At this point in the anime industry, it can be difficult to succesfully write common tropes into an original story. Shoujo is one of the leading demographics in anime, with The Rose of Versailles, Kaichou wa Maid-sama!, and Fruits Basket being a few classic shoujo series that have successfully adapted these stereotypes.The shoujo demographic itself is an umbrella term for manga and anime targeted toward younger girls and teens. Ouran High School Host Club is an example of an anime that pokes fun at such clichés. While certain aspects of the series have not aged well, the satirical series does present its own level of self-awareness towards prevalent and problematic tropes that often appear in shoujo anime.

Ouran High School Host Club, originally created by Bisco Hatori told the story of the titular Ouran High School Host Club. Serving as an extracurricular playground for female students to socialize with a variety of hosts whose varying personalities can fit their preferred desires. The series follows protagonist Haruhi Fujioka as she finds herself in debt to the host club after clumsily breaking a vase from their auction worth millions. Casually defying gender standards, she agrees to display herself as a new male host in order to work her way out of the debt. Ouran High School Host Club is considered a reverse-harem series, focusing on a single female protagonist and multiple male love interests. In this case, Haruhi and the boys of the Host Club already serve as a subversion of the harem storyline.

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The Lolita-Boy and Wild Types

OHSHC Mori And Honey smiling

Mitsikuni 'Honey' Haninozuka and Takashi 'Mori' Morinozuka come as two-in-one package, and are constantly confused as siblings, or even master and servant despite just being cousins. Honey fits the bill as the resident “lolita-boy” type, obsessed with sweets and all things cute, and appearing as a young boy by all appearances except in age. Mori serves as the tall, loyal, and stoic “wild” type who will jump into action without saying a word. To make their dynamic even more complex, they come from a family of top martial arts champions, Honey being the top champion in Japan.

This contrasts the objective cuteness of Honey’s appearance and causes a slight identity crises whenever he's put in a position to prioritize the fighter over the lover side. The Host Club acts as a refuge for Honey to live out his authentic self. On the other hand, Mori’s loyalty and protective behavior towards Honey is his number one weakness, as the series often showcases how Honey’s well-being is the only issue that truly bothers Mori to his core. When Honey gets a cavity, Mori compels the baby-faced host to hate him as an act of punishment for not reminding Honey to brush his own, high school-aged teeth. The very embodiment of cuteness makes Mori’s character type softer than he may seem on the outsie. This brotherly love is their selling point to the club’s guests, an exaggerated trope that often borders an unsettling resemblance to romantic moments.

The Little Devil Type

The uncomfortable and incessant incest trope is applied to Hakari and Kaoru Hitachiin, the mischievous twins that embody the “little devils” type. Their host package is catered towards guests interested in the "twincest" trope, which presents a tender and inappropriate display of brotherly love. Accurate to Renge’s fantastical version of the Host Club, the twins have a history of being antisocial and stuck in their own world.

The issue of not being seen as individual identities outside their identical association stunts their ability to accept others into their lives, leaving only Hikaru and Kaoru to develop a relationship amongst themselves. As a result, the Host Club symbolizes a huge development in both of their characters, especially when both twins notice Hikaru’s crush on Haruhi.

Having more people in their circle is a positive development brought on by the Host Club and the stereotypical impact of the life-changing female lead. Yet, their devilish nature does not change throughout the series. In spite of their social insecurities and co-dependent relationship, their initial desire to entertain themselves is what dictates their dynamic with the other Host Club members. Their affinity for troublemaking, coercing the President into comically bad decisions, to compensate for their loneliness almost balances out the problematic anime trope that the show and the Host Club capitalize on. Nonetheless, the fierce bond between the two echoes a longing for companionship that is exemplified by the Host Club’s very existence.

The Cool Type

kyoya and purple roses ouran

The role of Vice President belongs to Kyoya Ootori, the incomprehensibly wealthy, intelligent, and competent "glasses" character. Also known as the “Shadow King”, Kyoya casually follows the President’s lead in all club activities, mostly because he is the one that actually operates the business affairs that maintain the club’s popularity and financial status.

However, Kyoya did not always embody the confidence of his current position. He grew up with the hopeless pressure of surpassing standards set by his older brothers for a chance to inherit his father’s business. The loneliness of being the third son makes him susceptible to the open arms of the Host Club’s philosophies, along with its open position for a business director. As a result, he displaces his father’s expectations and sets his own goals, developing a strict attitude for only doing acts of service within his own interest.

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Contrary to the nonchalant aura of the “cool” type, Kyoya is always working on the sidelines to manipulate others for the best interest of the Host Club, and therefore, himself. During the controversial beach episode, Kyoya pretends to physically assault Haruhi in a suspicious attempt to mend the fight between the Haruhi and Tamaki. He tries to prove the President’s point that, as a girl, she should seek out help from the men in her life. The lack of consent in his method leaves a bad taste for many, but Haruhi ends up figuring out Kyoya’s intentions, and even thanks him for helping her understand.

With the presence of the other Host Club members and Haruhi’s observations, Kyoya does absorb a certain level of selflessness when it comes to helping others, seen when he prevents a lady from getting scammed at the mall in Episode 17. It is within his character’s own self-interest to be in the Host Club because it makes him better as a businessman and as a person. While Kyoya certainly embodies the analytical characteristics of the typical glasses character, his autonomy as a host allows him to be the “cool” type he probably assigned to himself.

The Princely Type

Tamaki looking smug with a rose background in Ouran High School Host Club.

The main love interest, Tamaki Suoh, the handsome, old-money rich, and popular president of the Ouran Host Club. For the “princely” type, Tamaki is often seen as a narcissistic, overly-excited idiot. Along with his unofficial royal status, he is at the forefront of the found-family trope as the self-proclaimed “daddy” of the group. He takes his responsibilities to the next level by not only leading the boys but also feeling entitled to protect Haruhi and her femininity like a literal father. Haruhi eventually learns that Tamaki’s overly protective behavior stems from his own childhood trauma of abandonment by his mother and rejection from his grandmother.

As a bastard child, Tamaki was barely accepted in a home that was already broken and alienated by wealth and power status. However, this reason does not excuse some of Tamaki’s own ignorant remarks on gender roles and Haruhi’s personal life, drawing away from the gentlemen nature of the prince trope. The show even ensures he is immediately punished by some hysterical act of embarrassment and pain, such as getting shunned by his peers or slipping on a banana.

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Although he often takes his “chosen father” duties too far, his inferiority complex is what drives his role as the emotional glue of the group, even before Haruhi’s involvement. Familiar with the life of loneliness, he is able to pinpoint each host’s potential, weakness, and collective need for the power of friendship. He reassures Honey that it’s okay to like cute things and welcomes

Mori for both their sakes; he offers Hikaru and Kaoru an opportunity to make their world bigger; he motivates Kyoya to reach his full potential for himself and no one else; he defends Haruhi’s character despite her class and gender. His charisma and loyalty to the bit convince each host to join and stay with the club, autonomously, making Tamaki the main reason for the Host Club’s existence. As the son of Ouran Academy’s Principle and the suave President of a club dedicated to granting its hosts and guests companionship, Tamaki embodies his “prince” personality type.

The Natural Type

Haruhi Fujioka from Ouran High School Host Club smiling.

As the female protagonist, Haruhi is a subversion of the clumsy yet academically concerned student who is able to effortlessly grab the attention of anyone through her sheer willpower and basic display of empathy, despite the difficulties of living with a single parent in the lower class and coping with a dead mother. In this series, she’s “not like the other girls” because of her genuine lack of concern for class and gender performance.

When she is first introduced to the Host Club, her hair is cut short from a previous bubblegum incident, and her dirty clothes lack any sort of traditional femininity. However, she isn’t bothered by their preconceptions and even explains her priorities on being treated as a person over being perceived as a girl or boy, briefly using the non-binary name, “Ore,” in an attempt to clarify her stance on gender. Impressed by her natural ability to charm the club’s guests with her ambiguous features, they respect her desire to be treated as a person by promoting her from club dog to club host.

While forcing Haruhi into a binary she does not care for is problematic on its own, yet, she accepts the role to become a male host so that she can pay off her debt and return to her studies. In doing so, she takes up the club-proclaimed title of the “natural rookie” type. She initially feels dragged into unnecessary schemes against her will, but her own personal interest into the wealthy and lonely lives of the Host Club members activates the typical shoujo lead’s innate need to help others. Her time spent dealing with the boys of the Host Club makes this harem dynamic a begrudging friends to lovers trope.

There are criticisms that the Host Club is constantly holding Haruhi’s character to binary expectations, but the internal struggles of each host project the bigger issue of broadening one’s mindset and accepting others into their lives. Rather than letting any gender or class standards dictate her plight, she makes the best of her situation and accepts her new life at Ouran Academy, even saving the club from disbandment after clearing her debt.

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Each character in Ouran High School Host Club pokes fun at a different but all too familiar shoujo anime stereotype. Despite being a satirical piece, the series still attempts to subvert each cliché to form a well-rounded cast of equally annoying and lovable characters. Unfortunately, as viewers become more aware of the show’s missed jokes, the blunt usage of problematic behavior, such as the problematic depiction of a lesbian-coded rival school, the transphobic response to Haruhi’s cross-dressing father, and the sexist attempt at getting Haruhi to accept external help and binary expectations, all being the butt of jokes may not have aged as well as other classic shoujo tropes to some viewers.

Perhaps, these are all written as a satirical take on poor behavior from the privileged and sheltered perspectives of children of the elite; however, the modern reception of these aspects proves how ill-conceived jokes can permeate prevalent issues surrounding gender and sexuality. OHSHC is one of many animes and older media that may not have aged well with these plot details; however, there is a nuance in maintaining awareness of these very real topics, while also finding comfort in the light-hearted fiction and nostalgia factor of one of the most popular shoujo series in anime history.