Tamaki Suoh (Japanese: 須王 環, Hepburn: Suō Tamaki, sometimes romanized as Suou^[1][2]) is a fictional character and the primary male protagonist from the manga and anime series Ouran High School Host Club, created by Bisco Hatori. In the manga and its adaptations, he is the president and co-founder of the host club, entertaining guests by being the "princely" type. He and the other male members of the club strive to keep Haruhi’s real gender a secret from their clients and the rest of the school for fear she will not be allowed to stay if it is found out she is really a girl, which drives a large portion of the series' comedy and occasionally drama. Although initially appearing to be shallow, it is gradually revealed that there is more to him than meets the eye, particularly his status as an illegitimate hāfu and the issues it causes him and the rest of his family. In addition to the original manga, he also appears in the drama CDs, anime, live-action television series, its associated film and LISMO drama, the visual novel, and the musicals. Critical response to Tamaki has been mostly positive, especially in regards to his genuinely charming and empathetic personality and over-the-top dramatic behavior, befitting not only the series' comedy but its satire of shōjo clichés in general.

Tamaki shares a strong resemblance with the character Satsuki from Bisco Hatori's other work, Millennium Snow, both in appearance and personality.

Character notes describe him as "a hot-blooded narcissist guy who cries a lot". Hatori notes that he started out "narcissist and a bit annoying" but "chapter by chapter became stupid and annoying" and that despite his apparent glibness with the girls, he genuinely means what he says. She describes him as the "most reckless one in the plot" and how "nobody can stop him anymore". She also mentions that there are "many things unrevealed about him" and promised to show them later on.^[3]

Hikaru Midorikawa voiced him in the early drama CDs while Mamoru Miyano voiced him in the later CDs. Miyano reprised his role for the Japanese dub of the anime^[4] while Vic Mignogna voices him in the English dub.^[5] In the live action television series, film, and LISMO drama, he is played by Yusuke Yamamoto. In the musicals, he is played by Junya Komatsu^[6][7].

Tamaki is a second-year student at Ouran Academy, a co-founder and the president of the Host Club. Flamboyant and narcissistic, he is dedicated to his duties as a host. He is the princely type, entertaining customers with upper-class etiquette and shameless flattery. He is the self-declared king of the Host Club due to his seventy percent request rate.^[8] He refers to the club as his "family", with himself as the father figure; Kyoya, the mother; Haruhi, the daughter; Hikaru and Kaoru, the brothers; and Mori and Honey, the uncles. He is the main comic relief character in the series. He is naïve for his age, viewing himself as an obsessive father figure to Haruhi when he is really in love with her despite his flirtatious ways with the female students who visit the club. The other hosts see through his oblivious nature when it comes to his feelings for her. Although Tamaki is perceptive regarding others' feelings, which Hikaru and Kaoru both note, he is dense about his own. He admires Haruhi's personality and doesn't understand his jealousy when other boys express interest in her. A running gag is Haruhi teasing him, breaking his fragile self-esteem and causing him to sit in a fetal position in a secluded corner or grow mushrooms in a dark closet. Despite his naivete and his ability to miss the most obvious things, Tamaki is able to see through difficult people like Kyoya and the Hitachiin twins, whom he managed to convince to join his club despite their disparate personalities. He correctly identifies Kyoya's insecurities, the twins' loneliness, and Honey's discontent, and offers his club as a way for them to escape or rail against their respective troubles. However, he also hides a vulnerable side due to his family issues and expresses doubt about his future in the Suoh family as he had lived his entire life up until that point by his mother's words.^[9] He also prefers to stay silent so as not to cause problems for his friends and does not express his true feelings fearing they would leave him.^[10]

He is a hafu, full name René Tamaki Richard de Grantaine (ルネ・環・リシャール・ド・グランテーヌ, Rune Tamaki Rishāru do Gurantēnu)^[9], living under the custody of his father, the wealthy chairman of Ouran Academy, at the beginning of the series. Tamaki's paternal grandmother, Shizue, is the true head of the Suoh family and business^[11] and bears a grudge against him and his mother over the fact that his father had an affair with Tamaki's mother and divorced his legal wife when Tamaki was born.^[12] Even though there is no other heir to the Suoh family, his grandmother refuses to acknowledges Tamaki as a Suoh, refuses to allow him to live in the family's main residence, and forbids him any contact with his mother in France.^[13] Eventually, he is accepted into the primary residence^[13], though she makes his life difficult by forbidding him contact with the staff from the secondary residence and his dog, banning him from the Host Club, forcing him to study the family business if he is serious about entering it, placing him under house arrest, shutting down all of his attempts at bonding, and trying to get Haruhi out of Japan.^[11][14] After Yuzuru schemes to remove her from her position as president of the company and completely shuts her out of it as well, sending her into a depression, she hears Tamaki playing the piano and begins listening to him and they eventually bond over shared interests in Japanese culture like television shows and antiques, which Yuzuru had been cultivating since Tamaki was a young boy.^[12][15] Because of this, she allows him to see his mother at the airport before she departs for France.^[16]

Tamaki was born and raised in France and lived there until the age of fourteen with his sickly mother, Anne-Sophie, who he was particularly close to. She only called him Tamaki. Her ill health worried him so much that when he was little, he did not go out and make friends like a normal child, instead choosing to stay with her and play the piano so she would feel better.^[9] Shizue made a deal with her that forced her to choose between her son or financial security. She took Shizue's money and Tamaki went to live in Japan with the caveat they could never see each other again. Afterwards, she felt shame that she had given up her son in exchange for money and disappeared, though she is secretly testing a new drug that could cure her illness. In the anime, she instead works for Éclair Tonnerre's family as a housekeeper and constantly talks about Tamaki to her, making Éclair curious about him.

Tamaki and the rest of the host club mistake new scholarship student Haruhi Fujioka as a male customer when she enters the room they use though she was just looking for a quiet place to study. After breaking an expensive vase, they make her their errand boy to pay it off. Tamaki tries giving "him" tips on how to get girls to notice "him" and discovers "he" is actually attractive enough to be a host, so the rest of the club then forces Haruhi to be a host to pay off her debt. At the end of her first day, the boys all discover Haruhi is a girl and conspire to keep her real gender a secret so she can stay in the club, fearing she will be forced to leave should the school become aware of her actual gender. Tamaki is the last to figure it out, picking up Haruhi’s wallet and looking inside, seeing her school ID^[8], cementing his clueless nature. The series parodies shojo clichés while also switching between Tamaki and the rest of the club helping other people with their problems, mostly love related, and focusing on the club members' daily lives outside of the club, showing that none of them are as shallow as the roles they play to their customers. Examples of the former include getting a host-hopping customer and her fiancé back together^[17], a grade school boy who comes to the club asking for advice on how to woo girls^[18], and teaching Black Magic Club president Umehito Nekozawa how to be a princely type brother to his little sister Kirimi, who is terrified of occult-related things like the dark and cats but which Nekozawa cannot live without^[19]. Examples of the latter include dealing with physical examinations which risk exposing Haruhi's secret^[20], visiting Haruhi at home and seeing how commoners live^[21], going to a waterpark owned by Kyoya's family^[22], and going to the beach and dealing with hooligans unexpectedly showing up and causing trouble^[23]. Early on, the club gains a self-appointed manager in the form of Renge, an otaku who believes Kyoya is the real life version of a video game protagonist she is obsessed with and who sometimes causes trouble for the club^[24], but also uses her vast knowledge of the clichés the story mocks to help the club and anybody they are assisting. Sometimes the club has to deal with rival clubs, such as the Newspaper Club, whose president wishes to slander Tamaki for perceived wrongs^[25], and the Zuka Club from St. Lobelia Girl’s Academy who want to steal Haruhi away and make her join their club due to their misandrist beliefs.^[26] At a certain point in the manga, Tamaki realizes that he loves Haruhi as a woman and not as a daughter, yet fails to act upon his feelings due to his own divided family, fearing that something similar will happen Host Club should he ever pursue Haruhi romantically.^[27] A love triangle develops as Hikaru is also in love with Haruhi but when he confesses, she rejects him and he informs Tamaki of this.^[28] However, thanks to his friends' efforts, Tamaki accepts that doing so will not hurt the club. Even then, he cannot find the courage to confess to her, frightened that she does not return his feelings. Then, upon hearing Haruhi's confession, he admits his feelings, and the two become a couple.^[16] Towards the end of the manga, he surprises Haruhi by going with her to the United States. The two move into an apartment together, followed by the rest of the Host Club moving in next door, much to the couple's surprise, showing that even after high school the club will always be together. He and Haruhi are the first of the Host Club members to have children.^[29] Bonus manga chapters show Tamaki contemplating marriage with Haruhi eight months after their move to Boston, realized two years later. He is also confirmed as the heir of the Suoh family, which requires him to travel abroad frequently as stated when Haruhi mentions in passing during her conversation with Mei at Ouran University that she has not seen Tamaki for several weeks.

The anime follows the manga for the most part though there are changes. Overall it downplays Tamaki being a hafu and some characters and stories from the manga's beginning are dropped. The first episode adds light bulbs when each boy figures out Haruhi is really a girl and Tamaki finds out Haruhi is a girl by walking in on her changing.^[30] The anime also adds banana peels to increase the comedy, like when Tamaki accidentally causes Haruhi to kiss Kanako by slipping on a banana peel, pushing her onto the other girl’s lips when she was aiming for the cheek.^[31] The last two episodes are anime-only as it was ending and the manga was still ongoing, necessitating an original ending. The Host Club is threatened with being shut down due to it being deemed frivolous by Kyoya's father and Tamaki is being blackmailed into marrying a spoiled French girl, Éclair Tonnerre, in exchange for seeing his mother again.^[32] Kyoya outmaneuvers his father while the other club members go after Tamaki, trying to convince him to stay and keep the club together as they all genuinely enjoy it and have changed for the better after meeting the other members. Haruhi catches up to him alone and Éclair lets Tamaki leave, sensing how much she means to him. The club is saved but who Haruhi ends up with is not resolved, though Tamaki, Kyoya, and Hikaru are all hinted. The show ends with the characters thanking the viewers for watching.^[33]

He came in third place in the first popularity poll for the manga.^[34] In an Anime News Network poll, Tamaki’s mansion was the anime character’s mansion people most wanted to live in.^[35] Various types of merchandise have been released based on Tamaki such as a Nendoroid figure,^[36] plushies,^[37] keychains,^[38] lamps,^[39] wall scrolls^[40], and stickers^[41].

The anime's portrayal of Tamaki has been praised for perfectly exaggerating his "snappy" movements and how his lanky arms, broad shoulders, flowing hair, and towering legs "are prone to monopolizing the entire screen.".^[42] Concerning Mignogna's portrayal, Theron Martin said he "certainly captures the spirit of the character", though "his vocal style is enough of a departure from the original that it may throw some viewers.".^[43]

His character has been called "so spot on", ranking seventh among the ten most clichéd characters from shōjo anime.^[44] Tamaki's relationship with Haruhi has been called iconic and his awkwardness in wooing her "particularly endearing". They ranked seventeenth among the top thirty anime couples of all time.^[45] Their relationship also ranked ninth among the ten best anime couples that never got together.^[46]

Tamaki often makes appearances on lists of anime husbandos. He came in eighth among the top ten anime husbandos of all time.^[47] He ranked second among the top thirty anime husbandos of all time.^[48] He was ranked fifth among the ten funniest anime husbandos.^[49] Chelsea Steele of CBR called him the most lovable of the hosts and noted his ability to win the audience over with "his over-the-top dramatics and eccentricity.". She ranked him seventh on her list of the ten best husbandos from 2000s anime.^[50] Melissa Ojeda ranked him eighth on her list of ten most compassionate anime husbandos, noting that while he is a bit idiotic and can come off as rude and condescending, he actually "cares a lot about people's happiness, which is why he starts the Host Club" and how ultimately "a person's status in life doesn't mean much to him. He treats Haruhi no different from any of his other friends".^[51]