giant.
  • Chekhov's Army: Towards the end of the manga, all the people Tamaki's helped throughout the series gather together to help him get to the airport in time to see his mother.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Parodied. A large, blinking arrow highlights plot devices until they see action.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: The Zuka Club return in Chapter 82 while Tamaki and Haruhi are on a date, and try to get involved.
  • The Chessmaster: Kyoya is so good at precise scheming he's known as "The Shadow King".
  • Chick Magnet:
    • Haruhi, oddly enough, is very popular with the host club's customers.
    • All of the host club members count because it's their job to be.
  • Children Do the Housework: Because her mother Kotoko's is dead and her father Ryouji/Ranka's long work hours, Haruhi Fujioka does most of the work at home, cleaning and cooking for Ryouji and otherwise trying to take care of him, even telling him not to overwork himself for her.
  • Close on Title: The episode about Kaoru and Hikaru meeting Tamaki for the first time, "The Door the Twins Opened", saves its title card for the closing scene, after the twins open the door to the Host Club's room.
  • Club President: Tamaki is the "King" of the Host Club.
  • Color Failure:
    • Usually Tamaki, but most of the characters have had one of these moments.
    • Haruhi has also done this multiple times from the beginning: when she broke the vase and found out how much it was worth as well as when she finds out the Host Club followed her to the inn where she was working.
    • Happens a fair amount to the twins and sometimes Hani and Mori when Kyoya points out something about Haruhi's situation. Haruhi can fall victim to it thanks to Kyoya as well herself. Tamaki, of course, is highly susceptible to these same colour failures. Kyoya himself is subjected once or twice when everyone is (such as when Yabu is said to be headed to the special boy's clinic or when Kirimi points out a "reverse harem"), once even having a crack appear in his glasses.
  • Combat Commentator: Renge is your go to source for all the moe developments in-universe.
  • Comic-Book Time:
    • "Lovely protagonists like us are never subject to time~! (author note: there will be no moving up in grades)"
    • Messed with in Chapter 71 by Honey, Mori and Nekozawa all lament their impending graduation in their own way, to the shock of the Genre Savvy Haruhi, who notes that Spring has begun and ended at least four times since the beginning of the 'school year.' Kyoya even mentions he wasn't sure they were allowed to graduate. Notably, the cessation of the manga's Comic-Book Time coincides with its Cerebus Syndrome reaching full onset.
    • In general: the series ran for eight years, but only a little more than a year passed in-universe (as shown by Haruhi eventually moving up one grade a few chapters before the finale).
  • Companion Cube:
    • Beelzeneff the hand puppet is part of Nekozawa's club.
    • Honey has talked to Usa-chan as if he were real. Tamaki's done the same with Kuma-chan, too.
  • Comically Missing the Point: Honey does this a lot.
    "You shouldn't hit someone with glasses!"
  • Compressed Adaptation: The live action drama — only 11 episodes and an upcoming movie.
  • Condescending Compassion: As a scholarship student at an academy for the rich, Haruhi is constantly on the receiving end of this, especially from Tamaki.
  • Cool Old Lady: Hikaru and Kaoru take after their grandmother's tendency to troll people. Said grandmother motorcycles, travels around the world, and is amazing in ikebana (flower arrangement)... and has worn her hair like an ikebana arrangement for fourteen years as a tribute to her grandsons.
  • Corner of Woe:
    • Tamaki being the trope picture.
      "Senpai, would you please stop growing mushrooms in other people's closets?!"
      "I'm making a hamster home..."
    • His father is known to do this as well when he's upset.
  • 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".
  • Cosplay Café: The titular "Host Club" is actually more like one of these because of all the outfits and fG-rated service.
  • Cosplay Otaku Girl: Renge, who at one point is said to have created a hugely popular doujinshi about the hosts. Heck, the main reason she came to the host club is because Kyoya looked (eerily) similar to her favorite character on a dating sim she plays.
  • Costume Porn: Said cosplay outfits are, as can be expected, very fancy and/or stylish.
  • CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: In the Live-Action Adaptation, this happens when Haruhi is carried out of the water after falling of a cliff.
  • Creepy Twins: Hikaru and Kaoru are often eerily reminiscent of (siamese cat pair) Si and Am from Lady and the Tramp. They're also reminiscent of the twins from The Shining... just watch their childhood/coming-of-age episode! It's less so in the manga, but a large part of that is because you can't see or hear them moving and speaking in unison and it has to be implied over text instead.
  • Crossdresser: 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 Haruhi-kun in girls' clothing. Way too much fun. In the end, when Haruhi reveals she's a girl by way of showing up in a dress and wig, people just assume she's a gay boy really into crossdressing.
  • Culture Clash: The rich elite-poor commoner angle is played for laughs. The hosts, and especially Tamaki, are amazed by things like "commoner coffee" and Haruhi snarks at the over-the-top excess.
  • Cursed with Awesome: Oh, no! I've broken a vase, and to pay off my debt, I have to hang out with a bunch of well-mannered, cultured, downright hilarious, and dashingly handsome guys and meet rich girls who wouldn't give me a second look otherwise? Whatever will I do??? In fairness, the guys might be funny to watch but they could still be quite hard to live with. Don't even get started on the girls.
  • Cute Bookworm: Although we rarely see Haruhi read, it's often mentioned it's what she used to spend most of her time doing, and occasionally still does as soon a she gets her break from the Host Club.
  • Cute Bruiser: Honey knows kung fu, and as mentioned earlier will kick your ass if you mess with him, Mori, or Haruhi. The Minister of Defense of Japan has even begged him not to show his full strength in public out of fear that the UN will think Japan is harboring a bioengineered weapon of mass destruction.
  • Dances and Balls: There was one in the second episode and concerned a "host wandering" customer and her love interest. It's the first time Haruhi dresses up, in order to help the couple.
  • Dance Party Ending: In the anime, the final scenes are Haruhi dancing with the hosts at a party.
  • Darker and Edgier: Renge's interesting film project screams of "NEEDS MORE ANGST!" Literally, she screams it.
  • Darkest Hour: Chapters 73 to 80, in which Tamaki is manipulated by his grandmother into quitting the Host Club and cutting all ties with them for the sake of the Suoh business.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Everything about Nekozawa is ridiculously "dark". He lives in a dark Gothic mansion, wears a black cloak, listens to ominous, creepy music, deals with the occult, is surrounded by black roses and even his maid and butler look like vampiric murderers. He's even light sensitive. In the manga, his club and it's members even join in on the fun by looking like straight out of a horror flick set in victorian England. He's actually a pretty nice guy.
  • Date Peepers:
    • The rest of the Host Club get in Paper Thin Disguises to peep on Haruhi's dates with Hikaru and Tamaki.
    • They save Haruhi from the Zuka Club and saves her and Tamaki's date.
  • Dating What Daddy Hates: As if Ranka didn't have trouble enough with Tamaki moving in on Haruhi before, he's anything else but pleased discovering that the two are a couple in Chapter 82. He's even less pleased with Tamaki going to America with her. Don't worry, it's totally Played for Laughs.
    • Kinda lampshaded in the manga where the author even points out that Ranka is almost creepily similar to Tamaki, they even kind of look similar when looking at how Ranka looked back when he met Haruhis mother.
  • A Day in the Limelight: A bonus chapter features the story of how Haruhi's parents met and fell in love.
  • Deadpan Snarker:
    • Some of Haruhi's funniest moments involve disillusioning Tamaki.
    • The English translations to some of the narration fit this to a t. Almost all of the pink text boxes across all episodes get translated in some snarky, hilarious way.
  • Deconstructed Trope: The penultimate episode of the anime has Kyouya point out to Tamaki that all their club's themes' outfits and accessories cost a lot of money to buy and transport from other countries. Curiously, this is never brought up in the manga, or if it is, the answer there is simply that they can afford it anyhow, while it is brought up in the anime to serve as one of the smaller dilemmas before the finale.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen:
    • Lady Eclair in the anime is introduced as cold-hearted but then it's revealed she was already defrosted by Tamaki's mother, who is her caretaker in addition to being her friend. She is then defrosted further by Tamaki himself.
    • Tamaki's grandmother in the manga begins as an Evil Matriarch but is also defrosted by Tamaki with thoughtful action on a piano. This is Tamaki's main mode of defrosting.
  • Deliberately Cute Child: Honey is an aversion; he really is that cute. The thing is, he's not really that young.
  • Design Student's Orgasm: The opening sequence, which uses fluid animation, special effects, and more to accompany the opening theme.
  • Different for Girls: Haruhi averts this early on in the manga, as she is already using the masculine pronoun "ore" by the second chapter.
  • Diegetic Soundtrack Usage:
    • The opening theme is used in a few places throughout the series.
    • The show's ending theme also makes an appearance, as the ringtone Hikaru uses to I.D. when Tamaki is calling. When Hikaru is comforting Haruhi in the church (and puts his headset on her) the song plays again.
    • There's also a slow, waltz version of it used during the closing credits scenes in the final episode.
  • 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's Adventures in Wonderland. By the end, she says that around here, it's hard to tell when she's asleep or awake.
  • Drop-In Character: Renge is more of a rise-out-of-the-floor-on-a-pedestal character. This is lampshaded by Haruhi, who in one episode points out that the mechanism used to elevate Renge seems to follow them around.
  • Dysfunction Junction: They’re pretty mild compared to some of the lengths this trope can go to, but all of the main characters and many minor characters have major personality quirks because of, or are entirely driven by, bizarre or unhappy childhoods or events in their family history (with the arguable exception of Mori).
    • Played with in Honey and Chika's case. Initially it seems like Chika is, like the rest of the Haninozuka family, leery of Honey's taste for sweets and cute things and disrespectful of his desire to be himself, and the Host club tries to get him to see that Honey's acceptance of himself is good for him and fix the brotherly divide. It seems like it might work, until Chika explains that while he does find Honey's cute-related interests to be mildly annoying, it's more the fact that Honey eats three to eleven multi-tiered cakes by himself every night, without gaining weight, and Chika can't figure out how he's doing it, concluding that he has to be an alien who's replaced his real brother.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: For Tamaki and Kyoya in the last two episodes of the series. Tamaki has to deal with some heavy and long standing family issues before he can have a happy family and relationship with Haruhi. Kyoya has to fight an attempt on his father's company while dealing with his "third son" situation.
  • Elevator School: Despite the series' title, Ouran Academy isn't just a high school; it's actually a huge institution that contains grades from kindergarten to high school. The kindergarten, elementary school, middle school and high school divisions all have their own uniforms to distinguish them.
  • Epic Fail: Towards the end of Episode 19, Haruhi is trapped at a tall pedestal while being chased by Benibara, and notices Tamaki at the ground telling her to jump to his arms. She jumps off, with Tamaki standing arms-stretched-out and with sparkly eyes as he awaits the romantic moment of him catching her - only for the height of which Haruhi jumps from naturally making her very heavy and crushing him as she comes down.
  • Epiphany Therapy:
    • The Host Club and Haruhi especially gives Tamaki this in Chapter 68 of the manga, making him realize that no matter what happens, if he (unbeknowst to Haruhi) decides to pursue her romantically, the Host Club will not be broken. This is certainly one of the more heavy-handed examples of this trope, considering how oblivious its recipient is.
    • Haruhi gives this to all three Suohs towards the end of the manga: Tamaki, his father and his grandmother, by making them aware that the main source behind their family's issues is that none of them ever talks about their problems between one another.
  • Episode Title Card:
    • Every episode of the anime opens with one of these and Haruhi's voice reading it out loud.
    • The exception being "The Door the Twins Opened". The title card is actually the last thing in the episode before the ending theme.
  • Eyes Never Lie: When Tamaki first meets Kyoya, he's able to tell that he's unhappy with his family situation because "his eyes" told him that.
  • Even the Girls Want Her: Haruhi largely averts this, due to the fact that the girls who want her don't know that she's a girl.
  • Everybody Knew Already:
    • Averted in Chapter 83, where not a single person is surprised when they see Haruhi in a party dress... and are then dumbfounded when they learn that she really is a girl and not a crossdressing boy in love with Tamaki.
    • Played straight with Tamaki's backstory, which their customers reveals in one of the final chapters to have been aware of, but they were fine with it because of his kind nature.
  • Everyone Can See It: Subtly in the anime, but much more obvious in the manga. After Haruhi realizes her feelings for Tamaki it's unbelievably obvious to everyone EXCEPT him. Honey and Mori seemed to be the first to notice Hikaru's and Kaoru's budding feelings for Haruhi, as well, and they even mention that Kyoya might be hiding some of his own. Kyoya may have seen it, too.
    • All of the host club could tell long before he did that Tamaki had fallen in love with Haruhi practically at first sight.
  • Everyone Looks Sexier if French: For the guy he is, Tamaki doesn't really emphasize his half-french heritage.
  • Evil Matriarch: Tamaki's grandmother controls all the resources of the Suoh estate. She has forbidden Tamaki from seeing his mother under threat of cutting off the funding his mother needs to combat her illness, and verbally abuses him and his father. She eventually gets better in the manga due to Tamaki's compassion.
  • 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.
    • Haruhi's hair is a mess on the first appearance, which adds to her masculine and poor appearance. The Host Club gives her a hairstyle which makes her look boyishly cute. Flashbacks show she used to wear her hair in a waist-length Hime Cut which made her look very feminine indeed. The original cut is later explained away as being a self-inflicted emergency cut after Haruhi got gum in her hair.
    • In the bonus chapters taking place after the main story has ended, Haruhi is shown to let her hair grow long again, possibly to symbolize her becoming more feminine after having fallen in love with Tamaki and eventually dating him. However, it's not in a Hime Cut as before, but a more natural style (which every fan agreed suited her much better).
  • Expy:
    • Honey shares a strong similarity to Momiji from Fruits Basket. This may be an intentional parody since the anime even gives Honey his seiyuu.
    • Tamaki bears a striking resemblance to the comically chivalrous Nokoru from School Detectives.
    • The twins share some resemblance with Fred and George but this could just be a strange coincidence. It's almost become a Memetic Mutation comparing them to the Siamese Cats, Si and Am.
    • A lot of the character designs for the leads are also lifted from Bisco Hatori's previous work Millenium Snow.
    • Kyoya's father might as well be Gendo in an Alternate Universe. His character looks basically identical to Gendo and comes complete with Jerkass front, Gendo Pose and even Gendo's seiyuu.

    F-G 
  • The Faceless:
    • In the anime at least, Tamaki's mother's face is not shown in flashbacks or pictures including her. This goes for the same moments in the manga, though her face is eventually revealed later on.
    • Likewise with Kyoya's two brothers, who are often mentioned and shown in flashbacks, but whose faces are never shown. In the manga, his brother Akito eventually gets a few brief appearances, though the third brother remains unseen.
  • Failure Is the Only Option: Tamaki getting Haruhi to be feminine, because of her "do not care" attitude and the fact that she's paying off her debt by pretending to be a boy.
  • False Friend: Kyoya, to Tamaki, in Episode 14. Whereas Tamaki wants to help the failing club, Kyoya puts a hard stop to their antics.
  • Family of Choice: The Host Club is this for Tamaki, to the point he assignes everyone roles within it... with Haruhi as his daughter, Kyoya as the "mother," the twins (according to one omake and the occasional brother/sister reference) as their "eldest sons" and Mori and Honey being the couple who lives next door...we wonder if Tamaki notices the Ho Yay or not. The fans sure do.
  • Fanservice:
    • Lampshaded due to the fact that the entire point of the Host Club is to provide it to the in-universe fangirls.
    • Outside the Club, the boys get a handful of Shirtless Scenes, with Mori doing physical labor as one of the most blatantly for eye candy.
  • Faux Horrific: Tamaki has a nightmare about the squalor that he fears Haruhi might be living in.
  • Faux Yay: The hosts' go-to act to make all the girls Squee. Kaoru and Hikaru are the most blatant offenders, but Honey and Mori’s closeness counts to some extent, as well as Tamaki in a pinch.
  • Fear Is Normal: In "The Sun, the Sea, and the Host Club", the guys have been trying to find out what Haruhi is truly scared of. At the end, Haruhi hides in the closet, not wanting to admit to Tamaki that she has a Fear of Thunder. Tamaki instantly understands because she was raised not to depend on others, so he tells her not to be ashamed of it and that she is not alone. She gladly accepts the invitation to cling to him.
  • Fear of Thunder: Haruhi has a severe phobia of thunder. It's utterly debilitating and is one of the few things that is never played for laughs.
  • Fiction 500: Most of the cast. The Host Club is absolutely stupid 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 do this as part of their twin-thing.
  • Fireball Eyeballs: The female customers get flaming eyes when they're really fired up about something—usually a particularly adorable Moe moment involving the hosts. It turns into a somewhat bizarre plot-point during the episodes starring Ritsu Kasanoda, a young Yakuza Boss whose icy glare normally freezes anyone who comes near him. He winds up being Sweet on Polly Oliver, causing all the girls to get fired up about the perceived Yaoi romance, and even when he turns his icy glare on them, their fiery intensity melts it on the spot.
    Don't underestimate the flames of MOE!
  • First-Episode Twist: 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 club's 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 Kyoya is ultimately perplexed by some of the commoner things at the trade exhibition.
  • Flower Motifs:
    • Every member of the host club (and many characters who aren't members) have a different colored rose that represents them. Naturally, the show uses this for all sorts of symbolism.
    • Honey's speech bubbles always have little flowers around them in the manga.
  • Flower-Pot Drop: A couple of bullies at Ouran Academy try to drop two flower pots on Kasanoda, but Mori knocks Kasanoda out of the way and hits the second pot to the side in mid-air.
  • Fluffy Fashion Feathers:
    • During the Christmas dance, some outfits with feather decorations are worn.
    • In the manga, Kanako's dress had a feather hem.
  • Food Porn: A lot of shots involving Honey's cakes.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • The anime does this with deliberate heavy-handedness in the first episode, framing several shots to fit the vase Haruhi is going to break into them, complete with an arrow blatantly pointing it out, long before it actually happens.
    • At one point in the manga, Kaoru mentions how he and Hikaru always likes the same things and because of it, he wonders what they would do if they someday liked something there only existed one example of. Not long after, he realizes that both he and Hikaru are in love with Haruhi. Eventually though, Kaoru figures his feelings for Haruhi aren't as strong as Hikaru's, and he pulls back.
    • In Episode 10, when Haruhi's speaking fondly of her mother, Tamaki briefly gets a sad expression on his face and turns all awkward. One might have just assumed he felt sad for her sake, until it turns out he's forbidden from seeing his own mother ever again. Haruhi speaking of her mother in such a manner probably triggered him to be reminded of it.
    • When Tamaki's grandmother is first introduced in the manga, there's a very subtle hint towards her hidden kind self: when Yuzuru (Tamaki's father) points out to her that it's the first time she's referred to Tamaki as his son, and she gets a subtle flustered reaction because of it.
  • "Freaky Friday" Flip: The author did a gag at the end of a chapter where Tamaki and Kyouya swapped bodies and the brief hilarity that ensued from this.
  • Free-Fall Romance: In the final episode when 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. The children who appears in the series (including the little sister the twins are revealed to get in a bonus page at the end), all quickly adores him.
  • Friend to All Living Things: Mori gets well along with animals, particularly shown in the manga.
  • 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 Host Club is. It's justified too: one of her maids reads her Shoujo manga as bedtime stories.
    • When Shirou first meets Haruhi, he asks "Are you a crossdresser?" when he realizes that Haruhi acts more like a girl than a guy. It's even worse (or, depending on how you look at it, even funnier) in the English subtitles, which translate that line to, "Are you a queer?"
  • Funny Background Event:
    • Mori and Honey in various episodes of the anime.
    • When the customers playfully push Tamaki and Haruhi towards one another in the final chapter, revealing they know about them, Kasanoda can be seen in the back, having a horrified reaction.
  • Gecko Ending: In the anime, there is a climatic arc focusing on an anime only character. It's unknown what state Haruhi's debt is in at that point but it serves to show that she would remain with the Host Club regardless of it.
  • Gender-Blender Name: Haruhi, otherwise the game would have been over the first time she introduced herself.
  • Generation Xerox: Haruhi/Tamaki resemble Ryouji/Kotoko (Haruhi's parents) a good deal in regards to their personalities, though also with some differences; Kotoko fell in love with Ryouji rather quickly (apparently it was even Love at First Sight for her) and they subsequently married after only having met a few times. Haruhi spent almost a year in the Host Club before realizing she'd fallen for Tamaki, and even then it would take a few more months before they confessed and became a couple. Kotoko also liked cute things, and was even a secret fan of the Lobelia school.
  • Genius Ditz: Tamaki. Despite being an Idiot Hero, he's second best in his class (only beaten by Kyoya), plays professional piano and can see through a person's problems almost right away (he just can't see his own for the life of him).
  • Genre Savvy:
    • Tamaki for being Genre Savvy in a similar manner to Elan. In other words, he's insightful but so buffonish it sounds silly.
    Tamaki: This is obviously a romantic comedy! Haruhi and I must be the love interests!
    • Renge has the justification of being a Dating Sim otaku and Kirimi due to overexposure to Shoujo manga.
  • Gentle Giant: Mori and Kasanoda are both tall and strong young men, but also kind hearted.
  • The Glasses Come Off: Kyoya - in Episode 8 - and in the DS game- this picture.
  • The Glasses Gotta Go: The first step to Haruhi's transformation into a pretty "boy" is losing her huge, clunky glasses.
  • Gratuitous Greek: Pausing on the Greek test Tamaki walks into in Episode 5 shows a bunch of Greek text scrolling through the screen. However, if you understand Greek, it's not hard to notice that most are random strings of Greek letters.
  • Green-Eyed Monster:
    • Ayanokoji, in the very first episode, harrasses Haruhi for taking Tamaki's attention away from her.
    • Hikaru towards Arai (old school friend of Haruhi) and later towards Tamaki (when noticing Haruhi's feelings for him). Tamaki is this towards Arai at first too, but later brushes it off when he takes a liking to him.
    • Haruhi is subtly this towards Eclair in the last episodes of the anime, and more canonly so towards Kanoya in Chapters 65-68 of the manga, the latter to which she even admits in the end to have felt jealous.
  • Guile Hero: Kyoya is a schemer and cunning enough to buy out his father's company before someone else could.
  • Gum In Hair: Haruhi states that this is the reason for her boyish haircut. Before the school year, someone stuck a piece of gum in her hair and she just decided to cut it all off since getting gum out of long hair is a pain.
  • Gyaru Girl: Haruhi's friend Mei is a dark tanned girl who reads magazines for 'gals in love'. She is a amateur fashion designer, who focuses on love and hobbies more than her summer homework.

    H-K 
  • Happily Married:
    • Haruhi's parents, Ranka and Kotoko (when she was alive). Ranka is no longer attracted to women because he was that in love with her.
    • Although not married, Tamaki's parents appear to have this sort of dynamic despite the situation.
    • Hikaru and Kaoru's parents are also happy together and we're told they eventually have another child, giving the twins the little sister they wanted.
    • The author states at the end of the final volume that Honey and Reiko, Tamaki and Haruhi, and Mori and his wife are all happily married in the future.
  • Harem Genre: The Reverse Harem variation where The Protagonist is female and the harem is male. It's also an Affectionate Parody of reverse harems, as the members of the Host Club deliberately play up different "types" of love interests common in such series when entertaining the school's female population.
  • Harem Nanny: On top of being the Only Sane Man, Kyoya serves this role in the Host Club, keeping everything from plans to expenses in check.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners:
    • Honey and Mori. They have First-Name Basis. No one else does with them.
    • Kyoya and Tamaki. They started the club together and are its "parents".
  • Hidden Depths:
    • Played with regarding every character, parodied in one of Renge's early episodes.
    • Chapter 55, where Tamaki tells Haruhi pieces of his childhood backstory, causing her to realise that the reason he always stays his spirited self is to honour his mother's wish of him doing so despite their tragic separation.
  • Hilarious Outtakes: Many many.
  • Hime Cut: Haruhi used to have this kind of hairstyle before the unfortunate bubblegum incident. The contrast between such a feminine style and the boyish cut she has for the series is striking.
  • Hollywood Genetics: Tamaki inherited his mother's lilac eyes and blonde hair, when realistically he would have brown eyes and hair like his father.
  • Homoerotic Subtext: Hikaru and Karou's twincest doubles as this for the yaoi fangirls, of which there are many.
  • Hopeless Suitor: Hikaru, and for a short period, Kaoru too, because Haruhi is oblivious to love and in any case becomes interested in Tamaki.
  • Host Club: The Ouran High School Host Club itself is a PG-rated school club version of real host clubs, with its members providing refreshments, flattery and entertainment for the school's female students. As Tamaki says, their real goal is to make girls happy, and they go out of their way several times to help resolve personal conflicts they notice their customers dealing with (romantic more often than not).
  • Hypercompetent Sidekick: Kyoya, again to Tamaki. He's the one that makes all of Tamaki's outlandish plans both practical and profitable.
  • Hypocritical Humour: Tamaki falls for Haruhi while he's still under the impression she's a boy, and openly and unashamedly flirts with her without any sign of Gayngst. Later, in the first Zuka Club episode, seeing Benibara try to seduce Haruhi sets him off screaming "Don't you see there's nothing to be gained in a romantic relationship between two women?! If that were the case then why did God create Adam and Eve?!"
  • I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!:
    • The Host Club's addiction to "commoner's coffee", and likewise Honey with his cakes.
    • Kuze is always chomping on an orange whenever he's onscreen... unpeeled ones.
  • I Choose to Stay: In both the anime and manga, Haruhi is eventually told (though at very different times and occasions) that her debt has been paid and she's free to leave the Host Club, however, she's grown to love all the guys and their events together so much that she stays with them.
  • Iconic Outfit: Haruhi's first appearance is a wee bit... unflattering. She goes back to her frumpy outfit in Chapter 76 of the manga to protest the banning of the host club and send a message to Tamaki, who has been forbidden to talk to her. Looking back at Chapter 1 with the same outfit it's easier to see some Art Evolution, too.
  • Identical Twin ID Tag: The twins eventually dye their hair different colors to invoke this.
  • Idiot Hero: Playing with a Trope in Tamaki's case. He's a charming, well-meaning buffoon, who nonetheless gets excellent grades. He is insightful to other people's problems but blind to his own. Somehow, he thought his affection for Haruhi was as a father.
  • I Let You Win: Subverted. Mori, having watched many of their battles, predicts that Honey will purposely lose to his brother in their last fight. However, cake is on the line and Honey shows no mercy.
    Mori-sempai! Don't mind!
  • Imagine Spot:
    • Tamaki most frequently, but it happens to others, such as Kasanoda from time to time.
    • Inverted once when the boys assume Haruhi is in an Imagine Spot based on the distant expression on her face when she's actually envisioning the day's sales at the supermarket.
    • Haruhi unwillingly has a brief imagination of her and Tamaki with a child shortly after realizing her feelings for him. She promptly freaks out from it.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun:
    • In-universe example during the Beach Episode. Mori attempts to frighten Haruhi using a harpoon (the Japanese word for harpoon being mori). It's hilariously lampshaded.
    • Another in-universe example in Chapter 64 of the manga, where Tamaki is going through a trauma regarding his feelings, resulting in him first going to a zoo to look at tigers, and then arranging for the next Host Club activity to be at a riding school with horses. Thinking through this, the twins realize that putting together the words for the two animals (tora=tiger and uma=horse) you get "torauma" (sounding like "trauma").
  • Indentured Servitude: Haruhi is forced to join the Host Club to work off her debts after she breaks a ridiculously expensive vase in the first chapter.
  • Indirect Kiss: Invoked the first time (Episode 4, with a cookie) to troll Tamaki, defied (three guesses as to who) the second time (with ice cream).
  • Indy Ploy: What most of Tamaki's "cunning" plans start off as or eventually turn into, thanks to his rather impulsive nature. Want to know a funny thing, though? They work. EVEN AGAINST KYOYA.
  • In-Series Nickname: "Tono" for Tamaki (by the twins), "Ranka" for Ryouji, "Honey" for Haninozuka.
  • Invisible Writing: Tamaki's father sends him messages in invisible ink (made with lemon juice). The club believes that the messages come from the person sending them threatening letters and hilarity ensues.
  • Ironic Echo:
    • In Episode 17, Haruhi and Kyoya continually trade lines with each other in this fashion.
    • In the first episode, Haruhi asks the girl who's been bullying her if she's jealous, causing the latter to promptly snap and make an overblown attempt of putting Haruhi in a bad light. In the last episode, she asks Eclair Tonerre the exact same question, who merely responds "My, well said." in a calm manner. (She had also asked Haruhi earlier if she was jealous.)
  • Irony:
    • Tamaki spends some time of the show early on fantasising about a girly Haruhi and trying to transform her into such, and failing, simply for comedic purpose for the reader/viewer. However, as the story progresses and Haruhi finds herself in love with him (while he remains completely clueless to this), she gradually turns more into a woman, all of her own (and long after Tamaki stopped caring if she did). Benibara from the Zuka club points this out in Chapter 82, shortly after Haruhi and Tamaki have become a couple, that she now "completely looks like a girl". So in the end, Tamaki did succeed in making Haruhi more feminine, it just happened when he wasn't trying to.
    • Also, when Haruhi first realizes her feelings for Tamaki, she briefly gets depressed when thinking how she looks like a boy, and subsequently thinks how Tamaki only sees her as his daughter. Look what you did, Tamaki.
    • This is played straight when a transfer student named Kanoya arrives at their school, who is introduced when Tamaki saves her from getting kicked by a horse, causing her to crush on him and continuously sticking with him the following days. The rest of the Host Club notice she bears some distinct physical resemblance to Haruhi, and to add to it, she's completely onboard with Tamaki's "romantic fantasies" they present to her, making them realise it's the "real-life version" of the imaginary Haruhi in Tamaki's mind. Tamaki, however, states he doesn't think they're similar at all, and shows no interest in her whatsoever.
    • In an early chapter, an author note states "I can't see Haruhi and Tamaki getting together." The second-to-last page of the entire series is of Haruhi and Tamaki on their wedding day, with an author note stating "Of course, I think the two will get married."
    • Also, when Tamaki keeps referring to himself and Haruhi getting married after they've become a couple, Haruhi frantically reminds him that they're too young and marriage is far away in the future. However, jugding by the bonus page that actually shows them getting married they don't appear to have aged much, and if the online translation of the "Ghost Special" where they're all college students is to be trusted, Tamaki is referred to as Haruhi's husband there, meaning they waited no longer than two years. Awww.
    • The first Host Club member to get married is Honey! To a member of the Dark Magic Club! Didn't see that one coming, did you?
  • It's Always Spring: Humorously averted in that it is always whatever season is most convenient for the plot at hand, especially in episodes entirely indoors. The original creator admits to abandoning a hard timeline in a few chapters of the manga.
    *Please do not count how many springs have come and gone. Suffice to say that the cherry blossoms are blooming at Ouran again.
  • It Runs in the Family:
    • Haruhi and her dad's penchant for cross-dressing and Tamaki and his dad's ability to sweet-talk anyone.
    • Tamaki apparently inherited the interests in kotatsus from his mother.
    • Hikaru and Kaoru's mother also enjoys playing games just as they do (she happens to enjoy the "Which one is Hikaru?" game). They also inherited their mother's (and badass grandma's) affinity for fashion design.
    • Tamaki and his grandmother both appreciate music and historical samurai dramas, this is what brings his grandmother out of her depression and helps her to appreciate her grandson.
    • Tamaki's father also dabbles in the Corner of Woe, although his versions tend to be at least a little more watered down
    • As Haruhi lampshades towards the end of the series, Tamaki, his father and his grandmother are all similar in how none of them confronts their problems by openly talking about them, but hides behind masks and attempts to cover over it in ultimately self-hurting ways.
    • Haruhi's mother also fell for an energetic, emotional guy with idiot tendensies, and realized it after he kissed her goodbye on the porch of her home...
    • Honey's little brother may not have any interest in cakes and plush animals as he says, but present him with baby animals, and his self-control will drop just as quickly.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:
    • In the anime Eclair lets Tamaki jump off the bridge after Haruhi.
    • In the manga Kaoru tells Haruhi he loves her, but he has someone else more important to him that he can't hurt. He steps out of the battlefield and lets Hikaru be the one to fight for Haruhi.
    • In Chapter 76 Hikaru says that this new obstacle in Haruhi and Tamaki's friendship gives him an advantage against Tamaki in winning her heart. Kaoru looks shocked and apalled until Hikaru says he was just kidding and says "Don't you think it would be a waste if I said I don't really wish for this to happen?" It's quite clear he doesn't want to see either of his friends miserable.
    • In Chapter 80 When Haruhi says she's going to be an obstacle to their rescue and that she's having doubts about her abilities, Hikaru tells her that it hurts, but she's the one who knows Tamaki the best and vice versa and because of that, she must go escort him to the airport. Awwwww.
  • I Want to Be a Real Man: Honey tried this for a while by acting all stoic and anti-cute. It didn't work. Tamaki encouraged him to embrace his inner cuteness.
  • Jerkass:
    Hikaru: What do you mean, I have a smart mouth? Kaoru has one, too!
    Haruhi: Dream on! Not when you get him by himself, he doesn't!
    • Kyoya has his moments too such as adding to Haruhi's debt or that infamous scene during the beach episode.
  • Kaiju: Used in a throwaway image in Episode 23 between a namahage and a shisa as part of Tamaki's imagination (the episode is a flashback to when he first moved to Japan).
  • Karma Houdini: In the anime Tamaki's grandmother gets away with using Eclair to rip up the Host Club.
  • Keet: Tamaki and Honey are both full of cheer and energy.
  • Kimodameshi: A kimodameshi tournament.

    L-N 
  • Lampshade Hanging:
    "Don't you think this is overly dramatic for a toothache?"
    • Haruhi points these out frequently.
      Haruhi: Why is there a (insert plot-convenient device) in a music room?
    • Inverted as well.
      Haruhi: Since when is there a grand piano in here?
      Honey: It's always been there. We just had it covered up.
    • Tamaki does it too:
      "This anime is obviously a romantic school comedy. Haruhi and I are the main characters, so that means we're love interests!"
  • Large Ham:
    • Try to keep a straight face when you hear Vic Mignogna scream "Otaku!"
    • Or, in response to the above, Kaoru "I've never seen one up close!"
    • Renge counts too. Even Tamaki appears tired of her at times, which says alot.
  • Late-Arrival Spoiler: Haruhi is a girl, but given that this is revealed at the end of the first manga chapter and first anime episode, it's not all that surprising that all the blurbs on the back of the manga volumes and DVDs tell you straight away.
  • Lecherous Licking: Played with during the infamous cookie scene, since Haruhi is only mildly annoyed by it but not creeped out or disgusted, and seems to object more to how unnecessary it is than to the implications (if indeed she is even conscious of them).
  • Legacy of Service: Mori comes from a family with a long line of serving the Haninozuka clan. The master-servant bond was dispelled when the families were joined by marriage, but Mori still watches over and protects Honey like a big brother would.
  • Letting Her Hair Down: Tamaki's grandmother in the manga, after she's dropped her guard and softened up.
  • Light Liege, Dark Defender: Honey is unrelentingly friendly and childish, to the point of acting like an elementary school kid ninety percent of the time. Always by his side is Mori, his quiet and intimidating cousin-slash-unofficial bodyguard, who looks out for his well-being. Played with in that Honey is an extremely capable martial artist by himself and Mori is actually Bodyguarding a Badass, Honey just chooses not to act like it, and that Mori is a genuine Nice Guy who's more defending Honey from himself, like when he forgets to brush his teeth and gets a cavity.
  • Like an Old Married Couple: When the twins visits Karuizawa (for the second time) to help Tamaki and Haruhi taking care of the place, they're met by Tamaki freaking out by a sinister-looking Haruhi scolding him for not doing his chores properly.
  • Like Brother and Sister: ...or father and daughter. That's what Tamaki thinks anyway.
  • Lovable Coward: Kazukiyo Soga, the president of Haruhi and the twins' class, who's afraid of "anything that's scary".
  • Love at First Sight: Averted. Tamaki didn't react much to Haruhi on their first time meeting, it was mainly after he learned she was a girl that he appeared to fall instantly in love. It just took him 64 chapters to realize.
  • 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.
  • Love Hurts:
    • For Hikaru it did. It caused twin trouble and also trouble with Tamaki.
    • Tamaki has more of a "family love hurts" angle considering the situation between his mom, dad, and grandmother. His mother, trying to explain their situation to him in a child-friendly way, tells him explicitly that Tamaki's grandmother hates her "because mama fell in love with papa," leaving him with a clear but subconscious fear that falling in love for real will ruin the relationships he already has.
  • Love Martyr: Tamaki falls head over heels for Haruhi even though she treats him like a huge pain in her butt 90% of the time. She gets better, and to be fair, he usually asks for it.
  • Loving a Shadow:
    • Renge initially has a crush on Kyoya because he resembles her favorite guy from her favorite Dating Sim.
    • Eclair seems to have legitimate feelings for Tamaki based almost entirely on the stories that her housekeeper (Tamaki's mother) told her about him.
  • Luminescent Blush:
    • Tamaki probably holds the record for number of these blushes from a male shoujo protagonist. The one at the end of episode one of the anime is particularly notable.
    • Haruhi has alot of them too upon realizing she's in love with Tamaki.
  • Malingering Romance Ploy: One episode features a variation where someone fakes sick for someone else's romance attempt. It starts off with Kaoru pretending to be sick so that he could set Hikaru up with Haruhi on a date. Hilarity Ensues with Tamaki getting jealous and the rest of the club trying to help the date go well.
  • Manic Pixie Dream Guy: Tamaki to the Host Club as a whole. He's the zany happy guy that helps them through their issues.
  • Mascots Love Sugar: Honey is arguably the mascot of the series and is shown eating large amounts of cake in each episode. In one episode, he even goes through withdrawal symptoms after getting a cavity and not being allowed to eat cake until the cavity is fixed.
  • 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. With Kyoya's father saying he likes her for Kyoya too...another relatively strong contender?
  • Meaningful Echo: Episode 17 is full of it, with Kyouya and Haruhi constantly quoting something the other said earlier to prove that the other pis wrong about something or different than they believe. Especially Haruhi delivers not one, not two, but three meaningful echos to prove that Kyouya is actually a lot like Tamaki.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Tamaki means "ring/circle," which he points out to his grandmother in Chapter 77, and that his father had intentionally named him so to become someone who would "make a circle overcoming everything".
    • Honey and his brother have more a case of meaningful nicknames; Mitsukuni Haninozuka (sounds like, you guessed it, "Honey"), and Yazuchika Haninozuka, who turns out to be a fan of baby animals, specially chicks.
  • Measuring Day: Forms the plot of the second episode, which presents obvious complications for a Sweet Polly Oliver like Haruhi.
  • Medium Awareness: Just the anime, for Rule of Funny. There are frequent references to the audience, and Haruhi addresses them directly more than once, such as when she asks those viewers with blood type AB to not be offended by something Tamaki says.
  • 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)
  • Mistaken for Gay: Near the end of the manga when most of the girls saw Tamaki and Haruhi having a close moment. That and they thought Haruhi just liked dressing up like a girl. They find out the truth later on.
  • Moe Couplet: Honey and Mori. It's discussed in Episode 22, though neither of them take it as a compliment.
  • Mood Whiplash: Downplayed, but as soon as Haruhi realizes her feelings for Tamaki, there are many funny or heartwarming moments of her interactions with him intertwined with Hikaru looking on in saddened jealousy.
  • Mouthy Kid: Shiro Takaouji, who makes it quite known he doesn't think much of the Club despite asking them for help. Chika could fit this too.
    • The Hitachiin twins were this as children. Not that that's a surprise, since they grew up to be exactly the same way.
  • Mr. Fanservice: The Host Club is meant to invoke this.
  • Mundane Made 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.
    • Tamaki's preferred way of ordering fancy tuna involves some impressive acrobatics.
  • Mundane Object Amazement: All the boys in the extremely rich Ouran High School's Host Club are amazed at everyday 'commoner' things that Haruhi does or uses, like instant coffee, and saying things like "Commoners are so clever!".
  • My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad: Done with money since they are ultra-rich. More like My Dad Can Buy Out Your Dad's Company.
  • Mythology Gag: The narration in the live action drama is done by Maaya Sakamoto, who voiced Haruhi in the anime.
  • Nerd Glasses: Haruhi's thick black frames are a clue to her frugal and resolutely practical nature—she normally wears contacts, so why waste money on fashionable glasses? They also serve to the make The Glasses Gotta Go more dramatic by disguising her "secret identity" as a girl.
  • Never My Fault: The Newspaper Club President blames the Ouran Host Club for the dropping sales of the newspaper, despite the fact that nobody reads their paper to begin with, due to it all being lame gossip and scandal.
  • Noblewoman's Laugh: Renge Houshakuji has what may be the cutest evil laugh ever.
  • No Name Given: Tamaki's mother in the anime. In the manga it's eventually revealed to be Anne-Sophie.
  • Noodle People: Used for comedic effect in the anime, not seen in the manga.
  • No Romantic Resolution: The anime lacks a definite ending, though it implies that Tamaki/Haruhi is bound to happen.
  • Nose Bleed: In the manga Tamaki gets one of these when he sees Haruhi in a dress during their visit to the beach. Haruhi points it out. Tamaki, being the Idiot Hero, thinks he just bumped his nose and Honey's "first aid" only makes it worse.
  • No Swastikas: One scene involving the Zuka Club has them in orange military uniforms in front of a Nazi flag, except with the kanji for "woman" instead of a swastika.
  • Not a Morning Person:
    • Kyoya, to the point that the rest of the host club is scared of him in the mornings. Not that they aren't always scared of him. A side story in the manga shows that on a school day, waking Kyoya requires three alarm clocks and at least half an hour...and it was commented that he was running early that day.
    • The rumor goes that Honey's 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. Tamaki is the one telling this story, so take it with a grain of salt, but when they wake up Honey from a nap in the club room he is in a decidedly terrible mood.
  • Not What It Looks Like: At least twice, once where Tamaki walks in and once where he's the one involved. Unfortunately for him, the second time happens in front of Haruhi's father...

    O-Q 
  • Oblivious to Love:
    • Haruhi. Oh boy, where do we start? When Kaoru told Haruhi he loved her she looked a little confused, probably assuming he meant he loved her as a friend. Haruhi's so oblivious that when Hikaru gets the guts to confess to her he asks "Will you go out with me? And I don't mean accompany me outside! I mean in the shojo sense!" Even then it took Haruhi a few moments to see he was asking her on a date. Even worse, when she suddenly began to blush and become flustered around Tamaki she thought it was due to a cold or that her heart was rejecting her, the idea that she could be in love hadn't even crossed her mind.
      • A boy from her middle school, Arai, confessed to her right before they graduated. She was so oblivious she didn't realize she was shooting him down pretty viciously - and then didn't realize she was doing it again in the conversation about how it happened.
    • 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.
  • Obviously Evil: Parodied, subverted and deconstructed with Kasanoda. He has the Face of a Thug, is the successor of a large Yakuza group (and trained to be thus), dresses like a Delinquent and easily aggravated, especially by his appearance and its effect on others. Because of this, he suffers from social isolation despite the fact that he's really a Nice Guy underneath it all.
  • Occidental Otaku: Renge is french and travels to Japan to meet Kyouya because she's a dating sim fan.
  • Ocular Gushers: Tamaki, Kaoru and Hikaru in response to Haruhi ("Cuuuuuute!!!"). Its more frequent in the manga.
  • Official Couple: Tamaki/Haruhi after Chapter 81. Revealed in the extra volume 18: Honey/Reiko and Kasanoda/Mei.
  • Older Than They Look: Bet the first time you saw Honey, you didn't think he was the second oldest in the club.
  • Old Retainer:
    • Mori to Honey - the group even envisioned them in appropriate period-costumes when explaining the Morinozuka/Haninozuka family relationship. Subverted in that, despite Mori looking a lot older than Honey, they're the same age.
    • Tetsuya comes close to filling this role for Kasanoda; though he's only been with him for a few years, he certainly plays the part.
    • Shima to Tamaki - in the manga, [she not only helps Tamaki realize what he wants to do with his life, she helps the Host Club get to Tamaki to take him to his mother at the airport. In the anime, she's the one who convinces Kyoya that the Host Club should stop Tamaki from quitting school and and going off to France with Eclair since she thinks Tamaki's mother wouldn't want him to do that.
  • One-Gender School: St. Lobelia, which Benibara and the Zuka Club attend, is an all-girls' school. It's also an Affectionate Parody of typical all-girls' schools featured in Yuri Genre works.
  • One Head Taller:
    • Word of God says Tamaki is 28cm/11 inches taller than Haruhi, but he is often depicted as way, way taller than Haruhi in the manga.
    • All the host club members (save 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:
    • When a crossdressing female is considered the "normal one" in your club, that's really saying something.
    • Kyoya would count on certain occasions because he's doing the nuts and bolts stuff that makes the insanity possible.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In a short bonus, Mori suddenly turns cheerful and talkative, to the point even Haruhi is petrified (along with the rest of the Host Club except Honey). Turns out it's a side effect if he doesn't get enough sleep.
  • Opposites Attract:
    • Many. Tamaki and Haruhi, Ranka and Kotoko (Haruhi's parents, who're also scaringly similar to Tamaki and Haruhi...), Honey and Reiko (a member of the Dark Magic Club), Mei and Kasanoda (hinted in the final volume).
    • In a platonic sense, Tamaki considers Kyouya his best friend, with the feeling eventually having become mutual.
  • Orbital Shot: During Renge's first major confrontation with the male club.
  • Otaku: Renge, of Dating Sims.
  • Out-Gambitted: Tamaki's father and Kyoya's father, along with their companies, perfect a medicine that cures Tamaki's mother and ousts Tamaki's Evil Matriarch grandmother from her position as chairman of the Suoh company.
  • Pac Man Fever: Whatever the twins were playing on their Game Boy Advance SP in the middle school flashback in Episode 9 of the anime, it had graphics about on par with the old Game-And-Watch series. Their Nintendo DS game later in the episode isn't much better.
  • Painting the Medium: Honey's speech bubbles always have flowers surrounding them.
  • Palm-Fist Tap: Haruhi does it in the first chapter/episode when she finally thinks of the word that best describes Tamaki's personality - "obnoxious".
  • Papa Wolf:
    • Tamaki has protective fatherly feelings towards Haruhi (or so he thinks).
    • Her real father counts too.
  • Perky Goth: Nekozawa and, in the manga, the rest of the Black Magic Club, dress in black, attend black masses, and overall have a theme of darkness. Despite this, they're pretty upbeat people.
  • Perpetual Poverty: The rest of the absurdly rich Host Club members think Haruhi lives like this, complete with an Imagine Spot of a run-down shack, filthy clothes, and cracked dishes, when she actually has a fairly typical working class lifestyle. While money is indeed tight in the Fujioka household, they're hardly starving or destitute.
  • Personality Blood Types: Lampshaded when Tamaki mentions that Hani has Type AB, the same type as Kyoya. Causing Haruhi to freak out, and then break the fourth wall.
    Haruhi: To all viewers who are type AB, please don't be upset.
  • Pimped-Out Dress: Quite a few, worn by girls, or boys. Even the Ouran uniforms for girls are mild versions, with the ribbon, petticoats, and fabric that is likely soft and expensive.
  • Pink Means Feminine:
    • When Tamaki and Honey crossdressed, they chose pink dresses. Honey even calls himself a princess.
    • The fangirls of the Zuka club wear pink t-shirts.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Honey is little bigger than his plushie and also a powerful martial artist.
  • Playboy Bunny: There is an aversion bonus chapter of the manga and Episode 12 of the anime by being stuffed (almost stuffed in the anime) into an Easter Bunny outfit by the rest of the hosts in desperation for fear that Honey would discover Usa-chan to have been stained upon waking up (which he does, actually, but Mori covers for the hosts).
  • Please, Don't Leave Me: Chapter 80. Tamaki says something like this to Haruhi while on the way to the airport to see his mother after three years.
  • The Power of Friendship: A big theme in the series, that can be called "club family". Through friendship the hosts help each other and those outside the club.
  • Practically Different Generations: At the end of the manga, the author wrote a bunch of scenarios she imagined could be the hosts' future. In the twins' case, she gives them a little sister, which would make her around 18 years younger than them.
  • Precision F-Strike: Haruhi says "ore" at least once early on and Tamaki gets very upset. No one else seems to mind in particular.
  • Pretty in Mink: A cover picture for Chapter 2 shows the club dress for winter, including Honey, Tamaki, and Haruhi each wearing a fur coat.
  • Priceless Ming Vase: The destruction of a genuine priceless Ming vase kick-starts the plot. It's very heavily lampshaded by a flashing arrow that points at the vase any time it's seen.
  • Proper Tights with a Skirt: The uniform for girls in the High School division of Ouran Academy includes white tights.
  • The Quiet One: Mori rarely talks.

    R-S 
  • Race for Your Love: Or Race For Your Mother, in this case. In Chapter 80, the entire Host Club, including all their customers and the people Tamaki's helped throughout the course of the series, ensures that he arrives at the airport in time to see his mother for the first time in three years, before she leaves again. Fittingly, it leads to a romantic scenario however as Tamaki and Haruhi finally confess and become a couple at the airport after Anne Sophie leaves.
  • Recursive Crossdressing: Some of the host club's customers mention that they think Haruhi would look good in a dress.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni:
    • They aren't quite colour coded, but Tamaki and Kyoya seem to embody this trope rather well (cool-headed, intellectual Chessmaster vs. exhuberant, people-focused Sheltered Aristocrat).
    • Honey-senpai and his younger brother Yasuchika are Colour-Coded for Your Convenience with this in mind in one episode. The younger brother is far more serious than happy-go-lucky Honey.
  • Relationship Upgrade: Haruhi and Tamaki become a couple in Chapter 81.
  • The Reveal: Tamaki's full (French) name is actually René Tamaki Richard de Grantaine (revealed in Chapter 55).
  • Rich Bitch: Ayanakouji and Eclair are snotty and arrogant but they are alone in this. None of the other rich girls are like them.
  • Rich Boredom: The motive for the club. They are rich boys with plenty of time on their hands so they entertain rich girls who also have plenty of time on their hands.
  • Rival:
    • The twins often suggest a "game" to Tamaki at the least opportune moment (using secret agent code titles) usually to either save the club or impress Haruhi, and Tamaki even pits his own host members as rivals.
    • The Host Club has their share of club rivals, such as the school newspaper club (for customers) and the Zuka Club (for Haruhi).
  • Romantic False Lead:
    • The new transfer student Kanoya that Tamaki saves from getting kicked by a horse have the host club calling the real life version of his imaginary "Feminine Haruhi" and a momentary love triangle appears. Only at surface-level, however, as Tamaki shows no interest in Kanoya.
    • In the anime, this role was given to Lady Eclair, who has an arranged marriage with Tamaki.
  • Rousseau Was Right: In the end, just like another very popular shoujo manga, all strife between the Host Club and other, "antagonistic" characters is not so much due to any one character being greedy, evil or unreasonable, but rather to tragic misunderstanding of each others feelings that is eventually overcome. Even Tamaki's grandmother is eventually played as sympathetic.
  • Running Gag: Poor Haruhi never gets to try some ootoro (fatty tuna)...
  • Ruritania: The small European kingdom of Monale, where Princess Michelle comes from.
  • Scare Dare: School after dark. - It's the guys from the black magic club.
  • Scary Shiny Glasses: Kyoya does this in devious/sinister moments of Shadow King plotting.
  • Scholarship Student: Haruhi, of course. It's the only way she could afford a school for rich kids.
  • School Festival:
    • With Ouran being an Elaborate University High for rich students, their cultural festival is very elaborate and uses a lot of expensive set-ups. In the manga it's explained that most of the students are heirs to various companies, so the cultural festival is meant for them to demonstrate their skills in management and budgeting through how well they set up and organize the activities.
    • The anime's final two episodes involves the school's sports festival. Of course, being Ouran, the festival is over the top. The typical 'bread eating race' is turned into a bread dining event, the bean bags are made by a famous designer, and the cavalry race is scrapped since they think that it would require actual horses.
    • The manga has another cultural festival where the goal is to cook curry. Each stop requires a test after which the participants can choose an ingredient from a selection of items. The tasks range from the Hikaru-Kaoru-Guessing Game over the Black Magic Club's quiz on Curses and their origins to Kyouya's sadistic Crossword Puzzle.
  • Security Cling: Haruhi to Tamaki during the Beach Episode after he tells her she doesn't have to endure thunderstorms alone now that he's there for her.
  • Seen It All: The twins' twin maids have absolutely no responses to any prank that the twins try to pull on them. The twins, for their part, don't seem to react to their lack of reaction, either.
  • Selective Obliviousness: Tamaki thinks of Haruhi as his daughter, believing his love for her to be platonic when it's actually romantic. In the manga, this is eventually explained to stem from a deep family complex rooted in his childhood, where his parents' romance caused his family to be broken. Because of this, he believes (albeit unconsciously) that if any romantic relations were to occur within his Host Club whom he proclaimed his own family, the same would happen to them.
  • Sentai:
    • In one episode, Renge is seen hosting a live Sentai show, apparently created by her, which features characters ("Hosuto Burakku"/"Host Black") based on the host club members.
    • The Physical Exam episode references Kamen Rider and Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger right after each other.
    • Volume 5 depicts each host member this way, complete with pose.
    • Referenced in the Beach Episode of the anime. While trying to figure out Haruhi's fear, Mori approaches her with a harpoon. Her response? "Mori, uh, you're my sempai, not a sentai." The words "A pun...?" also appear on screen (it being a Woolseyism of the Mori/mori pun in Japanese).
  • Serious Business:
    • Benibara fan club is a huge deal. It's treated more like a college soriority than a high school club.
    • The Ootori family's heavily-armed private police force that Kyoya dispatched when Honey got lost at the pool. It was a very large pool. With rapids and animals like crocodiles and piranhas.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: Haruhi is dolled up and used as bait to lure Kanako and Toru back together in Chapter 2. Add makeup and a long, straight black wig, and nobody except the hosts were able to recognize her (though Haruhi had to convince Toru at one point that they've never met).
  • Sheltered Aristocrat: Tamaki and the twins both had lonely childhoods, which leads to Tamaki's devotion to his friends and the twins' reluctance to them respectfully.
  • Shipper on Deck: At the end of the anime, Tamaki's father and Kyoya'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.
    • Kaoru plays this part for Hikaru/Haruhi in the anime. He purposely puts them in several situations where it's just the two of them together, particularly the date episode.
  • Ship Tease:
    • Apart from Tamaki, Hikaru and Kaoru in the manga, Haruhi also shares a few moments in the anime with Mori and Kyoya that certainly sparked the interest in some fans. In fact, Honey is probably the only Host Club member with whom Haruhi hasn't shared any borderline intimate/romantic moments in either anime or manga.
    • Hikaru and Kaoru could count as the definition. Their fans may be as numerous as Tamaki/Haruhi's or Hikaru/Haruhi's, even though both anime and (especially) manga makes it clear that their "twincest" is all an act, and while their relationship is still very intimate, it never goes beyond platonic.
    • Tamaki and Kyoya have their fans too, probably stemming from how their relationship resembles a typical uke/seme one (or how about when Tamaki gave Kyoya a shoulder massage in the manga..?). The fact that Tamaki sees them as the "mommy and daddy" of the Host Club contributes to this. And funnily enough, Tamaki gets about as much upset when Kyoya is mad at him as he does when Haruhi is.
    • Some of this between Mori and Honey too, although very little, as the author might have thought it would be squick to many (since they're cousins, and Honey looks like a five year old).
    • Towards the end of the manga there's even some between Kaoru and Kyoya, one memorable moment being Kaoru blushing when Kyoya takes his shirt off. Granted he apparently was blushing at the "coolness" of what Kyoya was saying, but the timing of the blush is quite convenient. Kaoru even stays over at Kyoya's house when he's fighting with Hikaru.
    • Between Kyoya and Nanako Shouji in the post-ending bonus chapter taking place in Spain, who exploits traces of Belligerent Sexual Tension between them with Nanako in the end being implied to have developed feelings for him. Whether Kyoya reciprocated them however, is left unclear.
  • 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.
  • Shōjo: Affectionately parodied and deliberately invoked. The Hosts consciously and intentionally play to Shojo sterotypes.
  • Shonen Hair: The twins. They're probably trying to invoke this trope on purpose. In the manga their hair looks much more natural and isn't quite as poofed out, although it's obvious they style it with hair gel most of the time.
  • Shout-Out:
    • To RahXephon, of all things. Renge cosplays as Quon Kisaragi in episode 7, who is known for saying "Lala"... which is the magazine Ouran is published in. Could possibly be a shoutout to Haruhi's seiyuu, too, as one of Maaya Sakamoto's earlier seiyuu roles was in RahXephon. The fact that Studio BONES animated both series is also a factor.
    • Fullmetal Alchemist, in form of a ball looking like SD Ed's head.
    • Renge has a "Moe Note".
    • In the Beach Episode the twins call Haruhi the Princess of the Valley of the Wind as she is the only one not being afraid of a millipede.
    • In Episode 8, when trying to see if Haruhi is afraid of the dark, Honey has both of them locked inside the Ootori's private police's truck. This results in Honey screaming " Kurai yo semai yo kowai yo" ("It's dark, it's cramped, I'm scared!"), Shutaro Mendo's trademark phrase when in dark, claustrophobic situations in Urusei Yatsura.
    • The Dating Sim Renge's obsessed with is called Ukidoki Memorial, in an obvious reference to Tokimeki Memorial.
    • Something-Or-Other Robo?
    • In Episode 4, the film crew that Renge hires is explained by Kyoya to have been the same who filmed "the vampire movie 'Millenium Snow' last year". Millennium Snow is Hatori Bisco's previous work that she left unfinished before starting Ouran.
    • The twins' cheshire cat outfit in the Alice In Wonderland episode looks similar to the cheshire cat in Disney's 1951 version.
    • Tamaki briefly does a "moonwalk" in Episode 18.
    • Everything about the Zuka Club is a shoutout to, parody of, or homage to the Takarazuka Revue and its fandom.
    • Episode 20:
      • Kyouya is shown reading No Longer Human when Tamaki comes in to ask him for help in getting the Hitachiin twins to join the Host Club.
      • The Hiitachin twins behave like the twins from The Shining.
  • "Shut Up" Kiss:
    • Kaoru kisses Hikaru on the cheek in the middle of recieving a scolding from him, to "share" the cheek kiss he had earlier given Haruhi. Hikaru is left somewhat stunned.
    • After Haruhi's confessed to Tamaki, both of them have a freak out to which Haruhi ends up saying she's not sure if she loves him or not. Before she can barely finish the sentence, Tamaki pulls her in for a kiss and asks her if she disliked it, and whether she did or not should make her know.note 
  • Simple, yet Opulent: The school uniforms, for either gender, are very fancy, just not blatantly so.
  • Single-Minded Twins:
    • The twins, who zigzag this trope depending on the situation. It's usually subverted whenever the camera focuses on them and played straight for comedic segments and during other character's focuses. They use this as a joke in-universe. They spend so much time together that they know the routine, but when they aren't acting, their real personalities show through.
      • Also a source of tension for them. People assume that they're this, even going as far as to be happy with the idea of dating one twin when they'd initially confessed their love to the other, and they've been perpetually lonely since no one seems to care that, despite their looks and close relationship, they're not exactly the same person. Tamaki and Haruhi are the first to really start changing this. The "Which One's Hikaru" game initially started as a genuine question to see if potential friends could actually tell them apart or not — or if they even cared enough to try.
    • Played straight with their maids, in the anime. Of their six total lines in the anime, five are delivered in perfect unison and they're always attached at the hip.
  • Sliding Scale of Shiny Versus Gritty: Tremendously rich boys in their tremendously rich school and in their club that panders to moe and other ideas of beauty. Yes, it doesn't get much shinier than this.
  • Slow-Motion Fall: Parodied in Renge's first appearance and played straight in the final episode, when Tamaki saves Haruhi from falling off the bridge.
  • Smug Snake: Lady Eclair. Have you seen that woman smirk? It's enough to make you dislike her even after she's revealed as a sympathetic rival. You just feel a little bad about it.
    • The Newspaper Club President, who's also a Straw Hypocrite. He takes full advantage of Tamaki's pity on the club to stir up trouble for him and the others.
    • Princess Ayanokouji revels in the trouble she causes for Haruhi. When the latter goes to get her stuff from the fountain, the Princess is all smiles.
  • The Snark Knight:
    • Haruhi. "You rich bastards..."
    • Kyoya sometimes at Tamaki's buffonry.
  • Something about a Rose: Roses are all over the place for the Host Club in general, but Tamaki in particular seems to like randomly producing one to gesture with.
  • Sparkling Stream of Tears: Happens in Haruhi's dream, when she runs toward her mother.
  • Spell My Name With An S:
    • Haninozuka Mitsukuni's nickname, Honey (Hani? Huni? Hunny?)
    • Also Kyouya/Kyoya. And let's not get started on his last name. Or Tamaki's.
  • Spoiler Title: The title of the 25th episode "The Host Club Declares Dissolution!" spoils half of the plot twist revealed in the last ten seconds of the episode.
  • Squee: The girls who follow the club give a "Kyaaaaaa~!" squeal whenever something happens that they like.
  • Stay in the Kitchen: Invoked by Kyoya on Haruhi in the infamous "Merit Scene" and Justified: after she proved she was too weak to defend herself despite rushing into a situation without calling for help, Kyoya makes it clear to Haruhi that thinking that her sex doesn't matter is a dangerously naive stance to hold, since she's clearly not strong enough to defend herself against the bigger and stronger men she's surrounded by. Plus, by being half naked and on top of her, he implicitly means that it wouldn't be that difficult to rape her as well, but Kyoya had no intention of doing such a thing to Haruhi, and she knows it. In the end, the point is made.
  • Stock Shoujo Bullying Tactics: In the first chapter of the manga, Haruhi is targeted by a Tamaki fan, who has her clothes thrown away. In another chapter, the Beribara club members suggest that there will be a 'maidens behind the gym' meeting if Haruhi messes the play up.
  • Stoic Spectacles: Bespectacled Kyoya is always business-like.
  • Straw Feminist: The Zuka Club is an entire club dedicated to straw feminism, to the point that they're even lesbians because they hate men so much. They currently supply the page image for it and take the term "feminazis" to the most literal conclusion possible: nazi uniforms with a nazi salute and a nazi flag that uses the symbol for "women" in place of a swastika.
  • Straw Hypocrite: The Newspaper Club President, who only started the newspaper club to get popular, is disgusted by the Host Club's popularity.
  • Suddenly Always Knew That:
    • Honey comes out of nowhere and single-handedly beats 20 grown men in SWAT team gear. It turns out he's from a family of martial arts experts. It's lampshaded by Tamaki.
    • Inverted when Haruhi faces off against two thugs at the beach and is immediately tossed off a bluff into the water without getting so much as a slap in to defend herself. Tamaki sarcastically cites this trope while berating her for endangering herself so recklessly.
  • Suggestive Collision:
    • Haruhi has her First Kiss when Tamaki slips on a banana-peel and knocks her directly into the face of a pretty girl.
    • Tamaki ends up falling on her in a very suggestive position just as her father walks in.
  • Supporting Harem: Every boy who knows she's a girl (not quite, but close) falls for Haruhi, but it's obvious she's going to end up with Tamaki, the host club president. It's not over done though, and only one or two actively seek to win her over, and even for them it's more of a journey of character than anything. It's Lampshaded by Tamaki in one episode in which he famously (and unwisely) pegs himself and Haruhi as the romantic leads and the rest as the homosexual supporting cast.
  • Surprisingly Moving Song: In a flashback, when 13-year-old Tamaki visits Kyoya's house for the first time, he plays a song on the piano for his family. Not only does Tamaki's playing move Kyoya's normally-stoic brothers to tears, but also Kyoya himself, who has been nothing but annoyed with Tamaki the entire time they've known each other.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Having had feelings for her themselves, especially Hikaru, the twins have some lines towards the end where they admit that they don't fully support Tamaki and Haruhi as a couple, but hoped "in the corner of their hearts" that they would break up. Of course, being best friends doesn't automatically mean you'll get over your feelings and not hope that your Love Interest's relationship with someone else won't work out. Hikaru and Kaoru still manage to keep their emotions in check enough however that they still help Tamaki unprompted on his date with Haruhi.
  • Sweet on Polly Oliver: Kasanoda develops a crush on Haruhi, but this is after he discovered she was female.
  • Sweet Polly Oliver: Haruhi. It's enforced by the rest of the Host Club; Haruhi herself doesn't care very much whether she's seen as a boy or a girl.

    T 
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Mori's appeal for customers as a "wild type."
  • 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.
  • Taste the Rainbow: It's not too vast, but the series does deliberately point out its "menu" of hot boy archetypes. That's the central concept of the club, after all.
  • Team Dad: Tamaki (self-proclaimed.)
  • Team Mom: Kyoya (dubbed so by Tamaki.)
  • Team Kids: Discussed. Tamaki declares himself the Team Dad while Kyoya is Team Mom, making the rest of the host club their "kids". (Often Zig-Zagged, since Tamaki often acts more childish than the rest of the group.) In particular, Tamaki insists that the reason he is so possessive of Haruhi is that she is his "daughter" and he has to protect her. Multiple characters poke holes in this narrative throughout the series, until Tamaki finally starts to recognize his feelings for Haruhi are actually romantic. Of the rest of the group, Honey (who is older than Tamaki and Kyoya but is a Token Mini-Moe) and the twins (who are mischievous and somewhat immature) play the trope mostly straight while Mori and Haruhi mostly avert it.
  • Thanks for the Mammary:
  • That Syncing Feeling: Haruhi gets kidnapped by the Lobelia's Zuka Club and is made to sing in their play. Despite being poor at music, she sings nearly perfectly at rehearsal, which surprises her dad and Host Club members (who are spying on her.) Then a girl accidentally unplugs the CD player and it's shown that it's all lipsync. Points for Haruhi continuing to lipsync and not even notice that the music's stopped.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: Seika Ayanokoji, the guest who bullies Haruhi in the first episode, is banned from the Host Club after her crimes are revealed and is clearly distraught — in all continuties but the drama, where Haruhi forgives her jealousy and she's welcomed back after a short suspension. She then apologizes to the Host Club by sending them a lifetime supply of commoner's coffee.
  • Thundershock: Occurs quite often, mostly Played for Laughs.
  • Toilet Humor:
    • In the manga (also included in the live-action series) the first time the Host Club visits Haruhi's home, Honey goes to borrow the toilet, but ends up running back into Mori's arms in tears at how small it is.
    • In Chapter 55 of the manga, Kyoya is irritated by another set of worries Tamaki gives him involving a class trip to France. As a small revenge he proceeds to tell their customers and later Haruhi over the phone that Tamaki has diarrhea.
    • Another one in Chapter 62 when Hikaru manages to rile Tamaki up enough to make him shout loudly in front of everyone (including Haruhi) that he never "joy pees" (wetting oneself out of excitement,) "except maybe a few times in the past."
  • Token Evil Teammate: Kyoya is considered by everyone in the club to be more or less evil, especially compared to everyone else. Even the twins are afraid of him, but he's still mostly a good guy.
  • Token Mini-Moe: Honey, so cute and childish! Even though he's older than the rest... Also Shiro and Chika.
  • Toku: The live action drama uses a lot of special effects, making it a rare example of a shoujo-flavored tokusatsu series as well as one that doesn't focus on super heroes. Notably, the effects only come into play while inside the "private world" of the Host (or Black Magic) Club, and the cast regularly hangs a lampshade on its appearance.
    Kyoya: (after Haruhi's accidental insult literally slams Tamaki into the wall) Ah, this is a new attack move. It does a lot of damage.
  • Toon Physics: The show has a lot of this; for example, Tamaki pulling a small television screen out of nowhere in "And So Kyoya Met Him."
    • Amusingly, this extends even to the live-action adaptation, by way of Toku-style special effects.
  • Trademark Favorite Food:
    • Honey loves his cakes.
    • Haruhi has a taste for fatty tuna.
  • Tsundere: Honey's brother Chika is this towards cute animals.
  • Twin Banter: During the host club for their costumers. Most of the twins' lines continue each other's sentences.
  • Twincest: Hikaru and Kaoru's schtick for the customers that like this sort of thing.
  • Twins Are Special: Hikaru and Kaoru's character arcs revolve around allowing others inside the world they've created around each other. Flashbacks show the twins as being reclusive and exclusive, believing that no one besides each other can fully understand them. It's not until Tamaki and Haruhi come around that they begin to try to let others see the real them and not the brotherly act they put on to push people away.
    • During the test of courage chapter, they seem to manifest Twin Telepathy out of nowhere when they get separated and Kaoru gets locked in a classroom. 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 his twin his whereabouts and Hikaru could not have found out through someone else.
  • Twin Switch: Will often switch or trade places during the "Which one is Hikaru-kun Gaaame!!" but not just to trick people. When the host club is running if someone guesses wrong, they'll go with it in order to please the guesser since they have no expectation anyone will get it right, anyways.
  • Twin Test: Plays the trope both for laughs and for drama. Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin play the "Which One is Hikaru and Which One is Kaoru?" game, both as a form of entertainment in the club and with their friends as a personal form of entertainment. Most people fail, including their parents, so it's a shock to both of them that Haruhi passes the test, every single time. According to her, Hikaru is "one level meaner," an idea that proves itself to be true as the twins start to differentiate themselves more (to the point that Kaoru switches to apologize to someone Hikaru blew up at at one point).Haruhi consistently passing makes both Hikaru and Kaoru develop romantic feelings for her.
  • Twin Threesome Fantasy: As well as the excess amounts of Ho Yay and Twincest, this is part of Hikaru and Kaoru's shtick. They explain that a lot of the girls who sit at their table buy into this fantasy, and they use one of the girls to demonstrate why this idea is so popular.

    U-Y 
  • Uncatty Resemblance: Tamaki's dog Antoinette, a Golden Retriever who shares his hyperactive personality.
  • Uncle Pennybags: All main characters, really (except for Haruhi), but special mention goes to Tamaki, the twins, and Hani for being filthy rich but also genuinely fun-loving and nice.
  • Unmoving Plaid: Unmoving patterns show up several times, such as in in Episode 4.
  • Unwanted Harem: Haruhi's at the center of it. Tamaki, predictably, reframes it as a heartful love comedy with himself as the genuine love interest along with a bunch of "homosexual side characters."
  • Vacation Episode: A bonus story was released after the main ending of the Host Club going to Spain.
  • Visual Novel: Renge is introduced as being addicted to one of these in "Beware the Lady Manager!"
  • Watching the Sunset: Tamaki envisions him and Haruhi doing this while walking along the beach together in one of his many Imagine Spots.
  • Weak-Willed: Tamaki, of the "easily suggestible" variety. When told by Renge that he's "the lonesome prince" type, he jumps into the characterization without a backwards glance.
  • Wham Episode: Chapter 75, where Tamaki informs the Host Club that he's quitting after a talk with his grandmother, and tells Haruhi her debt has been paid so she's free to quit as well. It continues with Tamaki for the first time ever speaking coldly to Haruhi when she confronts him about his decision, and even shouting for her to "Shut up and leave! You're being a bother!" with a pissed expression when she attempts to talk directly to his father, leaving Haruhi to tears once she's at home (next to the fact that it starts to thunder.) The author might have even thought it became too harsh, for in the volume Tamaki's expression is changed from pissed to a more upset one, and his wording is toned down somewhat.
  • Wham Line: Conclusion from a magazine love test: "Congratulations! You're in love with him!" note 
  • Wham Shot: Haruhi's reaction to Tamaki kissing her forehead a second time.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: In the anime at least, Tamaki gives up a chance to see his mother, and it's not clear whether he ever does again.
  • "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: An extra in the final volume, though Bisco stated they were more like ideas and not set in stone.
    • Mori's little brother decides to form a new Host Club with Chika in "our brothers and Tamaki's legacy," but thanks to Chika only complying to join if animals are included, it becomes a zoo club instead.
    • Honey and Reiko get married after an awkward hand language proposal by Reiko.
    • Hikaru and Kaoru get the little sister they always wanted, and they enter a business of fashion and design together.
    • Mei and Kasanoda are strongly hinted to have become a couple. Mei also becomes a fashion designer while Kasanoda runs a flower shop.
    • Mori got married as well, and the author states she thought he'd be a popular and splendid family head.
    • Kyoya's fate on whether he was recognized to be a more suitable successor to his father than his brothers is left unresolved, because the author thought it was "always a future matter." She also thought he'd end up marrying a girl who'd bring merit to his family, although she also hopes that love would eventually sprout in their relationship''. Oh, and he got a cat that Hotta (his assistant) found.
    • Tamaki and Haruhi get married after Tamaki asks her father for approval, and Mei mentions in one of the panels that Haruhi became pregnant (a few years down the line). The author also states that she thinks they were the first out of all the members to have children.
  • Whole Episode Flashback:
    • "The Door the Twins Opened" takes place a few years prior to the start of the series, detailing the twins first meeting Tamaki and how he convinced them to join the Host Club.
    • "And So Kyoya Met Him" is almost this, showing the beginning of Kyoya's friendship with Tamaki, though it has a present-day opening and ending.
  • Whole-Plot Reference: Episode 13 for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: Several, including Haruhi and her father who is a professional.
  • Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Subverted. "Princess" Ayanakouji fakes getting attacked by Haruhi, but Tamaki sees through it and bans her from visiting the club.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Tamaki thinks that it's a romantic anime in the third episode, so he and Haruhi are the protagonists and the rest of the boys are the "homosexual side cast." Somehow, while being Genre Savvy enough to know they are the protagonists, he seems to be unable to follow that statement to its conclusion: Namely, that they are love interests.
  • Yakuza: Kasanoda, prominently; it's said a few times Ouran students in the lower classes (C and D class) are there simply due to their family's financial influence.
  • Yaoi Fangirl:
    • Renge, and many patrons to the club, especially the twins' customers. They also turn out to be the key to making Kasanoda less intimidating, once he (in on the secret) becomes Haruhi's customer.
    • Kyoya's sister, Fuyumi, once expressed joy at the thought of "two young men bonding together beneath the stars."
  • Yuri Fan:
    • Notably averted in several cases, especially with Tamaki, though he was mostly worried about his love interest becoming a lesbian.
    • It is implied that Kyoya and the twins might have planned for Haruhi to kiss a girl, but probably subverted because it was mostly to mess with Tamaki's head.
    • Meanwhile, the Zuka Club deliberately invokes this in their young female fanbase, and it's outright stated that Haruhi's mother was a huge fan.

Top

Haruhi Sings

Or not.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (4 votes)

Example of:

Main / ThatSyncingFeeling

Media sources:

Report