12/01/2008

Host Club associates and customers


 
Renge Houshakuji (宝積寺 れんげ Hōshakuji Renge) is the Host Club's (self-proclaimed) manager 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, and with a high pitched giggle- "oh hohohohohoho". 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 manager 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. Her catch phrase (I could eat three bowls of rice) is a reference to the anime "Green Green".

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. Voiced by: Kozue Yoshizumi (Japanese), Monica Rial (English)


Umehito Nekozawa (猫澤 梅人 Nekozawa Umehito?) is depicted as a hooded figure holding a cat puppet named Beelzenef. Umehito hates bright light to the point that he refers to anyone who drags him into lights 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. Umehito has one as a puppet, but it is also available as a voodoo 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.

Umehito is actually very handsome under his hood, although he wears a black wig over his naturally blond hair and bright blue eyes. He has a younger sister named Kirimi who is afraid of the dark and cats. As a result, the two siblings were not able to be around one another until Tamaki and the Host Club got involved and prompted Umehito to adapt to light and display his more heroic and princely side. In the end, it is Umehito'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 Umehito. 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.

In Volume 3 of the manga, the Host Club actually stay at Umehito's private beach and mansion, not Kyoya's, though Umehito does not attend dinner because Haruhi switched the lights on and caused him to go into shock. The Host Club (Mori, Hunny, the twins, and Haruhi) also see Umehito without his cloak and wig for the first time as he comes out to see what's wrong when Haruhi is being taken to the bathroom. It is unclear if he has realized that Haruhi is a girl but seeing as she spent the whole time in a dress instead of her typical boyish clothes it's very possible he knows her secret and just doesn't care about it, although in a manga chapter, that is clearly rebuffed as Haruhi (who was in a witch costume at the time) is clearly referred to by Umehito as "Mr. Fujioka".

The Nekozawa family traces their lineage to the Tokarev Dynasty in Russia, suggesting that Nekozawa family may work with gun manufacturing companies (a firearm even appears in the manga). In the anime, Umehito refers to himself using the polite pronoun "watashi" rather than "boku" or "ore". Voiced by: Yuji Ueda (Japanese), Patrick Seitz (English)


Ritsu Kasanoda (笠野田 律 Kasanoda Ritsu?) 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. 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. He suffers some humiliations at the hands of the Host Club members, 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 not knocking before entering, he has become the first person at Ouran High outside the host club to discover that Haruhi is a girl. He had a confused crush on her prior to learning she was a girl and consequently 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 (even though Haruhi is usually quite adept when reading the emotions of others, she is usually quite clueless when others show a romantic interest in her), 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. He joined the Gardening Society of the school. In episode 25 of the anime he is seen surrounded by female students, apparently embarrassed but certainly not angry. Interesting to note, several members of his household are covertly observing Kasanoda's school life from behind the bushes at the time. Voiced by: Wataru Hatano (Japanese), Christopher Sabat (English)


Kanako Kasugazaki


Kanako Kasugazaki (春日崎 奏子 Kasugazaki Kanako?) is 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 - "host-hopping" - the usual practice being for a girl to designate a permanent host. She only did this to spite her fiancé, Tohru Suzushima, into paying attention to her, but 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 kisses, 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. Voiced by: Natsuko Kuwatani (Japanese), Laura Bailey (English)


Shiro Takaoji

Shiro Takaoji (鷹凰子嗣郎 Takaoji Shirō?) is 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 seiyū's more famous role as the titular character in Naruto. Voiced by: Junko Takeuchi (Japanese), Brina Palencia (English)


Ayame Jōnōchi

Ayame Jōnōchi (城之内綾女 Jōnōchi Ayame?) is 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).

Reiko Kanazuki

Reiko Kanazuki (伽名月 麗子 Kanasuki Reiko?), a student of Class 1-D, has a crush on Hunny. However, due to her shyness (and obsession with curses), the Host Club initially had the wrong impression that she was out to do Hunny harm. After some words from Hunny, Reiko decided to try to overcome her shyness, and also became a regular at the Host Club. She's the second member of the Black Magic Club to be named.

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