These are the characters that appear in the Haruhi Suzumiya series of anime and light novels. A warning: this series is the poster child of tropes, so entries could get a bit long.Also note that there are unmarked spoilers for the novel series as of this writing*
for your information, the anime and The Movie completely cover the first four volumes and a few side stories from later volumes
, so if you've only watched the anime, you might still be getting spoilers for future seasons.
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Tropes common to all Suzumiya Haruhi characters
Invisible Parents: No one seems to have parents, although this is justified in the case of Mikuru and the Humanoid Interfaces. Kyon's mother is mentioned, but she never appears on-screen.
Haruhi's parents are also mentioned (Melancholy V and the preview for book 10), we just never get to meet them.
Also understandable with Itsuki because he IS a transfer student.
Secret Identity: Four out of five SOS Brigade members, as well as all the other Aliens, Time Travelers, and Espers out there.
"I have no interest in ordinary humans. If there are any aliens, time travelers, sliders, or espers here, come join me. That is all."
An eccentric, Genre Savvy, hyperactive young girl who enrolls in North High in her first year. She starts off the plot by roping in an unwitting Kyon into forming a club with her, the "Spreading Excitement All Over the World With Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade", or the SOS Brigade for short. Her eccentricity stems from the fact that she can't come to terms with the fact that she's not a special person, so she spends every day trying to look for something out of the ordinary.In an ironic twist, Haruhi is unwittingly a Reality Warper sought after by several factions who have an interest in her — the very students which she recruited in her club, and the very people she wanted to look for: an alien, a time traveler, and an esper.The story essentially revolves around the antics caused by her powers, directly or indirectly, and the Character Development which ensues within the SOS Brigade.Tropes which apply to Haruhi:
Ambiguous Situation: Numerous points, but these are the two biggest: One, is she really God as Koizumi suggested early in the story? She seems mortal enough and it's implied she didn't always have her powers. However, is that really a meaningful question considering her implied omnipotence? Two, did she rewrite the universe at the end of the first novel/season of the anime? Even the characters in-story don't know.
Berserk Button: An upskirt directed at Mikuru, be it ever so accidental, has set her off at least once. Also, when she sets a specific time for you to show up for one of her club's events, she absolutely expects you to be on time, even if she sets a ridiculous time limit of 30 seconds.
Bi the Way: She makes it very clear right from the start that she doesn't care about the gender of the one she is with, as long as he or she is not an ordinary human being. She doesn't seem to have been dating girls though, but perhaps that was simply because only guys confessed to her.
Also, the only person she ever shows any explicit sexual interest in is Mikuru. Make of that what you wish.
It's also very clear she wants Kyon in the worst possible way too.
Blank Face Of Shame: This happens to Haruhi when she leaves after witnessing Kyon saving Mikuru's pictures. Also annoyingly subverted because she immediately walks into Mikuru, who can see her face and quickly reacts.
Broken Ace: Haruhi is very attractive and athletic, gets excellent grades, a superb cook and is generally good at everything except normal human social interaction, an area in which she seems horrendously lacking — she knows about it, but doesn't see the point. She's also utterly frustrated and unsatisfied with her life.
Broken Bird: One that manifests her disillusionment at the world through cheery obnoxious behavior.
She appears to be one when Kyon first sees her in the alternate world in the Disappearance film. While she seems normal, you can clearly tell she's not very happy with life.
The Bully: Until about halfway through, she was definitely this character type.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: As mentioned above, she is fantastic at almost everything, and people acknowledge it. In fact, it's inverted: Haruhi really shows her class, when it comes to things that have nothing to do with the SOS Brigade activities, as Kyon points out in the first chapter of Vol. 10. And she actually does wearbunny ears!
But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Everyone remembers Haruhi's Kick the Dog moment against the Computer Club president. Yep, everyone... except Haruhi herself.
Character Development: "We're not going to use your body to pay for what we need this time."
She also becomes more patient with other people.
Clingy Jealous Girl: Not really an example of one on the basis of her behavior; the most she's ever done is get annoyed and frustrated when Kyon pays too much attention to Mikuru. This is especially evident in the ninth volume where after being introduced to Sasaki, aka that weird girl Kunikida have been talking about, she started an outbreak of Closed Spaces. In Snowy Mountain Syndrome, she goes after Kyon for paying too much attention to Yuki, and she won't let his own sister stay with him.
During the baseball game in the anime, this trope is used subtly. After changing into cheerleader outfits, Haruhi holds Mikuru's hair in a ponytail style and wonders if she would look cuter this way. Then she quickly glances at Kyon, and remembers that he has a ponytail fetish (at least that's what he told her), groans a little, then decides against the idea.
In the episode "Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya III", she gets rather annoyed when Kyon gets picked to go with Mikuru during the toothpick drawing, and angrily tells him they'd better not act as if on a date. Later on, she has a very disgusted look on her face when Kyon and Nagato get chosen to go searching for stuff together.
A few episodes later, it's implied that Haruhi will sometimes go to extreme measures, even Closed Space, if that's what it takes to cockblock Kyon and Mikuru.
Crossdresser: Arguably does this when she sneaks into North High wearing Kyon's PE tracksuit (which is supposed to be unisex, by the way) in Disappearance. Since the incident with the tequila chronologically happened before Disappearance (and the novel it was featured in was the second, whereas Disappearance is the fourth, but you probably wouldn't care anyway), this makes her...
Cruella to Animals: Unfortunately her bumbling henchman Kyon can't figure out how to get 101 hamsters.
Crucified Hero Shot: Gets one at the hands of Kuyo near the end of Astonishment Vol. 2.
Crystal Dragon Jesus: And just like in Christianity, debates rage over her nature as God and girl.
Dangerously Genre Savvy: Normally she would qualify as merely Genre Savvy. However, her abilities to shape the fabric of reality itself to her will means that any genres she thinks should apply to a given situation suddenly WILL apply.
Dawson Casting: Her English dubber, one of the Streamline Pictures generation, is 51 as of Disappearance (which was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 20, 2011). In fact, she's the only SOS Brigade member to be voiced by a Streamline veteran.
Deicide: A near-victim of this during the climax of Astonishment Vol. 2.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Happens in two stages (And we see a compressed version of it again in Disappearance). She starts off as a traditional Ice Queen, defrosts into a Jerkass and gets nicer from there.
Depraved Bisexual: In Kyon's own words: "IS STRIPPING ASAHINA NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU, YOU PERVERTED GIRL?!"
Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Gets a detention early on following the Playboy Bunny incident (not for dressing as a Playboy Bunny in the first place, as she later dons the exact same outfit without interference, but for deliberately traumatizing Mikuru in the process; it didn't help that Mikuru was a second-year at the time, while Haruhi was a first-year).
Dress Hits Floor: Done with her Kouyouen uniform in Disappearance.
The End of the World as We Know It: What the other three members of the SOS brigade fear would happen should something drastic happen, particularly to Kyon.
Even the Girls Want Her: May have occurred in "Snowy Mountain Syndrome", when the Brigade members are confronted with hallucinatory versions of the people that they fantasize about the most, Haruhi is revealed to be Mikuru's fantasy. Then again, which hallucination appears to which Brigade member is actually a formula worked out by Nagato to provide a clue to help them escape. Koizumi sees Kyon, and admits to being rather disturbed by the double's behavior.
Evil Laugh: Emits a creepy-sounding chuckle in "Snowy Mountain Syndrome" after learning how her rebellious spirit blindly shuns the mainstream in favor of the obscure. She also delivers a menacing laugh in "The Melancholy of Mikuru Asahina" as she reveals she may have a lead on what Kyon and Mikuru were up to in that story. Keep in mind that both times are after she makes her Heel Face Turn.
The Face: Of the SOS Brigade and always out to promote it. Kyon notes that she 'knows how to get answers' peacefully from the apartment keeper during the investigation of Asakura's disaperance. Though in practice the trope is inverted as she either steams rolls people with blackmail and/or her personality, if she's not outright ignoring them—meaning the earlier incident at the apartment, among her nicer moments chronologically, before the end of Sigh, would likely fall under Pet the Dog.
She knows how to be social and charming, but she doesn't know why anyone would do so. Even after Character Development, she retains her belief that courtesy is for the boring.
Faux Action Girl: Invoked in-universe. She can deliver a flying kick to the head to the Chew Toy, but she can't be called on to help with the fights that are being kept from her because...they're being kept from her.
First Name Basis: With Kyon, though it's not his real first name...It's more a Japanese cultural thing; it's perfectly normal for teenage Japanese girls to refer to one another by their given names but to boys by their surnames. More of note is the fact that, whereas she uses affectionate honorifics for the other Brigade members ('Mikuru-chan', 'Yuki-chan', 'Koizumi-kun'), which indicates some degree of closeness but is still fairly unremarkable given Haruhi's Genki Girl personality, she refers to Kyon with no honorific whatsoever, which, particularly for a girl, indicates a remarkable degree of intimacy, similar to the traditional First Name Basis in English.
Foil: Arguably the whole point of the Haruhi/Kyon relationship is how their opposing personalities come to a balance. She's also a foil to Mikuru in at least two ways.
Friendless Background : Kyon is her first friend since elementary school according to Taniguchi. The other brigade members warm up to her eventually, but Kyon is still the only one who wasn't ordered by a superior. In her case, it's by choice, since she isn't interested in ordinary humans. The change after she makes a friend is pretty impressive also.
Even after the Brigade start to know her on a personal level, Kyon is the only one of them who trusts her on a personal level. So far.
Friend to All Children: She appears to love kids and enjoys playing with them, as evidenced by her antics during Endless Eight. She is clearly fond of Kyon's little sister, who likes her back in return.
In the novels, it's revealed that she tutors an elementary school boy who just happens to be the future inventor of time travel.
Gainaxing: Very evident in the opening credits of Season 1.
Genki Girl: Interestingly this only happens when she first meets/talks with Kyon. When we're first introduced to her, she just seems like a weird girl, but after Kyon feeds her the idea of starting her own club, she suddenly perks up and gains a lot of enthusiastic energy, invoking this trope (and probably one subtle reason why she likes him).
Further, in the Disappearance film, when we first see Haruhi, she has almost the same dejected personality prior to Kyon's talk in the series. After talking to her and Koizumi a little in the cafe, she suddenly starts to perk up and act the same exact way as old world Haruhi.
Heel Face Turn: Chronologically, in Sigh after nearly getting the shit punched out of her by Kyon for spiking Mikuru's drink andcalling her her toy.
The Hero: This is a weird one. There's no doubt she's the most important character plotwise but Kyon is The Protagonist and her initial personality was anything but heroic. Then there's the fact that all the early series conflicts are generated by her (albeit subconsciously) instead of resolved by her.
Inexplicably Awesome: A plot point; no one knows how her powers work or where she got them. Itsuki says he that one day he realized he had powers and that she gave them to him.
Lack of Empathy: A deconstruction. What if a god, a being far above humanity- which it can destroy or remake at will- was put in the body of a human? What if she forgot her power, but not her Blue and Orange Morality?
Loveable Rogue: Kyon is careful to not ask where all the stuff in the clubroom comes from.
Magical Girlfriend: She's Kyon's a Magical She Is Not My Girlfriend, and a inversion of the whole thing, as she epitomizes exactly what protagonist Kyon claims he doesn't want out of life.
Moment Killer: Will happily bend the laws of space and time just to keep Kyon from talking to other girls. Has berserk superhuman strength when he seems to be writing love letters to other girls.
Never My Fault: Even Lucy van Pelt apologizes more often than Haruhi. Of course, Haruhi is never even told of most of the things she does.
Most of the time, due to her Lack of Empathy, she isn't even aware that there's something to apologize for. This gets better, although the changes are very subtle.
Kyon: ...If you want to achieve faster-than-light travel, let Haruhi on your spaceship. She'll just simply ignore the theory of relativity for you. When I mentioned this to Nagato, the reticent pseudo-alien responded with the following. "Your belief is most likely correct."
Reality Warper: Although she doesn't realize it, which may be for the best.
Really Gets Around: A mild example, since in middle school Haruhi had the tendency to date every guy who confessed to her. Even if the relationship would only last five minutes.
Shameless Fanservice Girl: She doesn't care if guys see her naked. Kyon concludes that mentally she views them as being the same as potatos. The point where she starts kicking Kyon out of the room when changing is therefore pretty telling on her part.
Skirt over Slacks: Briefly in Disappearance, when she's changing into Kyon's tracksuit. When trying to fit the skirt of her uniform underneath, she fails miserably, basically says "Ah, forget it!" and drops the skirt entirely.
Star-Making Role: Heads turned towards Aya Hirano as a talent to look out for; a reputation that is later fully set in stone by Konata of Lucky Star.
Start My Own: Her motivation for this after Kyon talks to her a little about how people adapted or created things to suit their needs.
Stepford Smiler: Demonstrates this after finding Nakagawa's written love confession to Yuki. She does it again in "The Melancholy of Mikuru Asahina".
Kyon even mentions that her smiling is usually a bad thing(esp, for him an Asahina).
She demonstrates a great CheshireCatGrin in the anime in Melancholy VI after Koizumi explains its the EndOfTheWorld; we see her stalking around the school grinning. One of the few departures from Kyon's POV so it could be in his head.
Team Mom: Yes, really! Especially in the first chapter of Vol. 10, where she takes care of a sick Nagato. Also, when she plays with a bunch of kids in Endless Eight.
In Snowy Mountain Syndrome she almost overbearingly insists on caring for Nagato, even overriding Yuki's claims of being okay now.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Mikuru's Girly Girl, if their contrasting reactions to playing in a baseball tournament (as seen in "Boredom") are any indicator.
Tomboy With A Girly Streak: She's good with sports, and she definitely shows more enthusiasm for the SOS Brigade's appearance in a local baseball tournament than most everyone else on her team; she's also just as passionate (if not moreso) about romance with an alien, time traveler, slider, or ESPer (and the gender of the other party doesn't really matter to her).
Town Girls: The Butch to Yuki's Neither and Mikuru's Femme.
Tsundere: Haruhi is an inverted Tsundere, abusing people when she's happy with them and affectionately braiding their hair when she's about to rewrite the Universe out of jealousy. She plays it straight occasionally, however, noticeably at the conclusion of Disappearance.
Unbroken Vigil: She never leaves Kyon's side while he is hospitalized in Disappearance.
When She Smiles: In the novel, Kyon describes her first smile in Melancholy as like a "blazing sun," and the adjectives only get more colorful from there. In the anime, she really does look more beautiful on the rare occasions when she has a genuine smile instead of the >:D expression she usually wears.
Who Wears Short Shorts?: Sometimes, most notably in "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody", "Remote Island Syndrome", and "Endless Eight". The rest of the time she wears a Magic Skirt. One imagines she'll wear a long dress exactly one time.
"The question of how long someone believed in Santa Claus is a worthless topic that would never come up in idle conversation. Having said that, if you're going to ask me how much of my childhood I spent believing in an old man in a red suit, I can confidently say that I never believed in him to begin with."
Action Survivor: Several times. One of the most dramatic ones being when he's attacked by Asakura, which causes some severe Mood Whip Lash
Agent Scully: He wants to go back to being a Scully. But he gets so much incontrovertible proof thrown at him early on he becomes a rather grumpy Agent Mulder.
Badass: All things considered. Think of him as long lost son of Spider-Man and Daria.
Badass Boast: The message he gave to the Data Entity. "If anything happens to Yuki Nagato; I will let all hell break loose." He tells Yuki to tell the Data Entity that if it ever remotely thought of punishing her; he'll tell Haruhi everything. And make her believe it with "I am John Smith." Then he and the SOS would go as far as destroying existence and rebuilding it to get Yuki back. Oh, and the rebuilt reality would not have the Data Entity in it.
Badass Bookworm: Not in Yuki level, but qualifies to a degree. For bookworm part, he can make references on obscure and complex topics. For Badass part, he can freaking recreate the world by telling Haruhi and he's John Smith.
Badass Normal: It´s really impressive, how far a humble human being can get just by saying the right words at the right time.
Belligerent Sexual Tension: That's the whole point of the Kyon/Haruhi ship. Haruhi's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, Kyon's a Tsundere who doesn't dare beat up God. Actually he's stopped by other members of the team when he moves to strike her.
Bishie Sparkle: Once, during the second Endless Eight episode.
Blatant Lies: Uses one whenever he's caught with Yuki.
Book Dumb: Lampshaded by Kyon himself: "Why is it that I can be so smart when it comes to reading Nagato's facial expressions or Koizumi's hidden clues, but fail to answer every single test question?"
Character Development: As mentioned under Pinball Protagonist Kyon goes from being incredibly Brilliant, but Lazy to much more assertive and active in the story's action. This is because his lack of action and over-reliance on the other SOS Brigade members (especially Yuki) lead to the events in Disappearance.
Chick Magnet | Clueless Chick Magnet: He seems to be one due to the fact all the girls like him. While most of the SOS girls have reasons he's the only guy they interact with, He's Haruhi's first friend since elemantary school according to Taniguchi, Mikuru has regulations that limit how much impact she can have on this timeplane and Yuki won't talk to anyone unless she has to. Still, Tsuruya seems to approve of him and there is Sasaki, so he seems to fit.
Closet Geek: He tries to downplay his hobbies, but it's shown that he's a avid manga reader, plays lots of video games, may be familiar with American cinema (in the anime he wears the wristwatch from Men In Black, and mimics Marty McFly's sleeping position) and mentioned model-making as a hobby (with a focus on giant robots).
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: How the supernatural 'operatives' view him. He's a lazy, purely mortal high school student, with no training or prior knowledge of Haruhi. But he has the courage and freedom to act that they do not, and he will use it.
Conveniently Seated: In the traditional second-from-the-back window seat when the seats change, and always right in front of Haruhi.
Covert Pervert: Overwhelmingly towards Mikuru. He does occasionally admit that he thinks Haruhi is nice to look at and sometimes does for Yuki as well. On a less perverted note, he thinks he'd like Haruhi just as much as Mikuru if she'd give a genuinely content smile rather instead of the "I have an idea" smiles that invoke a This Is Gonna Suck reaction from him.
Just read the script for episode 0. Any text in blue is Kyon and is pretty much 100% free range organic snark.
Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Both the novel and the anime play with this. In the novel, Kyon's dialogue is very rarely formatted as such, leaving it indistinguishable from his usual narration. The only way to tell if he's either saying or thinking something is from his interlocutors' responses. The anime achieves this effect by having his mouth offscreen during these parts. In both cases, it is the audience that is meant to be confused, Kyon himself never makes the mistake.
Expy: He can arguably considered as, despite what many fans believe, more jaded and snarky Yuuichi Aizawa from Kanon (which came out in 1999). In short, Kyon is VN!Aizawa's Expy while the latter's 2006 Kyo Ani's incarnation is Kyon's Expy. Yeah.
Face Palm: Often does one anytime Haruhi brings up her crazy ideas for the SOS brigade.
Female Gaze: The Endless Eight arc just loves showing Kyon lacking upper body wear, and in some shots he's noticeably more muscular than others
First Person Peripheral Narrator: Either played straight or subverted; the former if you believe Haruhi is the main character, and the latter if you believe Kyon is the main character.
Flashback Nightmare: Though a daydream and not a nightmare, one of his dreams in class is a word-for-word flashback of a conversation he had with Sasaki about quantum physics.
He also has dreams about the time he and Haruhi were trapped in Closed Space together.
"Editor-in-Chief Straight Ahead!" suggests he has them about the events of Disappearance:
I did not want to remember that bespectacled Literature Club member who wore a troubled face in front of an outdated computer at a time like this. Seeing her in my dreams at night is enough.
Foil: Arguably the whole point of the Haruhi/Kyon relationship is how their opposing personalities come to a balance.
Genre Savvy: Yes, he really is. Only Yuki and he worked out what happened on Remote Island Syndrome, and Yuki worked it out only because she's an alien with special powers.
Grammar Nazi: To give just one example, he always uses 訊く for "kiku" in the sense of "to ask". 聞く is the accepted norm, because although it isn't strictly correct — it actually means "to hear" — the character 訊 occurs rarely and is not taught in school.
Hard Work Hardly Works: The rest of the Brigade have been training their whole lives (or so it is implied, at least) to work with God and keep her from endangering the world. Kyon is an Ordinary High School Student who works with God because...she grabbed him by the collar and forced him to.
If one subscribes to the theory that Aware!God!Haruhi consciously planned the series' events For the Lulz, this turns into Fridge Brilliance. She knew that the supernatural races would try to manipulate Mortal!Haruhi, if only out of fear, so she created someone who would look out for her interests and interact with her as a human, not a god.
The Hero: Given everything he does for the sake of maintaining the Universe and helping his friends, he's one of these; albeit one who complains a lot.
Heroic BSOD: In The Movie; when he's confronted with a normal world. Everything he's always said he wanted; and isn't happy; a mental version of himself pushes him down and tramples on him; mocking all the things he had said in the past; until Kyon rips out from deep inside himself that yes, he wants a world of time travellers, espers, and aliens.
It's All My Fault: He feels personally responsible for the events of Disappearance as even though the Integrated Data Thought Entity failed to give Yuki a more complete personality (which put a strain on her) he decides that his over-reliance on her was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his snarky dismissal of, well, everything and everybody, Kyon is a deeply compassionate person who treats everyone equally and seriously in thought, if not in action. This applies whether they're a normal student, a living computer, or God.
The Lancer: His deadpan normal-seeking personality does contrast Haruhi's energic paranormal seeking.
The Leader: Type 2 'level headed'. The other three look to him more often for orders than Haruhi and even she listens to him occasionally.
Last Name Basis: Refers to everyone by their last names apart from Haruhi. Even when asked by Mikuru to use her first name, he continues to use her last name.
Little Professor Dialog: Even disregarding all the esoteric knowledge and vocabulary that very few 16-year-olds would be expected to know, Kyon's speech patterns make him sound much older, as though he grew up in the 1950s or '60s. He was born in 1994.
Meaningful Name: according to Wikipedia, Kyon's nickname might come from κύων / kyôn, Ancient Greek for "dog", from where the word "cynic" may come from. Another possibility: Haruhi in the novels loves the story of Tanabata, involving a romance between a man and a woman separated and only allowed to meet once a year; the Korean name for the man can be romanized as 'Kyonu'.
Kyon's real name remains undisclosed. This alone implies that it is relevant, and Sasaki tells us the full name Kyon prefers is noble, and the sort which one would question the reasoning behind....
Morality Pet: Without Kyon around she's selfish, arrogant and domineering. With Kyon around she's... let's start that over. At the start of the series she's incredibly abrasive and thinks only of herself, but as the series goes on his influence on her leaves her as someone that is still annoying to be around, but at least a person that thinks of others.
My God, What Have I Done?: Kyon at first seems to constantly despise Haruhi's antics even though he begrudgingly goes with the flow. He often complains about wanting to have a perfectly normal life. Then in the Disappearance film, Nagato changes the world to more or less be a normal one without crazy stuff going on. After some soul searching within himself, he realizes that he prefers the crazy world after all.
Not so Above It All: Kyon admits to himself that he does, in fact, enjoy the crazy antics the SOS-Dan finds themselves in.
Not What It Looks Like: One example of this happens when he's holding Nagato as Taniguichi walks into the classroom. He even tries a lie later to cover it, but Taniguichi doesn't believe him.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Especially obvious in the novels, where we see even more of his thought process.
On the one hand, there are a few points where his internal dialogue makes it clear that he's aware of it, which means that there is definitely some Selective Obliviousness going on (required for stretching the Will They or Won't They? for ten freakin' novels). For example, in "Live Alive," Kyon rejects Taniguchi's suggestion that they go try to pick up girls, precisely because there'd be huge trouble if "somebody" saw him doing that.
On the other hand, there are places where Kyon acts in a way that seems genuinely oblivious to Haruhi's attraction. For example, in "Melancholy IV," Kyon suggests to Haruhi to "find [herself] a nice guy and go walking around the city looking for strange things; [she] could even call it a date and kill two birds with one stone," which is a very stupid (and maybe even cruel) thing to say if you realize that that was exactly what Haruhi had wanted to do with Kyon in the mystery search the previous weekend.
This scene from "Remote Island Syndrome I" could go either way:
(Kyon wakes up to the sight of Asahina taking a photo of him.)
Asahina: I just took a picture of you waking up. And I took a couple of you sleeping. You were sound asleep, weren't you?
Kyon: (thinking) Really? Why would Miss Asahina want to take pictures of me sleeping?
Kyon: (still thinking, starts smiling) Maybe she wants to put a picture of me in a cute frame, keep it next to her bed and every night, just before she drifts off to sleep...
(Haruhi brusquely takes away the camera from Asahina, who's been reviewing the photos, and puts it in her own pocket.)
Haruhi: (to Kyon, interrupting his thoughts) What's with the goofy face? You might wanna stop 'cus you look like a moron!
Haruhi: (to everyone) I've temporarily given Mikuru the responsibility of being the SOS Brigade's photographer! It's important to maintain a record of the Brigade's activities for future generations. But I decide what pictures to take!
Kyon: (out loud) Why would anyone care what I look like when I'm sleeping or when I'm waking up?
Itsuki points out Haruhi's attraction a few times, once to tell Kyon that he and Haruhi are the new Adam and Eve, and then later telling Kyon to embrace Haruhi from behind then whisper "I love you" into her ear. Kyon reacts angrilly, at which point Itsuki tells him it's a joke.
Disappearance!Itsuki, after having been told of the adventures the SOS Brigade has in the real world, remarks to Kyon that Haruhi took a genuine interest in the latter despite him having absolutely no powers or extraordinary traits, leading Disappearance!Itsuki to whisper "I envy you" in contemplation of how fragile and superficial his own romantic relationship with Disappearance!Haruhi is.
Also made hilariously obvious in the prologue of Dissociation when Itsuki has to devote a couple pages explaining to Kyon that the reason Haruhi got upset after meeting Kyon's childhood friend was because she was jealous.
Only Sane Man: He likes to think of himself as this, though it probably should be taken with a pinch of salt.
It should also be noted that he accepts the eccentricities around him quite well. He claims it's because too much evidence has been thrown in his face for him to deny it, but overall he gets used to the idea of all this fantastic stuff around him much faster than any normal person would.
Ordinary High School Student: Or so he would like to think. But the other SOS members, particularly Koizumi, constantly have to remind us that there's more to him than this trope alone.
In the seventh novel Koizumi offers to train Kyon to be an esper. Apparently there are not a whole bunch of other persons who can be trained.
Precision F-Strike: From Disappearance: "Tell them to go fuck themselves!" Watered down in the anime adaptation to "Then you can tell them to go to HELL!"
There's doubt about this? Yuki says outright at the end of the movie that while she couldn't prevent herself from rewriting reality, she COULD ensure that Kyon would be unaffected. The reason he needs protection when he goes back is because her failsafe was used up when Kyon chose to activate it at the famous READY? prompt. The program said that once it was run it would be deleted, so it time-travelled him outside the sphere of effect at his choice. Presumably had he chosen to stay, he would have subsequently be subjected to the re-write (as seen in the spin-off manga).
Roleplaying Game Terms: In the novels, Kyon often makes tongue-in-cheek references to his HP and MP and Haruhi's negative effects on both.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Itsuki's Sensitive Guy. This gets played with, as though he's one of the more badass characters in the series (even preventing the Data Overmind from killing Yuki by weaponizing Haruhi), he's more of a Non-Action Guy than anything.
Servile Snarker: He's very snarky towards Haruhi, who treats him as essentially nothing more than a slave and toy for her amusement.
Sharp Dressed Man: His outfits in Endless Eight are of the casual variety but still incredibly sharp and stylish. He even manages to out-dress some of the girls.
She Is Not My Girlfriend: With Haruhi. He does like Mikuru, but is forbidden to date her due to her restrictions as a time traveler. Not to mention the one time he accidentally got a little too friendly with her, Haruhi nearly destroyed the world.
Stable Time Loop: Kyon is particularly careful about not screwing these up when he gets involved.
Stupid Sexy Flanders: Fanboys are so hot for Kyon, and yet so doggedly heterosexual, that a Gender Flip version called "Kyonko" was made to satisfy the fantasy. At least one of the reasons for Kyonko's popularity involves the way Kyon's personality just works for her.
Supporting Leader: A rare protagonist version, since at first glance it may look like Haruhi is the main character (she is after all the poster girl) when she'snot. It's patently obvious how much the other SOS Brigade members respect his judgment (even Haruhi) and leadership to the point where some people think for all Haruhi's bluster it's actually Kyon who's calling the shots.
That Makes Me Feel Angry: For all of his emphatic narration, we rarely see Kyon show any emotion about anything at all. We can, however, expect entire paragraphs dedicated to his insistence that he's emotionally overwhelmed about something. This isn't to say he doesn't show emotions; merely usually not quite the ones he's talking about at the time.
Tomato in the Mirror Theory for now, but there are hints that Kyon may actually be the superpowerful being everyone thinks Haruhi is and that she is just his avatar.
True Companions: Starting around the third through fifth published books.
Unwanted Harem: It's perfectly easy to make the case that everyone in the SOS Brigade, even Itsuki (what with the sheer amount ofHo Yay), is out for him. Though downplayed in that he actually WANTS Mikuru, who is not the archetypal "first girl" of the Harem. He has also expressed interest in Yuki. Most of all, he made out with Haruhi, which is followed by him cursing away at his subconscious, and noting that it doesn't take Freud to comprehend the dream.
He also treats the resident esper the same as he'd treat anyone with his... quirks.
What the Hell, Hero?: While he normally snarks about what Haruhi is doing, he rarely truly objects. However, all through the movie filming in Sighs he can be seen getting angrier and more upset with each passing scene while his snark gets more and more hostile. Eventually, despite Koizumi's efforts to hold him back for fear of the consequences, Kyon nearly hits her. While he ends up being stopped, it's clear to her that he intended to do it, which was upsetting enough on her part to nearly cause another catastrophic event and, after they make up, to start being less abusive.
Yuki Nagato is a severely quiet, bibliophile Meganekko and the only member of the Literature Club, from whom Haruhi takes over the SOS Brigade's new headquarters. She's quickly and unresistingly assimilated into the SOS Brigade, where she's described by Haruhi as their "invaluable silent character", and helps a great deal when the club is in need of The Smart Guy. She also enjoys reading Science Fiction and playing the strategy game The Day of Sagittarius III possibly a bit much (although she is very good at the latter).Actually, she's an advanced Artificial HumanRobot Girl controlled by a Sufficiently Advanced Alien known as the Data Overmind, which exists on a mostly non-physical level. Her purpose (and that of her fellow Humanoid Interfaces) is to observe Haruhi and her Reality Warper powers. Her Character Development stems from her continuing closeness to Kyon, to the point that her loyalty ultimately lies towards him and the SOS Brigade.The author of the light novels has commented that Yuki is one of his favorite characters to make stories about, since Robot Girls are easy to write Character Development for, hence the number of short stories (and one whole novel) focusing on her emotional development.Tropes associated with Yuki:
And I Must Scream: Her fate during the "Endless Eight" arc, in which she is forced to relive the same 2 weeks for approximately 595 YEARS!
Badass Adorable / Cute Bruiser: She seems quite huggable because of her quietness and lack of understanding when it comes to earth tech (among other reasons) but is easily the most powerful of the SOS besides Haruhi.
Badass Bookworm: Outside of Haruhi using her Reality Warper powers, Yuki is the strongest and most intelligent member of the SOS Brigade.
Bare-Handed Blade Block: Does it one handed, and saves Kyon this way when he was about to get knifed by Ryoko. It works, naturally, but it results in a really nasty cut in her hand.
Battle Butler: Not to be confused with the SOS's battle waitress.
Big Eater: Or better said, fast eater. She doesn't consume very large meals, but those she gets to eat, she gulps them down fast.
Big Fancy House: The huge sparse apartment in the anime is a downgrade from the three bedroom spread she has in the novels.
Broken Bird: The experience of living out 2 weeks repeatedly for more than 15,000 times in Endless Eight gave her emotions, and eventually made her steal Haruhi's powers and create an alternate universe where everyone is normal and Haruhi is Put on a Bus.
Character Development: Her development goes in the direction of emotions and individuality. In one of the later novels, she refuses to synchronize with her self from a different time, in order to retain her individuality. She flat out says"Because I don't want to." She also begins to treat the SOS-dan more akin to True Companions, going from caring about Kyon in particular, to also caring about the rest of the members.
Some of this may be due to Kyon becoming an expert Yuki watcher or projecting his feelings on what he sees from her. For example when he's feeling guilty about a date with Mikuru he sees Yuki as being colder than usual towards him.
Covert Pervert: Probably a byproduct of fanon, but still possible. Considering the many ways she could have removed Mikuru's contact lenses in Sigh, the one she chose was rather... suggestive.
That part had more with her having to remove the contact as fast as possible seeing as how it was shooting deadly lasers at the time.
There's also the incident in "Snow Mountain Syndrome" where each Brigade member encounters the apparition of another character who tries to seduce them. We later find out that Yuki sent the specters and the pairings are a coded message, which explains why, for example, Koizumi saw Kyon and Mikuru Haruhi. But that doesn't explain how the phantasms behaved.
Creepy Monotone: Although... she's not creepy. Neither is the monotone, really. It's arguably part of the charm.
Deus Exit Machina: Kyon resolves to rely less on her. His wish is granted.
Emotionless Girl: Rather subverted, since she is actually a kind and caring girl, but was ill-equipped by her creator to actually express it. She's even aware of it herself, leading to some frustration and bitterness on her part that she still can't express. It can be quite pitiful.
Extreme Doormat: Starts out as this, changes significantly over the course of story.
First Name Basis: Or rather, personal-pronoun-only basis toward Kyon.
Fortune Teller: Whose predictions are ludicrously specific and accurate.
I Just Want to Be Normal: Kyon's interpretation of her motivation in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya; Yuki being Yuki, whether she actually thinks this is left ambiguous.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: The fandom's interpretation of her motivation in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, she did give Kyon the Emergency Escape Program...
Magic from Technology: Yuki's powers are described as "magic" but basically come from post-mechanical technology overwriting local reality. As a bonus, her "incantations" are Microsoft SQL scripts sped up and backwards.
Meaningful Name: Yuki's given name is obviously meant to evoke "snow", especially given her hinted-at backstory and Image Song, but is written with the kanji for "hope".
Not so Above It All: Even Yuki has moments where she gives into just blatant silliness such as wearing her fortune-telling costume when it's not required, buying cheap play masks to wear at a festival, insisting on wearing her party hat while in the clubroom in the lead-up to the Christmas Party, or choosing a silly nickname for herself when Kyon blackmails Haruhi with one.
Physical God: We still gotta find out what Yuki can't do. We know she won't change weather because it might screw up the environment. On a geological scale of time.
In Melancholy, she claims that she will not travel through time. She prefers cross-temporal synchronisation. However, it's unclear if this means that she permanently lacks the ability to travel in time, whether she's generally capable of doing so but unable or unwilling at that time, or whether she simply hasn't learned how to do it (given her remark that time travel is "not difficult"). In Disappearance, Nagato says that she cannot accompany Kyon and future Asahina back to December 18 because she must stay and guard their time-frozen past selves in her guest room, and for all we know, this may be the only reason for her statement in Melancholy.
In the novels after Disappearance, Yuki reveals to Kyon that she has voluntarily had the Entity restrict her time-related powers, because synchronizing with her future self robbed her of the ability to freely choose her fate.
More or less, it seems she self-imposes a limitation not to cause any significant harm and maintain the Masquerade.
The Rainman: Lacking in emotion but brilliant with computers and a gifted musician as well.
Rei Ayanami Expy: Her name even puns on Rei's name. Yuki is a homonym for "snow" in Japanese, while "Rei" can also mean "cold". "Ayanami" and "Nagato" are the names of two WWII Japanese warships.
Reality Warper: One that's more in control of her powers. She can snatch Haruhi's powers, making Haruhi powerless, but herself pretty much a Physical God. Since this is Haruhi we're talking about, it could be argued that the only reason Yuki could do something like that is because Haruhi, on some level, allowed it to happen (because she wanted it that way, because she was bored, because doing so would be interesting, etc etc etc).
Main sequence Yuki is always The Quiet One and a bit of a Hikikomori. Has she actually said anything to the convenience store clerk?
Shrouded in Myth: Her class treats her this way. Apparently, they firmly believe that if she says anything on any given day, something important will happen, for good or ill. This was before the school festival and her ridiculously accurate "fortunes."
A subtle moment occurs in Melancholy when Kyon takes her to the library. She's so joyously overwhelmed at the sight of so many books she practically floats away.
Kyon seems to make a habit of Yuki-watching and will ascribe emotions to her for actions of hers that he just barely discerns.
Superpower Lottery: Yuki's supernatural abilities are vastly more useful than Itsuki's (only useful in Closed Space) or Mikuru's (largely nonexistent). Kyon realizes at a few points that he's relying too much on Yuki to keep up the Masquerade, and resolves to ease up on her.
Super Speed: She can move really quickly when she needs to. Probably the crowning example being when she apparently blocked the lasers Mikuru was inadvertently shooting out of her eye. Any attempt at blocking the lasers would have required reflexes that are faster than the speed of light.
Town Girls: The Neither to Mikuru's Femme and Haruhi's Butch.
True Companions: It is made obvious several times that she will not stay neutral when the Brigade members are in danger, even though her task is to simply observe.
The Uriah Gambit: The Data Overmind can't directly retaliate at Nagato for Disappearance due to Kyon. It can, however, elect her to be the "Ambassador" to the Canopy Domain, exposing her existence and sanity to something which is as alien to her as the Data Overmind is to humans. A lesser being would Go Mad from the Revelation. Fortunately, if this ever ends in something seriously bad for Yuki, Kyon will retaliate, so the only thing they can really do is torture her, not eliminate her completely.
Understatement: Nagato's laconic nature, lack of affect when she does speak, and way of explaining things in overly technical terms, can make even the most earth-shattering pronouncements seem rather trivial. This occasionally seems to mask a depth of feeling not present on the surface: after determining that Kyon's old friend Nakagawa fell for her based on a misunderstanding, she says it was "a little bit" disappointing. Coming from her, this could easily be the equivalent of "devastated".
When She Smiles: After Disappearance, Kyon chose the original world over the one Yuki made for him but admits in Intrigues that he still has small lingering doubts about his choice. Wanting to see Yuki's smile again is part of the reason.
The Worf Effect: The threat posed by the Sky Canopy Domain is illustrated by how quickly they can put poor Yuki out of commission. Twice.
Painfully shy, walked-upon, and adorable, Mikuru Asahina doesn't seem to serve much purpose on the show other than Fanservice, a rival Love Interest for Kyon (and the one he actually expresses interest in), and being the much-abused subject of Haruhi's "admiration". However, like the other characters, Mikuru has her own secret: she is a Time Traveler from an unspecified date in The Future, sent to study Haruhi like Itsuki and Yuki, since Haruhi is the source of a temporal disturbance Three Years Ago that prevents time travel to any previous period.Mikuru is, as far as the audience can tell, the least diligent in the whole "observe/control" Haruhi business. Indeed, she seems content to be the SOS Brigade's personal Meido (having an especial fascination with tea-brewing for some reason), deal with 21st-century culture shock, and endure Haruhi's constant molestation and enforced Cosplay. It's not that she's around solely for window-dressing. It's just that she's passive to the point of being The Chew Toy. (And partly around for window-dressing).Tropes associated with Mikuru:
Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: There are some moments where we see that, despite all the grief she causes her, Mikuru does care for Haruhi as a friend, and vice-versa.
Celibate Heroine: While none of the characters are currently dating anyone, Mikuru isn't allowed to get involved with anyone out of her timeframe. However, she does seem to have a strange interest in Yuki in the 7th book. And is too embarrassed to look at Haruhi in a cheongsam later on.
Cute Clumsy Girl: At times Haruhi expects her to act like this when serving as the SOS-dan's Meido.
Cuteness Proximity: While petting Shamisen in "Where Did The Cat Go?" (Disturbance), she says to herself, "Kitty, kitty, um… Kitty, calico, mew… Umm~ umm, little kitty eat cat food."
Defiled Forever: Mikuru worries that Haruhi's treatment may leave her ruined for marriage.
Demoted to Extra: From novel 10 on, she is mostly relegated to the role of serving tea while wearing her maid outfit.
Eye Beams: Only due to colored contact lenses that Haruhi obliviously modifies in Sigh, though. They're rather interesting eye beams, too—there are the standard lasers as well as Razor Floss, enormous metal spikes, and miniature black holes.
Fainting: The Monster Faint. The monster in this case is herself.
And later subverted. The reason she has to be in the past is to protect and inspire the inventor of time travel, who is currently a primary school kid living near Haruhi. Mikuru indirectly and unknowingly is responsible for saving his life.
Femme Fatale: At least Itsuki suggests this to Kyon.
Fetish Fuel: Invoked by Haruhi - She wants to make her as 'fetishy' as possible.
Future Me Scares Me: Averted insofar as Mikuru doesn't know that her boss is her future self. However, Koizumi is highly suspicious of the future Mikuru and by the end of Scheme Kyon's starting to agree.
Koizumi re-iterates this in the 11th book, telling future Mikuru to her face that he considers present-day Mikuru a friend, but he's not so sure about her.
Proper Tights with a Skirt: Mikuru's the closest the SOS Brigade has to a Proper Lady, and guess who wears tights with her uniform during the winter months?
Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to Haruhi's Tomboy. "Boredom" showcases their contrasting reactions to the SOS Brigade's participation in a baseball tournament.
Town Girls: The Femme to Yuki's Neither and Haruhi's Butch.
True Companions: As Koizumi points out in the 11th book, whatever future Mikuru is like or feels on the matter, present Mikuru is unquestionably a loyal friend.
Vague Age: Mikuru's denials of telling Kyon her age implies that she is not really high school age (by our standards). She has the face of a little girl and the breasts of a much older woman so it's difficult to tell.
"Relax! I don't believe in the existence of an Almighty God, or the Ultimate Creator that created humans. Many of my companions think the same way as well. Yet, there's one thing that bothers us."
Bothered by what?
"The things that we do. Are they as foolish as a clown doing a handstand by the edge of a cliff?"
Itsuki Koizumi. New Transfer Student. Prodigious talker. Perpetual annoyance to Kyon, and toady to Haruhi. Also the wielder of (rather specialized) Psychic Powers and representative of a shadowy conspiracy of similarly-empowered people, who credit Haruhi as the source of their abilities. Like Yuki and Mikuru, he's here to observe Haruhi and, more so, keep her under control; he knows from regular experience the highly destructive nature of Haruhi's teen angst, and his "Agency" is tasked with keeping it under control.Itsuki is the most active in interacting with Haruhi, usually actively finding ways to keep her occupied and feeling good via thorough ass-kissing. Aside from that, he greatly enjoys Contemplating His Navel, spouting Expo Speak, and playing a variety of board games (poorly), all but the last of which annoy Kyon immensely. In his spare time, he beats up Kaijumanifestations of Haruhi's irritability in Closed Space, a sort of Phantom Zone.If Kyoko's words in Volumes 10 and 11 are anything to go by, he is the founder and the leader of the Agency.Tropes associated with Itsuki:
There's even a bit of this in-universe with Mikuru distrusting his motivations originally, Koizumi swearing loyalty to the brigade, and Kyon being simultaneously annoyed by and trusting of him. Koizumi himself all but confirms his personality is an act, but even then he might have been lying...
Ambiguously Bi: His interactions with Kyon tend towards this, though he tells Kyon that he acts that way because it's how Haruhi expects him to. Doesn't stop theHo Yay... which seems to be carried out when Haruhi isn't around or paying any attention, though. On the other hand, he tells Kyon in the fourth novel that he is in love with Haruhi. Given that this took place in an alternate universe, it may or may not be the case in the main reality. This could be more or less a result of him being an esper and knowing that all that matters in the world is the wishes of a teenage girl. He's a teenager, has magic powers and belongs to an organization that probably supports him in whatever way he needs. This is a kid with no worries.
At least until Snow Mountain Syndrome in the fifth novel. From then on, as Kyon notes the situation becomes a lot more serious. By the ninth novel Koizumi has serious worries. So much that he lets his mask slip more and more often to Kyon.
Authority Equals Asskicking: In a sense; when we were shown him fighting the Celestials, he seemed to be competent (along with the other espers, admittedly) and if the recent revelation about him, as well as how he dealt with Fujiwara in combat, are anything to go by...
Beleaguered Assistant: Despite his apparent enthusiasm toward Haruhi's actions, he makes clear that the fact that he has to take care of the closed spaces (although their appearances become less frequent in the later novels) put him under a lot of stress, especially in the ninth novel.
Beware the Nice Ones: He fights and apparently kills Fujiwara in the 11th book. And he does it with a smile.
"I shall take care of that." A large, shiny, volleyball-like orb of red floated above the palm of Koizumi's right hand. "Now I feel like I'm becoming the protagonist of an esper manga. I've waited a long time for this, so please let me play an active role in this ending. This may be the last chance I'll have to fulfill my dream."
He was saying this quite happily, but I think anger would be more fitting for his emotions.
Big Damn Heroes: Note to Itsuki: It spoils the effect when you walk in smiling and give a jaunty wave at the guy you're going to rescue.
The Big Guy: Per Haruhi but really The Smart Guy because of his scheming and navel contemplating
Character Filibuster: Koizumi frequently (ab)uses his role as Mr. Exposition as an excuse to fire off seemingly interminable dissertations about physics, philosophy, psychology and whatever other topic he can come up with that facilitates longwinded rants about abstract matters. He invariably ends these with some variation of I Was Just Joking to make absolutely certain that no concrete point whatsoever is ever made of these rants. Kyon, and most of the audience, are left with the impression that he just likes doing this For the Lulz.
Chekhov's Gun: In the end of the Snow Mountain Syndrome, he said that he would betray the Organization exactly once to aid Kyon. We'll have to see when that comes to play.
He eventually reveals that he's not the leader. When asked by Kyon if Mori is his superior, he is surprised by Kyon's assumption and states that the Organization does not run like a normal one, and that everyone is on the same level.
It's Koizumi, people- note the lack of specifics in the above revelation. We never know when he's being entirely truthful.
Deadpan Snarker: Shows hint of being one in volume 8 and onwards.
Dissonant Serenity: Seemed fairly cheerful when informing Kyon of the situation during their time Haruhi's world-ending Closed Space in Volume 1. Even moreso in Volume 11, while confronting Fujiwara. Kyon even notes that Koizumi's still smiling when he's threatening Fujiwara, and thinks that a look of anger would be more fitting.
The Gadfly: Seems to enjoy confusing Kyon and then annoying him by retracting the statement way too much. Also one explanation for his constant ho yay. Considering his strongly implied attraction to Haruhi, it could be his way of getting back at Kyon for his distant attitude towards her.
Gay Option: Well, everyone else had an Eroge trope on their list...
Genre Savvy: His role as Yes Man to Haruhi; even though she only listens to Kyon and herself, Itsuki apparently sees no wisdom in opposing the girl who may or may not be God.
Koizumi to Kyon in "Snowy Mountain Syndrome": "'You appeared in my room as well. The appearance might have been you, but the behaviour was just terrifying... anyway, you did things that you wouldn't do.'"
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: For both beloveds, if you believe that he secretly loves Haruhi, and he does tries to 'give' Kyon love advice. Or, he could be a Shipper on Deck for KyonxHaruhi if you don't believe the theory about his secret crush for Haruhi or his Ho Yay with Kyon
I Was Just Joking: At least once, after another philosophical monologue.
Many of his statements to Kyon end with his (nearly signature) 'Ah, sorry, that was a joke'. He stops tacking this onto his persistent hints that he has a thing for Haruhi by Disappearance.
Mr. Exposition: A trait that he seems at least aware of enough to make fun of during the School Festival. Or he could have just been doing what he does best (Ramble on forever and confuse the audience).
Worth noting that his dialogue in the class play is actually an abridgement of the source material; the simple fact that he was cast in that role Lampshades the hell out of this trope.
New Transfer Student: Haruhi wanted a 'mysterious transfer student' so he invoked this trope for her.
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Taken to near damn omnipotent level; he has so many connections that he can pretty much do anything that doesn't involve supernatural phenomena.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive Guy to Kyon's Manly Man. This gets played with; he may be Ambiguously Gay and appear to be easygoing, but he has a hidden badass side that comes out whenever any of his friends, be they ESPers or SOS Brigadiers, are threatened.
Ship Tease: A bit of it with Kyoko Tachibana at the end of the eleventh novel.
True Companions: He declares that he would choose the SOS Brigade over the Agency, effectively betraying them Heel Face Turn style, should they turn out to be opposing to the Brigade.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Kyon. He annoys Kyon most of the time, and occasionally gets back at Kyon for Kyon's obtuseness and neglect of Haruhi in his own passive aggressive way. But Kyon spends more time with him than any other member of the brigade and grows to trust him. And, when it comes down to it, Koizumi would side with Kyon over the Organization should it ever come to that. So he says.
Wrong Genre Savvy: Itsuki tries to exploit Haruhi's Genre Savviness, but it generally doesn't work out so well for him.
Ryoko Asakura is the Class Representative of Kyon's class. She's described as a model student — hardworking, beautiful and smart, until she gets revealed as another alien data interface, the same as Yuki. She's gotten tired of sitting around and observing until Haruhi acts, and so she decides to act... by stabbing Kyon and seeing how Haruhi will react. Kyon is saved by Yuki, who then proceeds to shut down Ryoko. This convinces Kyon that Yuki is an actual alien.In the Alternate Universe stemming from Disappearance, she is a normal student and still the Class Representative of Kyon's class. Nonetheless, she still ends up trying to kill Kyon at the end, when things are about to return to normal.Interestingly, she has a good twin in The Vanishing Of Nagato Yuki-chan; a dimension where she is Yuki's best friend; and genuinely tries to help her be with Kyon. Although she is just a little bit jealous (of Kyon), she tries to hide that.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: It can kind of be argued either way; on the one hand, when dealing with the vast majority of people, she seems to be legitimately, actually nice and to even enjoy it, doubly so in Disapperance'sAlternate Reality and its related spinoff (which, given the nature of The Verse, may or may not count, depending). Her interactions with Kyon, however, run the gamut; she starts out nice, then there's the big stabbing incident, then a lot of her lines with him in Disapperance straddle the line between "good-natured ribbing about Yuki" and "passive-aggressive bitchiness", then she stabs him for real, and thenin Book 10, she saves his life while holding a knife to his throat at the same time. Perhaps it's most accurate to say that if she has an Inner Bitch, Kyon brings it out, and since he's our narrator, we may get a disproportionate view of it.
Granted, she also seems to bitch out Kimidori a bit, but by Book 10 she has nearly as much of a legitimate axe to grind with the Data Overmind as Yuki does at this point, so it comes across as less "self-righteous bitchiness" and more "you really don't have any room to tell me what I should and shouldn't be, Nagato understands that".
Ryoko: I'm afraid it's about time for my temporary deployment to come to an end. Call me again any time. I'll be ready and waiting. As long as Little Miss Scary over there doesn't step in to intervene, of course.
Cute and Psycho: Ryoko's Humanoid Interface incarnation. Even after coming back from Yuki's deletion. Her kernel must be built around stabbing people or something.
Evil Counterpart: To Yuki. In the 10th novel, she even claims that she'll exist so long as Yuki does.
Eviler than Thou: Kuyo Suo of "the Anti-SOS Brigade" is even more deranged than Ryoko.
Also, her human counterpart from "Dissapearance" is much worse than normal Ryoko. Normal Ryoko's attempt to kill Kyon was motivated out of psychotic pragmatisism and there was no real malice behind it. The alternate Ryoko, on the other hand, was motivated by emotional spite, and she nearly succeeded in killing him alot more than normal Ryoko did.
Granted, given certain events in Disappearance especially, there are... other ways of interpreting that statement.
Foreshadowing: Remember the knife scene from Melancholy? Guess who fights Kuyo and what weapon she uses?
Go Karting with Bowser: Part of the reason for her Ensemble Darkhorse status is that when she isn't stabbing people, she's legitimately kind, empathic and helpful (even if she rags on Kyon sometimes). Kyon even sits down to an extended dinner with her in Disappearance (partially at Yuki's insistence), and rather manages to enjoy himself despite his paranoia about being knifed out of the blue.
The fact that she appears in Disappearance at all is telling. Yuki temporarily stole Haruhi's Reality Warping powers, which means that she very easily could have fabricated a universe where Ryoko didn't exist at all; in fact, she would have to know how negatively Kyon views her, and this was all done for his sake. That Yuki brought Ryoko back regardless really suggests that Yuki must see something redeeming in her and that she isn't just a Knife Nut.
Homoerotic Subtext: Starting in Disappearance she starts showing a weird fixation on Yuki, though some of it may be a result of Yuki restructuring the world. It's really hard to interpret her behavior properly considering how, well, alien she is.
Improbable Weapon User: A subversion of this. She uses a mundane weapon, which is pretty odd if you think about it. In the anime she uses a survival knife(note the top serrations, it's not detailed as much in the novels). This knife is primarily intended as a tool rather than a weapon.
It's pretty obvious she either creates the knife when needed or keeps it in HammersSpace. Considering that Yuki was capable of making a gun out her glasses, making a short survival knife is an odd choice. So, conceal-ability doesn't seem to be an issue. Even if it was, something else like a switchblade or stiletto(i.e. something intended to be hidden) would make more sense, as her knife is a bit large to be hidden and it's pretty obvious she doesn't actually carry it around anyway(where would she keep it? And most schools have problems with that sort of thing anyway)
Similarly, strength and skill arn't issues given her abilities as a humanoid interface, so even if she wanted an edge melee weapon the ubiquitous katana would have made more sense.
Her weapon choice does backfire a bit. In Melancholy Kyon manages to avoid her initial attack in part because she isn't trying that hard and in part because she uses a small weapon. Also, a different weapon would probably have helped her in Disappearance by making her initial attack fatal.
In short, she uses an improbably mundane weapon.
In a way this might count as fridge brilliance. Her goal was not to let Haruhi know that supernatural things exist but merely to kill Kyon and see how she reacts. Thus the need to kill him in a probable way (found dead with knife wounds) as opposed to the improbable (found dead mysteriously torn apart). Killing Kyon to observe a reaction in Haruhi ("my friend is dead" as opposed to "I was right all along fantastic things do exist, too bad it killed my friend".) was an experiment, and thus should be conducted with as few added variables as possible.
Letters 2 Numbers: Yuki(?) rewrites Haruhi's graphic to say 505. However 708 remains just an apartment number. (Unless it's short for Be On the Lookout.)
Nominal Hero: As of Book 10. She's still the same Asakura, she just happens to be fighting on the same side as the Brigade now.
Token Evil Teammate: Fills Haruhi's shoes in that role, although Haruhi was actually more antagonistic than evil until her Heel Face Turn in Sigh left a void that Asakura would eventually fill in Astonishment Vol. 1.
Uncanny Valley Girl: She keeps up that impeccable smile at all times. All times.
Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Kyon, of all people. Especially given the... imagery involved. He really, really tries to avoid acknowledging this in the 10th novel, straight down to refusing to look at her... because he doesn't want to admit to himself that she's attractive and that looking at her might allow him to begin to forgive her, a trap he fell into already in "Disappearance."
Well-Intentioned Extremist: All Ryoko wants to do is to break the status quo and incite some reaction from the titular character. Her method happens to be trying to murder the narrator, and major love interest, Kyon. When she returns in the tenth novel as a Boxed Crook, she still wants to kill Kyon because she still believes that her actions were justified. Still, she protects him, because she wants to be the one to kill him.
The Worf Effect: Has only nailed Yuki (who was using her own body as a distraction) and Kyon when she took him completely by surprise.
Yandere: Ryoko's human incarnation in Disappearance is very much one of these.
Took a Level in Jerkass: Scheme reveals that the once Nice Girl will grow up to be one of the more manipulative characters of the series (even to the point of abusing her younger self) unless, as hinted at in the Sequel Hook in Astonishment Vol. 2, Kyon can prove Fujiwara wrong on the subject of whether history can indeed be changed.
Transhuman: In Disappearance she reveals that she has a non-physical computer integrated with her brain, and that her time-travel device is likewise a part of her.
Cool Big Sis: In age and attitude; she dotes on her younger friends as if she is their big sister.
Cute Little Fangs: One at a time, but it flips from one side of her mouth to the other depending on the scene.
Dissonant Laughter: She laughs at all times—even during The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya when Mikuru is drunk. That scene was treated like something out of a horror movie, except for Tsuruya's laughter. But even she shuts up when Kyon tries to punch Haruhi.
Hero of Another Story: Itsuki implies that she's off having her own adventures; her family is "very influential" in the Esper community, even though she's not one.
The Hyena: Once she finds something funny, it's hard to make her stop laughing.
She's not big on subtlety either. She won't just laugh, she'll point and laugh.
There's one single occasion where she gets serious. Since it's Tsuruya, this only helps to increase the drama and tension.
Motor Mouth: She generally enters a scene by asking a million questions, then hopping off to ask someone else a million questions, all before waiting for a single answer.
Nice Girl: Will be friends with anyone, unless they hurt Mikuru.
Spoiled Sweet: Actually pretty nice and friendly despite being rich.
The Tease: She likes "suggesting" things to Kyon. Like recommending he stay overnight at her guest house with Mikuru. Of course, she's only kidding, and Kyon doesn't fall for it.
" though she only says it very rarely (once in the anime). The anime also adds "megas"; though it's used only once in the actual anime it appears in her character songs.
You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Green. Interesting to note, she's the only character with an odd hair color who is not confirmed to be a humanoid interface.
Emiri Kimidori is a mysterious student in North High and a Mysterious Watcher to the Brigade. She is revealed to be a humanoid interface just like Yuki, but has done very little, save for a couple of minor plots and being an ally to the Student Council President. That is, until Volume 10, where she reveals herself to be somewhat of an Obstructive Bureaucrat working under the Data Overmind. She becomes an observer to the Sky Canopy Domain, but refuses to act unless ordered by the Data Overmind.
Adaptation Induced Plot Hole: More regarding characterization. The character songs for the anime's first season were released prior to the tenth-novel preview; building off the fact that she's an interface, the songs portrayed her as someone reaching for humanity and wanting to participate in the fun everyone else has but being unable to. The tenth-novel preview, however, revealed that she doesn't give a damn about anything that interferes with what the Entity wants, not even Yuki's personal safety.
All-Powerful Bystander: Of the first and last variety at the same time: she hasn't been ordered to help out Nagato when she gets sick in the tenth novel, and she doesn't care enough about her to do so either. Thus, she just continues to watch.
Taniguchi and Kunikida are Those Two Guys and Kyon's main non-SOS Brigade friends. Both totally normal to all appearances, Taniguchi is a Big Eater and something of a teenage Casanova Wannabe who is implied to have dated Haruhi for exactly five minutes back in junior high. Kunikida is Kyon's junior high friend, and receives no Character Development or Backstory detail whatsoever - except that he gets better grades than Taniguchi or Kyon and, as is revealed in the eleventh novel, may have a crush on Tsuruya. They both act as an anchor of normalcy for Kyon, and occasional extra bodies in the SOS Brigade for things like baseball games or magazine publishing.
A nameless character who is the president of the Computer Society. His role in the plot is essentially The Chew Toy, being the subject of several of Haruhi's antics — being blackmailed into giving away computers to the SOS Brigade, getting taken over by a cricket-like Data Entity, etc. He declares himself and his club to be rivals to the SOS Brigade and challenges them to a game of their own creation, but they lose and become "vassals" to the SOS Brigade. Emiri Kimidori also pretended to be his girlfriend. It must suck to be him.
Dynamic Entry: The receiver of it once he declares the Computer Society to be the SOS Brigade's rivals.
Laser-Guided Karma: After he and his boys try to cheat their way to victory in their game against the SOS Brigade, Yuki manages to one-up them by hijacking the code to their game so as to prevent them from cheating.
No Name Given: The anime at least, plays with this by making Kimidori say his name, only to get cut off by the meowing of a cat.
Another character with No Name Given, he is the school's Student Council President introduced in The Anger of Haruhi Suzumiya by Koizumi to give Haruhi an antagonist and to keep her from getting bored. He acts like a Bespectacled Bastard Boyfriend in his role as the president, but he is secretly laughing at how ridiculous his job is. Later on, it seems that Haruhi's influence is making him take his job more seriously.Tropes associated with the Student Council President:
Becoming the Mask: He comments that he slips back into his mask every now and then, even when Haruhi isn't around.
Full Name Basis: Or a Japanese variant thereon: he always addresses female students with the honorific "kun," which is typically used for boys and young men. As That Other Wiki notes, there are two exceptions to that practice, "in business settings, young female employees may also be addressed as -kun by older males of senior status," and "in the Diet of Japan (Legislature), chairpersons use kun when addressing diet members and ministers." Either way, he's being pretentious.
having made her first (nameless) appearance in Dissociation
, Yasumi Watahashi is one of the new first years at North High participating in Haruhi's rigorous SOS Brigade entrance tests. Kyon notices her among the other first years as the only one interested in Haruhi's lecture on the history of the SOS Brigade. By Astonishment (Part Two), she is the only student to pass the tests.Contrary to the popular pre-Astonishment theories, Yasumi has not yet been revealed to be one of the supernatural beings that Haruhi has been pursuing. However, as her presence is the most obvious difference between the Alpha and Beta plots (aside from the mysterious phone call to Kyon which was probably made by her in the first place), speculation has abounded as to her true nature. But really, she was born of Haruhi's subconscious to save Yuki and Kyon from the troubles they suffer in the Beta plot, causing the Alpha plotline to occur in the process.
Genki Girl: Her energy even gets on Haruhi's nerves.
OC Stand In: Due to the long wait between her first appearance and her formal introduction, fanfiction written between the releases of Dissociation and Astonishment often uses her as one.
Moment Killer: Deliberate Destruction of Sasaki's meetings with Kyon, even though Sasaki couldn't bring herself to confess to Kyon the first time around.
Sempai Kohai: As a first year, she's a kohai to the entire SOS Brigade. In the phone call, she refers to Kyon as "Sempai".
Significant Anagram: When her name is read in the proper reading (Yasumizu Watahashi), it can be rearranged to say watashi wa(ha) Suzumiya — I am Suzumiya.
Stalker with a Crush : to Kyon, not surprising given her identity. Although an exceptionally harmless one, even for a female stalker. Also, this is mostly because she takes Sasaki's interactions with Kyon in the alpha timeline, although she appears once in Beta also, by "accident".
Shamisen is an everyday alley cat (or maybe not...) who becomes a Touched By HaruhiTalking Animal for a while when playing Yuki's familiar in the Adventures of Mikuru Asahina student film. He's actually quite The Philosopher when he can speak. He loses this ability after the film is finished and the weirdness starts to wear off, but he becomes involved in a few other adventures after Kyon and his sister adopt him. He is also a male calico.
Actually, this is possible (though very rare) in real life, due to males with the XXY chromosome set. However, this also probably means that Shamisen is sterile.
The Anti-SOS Brigade
Clockwise from the top-left:Fujiwara, Kyoko Tachibana, Sasaki, and Kuyo Suo.
The "Anti-SOS Brigade" are The Psycho Rangers. While not nearly as cohesive as Kyon's True Companions, they've more or less allied for differing reasons.
Sasaki
Kyon's old girlfriend. Or at least the female person he used to hang around with, and the reason for his pre-Haruhi reputation for "liking weird girls." Sasaki is intelligent and analytical...but chooses not to do anything to change her environment. She knows about aliens, time-travellers and espers, which are interesting, but she's not going to change her daily routine over it. She's somewhat of The Spock and wishes to keep out of the God-business all the organizations have.
A-Cup Angst: A one-off comment from her in Rainy Day, where she expresses a hint of jealousy upon the idea of Kyon ogling the popular girl in their class and her larger "assets".
Good All Along: Though she's introduced as Haruhi's Evil Counterpart, she's actually the only member of her group who isn't villainous at all. In fact, she was even a friend of Haruhi's back in elementary school! She and Kyon hatch a plan to stop the rest of the Anti-SOS Brigade. It wouldn't have worked, but it's the thought that counts.
I Just Want to Have Friends: She mentions that one of the reasons she hangs around the Anti-SOS Brigade is that they're the only people who talk to her. In the end, Kyouko states that she wishes to remain Sasaki's friend, and Kyon promises to always be her friend too, so things work out well for her.
New Old Flame: Suddenly introduced as Kyon's 'close friend' in the ninth novel, but was foreshadowed in the first novel.
Token Good Teammate: Just as Haruhi was once the Token Antagonistic Teammate to the SOS Brigade, so is Sasaki this to the Anti-SOS Brigade, eventually to the point of actively trying to sabotage Fujiwara's goals with the help of Kyon and Yasumi.
Unwitting Pawn: To the rest of her group, but especially Fujiwara.
She was one of few, however, to exactly know she was the group's pawn and secretly worked to stop it.
Kyoko Tachibana
An Esper who believes that Sasaki should be God. Reveals that in Sasaki's Closed Space, nothing changes. Ever. Fridge Logic to that does not occur to her. She also believes that Kyon has the power to transfer the power from Haruhi to Sasaki.
Reformed, But Rejected: Though she seems to genuinely regret being a part of the whole kidnapping Mikuru/Michiru thing, Kyon still doesn't trust her because of it.
Well, that's because she hadn't technically reformed just yet. She does make a real Heel Face Turn in the end and Kyon is more trusting toward her as a result.
Wham Line: Delivers the main one in Dissociation: "We believe the existence of the real god is not Miss Suzumiya, but Miss Sasaki."
Kuyo Suo
An agent of the rival to the Data Overmind: the Canopy Domain. Has far, far less social skills than Yuki; she seems autistically unaware of anyone's existence. Has a lot of dark hair which is commented on, possible a reference to the Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl trope. She's a bit of an Ensemble Darkhorse, and her managing to stuff her ridiculously large amount of hair into a tiny plastic umbrella has become a Memetic Mutation, it seems. She violently tries to attack Kyon in the tenth novel (or at least it seems), until she is stopped by Ryoko and has a knife fight with her. Kuyo almost kills Ryoko before Emiri intervenes.
Blue and Orange Morality: Does not understand morality. All she knows is that she wants to communicate, but doesn't know what it actually means to communicate or to fully grasp what other entities are.
Creepy Monotone: Unlike Yuki's, hers is legitimately creepy.
Starfish Aliens: She does not understand the concept of death, nor that of life and has only recently grasped the idea of language but doesn't seem to know what it's for. Apparently, all she wants to do is talk to people (especially the Integrated Data Thought Entity) but since she goes about it in such incomprehensible ways, it leaves her extremely dangerous.
Starfish Language: Implied at first, and then mostly subverted. The Canopy Domain did not, in fact, really know what communication even was, meaning they had no language.
Stealth Pun: When Kyon asks if the Canopy Domain means overhead, Yuki points North, while sitting at North High.
Kyon believes this name to merely be a pseudonym, so he is commonly referred to as "that sneering bastard". The most villainous of the group, he is a Time Traveller who believes that Time Travel actually makes humans slaves to Causality.
Big Bad: Of "Scheme of Haruhi Suzumiya" and also ends up as "Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya"'s one too.
Deicide: Goes out of his way to make a very serious attempt on Haruhi's life at the climax of Astonishment Vol. 2.
Evil Counterpart: To Mikuru, even though he more resembles Itsuki.
Long Lost Relative: In Novel 11, it's revealed that Mikuru is Fujiwara's elder sister (well, he claims it to be, but it seems that he isn't her brother anymore due to alterations to the timestream).
Killed Off for Real: Apparently by Itsuki in the 11th book. They fight, an explosion is seen, and then the way people speak of Fujiwara afterward seem to indicate that he's long gone.
Of course, given his nature as a time-traveller, there's always the possibility a Fujiwara from a different point in time could decide to drop in...
Knight Templar: He pretty much drops all claims to well-intentioned extremism after he tries to kill Haruhi.
No Name Given: For a while, he eschews names, and only adopts an obvious pseudonym at the insistence of the rest of the Anti-SOS Brigade.
; and genuinely tries to help her be with Kyon. Although she is just a little bit jealous (of Kyon), she tries to hide that.
Another character with No Name Given, he is the school's Student Council President introduced in The Anger of Haruhi Suzumiya by Koizumi to give Haruhi an antagonist and to keep her from getting bored. He acts like a Bespectacled Bastard Boyfriend in his role as the president, but he is secretly laughing at how ridiculous his job is. Later on, it seems that Haruhi's influence is making him take his job more seriously.
Formally introduced in Astonishment*, Yasumi Watahashi is one of the new first years at North High participating in Haruhi's rigorous SOS Brigade entrance tests. Kyon notices her among the other first years as the only one interested in Haruhi's lecture on the history of the SOS Brigade. By Astonishment (Part Two), she is the only student to pass the tests.Contrary to the popular pre-Astonishment theories, Yasumi has not yet been revealed to be one of the supernatural beings that Haruhi has been pursuing. However, as her presence is the most obvious difference between the Alpha and Beta plots (aside from the mysterious phone call to Kyon which was probably made by her in the first place), speculation has abounded as to her true nature. But really, she was born of Haruhi's subconscious to save Yuki and Kyon from the troubles they suffer in the Beta plot, causing the Alpha plotline to occur in the process.
