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Ouran High School Host Club
One of these things is not like the others...

The Ouran Host Club will be waiting for you.
— Tamaki

Ouran Academy is an Elaborate University High catering to the ultra, ultra-rich. Haruhi Fujioka is a middle class scholarship student, a rarity at the school. One day, Haruhi searches for a quiet place to study, and stumbles on an unused music room which turns out to be the club room for the school "Host Club" — a group of idle rich boys who service female clients as a sort of Bleached Underpants version of actual host clubs.

Haruhi is forced to join the Host Club and become a host after accidentally knocking over an extremely expensive vase that's far beyond what a middle class student can repay. Haruhi proves to be a natural at being a host, but something isn't quite as it seems...

Ouran High School Host Club, based on the shojo manga that became Bisco Hatori's breakout hit, emphatically plays with the clichés and character types inherent in the medium. It hardly ever takes itself seriously, but at times emotions can run quite high, making for some touching moments among all the silliness. The manga version is currently ongoing and licensed as part of Viz Media's "Shojo Beat" collection, and the anime was made available in North America by FUNimation in October of 2008 (you can watch it for free on the video section of their website). Both are well worth your attention, even if you're not part of the series' normal demographic.

Provides examples of:

  • Accidental Kiss: Set up deliberately by Kyoya in the first volume of the manga, as well as the second episode of the anime.
    • In chapter 72 between Haruhi and Tamaki. You could practically hear the Squees of many a fangirl when that happened.
  • Affectionate Parody, chiefly of romance and high school clichés.
  • Against The Setting Sun: Tamaki carrying Haruhi out of the sea.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Parodied in the episode introducing Renge, who thinks that the club members need moar (sic) 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 White Prince.
  • Anime Accent Absence: Eclair and Renge can speak fluent Japanese, despite there being little to no indication that they had been required to learn it. Same goes for Tamaki, as he moved to Japan when he was fourteen, but he at least has a bit of an excuse...
    • Renge's fluency in Japanese is justified in that she's an otaku so she most likely learned the language by herself. And Tamaki's father is Japanese and he's shown to be a fan of Japanese culture (chances are his mother speaks Japanese as well).
  • Ascended Extra: Renge's appearances as an As You Know Meta Guy fangirl are much more frequent in the show.
  • Ascended Fanboy: She may have gotten some details wrong, but Renge really does end up in a love comedy anime, just like she wanted. She's not the main character, but still enjoying herself.
  • Bad Bad Acting: Haruhi really cannot act. The problem is, her English-dubbed voice actress can; however, that's remedied when a scene comes in which Haruhi does have to act.
  • Banana Peel: Littered all over in the anime (never in the manga) for comedic purpose.
  • Beach Episode: Indoors. Ultra rich.
    • The following episode has them going to a real beach, per Haruhi's disinterest for indoor beaches.
  • Berserk Button: Don't even think about making an attempt on Haruhi or Mori's life or otherwise harming them or Hunny's Usa-chan, or Hunny will tear you a new one. Guaranteed.
    • It's one thing to dress Haruhi up cutely, but hit on her when an overprotective Tamaki's watching, and God have mercy on your soul.
  • Beware The Nice Ones: Don't make Honey mad. No, seriously, don't.
  • 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 the author jokingly apologized to fans who liked her.
  • Big Fancy House: Several, most including The Thing That Goes Doink.
  • Big No: Haruhi has one of these when the club members decide to stay at the pension she's working at during summer break in episode 15.
  • Bishie Sparkle: Used liberally in the manga. And occasionally in the anime, too.
  • Bishonen: The narration at the beginning of each anime episode actually uses the word.
  • Black Cloak: Nekozawa, with Speech Bubbles to match in the manga.
  • Bland Name Product: Hescafé instant coffee, Mational light bulbs, Pineapple computers...
    • However when we get a glimpse of Kyouya's desktop he is not only using an undisguised Mac OS, we can also clearly see icons for Skype, Mozilla Thunderbird, etc.
  • Blank White Eyes
  • Blue Bishonen Ghetto
  • Breaking The Fourth Wall: occurs quite a bit in the anime.
  • But Not Too Foreign: Tamaki is half-Japanese and half-French; Perhaps to make this more obvious, the anime changes his hair from brown to blonde.
  • Butt Monkey: Tamaki manages to be this and the male romantic lead at the same time.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: The manga starts to delve into dramatic territory around the fifth or sixth volume, but tries not to sacrifice the funny.
  • Character Exaggeration
  • Chekhovs Gun: Parodied. A large, blinking arrow highlights plot devices until they see action.
  • The Chessmaster: Kyoya.
    • more like Magnificent Bastard
  • Chick Magnet: Haruhi, oddly enough.
  • Club President: Tamaki.
  • Color Failure: Usually Tamaki, but most of the characters have had one of these moments.
  • Combat Commentator: Renge, of course.
  • 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 Hunny, Mori and Nekozawa all lament their impending graduation in their own way, to the shock of the Genre Savvy Haruhi.
  • Corner Of Woe: Often done by Tamaki.
  • 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 that kind of things".
    • And this moment during the first episode's commentary. This did eventually happen during a certain concert at Ohayocon 2009.
    Caitlin Glass: You're such a cosplay king!
    Vic Mignogna: [laughs] What?
    Caitlin: You're just like Tamaki; "Let's dress up Caitlin!"
  • Cosplay Otaku Girl: Renge, who at one point is said to have created a hugely popular doujinshi about the hosts.
  • Creepy Twins: Hikaru and Kaoru. Often eerily reminiscent of (siamese cat pair) Si and Am from Lady And The Tramp. Also more reminiscent of the twins from The Shining... just watch their childhood/coming-of-age episode! Less so in the manga.
  • Cross Dresser: Played with until its stitching ruptured. It's played straight with Ranka and Haruhi, subverted with Benibara, parodied/played for laughs with the host boys (consider that they are thoroughly bishounen and would have no trouble looking like girls in the average anime) and Kasanoda, and (shockingly) played somewhat seriously when Ranka appears without having shaved or made himself up. Oh, and lampshaded when the girls of Ouran talk about how much they'd love to see "Haruhi-kun" in girls' clothing. Way too much fun.
  • Crowning Moment Of Awesome: The climax of the final episode.
  • Crowning Music Of Awesome: Don't deny how cool the ending song is for a shoujo.
  • Cute Bruiser: Honey knows kung fu, and as mentioned earlier will kick your ass if you mess with him, Mori, or Haruhi.
    • Mori can take care of himself.
  • Cute Shotaro Boy: Honey, Shiro, and Chika, to some degree.
  • Dances And Balls
  • Darker And Edgier: Renge's interesting film project which screams of "NEEDS MORE ANGST!"
  • Dating Sim, parodied.
  • The Daria: Haruhi. "You rich bastards..."
  • Darkest Hour: The current manga chapters, starting with chapter 73.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Some of Haruhi's funniest moments involve violently disillusioning Tamaki.
  • Deliberately Cute Child: Honey.
  • Did Not Do The Research: Tamaki seems to have misunderstood just *how* a host club *really* entertains...leading to many a shocked reaction when he tells them about the school's Host Club. Not to mention his understanding of how "commoners" live is a bit mixed.
    • Actually...aside from the lack of commission champagne, Tamaki seems to have a good grasp on what exactly a true host club does. However, this troper does fear for his safety if he attempts to pursue it professionally...the boy is just a bit naive...
  • Die For Our Ship: Eclair, in the anime.
  • Double Standard: Fandom loves the Host Club guys for their antics, but hates the Zuka Club girls for essentially the same antics. This is especially jarring in case of the anime where the Zuka Club is depicted as a Gender Flip of the Host Club (especially Benio who is pretty much a female Tamaki).
    • The Zuka club earned some of the fandom's dislike of them. Their general arrogance and constant assertions of superiority based almost solely on gender have a lot to do with it.
    • The problem with the Zuka club isn't that they're women. The problem is that they're stereotypical man-hating Psycho Lesbian stereotypes. If they had just been flamboyant parodies of Marimite without the Unfortunate Implications, this troper would've loved them.
    • In the beach episode, Haruhi steps in when two thugs easily overpower three client girls in bikinis. She gets thrown off a cliff just before help arrived, alerted by a girl who broke away. While Haruhi could have alerted the others herself, the thugs (obviously lacking any restraint) would have gone further in the meantime. For getting herself in danger, she gets scolded by Tamaki, who in the preceding scene was idiotic enough to collect poisonous snakes in an attempt to scare her.
    • Though to be fair, the scolding was mostly for thinking she, a petite girl, could fend off two large thugs. The boys use this to teach Haruhi a lesson in common sense: it's okay to be brave against bugs and snakes, but some things are simply too dangerous for young girls to do alone.
    • That and Tamaki was searching for harmless non-venomous Rat snakes and instead accidentally picked up deadly venomous Habu snakes instead. So while Haruhi was deliberately taking a risk Tamaki was just being dumb.
  • Down The Rabbit Hole: Not only does Haruhi compare the experience of being in the Host Club to being in another world, but the door to the music room heavily symbolizes this in several episodes. There is also an episode that directly parodies Alice In Wonderland. By the end, she says that around here, it's hard to tell when she's asleep or awake.
  • Drop In Character: Renge, although she's more of a rise-out-of-the-floor-on-a-pedestal character.
  • Everyone Looks Sexier If French: Tamaki, somewhat. For the guy he is, he doesn't it emphasize it much.
  • Everythings Better With Bunnies: Hunny never EVER goes anywhere without his dear Usa-chan, so he is also featured in every episode.
  • Expy: Honey shares a strong similarity to Momiji from Fruits Basket. Whether or not this is an intentional parody, the anime even gives Honey his seiyuu.
    • I believe that they are indeed the same person.
    • Tamaki bears a striking resemblance to the comically chivalrous Nokoru from CLAMP School Detectives.
    • And don't pretend you didn't think of Fred and George when you first saw the twins.
  • Evil Matriarch: Tamaki's grandmother, who 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.
  • Failure Is The Only Option: Tamaki and the girl he's chasing.
    • He doesn't "chase" the girls.
      • Getting Haruhi to be feminine then?
  • Fan Nickname: "Haruhi Potter".
  • Fanservice: Lampshaded due to the fact that the entire point of the Host Club is to provide it.
  • Faux Yay: In spades, and often with hilarious results.
  • Fear Leads To Anger: Tamaki
  • Fear Of Thunder: Haruhi
  • First Episode Spoiler: Just try describing the series to someone without giving away the fact that Haruhi is a girl.
    • Hey, in many languages (including Japanese) it's perfectly possible.
  • Five Man Band
  • Flower Motifs: Every member of the host club have a different colored rose that represents them. Naturally, the show uses this for all sorts of symbolism.
  • The Gadfly: The twins towards Tamaki and Haruhi. They don't really feel close enough to most others to do this with them.
  • Genius Ditz: Tamaki. Despite being an Idiot Hero, he's usually second in test rankings.
  • Genre Savvy: All of the main characters.
  • Gentle Giant: Mori, and Kasanoda.
  • The Glasses Gotta Go: the first step to Haruhi's transformation into a pretty "boy" is losing her huge, clunky glasses.
  • Harem Nanny: Kyoya
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: Hunny and Mori.
  • Hexagonal Speech Balloon
  • Hey Its That Voice: Going down the list, we have the voices of Winry Rockbell, Edward Elric, Roy Mustang, Nami, Eneru, Kohza, and Negi Springfield for our main cast in the dub.
  • Hilarious Outtakes
  • Hot Shoujo Dad: Haruhi's father, and even more so, Tamaki's father.
  • Hot Shounen Mom: Hikaru's and Kaoru's mother falls into this category, as did Haruhi's. In the manga, Tamaki's mother... just, wow. No wonder Tamaki's dad went after her.
  • Ho Yay: Hikaru and Kaoru, Mori and Honey. Kyouya and Tamaki are not without subtext as well (being "mommy" and "daddy," and so on...)
    • Also what the girls think they're seeing when Kasanoda, who joined the club as a customer, picks Haruhi to be his favorite.
      • Speaking of Kasanoda, there's definitely something between him and his servant Tetsuya, at least on Tetsuya's side.
    • Haruhi herself has more then enough Les Yay.
  • Hypercompetent Sidekick: Kyoya, again to Tamaki.
  • Idiot Hero: Tamaki
  • I Know Kung Fu: 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. Also lampshaded by Tamaki. After Haruhi faces off against, and gets beat by two thugs on the beach, Tamaki asks Haruhi why she endangered herself so recklessly, and whether she's secretly a kung-fu master like Honey.
  • Imagine Spot: Tamaki most frequently, but it happens to other such as Kasanoda from time to time.
  • It Is Always Spring: Humorously subverted 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 the few chapters of the comic book.
  • It Was His Sled: Haruhi is a girl.
  • I Want To Be A Real Man: Honey tried this for a while. It didn't work.
  • Keet: Tamaki and Honey.
  • Kimodameshi: A kimodameshi tournament.
  • Lampshade Hanging: "Don't you think this is overly dramatic for a toothache?"
    • It's safe to say that at least the anime has this in spades - Haruhi is the worst offender.
  • Large Ham: Tamaki (especially in the manga).
  • Loving A Shadow: Renge initially has a crush on Kyoya because he resembles a character from a Dating Sim.
  • Measuring Day
  • Meganekko: Haruhi, though she's only seen wearing glasses for the first half of chapter 1, and even then she looked uncannily like a boy.
  • Memetic Outfit: Haruhi's first appearance is a wee bit...unflattering.
  • Medium Awareness: The anime producers must have really wanted you to know what it is just in case you forget it isn't real.
  • Missing Mom: Haruhi's (dead) and Tamaki's (in France, his Evil Matriarch grandmother doesn't let him contact her)
  • My Name Is Not Durwood: Casanova Bossa Nova Kasanoda.
  • Nakama: Tamaki sees the Host Club as a family, to the point of assigning everyone roles within it...with Haruhi as his daughter.
  • Names The Same: Fujioka is one of two characters (the other a Magical Girl in training) who have the misfortune honor of sharing their first names with GOD.
  • Name That Tune: 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.
      • The ending theme can also be heard in Hikaru's headset. ...he REALLY likes that song!
  • Noblewomans Laugh: Renge Houshakuji has what may be the cutest evil laugh ever.
    • In the Japanese version? That laugh absolutely terrifies this troper.
    • You got flashbacks to Kodachi and Naga as well? Yeah, utterly terrifying.
  • 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.
  • Not A Morning Person: Kyouya, to the point that the rest of the host club is scared of him in the mornings.
    • Also Honey. The rumor goes that his family was once in a military complex, and a soldier carelessly woke Honey up, and BLEW THE PLACE UP, leaving only a bunny-shaped mushroom cloud, killing two entire Green Beret batallions. Needless to say, this is Tamaki's version of the story.
  • 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 is all.
  • Occidental Otaku: Renge.
  • Ocular Gushers: Tamaki, Kaoru and Hikaru in response to Haruhi ("Cuuuuuute!!!"). Its more frequent in the manga.
  • Old Retainer: Mori to Honey - the group even envision them in appropriate period-costumes when explaining the Morinozuka/Haninozuka family relationship. Tetsuya also comes close to filling this role for Kasanoda; though he's only been with him for a few years, he certainly plays the part.
  • Older Than They Look: I bet the first time you saw Honey, you didn't think he was the oldest in the club.
  • One Head Taller: Tamaki is often depicted as way, way taller than Haruhi in the manga.
  • Only Sane Man: When a crossdressing female is considered the "normal one" in your club, that's really saying something.
  • Orbital Shot: During Renge's first major confrontation with the male club.
  • Otaku: Renge, of Dating Sims.
  • Periphery Demographic: There are a surprising amount of male fans. The fact that it pokes fun at a genre that males might find a little ridiculous is a key factor. And although the guys don't swoon over most of the Host Club members, Haruhi is so cute! Plus it's just plain funny.
  • Perky Goth: Nekozawa and, in the manga, the rest of the Black Magic Club.
  • Personality Blood Types
  • Pettanko: Haruhi, again. Of course, it certainly helps her masquerade.
  • Playboy Bunny: Haruhi subverts this in a bonus chapter of the manga and episode 12 of the anime by being stuffed 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).
    • Though until that accident happened, the twins were thinking of what Haruhi would look like in one...
      • Guess the hosts decided against the Playboy Bunny outfit because the Easter Bunny outfit looked more similar to Honey's Usa-chan.
  • Poisonous Friend: Kyoya, to Tamaki, see episode 14.
  • Princess Curls: Hikaru and Kaoru wear their hair this way when they crossdress for one of Tamaki's schemes.
  • Puppy Dog Eyes
  • The Quiet One: Mori.
  • Red Oni Blue Oni: They aren't quite colour coded, but Tamaki and Kyouya seem to embody this trope rather well (cool-headed, intellectual Chessmaster vs. exhuberant, people-focused White Prince).
  • Relationship Voice Actor: Vic Mignogna and Caitlin Glass as Tamaki and Haruhi. While we are reminded of Fullmetal Alchemist, this just boosts the squee factor for the dub.
  • 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 actual rivals, such as the school newspaper club and the Zuka Club.
  • Scary Shiny Glasses: Kyoya.
  • Scholarship Student: Haruhi, of course
  • Schoolgirl Lesbians: Everyone in the Zuka Club, the rivals to the Ouran host club.
  • Screw The Rules I Have Money: Not breaking the rules in a game, however. The Host Club is filthy rich, meaning that if Rule Of Cool allows something, they will simply pay reason to take a hike. One character owns a beach, for example. An indoor beach.
  • Selective Obliviousness: Tamaki thinks of Haruhi as a daughter! Really!
    • This is lampshaded in the anime. Kaoru comes up with a beautiful metaphor that would explain why Tamaki refuses to admit his romantic attraction to Haruhi and struggles to keep up the family charade. Like most characters who create complex motivations for Tamaki's actions, it's derailed by the fact Tamaki really is an idiot.
      • It is true that Tamaki's broken family is the reason he tries to keep the Host Club together even at the expense of his own feelings for Haruhi. He's still an idiot though, since it takes several characters to point this out before he realizes it himself.
  • 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.
  • Serious Business: Benibara fan club, Combat Wing.
  • Samus Is A Girl: Haruhi, if you watch the first episode unspoiled.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: Haruhi is dolled up and used as bait to lure Kanako and Toru back together in episode 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).
  • 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.
  • Shout Out: Of Rahxephon, of all things.
  • 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.
  • 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, Hunny (Hani? Huni? Honey?) seems to be spelled differently depending on what fansub you're watching (or on which Troper is editing the page). The Viz translation uses Hunny, which seems to be the official spelling.
    • Also Kyouya/Kyoya. And let's not get started on his last name. Or Tamaki's.
  • Squee: Well, it's more of a "Kyaaaaaa~!", really.
  • Straw Feminist: The Zuka Club is an entire club dedicated to straw feminism.
  • Stoic Spectacles: Kyouya.
  • Suck My Rose: Tamaki has a habit of doing this.
  • Sweet On Polly Oliver: Kasanoda.
  • Takarazuka: The Zuka club, as stated above.
  • Take My Hand
  • 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), Kyoya (actual)
  • Team Mom - Kyoya (dubbed so by Tamaki), Tamaki (actual)
  • Team Pet - Honey, and to some extent Haruhi as well.
  • Thundering Herd
  • Twelfth Night Adventure
  • Twin Banter
  • Twincest: Hikaru and Kaoru's schtick.
  • Twin Switch: And the "Which one is Hikaru-kun Gaaame!!"
  • Two Haruhi Limit: Fujioka won the competition to be The Other Haruhi, beating out Kamisaka.
  • Uncle Pennybags: All main characters, really (except for Haruhi).
  • Unwanted Harem: And Haruhi's at the center of it. Tamaki, predictably, reframes it as a heartful love comedy with himself as the actual lead along with a bunch of "homo side characters".
  • Values Dissonance: Haruhi almost gets assaulted in chapter 9 to make her realize that it's good to have some common sense every now and then. "You may not care about genders but men are physically stronger than women, and you're a woman, a slender girl at that, so unless you know martial arts don't pick fights with guys twice your size right next to the ocean, especially if you can't swim." Haruhi didn't have to take on the two delinquents alone, the host club guys and Kyouya's security guards were in calling distance.
  • Warding Gestures
  • The White Prince: Tamaki, obviously, but the twins also embody part of this trope.
  • Whole Episode Flashback: Done in a very clever and stylish way.
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: Several, including Haruhi and her father.
  • 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 hero and heroine and the rest of the boys are the "homosexual side cast."
  • Yakuza: Kasanoda prominently; It's implied a few times Ouran students lower on the social rank are there simply due to their family's influence.
  • Yaoi Fangirl: Renge, and many patrons to the club, especially the Twins' customers!
    • Especially, when Kassanad was in love with Haruhi!
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