HaruhiSuzumiya/TropesAToE | HaruhiSuzumiya/TropesFToI | HaruhiSuzumiya/TropesJToN | HaruhiSuzumiya/TropesOToS | '''Tropes T to Z''' |
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!!!''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' provides examples of the following tropes:

* TakingTheBullet: Subverted. [[spoiler:Yuki doesn't sustain lasting damage shielding Kyon with her own flesh.]]
* TalkingIsAFreeAction: Somehow, Kyon in the anime, when thinking or narrating (you can hardly tell the difference between the two). Especially obvious during "Someday in the Rain".
* TeamMom: [[spoiler:Haruhi]] is actually turning into this, starting around ''Disappearance'', but especially obvious in [[spoiler:the preview chapter of novel 10]].
* {{Technobabble}}: Every time Yuki, Mikuru and Itsuki explain something to Kyon, who normally lampshades it.
* TechnologyPorn: The futuristic videogame "world," with tons of ships and views of torpedoes being loaded everywhere.
* TemporalParadox: Future Mikuru would not have showed her star-shaped breast mole to Kyon as a TrustPassword if Kyon didn't tell Present Mikuru that she had one after Future Mikuru told him, because she didn't even know until Kyon told her.
%%* TemporalSickness
* TemptingFate:
** Or rather, Tempted Fate. [[spoiler: In the infamous "Endless Eight" arc, Itsuki said that Haruhi is so happy and could not possibly do anything horrible. Guess what happens.]]
** "Stop yelling 'contest' over and over. If those words reach Haruhi's sharp ears..." ''[[[DynamicEntry HARUHI KICK!]]]''
** In Kyon's opening narration in the very first episode, he says he just wants a quiet life, passing through high school uneventfully. Then he meets Haruhi...
** Real-life example: When the first Endless Eight episode was aired and it didn't end the plot conclusively like the original novel did several fans jokingly said that there'd be Endless Eight repeating for the whole season. Others jokingly responded that [=KyoAni=] would ''never'' do such a thing. Guess what happens.
** Mikuru almost catches Kyon looking at his [[PornStash folder full of pictures of her]], but he quickly closes the window, thinking smugly that he doesn't make mistakes. Immediately...
--->'''Mikuru:''' Huh? What is this? This MIKURU folder.\\
'''Kyon:''' Gah! I slipped up.
%%* TenLittleMurderVictims: "Remote Island Syndrome".
* TimeLoopFatigue: In "Endless Eight", the SOS Brigade is trapped in a time loop covering the last two weeks of summer. They go through the loop ''over 15,000 times'' before breaking it. Fortunately for their sanity, most of them don't retain memories of the past loops, apart from deja vu. The exception is the alien EmotionlessGirl Nagato, who recalls everything with superhuman clarity. The toll this takes on her comes up in ''Disappearance'', [[spoiler:when her fatigue with her duties causes her to alter reality so that the Brigade never met.]]
* TimeTravel: The novels get ''really complex'' about this later.
* TimeyWimeyBall: One of the reasons Kyon hates TimeTravel.
%%* TheTimeTravellersDilemma
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Early Haruhi hit a fair few points of the criteria for Psychopathy (or similar social disorder), and as far as we know, never gets taken for therapy of any kind, even though she really could have used it. Then again, you could make a decent argument that Kyon is acting as her therapist.
* ThemeNaming:
** Twice called out over Yuki Nagato's name in the books, once in ''Wavering'' and again in ''Indignation''.
*** In fact, her name is written with the kanji for "has hope"[[note]]as Kyon points out in one of the novels[[/note]], but can also mean "snow" (which forms the basis for several BilingualBonus puns in the light novels, the manga, and in the spin-off manga/anime Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan).
** Mikuru's name can be read to mean [[spoiler: "Sees it coming."]]
** Kimidori can be read to mean "green" -- something [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in ''Haruhi-chan''.
** Itsuki means "tree." Mori means "forest."
** There is a large hotel chain in Japan named "Tsuruya" (similar to Hilton or Marriott in the United States).
** Haruhi itself means "spring day" (as in the kind of day that makes one energetic) and can also mean various things depending on what kanji are used.
* ThisIsAWorkOfFiction: In ''Sigh'', Kyon actually uses this to [[spoiler:save the world from talking cats, Mikuru Beams and autumnal cherry blossoms]].
--> '''Haruhi:''' This story is a work of fiction. All character names, organizations, incidents and any other names, phenomena and such, are fictional as well. It's all made up. Even if it resembles someone, it's probably just a coincidence. Oh, except for the commercials! Shop at Omori Electronics and Yamatsuchi Model Shop for great deals. Stop by and buy! Huh? I gotta say it again? This story is a work of fiction. All character names, organizations, incidents and any other names... Hey Kyon! [[LockedOutOfTheLoop Why do I have to say all this stuff anyway? I mean, it's totally obvious.]]
* ThisIsUnforgivable: Movie!Asakura's way to vaguely threaten Kyon should he happen to start dating Yuki and not take it seriously. The official English translation in the novel is a bit less threatening ("...if you intend to go out with Nagato, you'd better be serious about it. Or else I won't allow it.")
* ThoseTwoGuys: Taniguchi and Kunikida -- though we see a lot more of Taniguchi.
* TinMan: Subverted with Yuki, who legitimately appears to lack normal human emotions... at least, at first glance.
* TitleDrop: The anime, in episode 8:
-->'''Kyon:''' After that, Haruhi was strangely quiet, and dare I say, a bit melancholy.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Several, including:
** The most explicit such pairing is of boisterous, sporty and boyish GenkiGirl Haruhi Suzumiya (who actually leads a sports team at one point) and sweet, [[{{Moe}} shy Girly Girl]] Mikuru Asahina. Everyone else falls in between these two spectrums.
** Later on, Haruhi becomes part of two other pairings, once again on the tomboyish side of the spectrum with each; the girly girl in one of them is Sasaki, who [[spoiler:has no desire to take charge of the Anti-SOS Brigade and is in fact a supporting character in its downfall]], and in the other pairing, Haruhi is considerably more boisterous and less moe than her intended successor in the role of SOS Brigade leader, Yasumi Watahashi ([[spoiler:who turns out to be a product of the branching that takes place during the ''Dissociation''/''Surprise'' arc]]).
** [[JerkJock Haruhi]] and [[{{Bookworm}} Yuki]]
** [[BadassBookworm Yuki]] and [[{{TheHeart}} Mikuru]]
** Haruhi (suburbanite) and [[{{Ojou}} Tsuruya]]
** Tsuruya and [[ProperLady Mikuru]]
** [[AloofDarkHairedGirl Haruhi]] and Ryoko
** [[BoisterousBruiser Tsuruya]] and [[GirlyBruiser Ryoko]]
** Yuki and [[UncannyValleyGirl Ryoko]] subvert this trope. At first Ryoko may seem like an outgoing girly girl but she is actually a proactive alien who plays loose cannon to the Data Overmind and Yuki is usually a stickler to the Data Overmind's regulations.
* TouchedByVorlons:
** Espers, but if you apply it strictly, then ''every'' super-natural being only exists because [[spoiler: Haruhi created a world like that 3 years ago.]].
** If you believe what Itsuki has to say. [[spoiler: Mikuru's camp seems to have the opposite perspective on the matter.]]
* TrappedInAnotherWorld: Kyon in ''Disappearance.'' Subverted in that [[spoiler:the timeline of the original world has been altered instead of going to another world directly.]]
* {{Troperrific}}: Five trope pages and an impressive character sheet. The GenreBusting nature of the series helps.
* TrueCompanions:
** Subverted in the first few novels, at least for a while; neither Itsuki nor Mikuru trust the other fully, if at all, and Yuki warns Kyon not to trust anything any member of the SOS Brigade tells him. Kyon in particular is annoyed by most of the members, particularly Itsuki and Haruhi, and explicitly only cares about Mikuru, and regards Yuki as no more than a part of the furniture. The fact that the entire group has been brought together against their will is often a point of contention, and though Haruhi ''treats'' the group as TrueCompanions, no-one else sees it as such until ''Disappearance''. After that, however, the characters begin to treat each other in a manner that befits the trope, with Itsuki in particular saying he would gladly betray the Organization for the SOS Brigade.
** [[spoiler: The 11th book REALLY showcases this trope, with Itsuki once again being the main one to show it, saying that the SOS Brigade has become a part of him now.]]
* TrueLovesKiss: [[spoiler:Kyon kisses Haruhi to convince her to turn the world back to normal]] -- or at least [[spoiler: give her an interesting [[WillTheyOrWontThey romantic subplot]] with Kyon, keeping her from getting TOO bored]].
* TrustPassword:
** A crowning moment of awesome for Kyon in ''Disappearance'' -- "[[spoiler:I am John Smith.]]"
** There's also "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" -- first, Kyon proves himself to three-years-ago!Yuki with a note from present!Yuki. She then proves herself to Kyon -- [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble after synchronizing with herself from three years from then]], Yuki pulls off her glasses as if to say "Yes, Kyon, you don't have a [[{{Meganekko}} glasses fetish]]."
** Adult Mikuru attempts to use her mole as a TrustPassword with Kyon. It doesn't quite work. Similarly, in the movie, Kyon tries to use this with younger Mikuru, but it doesn't work out either.
** In "The Melancholy of Mikuru Asahina," Kyon says that his option of telling Mikuru [[spoiler:his knowledge of her future self]] is a trump card comparable to telling Haruhi that [[spoiler:he is John Smith]].
** Kyon might also be the key to [[spoiler:unsealing Yuki's full power.]] Yuki says she has [[spoiler:willingly sealed off her ability to synchronize, and that she cannot unseal it herself. She says the password to unsealing is in someone else's hands, but doesn't actually say who.]]
* TwiceShy: Kyon and Haruhi eventually have their [[BelligerentSexualTension BST]] turn into this. Itsuki [[LampShadeHanging lampshades]] it in the 10th novel.
* UmbrellaOfTogetherness: The anime-only episode "Someday in the Rain".
* UncannyValleyGirl: [[spoiler:Ryoko Asakura.]]
%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * UnConfession
* UndressingTheUnconscious: When the SOS Brigade [[AmateurFilmMakingPlot makes a film for the school festival]], one of the scenes has Mikuru's character throw into a lake and then nursed back to health by Itsuki's character, who puts her in bed now wearing a nightshirt, with the scene implying he changed her clothes while she was unconscious.
* UnequalPairing:
** The Kyon x Haruhi pairing [[ShipTease hinted by the series]] comes with a really big double bind: Haruhi can't be Kyon's equal as long as he actively continues to [[LockedOutOfTheLoop deceive her about her true nature]], but Kyon can't be Haruhi's equal if she becomes aware of her true nature.
** The fans who want Kyon with Yuki (also [[ShipTease hinted by the series]]) notice the all-powerful data entity probably doesn't want to see Yuki actually liking someone. And Mikuru can't have any relations with anyone not from her future.
* UnfazedEveryman: Kyon, quite obviously. He's quite GenreSavvy about it, too, although having a world-changing demiurge as a friend/boss kinda forces him to be.
* UnlimitedWardrobe: Mikuru Asahina and by extension everyone except Yuki.
* UnreliableNarrator: Kyon is odd. There are contradictions and quirks in what he says as a narrator and as a person that are just out of place.
* UnreliableVoiceover: Sometimes Kyon's narration is contradicted by what's on the screen, with no reason to doubt that the visuals are anything other than the truth. The best example is in the first chronological episode, when he says he's not interested in Haruhi, despite having just spent several scenes very obviously checking her out.
* UnseenAudience: Whoever the heck Kyon is talking to
* UnwantedHarem: It seems like the rest of the SOS Brigade is this to Kyon. [[HoYay Including Itsuki.]]
* VillainousBreakdown: In the 11th novel, when [[spoiler: Fujiwara meets Future!Mikuru ([[LongLostSibling whom he believes to be his older sister]])]] he ''completely loses it''.
* VillainousRescue: [[spoiler: ''Asakura'', of all people, saving Kyon from Kuyo Suo. Suffice to say, she doesn't exactly do it out of kindness. It doesn't help that most of the time she holds a knife at ''his'' throat!]]
* VitriolicBestBuds:
** As Taniguchi said about him and Kunikida, "So I threw him out the window, and that's how we became friends." * Tsuruya laughs*
** Haruhi and Kyon also have this sort of relationship.
** Itsuki and Kyon as well, particularly because they're the only males in the SOS brigade and Itsuki is the most open and talkative compared to Mikuru and Yuki.
* ViewerFriendlyInterface: Averted to extreme detail. The Literature Clubroom computer in ''Disappearance'' is a genuine [[Platform/PC98 PC-9821]] running NEC [[Platform/MicrosoftWindows Windows 95]], complete with original start-up chime.
* VirtualRealityWarper: In the anime, the crux of the episode "The Day of Sagittarius" is a computer game battle. The opposing team wrote the game and uses this to cheat their way to victory, so Yuki, herself essentially a computer, reprograms the game while playing to level the playing field.
* WagerSlave: "You're late! Penalty!"
* WakingUpElsewhere: ''The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya'' combines this with TimeyWimeyBall. [[spoiler:Kyon wakes up after experiencing being stabbed by Asakura, but by the time he wakes up, the past has been rewritten so that he fell down a set of stairs and hit his head.]]
* WeirdnessCensor:
** It largely seems like nobody who hasn't had the {{Masquerade}} broken for them can connect the dots and notice the weird events that happen around Haruhi for what they are. Events or situations where this is evident:
** Haruhi's herself, of course. Most incredibly in the "Snow Mountain Syndrome" story.
** Many of the supernatural events in ''Sigh'' happen in the presence of Haruhi, Tsuruya, Taniguchi, Kunikida, and in one case '''the whole city''', who either don't notice them or come up with mundane explanations for them (for example, "the fence must be really old" when it breaks in perfect, neat lines due to Mikuru's cutter beam).
** Nagato's performance in "The Day of Sagitarius."
** Nagato's "ventriloquism" in the student movie.
** The SOS Brigade's baseball game -- though the Kamigahara Pirates become superstitious about Kyon's bat.
** Possible exception: [[spoiler:Tsuruya, as seen in Novel 7. She knows that the SOS Brigade isn't normal, but we don't know whether she's figured it out on her own, or whether she's been told.]]
* WhamEpisode: Oh, there's been a ''couple'' so far.
** To start with, ''Melancholy'', part 5. [[spoiler:Now that is how you peel back a masquerade!]]
** The biggest Wham so far, though? ''Disappearance'', entirely, in both book and movie form. It's basically three hours of having your face hit with a sledgehammer over and over -- and you'll love every second of it. By the end of it all, ''everything'' you knew about the universe of the show has been turned on its ear and all previous suppositions are called into question.
** Book 10 pulls this off rather nicely too. It's even '''called''' "The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya". [[spoiler:Fujiwara is trying to give Sasaki Haruhi's power so he can control Sasaki and resurrect his sister--who is an alternate timeline version of Mikuru. Except it completely fails, because ''Haruhi'' saw this coming, split the timeline a week ago, and created an avatar that could consciously wield her powers to save everyone]].
* WhamLine:
** While certain parts of Episode 00 do drop hints at Haruhi's abilities, Shamisen speaking and Kyon and Nagato's attempts to cover it up clearly indicate that the show will have supernatural themes.
** In chronological order, it's not entirely clear if anything supernatural is going on for quite a while, or if Haruhi just attracts weirdos (because none of them offer any proof of their abilities). Then Ryoko Asakura calls Kyon to an empty classroom and, after a slightly odd speech, says cheerfully "That's why I'm going to kill you and see how Miss Suzumiya reacts!"
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Shamisen, the talking cat, appears in episode zero (eleven chronologically) of the 2006 version of the anime, in the opening and ending animations, and nowhere else in that season. It's implied that Kyon takes the cat home with him after the filming incident, but he's never seen at their house in the later episodes (most of which take place [[AnachronicOrder earlier in the year]]). This can be confusing to first-time viewers, who might think of this as clumsy continuity until they figure out the gimmick of the first season. The 2009 version of the series, however, inserts the episode that introduces Shamisen into the proper place in the chronology. Amusingly, the short story that expands on Shamisen is called "What Happened to the Cat?"
* WhenItAllBegan: ''[[ArcWords Three years ago...]]''
* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve: The anime's "Endless Eight".
* WhiteAndGreyMorality: There are pretty much no villains, aside from maybe, possibly Asakura Ryouko, and even then she's just a really, really, really far [[WellIntentionedExtremist extremist]]. All forces are genuinely trying to create the world they think is ideal, and only very few seem too extremist for rationality. The Data Entity wants to just "observe"; the Organization wants to maintain the world as it is; the Time Travelers want to keep a StableTimeLoop. Haruhi herself isn't evil, just a {{Jerkass}} who wants a little more excitement, and Kyon just wants his peace. Even [[spoiler:the Anti-SOS Brigade has somewhat stinted yet good intentions: Fujiwara wants to keep his race from being "slaves to time travel", Kuyou Suou just wants to communicate in the first place, Tachibana Kyouko just thinks the world is more ideal under Sasaki's influence, and Sasaki wants to figure out the truth behind ''everything''. Not to mention the fact that it might even ''be'' better for Sasaki to become God.]]
%%* WhoYouGonnaCall: The SOS Brigade.
* WhyDontYaJustShootHim: Despite having [[spoiler:"total data jurisdiction over [the classroom],"]] [[spoiler:Ryoko]] insists on using her military knife to do the deed [[spoiler:when she obviously could've crushed Kyon with flying desks (or done ''anything'' else, really).]]
* TheWhyWaitCombatant: When the computer club president challenges the SOS Brigade to a duel, no sooner does the "d" word leave his lips than Haruhi, without waiting for an explanation, does a flying kick to his head. She justifies it by saying that a duel is a duel from the moment the word is mentioned.
* WifeHusbandry: Time traveling high school boy encourages junior high school girl towards the topics of his interest.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: After going through nearly 15 and a half thousand of the same 2 weeks, Yuki gains emotions and becomes this. Except that she doesn't destroy the world. She steals Haruhi's powers and {{retcon}}s reality for 1 year, according to the novels, and 3 years and 5 months, according to TheMovie. And she succeeds. And she's stopped by the protagonists. And, for a point in time, there's 4 Kyons and 3 Mikurus.
* WorldOfTechnicolorHair: Most characters have realistic hair colors, aside from the Humanoid Interfaces; Yuki has greyish purple hair, Ryoko has blue hair, and Kimidori has green hair. Oddly, Tsuruya also has green hair despite not being a Humanoid Interface herself. No one seems to regard any of these hair colors as unusual even if most characters who have them aren't human.
* TheWorfEffect: Happens to Nagato [[spoiler: with the Heavenly Canopy Domain, both in '''Snowy Mountain Syndrome''' and '''Surprise''']]
* WrittenSoundEffect: The opening of the new episodes.
* WrongBathroomIncident: Two classes take P.E. together. The girls have to change in another classroom but the title character doesn't bother with going there and change between the boys. Changing her mind is impossible so they end up switching the rooms for changing between the boys and girls. Thus the other girls will change with Suzumiya, instead of her with them.
* YouDidntAsk : Endless Eight would have been [[{{Pun}} a lot shorter]] if someone just asked Yuki. Justified in that her role is to observe. Subverted when a GenreSavvy Kyon uses this to help solve the ''Remote Island'' mystery. [[spoiler: Itsuki asks [[RobotGirl Yuki]] for a body's temperature to estimate the time of death. Kyon later realizes that she would have just ''told'' them the time of death if asked directly (remember her fortune telling?) ...which would have revealed that the person was not actually dead]].
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Yuki is technically only 3 years old, [[spoiler:[[Really700YearsOld until]] "[[GroundhogDayLoop Endless Eight]]" [[Really700YearsOld anyway]]]].
* YourMindMakesItReal: Haruhi can alter reality unknowingly.
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