Is ouran highschool host club gay

I think Haruhi’s gender apathy and focus on who a person is gives her the capacity to be attracted to anyone, but I do think that in order to form a relationship, she needs a strong bond with someone.

All in all, Ouran High School Host Club is a wonderful and very queer show, one that I will always look back on fondly.

Basically, Ranka can call himself a “tranny” or an “okama,” but no one else should be using those terms. While their trope does add some comedic value to the series, it’s also equal parts just as uncomfortable. And while I’d love to also say give them at least one girl as a host, that would ruin the whole premise of the show, wouldn’t it?

However, this is not the space, and simply put: it’s all complex. For me, it was one of the first times I saw queerness portrayed on the screen. She cares more about who a person is internally than who they are externally. For instance, Haruhi’s dad is a professional crossdresser who ardently upholds the pride of his job.

Another example would be how the boys from Ouran High School dressed up as women to win back Haruhi.

I specifically say girls here because the boys question and/or are disappointed about any boy who shows up at their club. Let’s take a look at the problematic “forbidden brotherly love” trope of the Hitachiin twins, Hikaru and Kaoru.

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Each member of the Ouran Academy Host Club has their own image or act to follow in order to sell themselves.

Despite this, I’d say that Ranka’s characterization is a mostly positive one. In fact, in Episode 10, the show combats criticism against Ranka’s identity and his fatherhood by adding a scene in which a young Haruhi doesn’t want her father to attend a school event. From Haruhi Fujioka’s gender apathy to her father’s “gender-bending” ways, to the Zuka Club and beyond, Ouran showed me queer people simply living and having a good time.

However, there are instances in the series where the “incestuous brothers” act goes beyond the walls of the club. There is still a lot of good in it, and anything can be painted as “bad” when closely inspected. Considering how well the representation was portrayed with Haruhi and Ryoji “Ranka” Fujioka in terms of gender expression and identity, the same could have happened for BL.

Instead, the Hitachiin twins ended up becoming part of manga and anime’s long list of harmful BL stereotypes or BL representation gone wrong.

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