Īt first, Haruhi dislikes being forced to work for the host club. She carries on, keeping her sex secret from the club's clientele, by wearing a male uniform and using masculine pronouns. Haruhi identifies herself as a biological female, but agrees to portray herself as a boy in order to repay her debt to the club. After knocking over an expensive vase, the club forces her to work off her debt by becoming a host. Looking for a quiet place to study, she stumbles upon the school's male-only host club, where she is initially mistaken for a boy due to her short hair and oversized clothing because she lacks sufficient funds to purchase a female school uniform. Haruhi's character was positively received, both because of her down-to-earth personality and disregard for gender roles in society.Ĭaitlin Glass, who voices the character in English, referred to her work in Ouran as a passion project.Īt the start of the Ouran High School Host Club manga and anime, Haruhi enters the prestigious Ouran Academy on a scholarship. This attitude is reflected in comments made by mangaka Hatori Bisco at a 2019 convention. As explanation, she tells the others that "it's more important for a person to be recognized for who they are rather than what sex they are". The character self-identifies as female, while downplaying gender roles to comic effect throughout the series. While her fellow, all-male Host Club members know the truth, the club's clients either do not, or are mistaken in believing Haruhi to be a male, thus providing the basis for much of the gender-swapping satire embedded in the comedy. In the manga and its adaptations, Haruhi takes on the role of a male host playing a comical tsukkomi-archetype, despite being of female sex, by keeping her gender as female a secret from the host club's clients. Haruhi Fujioka ( 藤岡 ハルヒ, Fujioka Haruhi) is a fictional character and the main protagonist from the manga and anime television series, Ouran High School Host Club, created by Bisco Hatori.