Ouran High School Host Club is a “slice of life” comedy anime series that follows a young girl named Haruhi who inadvertently finds herself as a “host” herself in order to pay back a debt when she inadvertently breaks a highly expensive rare vase. While she is thought to be a male at first, when she’s revealed to actually be a girl to the club, a whole new set of problems flies her way. Recently, at the Anime Expo convention earlier this year, our own Megan Peters was able to discuss the character with the franchise’s creator, Bisco Hatori:
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Comicbook.com: One of Ouran’s greatest charms is Haruhi, the protagonist. She’s so smart and steadfast and she just doesn’t take anybody’s you know attitude or their nonsense. So I wanna ask particularly, what inspired you to create her as such a strong character?
Bisco Hatori: “Haruhi is a very strong protagonist, but at the same time I think I was able to have a different personality. There are parts that the club members kind of drag her along for their grand plan or there’s this moment she just doesn’t get, so in that way I was kind of able to balance her out. And in the genre often times you’ll see the gender switching for a purpose, like having to describe myself for whatever purpose. But because Haruhi there just happens to be the clothing she likes and she wore it one day to school and she thought she was a boy. Because there’s no kind of an ulterior motive to that unintentional gender switching, her selflessness was able to shine through.
Are you a big fan of Ouran High School Host Club? What do you think of the character of Haruhi overall? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime!
The series debuted in September 2002 under LaLa. Bisco Hatori is the writer behind the shojo title, and Ouran High School Host Club has since become a staple of the genre. After Bones gave the title an anime run in April 2006, the series has produced several live-action adaptations along with audio dramas.
As for the series itself, it follows a girl named Haruhi as the scholarship student attends Ouran Academy. The school is a haven for rich kids, leaving Haruhi to stick out. However, her plans to go unnoticed end when she finds herself in debt to the school’s host club. Her meek look makes its leader Tamaki think she’s a boy, so she begins working as a host in the club. So, as expected, things go awry when her gender is revealed and Tamaki falls for the headstrong heroine.
