The Gender-Flip of Haruhi Suzumiya

About

The Gender-Flip of Haruhi Suzumiya, also known as “Haruhi Genderbending Series” (Japanese: ハルヒ性転換シリーズ, Haruhi Seitenkan Series) in Japan, is a series of fan creations based on The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. The fanworks feature gender-bent^[1] versions of the characters in the series.

Kyonko is the most well known character. However, Itsuki/Itsuko, Haruki/Haruhiko, and many gender-flipped characters have flourished on both the English and the Japanese web.

Origin

Genderbending is a commonly-used approach in fanmade works from fanfictions to art (see the Rule 63 entry). In fact, hentai doujins featuring gender-bent Haruhi existed in doujin circles before this fad became popular on the web. However, those doujins got very little attention because genderbending is a very minor genre in doujin works.

The video which set a precedent for this fad was posted to Nico Nico Douga (NND) on January 31st, 2008.^[2] The video featured traces of the cover arts for the characters song CD albums but with the characters gender’s flipped.

This was the first successful video to make this idea popular among many NND users and Haruhi fans.

Spread

Several NND users started following this genderbending fad soon after this video was posted. Among their works, this video which led to an explosive spread of this idea on the web was uploaded to NND on February 24th, 2008.^[3]

Since then many videos, illustrations, and short stories inspired from these works began to be posted continuously to NND^[4], pixiv^[5] and 2channel.^[6] The common base of characters’ designs, personalities and storylines had been created by the fans influencing one another, and these ideas had been shared by many Haruhi fanficers through the web.

The series of those fanfictions on the Japanese web is usually called “The Melancholy of Haruhiko Suzumiya” (涼宮ハルヒコの憂鬱). Haruhiko is the name of gender-flipped Haruhi commonly used by the Japanese internet users.^[7]^[8]

As a result of this popularity on the web, it was reported in the Japanese late night TV show for internet phenomena The Net Star^[9] in September, 2008.

Western Fandom

The swell of the momentum of “The Gender-Flip of Haruhi Suzumiya” soon leaked onto the Western internet. While many above-mentioned illustrations were re-uploaded from the Japanese website onto English forums, Western fans began creating their own fan creations in the late of February 2008. Those works are listed on the thread in Animesuki Forum^[10] and also posted on TVtropes.^[11]

Among Western internet users, this series is usually called “The Melancholy of Haruki Suzumiya” with Haruki instead of Haruhiko being the popular name for genderbent Haruhi.

Original Name
English
Japanese

Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒ)
Haruki Suzumiya
Haruhiko Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒコ)

Kyon (キョン)
Kyonko
-

Yuki Nagato (長門有希)
Yukio Nagato
Yuuki Nagato (長門ゆうき)

Mikuru Asahina (朝比奈みくる)
Mitsuru (or Mitsuuru) Asahina
Mitsuru Asahina (朝比奈みつる)

Itsuki Koizumi (古泉一樹)
Itsuko Koizumi
Itsuki Koizumi (古泉一姫)

Tusuya-san (鶴屋さん)
-
Tsuruya-Senpai (鶴屋先輩) or
Takashi (鶴谷隆)

Ryoko Asahina (朝倉涼子)
-
Ryo Asakura (朝倉涼)

Kyon’s Sister (キョンの妹)
-
Kyonko’s Brother (キョン子の弟)

Emiri Kimidori (喜緑江美里)
Emirio / Eriotto
Emirio Kimidori (喜緑エミリオ) or
Youhei Kimidori (喜緑洋平)

Characters’ Name in Fandom on both the English web and the Japanese web