The romanizations used in the English-language editions of the manga by VIZ Media and Chuang Yi differ from the English romanizations used on Nippon Television's Japanese-language website.
Tamaki is a half-Japanese, half-French Ouran High School second-year student and the president of the Host Club, the founding of which was his idea. He is sometimes referred to as the "King" of the Host Club and is by far the most popular host, with a 70% request rate. The usual instigator of all of the Host Club's antics, Tamaki is prone to dramatics and often acts without thinking or overreacts to trivial things; the other members of the club, particularly Hikaru and Kaoru, often take amusement at his expense. At the same time, they almost always follow his lead, and staunchly support him when it's needed.
Despite his foolish behaviour, Tamaki shows a generous nature towards others, and easily moved by the distress of others, even strangers. Once aware of others peoples' problems, he will do all he can to help them and "ascertain justice". He often makes elaborate plans or "strategies" to fix many solutions. His family is involved mostly with the business market, but also handles the school administration. In fact, Tamaki is the son of the superintendent so in effect his family is financially supporting Haruhi as a scholarship student.
Tamaki's grandmother, the true head and decision-maker of the Suou family, bears a grudge against him over the fact that his father had an affair with Tamaki's mother and divorced his legal wife when Tamaki was born. Because there is no other heir to the Suou family, his grandmother acknowledges Tamaki as a Suou, but refuses to allow him to live in the family's main residence and forbids him any contact with his mother in France (In the manga, his mother ran away from home after his return to Japan, although Kyoya commented that given his father's influence, he (the father) should know where she is). In spite of this, Tamaki appears to hold no hard feelings against his grandmother, and retains an almost excessively positive outlook on life.
For all his immaturity and silliness, Tamaki proves to be a naturally excellent student, routinely placing second in his class (behind Kyoya) without making any particularly great effort towards studying. He is a talented piano player, and unlike the other members of the Host Club (such as Kyoya and the Hitachiin brothers) there is surprisingly little artifice in his treatment of the club's customers. In his profile at the end of volume 1 of the manga, Hatori notes that despite his apparent glibness with the girls, he genuinely means what he says. Haruhi, however, finds his behaviour more troublesome than charming - much to Tamaki's chagrin, as he quickly developed a romantic infatuation with her which she has yet to show very notable signs of reciprocating. He himself seems oblivious to his infatuation with Haruhi, confusing it with fatherly feelings. In fact, he fell ill in the manga after he thought that his attempt to kiss Haruhi made him a "pervert"; he "solved" the problem by kissing the girl on her forehead.
Kyoya is a second-year student at Ouran High School, and vice-president of the host club. The "cool type" of the club, he is extremely intelligent and quite calculating, capable of manipulating events to serve any number of purposes. His family is primarily involved in hospital management and the medical industry with various other business interests as well, and supplies the school's medical staff and security (via its 100-member private police force). As the third son, Kyoya is unlikely to inherit leadership of the family's business unless he can surpass his older brothers' achievements to his father's satisfaction. This puts a lot of pressure on Kyoya, but he claims that he cannot think of a more interesting challenge. His family and the Suou family are rivals, so Kyoya initially befriended Tamaki because his father ordered him to for business reasons. However, as time passed, their friendship became genuine. Also, in the manga, he's shown to be sympathetic to his elder sister, Fuyumi, who was married; when their father saw her back in the house, he commented that married women shouldn't return home so readily.
Although Tamaki is the official leader of the club, Kyoya can easily influence Tamaki when he wants, and in a conflict between two of the other members of the club, they follow Kyoya's lead, causing Haruhi to refer to him privately as the "Shadow King." He was the only Host Club member to realize immediately that Haruhi was a girl, but kept the knowledge to himself in order to see what would happen; he often goes along with the Host Club's more eccentric antics, or even encourages them further, on the grounds that the results could be "interesting." Kyoya keeps track of various information about the students at Ouran Academy and is even in contact with Haruhi's father, who turns out to be the source from which Kyoya obtained Haruhi's photographs and information about her middle school popularity. He does not hesitate to turn a profit from the Host Club's popularity, even to the point of auctioning off items like Haruhi's pencil, and he keeps Haruhi in debt to the Host Club by finding various ways to add to it.
He claims to do nothing which does not profit him, and tells Haruhi that this is the only reason he is friends with Tamaki and involved with the Host Club, saying that there is "not one millimeter of similarity" between himself and Tamaki. This, however, appears to be a lie. Kyoya is altruistic in his own way, and often seems to act on Tamaki's behalf, most notably during the school festival in volume six of the manga. In his profile, Bisco Hatori notes that despite what he says, he and Tamaki are good friends.
Kyoya has low blood pressure and wakes up with a bad temper, earning him the nickname of "Low Blood Pressure Demon Lord". As such, he tends to sleep in until noon.
Something stated in the author's notes was that if the first volume of the manga had been 40 pages instead of 50 pages, Kyoya would have been dropped as a character all together. However, since the rest of the characters are the way they are, he is invaluable for maintaining order and offering explanations.
The Host Club's (self-proclaimed) manageress who tends to be very loud and outspoken. She had lived in France for a short time before she came to attend Ouran. Renge first came across the Host Club by maintaining the belief she was Kyoya's fiancée despite never having met him in person. This is due to her love of visual novel-type video games to a point that she sometimes confuses them with real life. Her fascination with Kyoya originated from her obsession with one such dating game (Kyoya greatly resembled the lead character). Still, her experience with dating sims causes her to be more aware of character development and a thickening plot. Tamaki initially allowed Renge to become the host club's manager in hopes that she would be a female friend to Haruhi and inspire her to act and dress more feminine. He was harshly disappointed when Renge wound up developing a crush on Haruhi, believing she was a boy. In the anime, she almost always enters using a rising platform powered by a high powered motor, even when the host club is off campus. At first she often complains how they are "not good enough" in various ways, but as she grows more satisfied with the hosts, she begins bringing in more customers with her fangirlish ways. She also changes favourites every once in a while. Amusingly enough, Renge has proven an asset to the Host Club as a manageress on several occasions. She can accurately predict what will win the greatest approval of customers due to her wide range of knowledge on various subjects, most of them connected to the concept of "moe". Kyoya has complimented her on several occasions already. Renge also has activities which allow her talents to flourish that do not directly concern the Host Club; in the anime, she is shown hosting a sentai show for school children and she apparently is involved in producing the Moe Moe Ouran Journal (萌え萌え桜蘭日記, Moe Moe Ōran Nikki), a school magazine containing all things related to moe at Ouran High School.
In the manga, Renge largely disappears from view after her initial appearance in chapter 3 (although she makes cameo appearances in subsequent chapters). Hatori mentioned that Renge was going to be more of a recurring character, but it never happened. Her comment probably led to Renge's numerous appearances in the anime. Some of her parts were originally performed by Tamaki in the manga, e.g. the coaching of Shiro and Nekozawa. Interestingly, in volume 9, her appearances were significantly increased.
A trait that Renge displays in both the anime and the manga is that, when she becomes extremely angry, she assumes a Medusa-like aspect, with her hair transforming into snakes. At such times, she can drive most of the other characters before her in blind panic.
A hooded figure holding a cat puppet named Beelzenef, Umehito Nekozawa (almost always referred to by only his last) hates bright light to the point that he calls anyone who drags him into the light as 'murderers'. The Black Magic Club’s president, he tries to get people to join his club though is not too successful. However, anyone who joins gets a free "Beelzenef" doll. Nekozawa has one as a puppet, but it is also available as a wooden doll. Nekozawa claims that if you write the name of the person you hate on the back of the doll, the person will be showered with misfortunes. Tamaki, especially, is superstitious about Nekozawa's curses due to having experienced them first-hand, or so he believes.
Nekozawa is actually quite handsome under his hood, although he wears a black wig over his naturally blond hair. He has an absolutely adorable little sister named Kirimi, but she is afraid of the dark and as a result the two siblings were not able to be around one another until Tamaki and the Host Club got involved and prompted Nekozawa to adapt to light and display his more heroic and princely side. In the end, it is Nekozawa's love for and desire to protect his little sister that endears him to her, despite his photophobia; he braves daylight to save Kirimi. Although he collapses right afterwards from exposure to sunshine, Kirimi loves him all the more for his willingness to brave that which he loathes so much to protect her. On a funnier note, at the end of volume 8, it is shown that Kirimi has turned into a nearly identical darkness fanatic as Nekozawa. Both sport dark cloaks and have their features covered. Despite the Host Club's efforts to help him brave the sun, he is still just as obsessed with his occult passions. In the Halloween episode, he appears before Tamaki (from a coffin no less) and offers his services in helping scare the student body.
Ritsu Kasanoda is the successor to the third generation master of the Kasanoda-gumi, the most powerful yakuza group in Kantō, Japan. He was raised at a young age to be the next leader so in effect most people see him as a very intimidating person and he has few friends because of it. Indeed, he's most well known for his long red hair and scary-looking face. Since Kasanoda's features have been intimidating since birth, his father claimed he had the right face to become the most frightening yakuza boss in history and actually trained him to appear tough and unapproachable. Kasanoda therefore initially doesn't talk much, though he can be angered easily. Despite his outward appearance and upbringing, he actually tends to be a kind person who enjoys helping others.
There are several rumours associated with him too. For instance, if your eyes meet his, you'll suffer three months of nightmares. Also, if his shoulders bump into someone, he or she will be sent to the hospital. Finally, if someone tries to talk back to him, he or she goes straight to the graveyard. His classmates know him as the feared "human blizzard".
Kasanoda initially seeks to apprentice under Morinozuka, hoping to become as respected and admired as he, despite Morinozuka possessing - to paraphrase Kasanoda's own words - "a face as intimidating as that of the guard dogs of Hell". He suffers some humiliations at the hands of the Host Club members, who steadfastly refer to him as "Casanova-kun" or "Bossa Nova-kun", all out of a desire to learn how to make friends and be able to have fun with people. Later experiences concerning a member of his household named Tetsuya show him that there are already people at his home who know his good side - they just didn't mention it because they knew he is not only kind-hearted, but also shy and easily embarrassed.
Due to Kasanoda walking into a room too quickly, he has become the first person at Ouran High outside the host club to discover that Haruhi is a girl. Upon learning so, he falls in love with Haruhi and attends the Host Club as a customer. However, when he tries to admit his feelings to Haruhi, he is rejected with no ill intent (mostly due to Haruhi's complete lack of being able to read people properly), who considers him an understanding friend (this due to Kasanoda saying he had come to see her so Haruhi could talk to someone who knew her secret, so she could be at ease). Since Kasanoda has been told by Kyoya that Haruhi must appear to be male for 'special reasons', he resolves to not cause her any trouble by publicly stating they'll be friends forever, so she won't have to worry about being thought odd by associating romantically with him. Kasanoda, of course, does not realize that the 'special reasons' consist entirely of Haruhi's debt to the club.
Ever since that incident in the host club though, his desire to have friends is fulfilled when everyone in the host club (hosts and customers) agree to become his friends. In volume 9, he gave Haruhi a tomato plant as a gift. Also, an update on his situation indicates that he's joined the Gardening Society of the school. However, his characteristic fierce looks still meant that even animals were afraid of him.
Haruhi's father works at an okama (cross dressing) bar. He says that he was originally bisexual, but turned to cross-dressing after his wife's death because he could never love another woman. In contrast to Haruhi's practicality and lack of interest in material things, he is rather bad with money, and buys girly clothing for Haruhi in the hopes of getting her to dress more cute. He even repacks her suitcase for an overnight trip in episode 8 of the anime, replacing the clothes she had packed with a dress.
Haruhi's stubborn self-reliance causes her father to worry about her a lot; he would like to be more involved in her life and do more things for her, but she rarely lets him. However, the two of them do have a clearly loving relationship. While her father would like to be able to take care of Haruhi, it seems that often Haruhi ends up taking care of him instead, as shown in a flashback in which a very young Haruhi refuses to allow him to go to parents' day at her school because she wants him to stay home and rest instead.
There is a marked similarity between Haruhi's father and Tamaki, upon which several other members of the Host Club have commented. File:Kotoko Fujioka epi 10.pngKotoko FujiokaPartly because of this, and partly as a result of Tamaki's evident romantic affection for Haruhi, Ryoji has stated that he considers Tamaki an enemy, and seems to take some amusement in picking on him.
Kotoko Fujioka (藤岡琴子, Fujioka Kotoko), (Seiyū - Mika Doi)
Kotoko Fujioka was Haruhi's mother, who died while her daughter was still very young (Haruhi remarked in the first episode that it has been ten years since her mother died, which puts her at around 6 years old at that time). It is known that she was an attorney at law and that Haruhi takes after her in some ways and that she remains Haruhi's great example. If the way Haruhi recalls her both in waking memory and in a dream is accurate, she was dedicated and a loving mother who wished the very best for her family. One would assume she was also somewhat open-minded in order to live with and love her husband, "Ranka", who has stated that Kotoko was both beautiful and intelligent, but also reveals that she was apparently a closet fan of the St. Lobelia's Zuka Club of her day.
The main "villain" of the first chapter, Ayanokouji's jealousy of Tamaki's friendship with Haruhi led her to throw Haruhi's belongings into a pond. However, she has water poured on her as a punishment (from the twins), and was barred from the Host Club forever. In the anime, she's parodied in episode 13 when she takes on the role of a lowly cook in Haruhi's dream.
At the end of volume 1, Hatori noted that she's in class 3-A, the same class as Hunny and Mori.
The subject of help for the Host Club in episode 2 of the anime. Initially, Kanako was well-known for changing her hosts every now and then. (The usual practise is for a girl to designate a permanent host.) She did this to spite her fiancé into paying attention to her. However, it wasn't successful until Tamaki got wind of their situation and decided to help out. She made a cameo appearance in episode 13.
In the anime, she's the first person Haruhi ever kissed, during a ball organized by the Host Club (and where they executed Tamaki's plan to bring the couple together). In the manga, Haruhi kissed a different girl.
The subject of help for the Host Club in episode 6 of the anime. In the manga, he's later "loaned" to Kasanoda in the attempt to make him "cuter". He made a cameo appearance in episode 13 as a mouse.
In the anime, at the end of episode 6, Shiro's pose is a nod to his seiyu's more famous role as the titular character in Naruto.
Ayame Jounouchi (城之内綾女, Jōnouchi Ayame)
A classmate of Kyoya and Tamaki, and the class vice-chairman of 2-A, Ayame became Haruhi's tutor when Haruhi failed to be top of her cohort. Despite hating Tamaki for his eccentricities, and the fact that he's always second in class (Ayame was consistently third after Tamaki came to Ouran), she had a crush on the Host Club President. Initially, she permed her hair straight, but after Tamaki's advice, she reverted to her natural hairstyle (wavy) and became a regular at the Host Club. She's also known for her ability to speak for a long time in a single breath; as such, her nickname among the Host Club members is "Morse Code Lady".
In the anime, her appearance is limited to a cameo in episode 24, when Tamaki introduced himself to her (and Kyoya).
Ootori family
The name is romanized by VIZ Media and Chuang Yi English manga as Ohtori
The name is romanized by Nippon Television's Japanese-language website as Ootori
Kyoya's older sister. In the anime, she appears during Kyoya's flashbacks about his first meeting with Tamaki. She clearly cares for her younger brother and tries to help him in life; apparently she is somewhat lacking in the areas of housework and organization, but she appears to be a kind-hearted person. It is revealed in the manga that she was married, but returned home later (for a short visit, which her father chided her for). Her husband's surname is Shido (矢道).
Patriarch of the Ootori family, Yoshio is portrayed as a cold, calculating father. Kyoya tries hard to please him in order to become heir of the family, despite the fact that his father is apparently a cold and uncompromising man, who shows no understanding for his children and has planned out the lives of his sons as his own successors already. In the manga, he acknowledges Kyoya as a possible successor despite being the third son. In the anime, he states he had already decided Kyoya would inherit Ootori Medical from him, only to have his third son buy it and return it to his control without ever revealing his identity. He wants Kyoya to marry Haruhi.
The Class President of 1-A, Kazukiyo suffers from nyctophobia and a fear of just about anything else that is scary. He has romantic feelings for Class 1-A's Vice President, Momoka, whom he has known for years, but he is initially too shy to come out and say anything. Hikaru and Kaoru comment that he is the kind of person with pure feelings who they can't tease, possibly because he is more emotionally vulnerable than Tamaki.
In the manga, he unwittingly caused Haruhi some problems when he became top of his cohort. (As a scholarship student, Haruhi has to be the top student in order to keep the scholarship.) Also, in volume 6, it's revealed that his father is a famous politician.
The Class Vice-President of 1-A. She conducts class meetings with Kazukiyo and has new-found respect for him after he put up with the Halloween ordeal. She is a frequent client of Haruhi in the Host Club.
Patriarch of the Suou family, Yuzuru shares some of his son's characteristics. Despite knowing of his mother's loathing of Tamaki, he could do little to help the situation. To date, his only act of rebellion against his mother's wishes seems to be that he did not simply break off his relationship with Tamaki's mother, but instead divorced the woman his mother had chosen for him. In the anime he does seem to be a bit cold to Tamaki, though this might be to show that he does not favor his son as a student, as a scene in the anime shows photographs of Tamaki at different stages of life on his desk in his office. It also seems Tamaki gained his charms from his father. Interestingly, Tamaki is very serious in Yuzuru's presence. The manga is a little different, showing Yuzuru as eager to tease his son at every opportunity, sending him red herrings in the middle of an investigation and telling tall tales.
It has been revealed (in volume 9) that Yuzuru knows where his wife is; it wouldn't have been hard for him to arrange for Tamaki a reunion. What the father had in mind was the idea of having Tamaki surpassing him in terms of capabilities, so that Tamaki may inherit the Suou empire, and force his grandmother to accept his mother. Unwittingly, his kiss on Tamaki's forehead gave the teen the same idea, and he kissed Haruhi's forehead as a "paternal" gesture.
The President of the Zuka Club. Benio is nicknamed "Benibara-sama" at St. Lobelia's and is the most popular of the Zuka Club's ruling council. Benio is also known as "The Lady of the Red Rose". A "Benibara-sama's guardian club" has been founded at St. Lobelia's just to make sure she doesn't get mobbed when walking down the aisles. There is also a fanclub devoted to her. Benio doesn't exactly help matters; she flirts with girls as easily as Tamaki does. On one occasion, Benio claimed that she was following in the footsteps of her mother, who was supposedly also president of the Zuka Club in her day. This may have been nothing more than a lie meant to sucker Haruhi into helping the Zuka Club out with a play. While not possessing any feminine curves, and in the manga which refers to Benio as 'he' or 'she', her gender is questionable, but presumably female.
The Vice President of the Zuka Club, also known as "The Lady of the Lily". Chizuru is outwardly the most placid member of the ruling council, but this counts for nothing; she never objects to any of the Club's plans, but rather assists and makes things worse.
One of the leading members of the Zuka Club, known as "The Lady of the Daisy". Hinako is the youngest member of the club's leading council and arguably the most energetic of the three.
Misuzu is Ranka's colleague at the okama bar. He runs a pension in Karuizawa, Nagano. His real name is Isao (功).
Mei Sonoda (園田 メイ, Sonoda Mei)
Misuzu's daughter, who hates her father for being a crossdresser. Misuzu then managed to get the Fujiokas to keep an eye on her for a while.
So far, she's the only non-Host Club member to appear on the volume covers of the series.
Éclair Tonnerre
An anime-only character. Éclair is the beautiful, shrewd heir apparent to the France-based Grand Tonnerre Group, which - in the anime - now employs Tamaki's mother as a servant in Éclair's house. Having heard a great deal about Tamaki from his mother, Éclair develops a kind of crush on him and concocts a scheme to make him her husband. She tracks down Tamaki in Japan and convinces him to leave the Host Club, offering him a chance to see his mother if he complies with her wishes. She secures non-interference from the Ohtori group by arranging for the Grand Tonnerre Group to buy up Ohtori Medical so as to control Kyouya's father. She immediately recognizes Haruhi as a girl and tries to drive a wedge between her and Tamaki, with some degree of success. In the end, Tamaki still leaves her side in order to save Haruhi's life, but leaves her with a good impression by genuinely smiling at her and complimenting her before jumping out of the car that was driving them to the airport. Éclair seems to have a speaking name; éclair can be translated as lightning from French and tonnerre could be a French pronunciation of the German word donner, which means thunder. As such, she would be lightning and thunder, the one thing Haruhi is afraid of. Éclair's willingness and ability to almost tear as under the Host Club, which Haruhi has come to appreciate and enjoy, would seem to support this.
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