Manga, like fiction in general, doesn’t always give us the best female characters. Many female characters’ minds are filled with thoughts about appearance, such as if their chests are too small or if they should diet, and their aspirations and dreams seem limited to those that involve guys, everything a girl is supposed to think about in a nutshell so to speak. No surprise, they often are unable to handle anything more than making a meal or doing the laundry by themselves and sometimes the heroine can’t even do that.
Not Haruhi Fujioka, the blunt and independent heroine of Ouran High School Host Club, a romantic comedy about a “commoner” on a merit scholarship at the ritzy Ouran Academy who, after knocking over a vase and being mistaken for a guy, is commandeered into becoming part of the school’s host club (a place where, in this case, beautiful/handsome young men converse and entertain patrons) to pay off her debt. Of course, shortly after joining, the boys of the club all realize that Haruhi is, in fact, a bona fide girl. Yawning at the prospect of yet another heroine forced to cross-dress while surrounded by beautiful boys who will surely fall in love with her, one by one? Well, Ouran does things a little differently.
The keyword in the description is comedy. This series satirizes a lot of trends and stereotypes seen in manga such as harems, cross-dressing, and the types of characters that show up in the romance genre. For example, it is not uncommon to see characters in the romance genre divided between the characters involved in the romance and the romantically uninvolved side characters. In Ouran, the male lead of the story, Tamaki, literally draws a line on the floor to separate himself, the self-deemed love interest, from the rest of the main cast who he labels the “sexless” characters. Or how about the scenario where a love interest is thrown into a rage when someone causes the poor, defenseless heroine to cry? In this series, a fight occurs when it looks like Haruhi has been hurt and is crying, only for it to be revealed that she was not upset, her contact just popped out.
The characters are equally entertaining. While Tamaki is prince-like in many ways, he’s also a narcissist and a (well-intentioned) idiot who is so blind about his feelings for Haruhi that he believes he has fatherly feelings for her; Kyoya is the “cool-type,” but is also propelled by making a profit and known as the “Shadow King” for his puppet master behavior; despite being a senior in high school, Honey looks and acts like a kid from elementary school yet is a master at martial arts and incredibly scary if woken up. The list goes on, but these are the types of characters you get with Ouran High School Host Club.
So, it is no surprise that the heroine of the plot is not so typical either. In many ways, I feel like Haruhi is almost the antithesis of a majority of heroines. She is intelligent and has dreams of becoming a lawyer rather than dreaming of boys; she’s independent and not afraid to speak her mind. This all comes through in the story, like the reason she attends Ouran Academy. Haruhi wanted to go there to get her closer to reaching her dream and achieved this through her academics. Compare that to heroines who choose schools based on how cute its uniform is. I also want to add that I’ve seen spunky heroines and meek heroines, ditzy and misunderstood, but I don’t think I’ve ever come across a heroine who is blunt and somewhat apathetic like Ouran High School Host Club‘s lead. It’s good (and amusing) to see such a different personality!
Because of this, like the story itself, Haruhi is put into classic manga scenarios, but usually handles them rather differently than your average manga heroine. For instance, if a female character with long hair has to cut her hair, it’s seen as a sacrifice (Sakura from Naruto, Keiko from Yu Yu Hakusho). In Ouran, Haruhi used to have beautiful long hair, but after a neighborhood kid stuck gum in her hair, she cut most of it off without batting an eye. The boys of the series regret the loss of her long hair, but Haruhi could care less. While I probably would be in the former category if I suddenly had to cut my hair, I love Haruhi’s attitude. She is removed from social pressures about appearance.
Another example is how Haruhi handled being mistaken for a boy. I have seen the cross-dressing scenario in manga before, but her reaction to the situation is unique. She doesn’t care about dressing like a guy. In fact, right after all the boys of the host club have finally realized that she is really a girl, she says, “I don’t really care if you guys recognize me as a boy or a girl. In my opinion it’s more important for a person to be recognized for who they are, rather than what sex they are.” (Episode 1, anime version) Seeing people for who they are on the inside is something that Haruhi brings up multiple times throughout the series. Can you imagine what fiction would be like if we saw more heroines with attitudes like this?
This outlook applies to her attitude toward the host club members as well. Instead of being one of the masses who can’t help but be charmed by the beauty of the boys of the host club at first glance (a scenario that appears in other manga in a non-comedy setting), Haruhi sees them for what they honestly are, the good and the bad. The audience is often treated to her humorously blunt insights such as when Tamaki goes on a rant about his beauty, Haruhi honestly thinks hard on the right word to describe him and comes up with “annoying,” instantly deflating his ego like a needle to a balloon.
The series is not without some problems. One such problem occurs in an episode in which, after Haruhi stands up to a couple of male bullies and is hurt in the process, a couple of the characters, and thus the story, focus too much on the fact that Haruhi was a girl going up against guys and the physical disadvantage she has as a girl instead of the idea that she needed to learn that she can rely on others sometimes, which I think was the main point of the episode. However, my overall impression of Ouran High School Host Club and its female lead are very good. So, if you’re sick of stereotypical heroines and plots or just want something a little different and fun, check out Ouran High School Host Club! You can watch the anime for free and legally on Hulu.com, but if you want the complete story, be sure to pick up the 18 volume manga series it is based on.
I know many people love Haruhi’s character, but I’ve always been in the minority in not particularly caring for her. Her blasé attitude towards everything made me blasé towards her. Furthermore, even though she’s more intelligent than the average shojo heroine, I still felt the male characters in the series overshadowed her as they would with any other shojo female protagnist. After rewatching Ouran, I found myself liking Haruhi slightly more, but I think I still respect her unconventional attitude towards gender more than I actually like her.
I guess her blasé attitude is amusing for some, but not for others. I can understand that. It worked for me given the type of series Ouran is and because I feel like it helped balance out the other characters’ craziness. I also liked it just because it’s different from the typical heroine.
Haruhi goes through more character development later on in the manga series that wasn’t in the anime and I think it addressed her indifferent attitude, although I can’t remember if I liked the development or not. I’ll have to go back and reread it.
I actually was struck by how different Haruhi is from all the typical shojo heroines. I like how she isn’t bothered by her appearance, and she isn’t falling for the Ouran guys the same way the other girls at the high school are. She’s more focused on their personalities than how handsome or charming they are. It’s funny how Haruhi is able to see past their seemingly perfect facade as elite club members.
I agree with starsamaria, Haruhi sometimes comes off as too indifferent to everything, but it is nice to encounter a shojo heroine and series that doesn’t present the typical story plots and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Reblogged this on compass on my field trip.
Thank you! I really appreciate it.
You’ve totally convinced me to give this series a try. I had heard about it, but I thought it was typical shoujo stuff so I was in no hurry to read/watch it. Now that I know it is not, it is going up my priority list. :3 I especially like that Haruhi isn’t concerned about being seen as “feminine”. This is probably the thing that bothers me the most about shoujo heroines. I hate how “tomboy” girls get so bothered when people can’t tell they are girls. It stresses gender over everything and as someone who has always felt that people are never “men” or “women” (in terms of personality), but a mixture of both; this has bothered me to no end. Not to mention it reinforces the idea that girls care about how they look, above all else, no matter what their personality is like and as someone who pretty much only cares about looking clean rather than pretty or girl-ish, this has always always bothered me.
When you think about it, a lot of our emphasis on gender in relation to personality and behavior puts us into boxes; this is how boys act, feel, think and that is how girls act, feel, think according to cultural norms. Haruhi is very refreshing in that regard; she doesn’t put herself into a box. I really can’t say I’ve seen any other female character who is so unconcerned about gender as her. As a said, there a moments when the series seems to put an emphasis on Haruhi’s gender, but I feel like Haruhi never really abandons her perspective, at least in the anime; as I said to starsamaria, I’ll have to go back and read the manga over again because I know that Haruhi went through more character change, but I can’t remember what I thought about it.
I definitely agree with you on the box thing. 🙂 As for other shoujo heroines, yes they are very rare. I’ve personally only come across one other example and it’s only a recent one. Tsukasa from Tokyo Crazy Paradise doesn’t really mind being thought of as a guy (she was raised as a boy because in the world of the manga, violence against women is very high). She just thinks of herself as herself regardless of her gender. This is actually something she thinks in the manga at one point when considering whether she’s a guy or a girl. The manga has a few moments that I kind wish weren’t there, but overall it was quite nice and I especially like how even in the ending, when she officially returns the love interest’s feelings, she doesn’t change.
I’ve never read Tokyo Crazy Paradise, although I heard about it after I started reading Skip Beat!. The heroine sounds interesting and I appreciate that she doesn’t have to change who she is to fall in love and be with a guy. I’ll have to put it on my list of manga to read!
I am curious about what you think on Gender Performance in the series. Haruhi herself seemed to enter the series without a focus on her gender, but the show continues to find ways to hint that she’d be happiest as a girl.
I find the beach scene more troubling when it’s looked at alongside the ending where she fights for Tamaki in a dress. EVEN MORESO, the fact that it works within the shoujo tropes with a character who doesn’t necessarily display interest in romance at all.
I do feel like the series put emphasis on Haruhi’s gender at times and that bothered me. Like you said, having Haruhi appear in a dress in the dramatic climax of the anime alongside the content of the beach episode pushes the typical ideas about gender onto Haruhi. However, I think the thing that saves the series as a whole for me is that I never felt that Haruhi herself conformed to it. It’s tricky, but that’s the impress I have of it.
But Haruhi has no character development. I continually baffle myself as to why these guys are attracted to her. As a guy that does stupid stuff with my friends at my own expense, I can tell you no nothing kills the mood more quickly than a wet blanket that does not get the joke. I can’t help but wonder if these guys are secretly machoists for dealing with the abuse all of the time.
There is certain a double standard going on with this anime. I mean if this story was about a guy surrounded by women that adore him regardless of his insulting them for their actions it would get tons of controversy . Feminists would tear it apart. With their teeth.
I hate Haruhi because she has set a new standard for female heroines in manga. Don’t try. Relationships are not about compromise, its about having your partner go every step of the way with the two of you sharing the reward at the end. I can’t tell you how many blase, apathetic clones I’ve seen of Haruhi. Tonari no Kaibutsu has guy that worships a girl who is completely focused on studying. Usui will do literally anything to get man hating Misaki to love him. Its getting harder to find romance stories where five guys aren’t kissing up to emotionally closed girl as the harem genre for shojo continues to devour it from the inside out.
Hey, I read the first volume of Ouran High School Host Club when I was about 12, and I remember being completely bored of it and deciding not to read on.
Well, I saw it on Netflix and decided to give it a try. The first episode was great, Haruhi reminded me of myself, and at some point even thought to herself “what’s wrong with these women?” (referring to the host club guests acting silly.) And I loved how she stated she doesn’t care what gender people view her as, because it’s what’s inside that matters.
After the first episode, I saw the initial delight I had for the first episode dissipate. Particularly, the episode where Haruhi tried to fight off bullies pissed me off. After she was saved, everyone thought she should apologize for making them worry. And that she should ultimately realize that she is a girl and needs to rely on men to protect her. That episode kind of felt like a slap in the face- “if you’ve developed into a strong indepedent, perhaps slightly apathetic girl, it’s because you were forced to be alone as a child and had no one to rely on. Because, obviously, as a girl, your natural state is to be unrealistically scared of bugs and ghosts and dependent on others.”
… Right.
I watched one episode after that, where I saw the straw-feminist lesbian misandrist characters. Then, I was done. I couldn’t keep watching.
I understand basically all anime is going to have things that peeve feminists. But, this was just too much. It’s so sad that something with such great potential and interesting characters has to fall to such routine episode plots. Meh.
The more I’ve thought about Ouran High School Host Club after I wrote this and read readers’ comments like yours, I have to admit I’ve realized something; while I like Haruhi and some of the ideas she represents and presents, I’m not sure I like how the story handled her. The episode with the bullies seems to be a painful point for a lot of people and I agree, the straw-feminist characters from the all girls school rubbed me the wrong way as well. I want to go back and read the whole manga series again since it goes on a lot longer than the anime, but from the anime, it definitely seems like a case of a good female character pulled back.
I totallllllly love OHSHC…like seriously…but I feel ya, It tends to get annoying that all these female leads have these great guys literally throwing themselves at them but they are too dense or more interested in other things(studies…lol)…but you have to admit that after they finally do see the ‘Light’…they are really dependable and willing to go the extra mile for the guys(talking about misaki and haruhi here).I dropped tonari no… when the h got too annoying….
I’m glad someone else felt so strongly about that beach scene. I just finished watching it and, while I loved the show overall, that one gave me the most trouble. It was intensely frustrating that they would honestly chastise her for trying to help those girls, though I try to remember the “you don’t have to do it alone” part more than the “because I’ll do it all for you instead” part of it. Still, it frustrates me, because I was sitting there cheering for her and the rest of the episode was telling me why I shouldn’t have.
I think that, that reaction is a typical male one, and not one thats to be confined to the mangas and fiction. The same would have had happened in real life…so yea while we all loved haruhi trying to help the girls, the fact that haruhi was a 5 ft 3 inc 110pound soaking wet, girl with no defensive skills, would make anyone worry, least of all friends..
[…] Haruhi Fujioka has no time for your gender nonsense. Via Gagging on Sexism. […]
[…] asides previously made in the direction of Ouran Host Club, thanks to the elegant exposition at: https://gaggingonsexism.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/what-i-love-about-haruhi-fujioka/ (the earlier cited paper on it didn’t work for me – too much blah blah, the 3rd […]
I think I respect Haruhi for her unconventional views on gender, but as someone said before me, I do not particularly like her. And it is not because she is blunt with the host club members. Tbh, they are idiots, so dealing with them logically must be tiring. It can be taken as a part of the comedy. What I have a problem with is that why does being ‘strong’ directly translate to being uninterested in romance?
I really liked Haruhi at first, she was intelligent, independent, observant and compassionate. What was there to not like? But gradually I saw this pattern in the strong heroine archtype. It means that she has to be emotionally unattached. Aloof. While I agree that there are people like that, what about girls who aren’t on the either extreme? Why can’t we heroines have who don’t live solely for romance but aren’t entirely apathetic? There have been really few books where I have seen a fully fleshed heroine who is career driven and independent, but she also feels relatable. Acknowleging a good looking guy/girl doesn’t mean you will have once in a lifetime romance nor does it make you ‘uncool and ordinary’. Well it is ordinary, but you get what I mean.
So while I appreciate Haruhi’s character, I dislike it that she reinforces the idea that being emotionally aloof (resistant to charms) is what constitues a strong heroine. The other girls who do so are obviously stupid. Being sensitive automatically means you are a romantic, which is a weakness. Seriously? No.